Targets (1968)

4.5 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: TARGETS are people...and you could be one of them!
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Written by: Peter Bogdanovich, Polly Platt
Actors include: Boris Karloff, Tim O'Kelly, Arthur Peterson
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I definitely liked this a whole bunch, even though parts of it seemed unimportant...the great moments more than made up for any lulls. Boris Karloff plays aging horror star (what a stretch) Byron Orlok who is working on retiring because he feels he's irrelevant. Also we have a story with a fellow named Bobby Thompson (who looks like a cross between Bobby Kennedy & Matt Damon) who seems very square, has a very nice family yet something is very clearly wrong with him. He gleefully shoots and collects guns...and rounds of ammo and gets weirder and weirder. He snaps, goes on a huge massacre spree that winds up at the drive-in where Byron is showing one of his films. It's actually a very cold and evil feeling picture, I can't help but wonder if it helped inspire any of the shooting tragedies that followed in real life unfortunately. This is one dark and strange film, the tension is great as one can tell something bad is about to happen for much of the movie. I'm surprised they got away with this sort of thing back in '68 but heck I'm glad they did. Something that you've really got to see, shocking and disturbing probably Karloff's best late film that I've seen.
 
Availability:  On DVD

Pretty Poison (1968)

4.5 / 5  Feb '10
Tagline: She's such a sweet girl. He's such a nice boy. They'll scare the hell out of you.
Directed by: Noel Black
Written by: Lorenzo Semple Jr., Stephen Geller
Actors include: Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Black Comedy
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I actually thought this was really quite charming, who'da thought that Anthony Perkins could be out crazied? In this film he plays somewhat of a sociopath ex-con who convinces a simple beautiful young woman (Tuesday Weld) that he's a secret FBI agent. He charms her with tales of his imaginary life and even convinces her she's working with the FBI all in the name of getting back at the chemical company that fired him. When they go on a "mission" to rig the collapse of part of the building things go really wrong when they are spotted by the night watchman. It's really a bizarre film because Tuesday's character is really naive and well seemingly dense but yet well appearances aren't always what they seem. This is one unusually creative and fun to watch crime film with well written characters that seem surprisingly real and some nice violence. You can't go wrong with this one and there certainly aren't many like it....sort of like Bonnie and Clyde for the mentally disturbed!

Availability:  On DVD

Twisted Nerve (1968)

4.5 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.
Directed by: Roy Boulting
Written by: Roy Boulting, Leo Marks
Actors include: Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Billie Whitelaw
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 118 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is one nifty psychological thriller that was instantly entertaining and loveable. Martin Durnley (Hywel Bennett) is a strange young man of 22. His Mother treats him like he's a little boy, and his Step-Father seems to hate his guts and desperately wants him out of the house. Martin's brother is a mongoloid in an institution, and well Martin seems to have an alter ego as a 6 year old named Georgie (which drove our cat Georgie insane). Martin meets a beautiful kindly young librarian named Susan (Hayley Mills) who he becomes obsessed with. When his Father forces him out of the house he goes to live in at the house of Susan under false pretenses. Things seem to get worse because Susan and the others only know Georgie...when Georgie doesn't get what he wants Martin is the one they'll have to deal with. Let's just say Martin isn't the type of person you want to say no to. It actually maintained a really good level of tension and the acting was really impressive too. Definitely one of the better little known thrillers from the '60s, very surprising and cool.

Availability:  On DVD region 2