The Endangered List (Case Files #6 and #7)

[Case File #6]

THE NEST OF THE CUCKOO BIRD (1965)

Written, produced and directed

by Bert Williams

Starring

Bert Williams, Ann Long, Chuck Frankle, Jackie Scelza, Larry Wright

Investigating Florida moonshiners, a detective (Bert Williams) is searching the Everglades when he discovers a remote inn managed by a demented showgirl (Ann Long), a taxidermist who stuffs humans for display in her grotesque Chapel Of The Dead.

[Case File #7]

MOTORCYCLE MASSACRE (1971?)

I first heard about MOTORCYCLE MASSACRE back in 1988, when one of our contributors -- Dave Szurek -- began referencing it in the letters, lists and reviews he sent to us every month. At first I thought a shady subdistributor in Detroit (where Dave lived at the time) had re-titled a print of NORTHVILLE CEMETERY MASSACRE and was playing it off on triple- and quadruple-bills in area drive-ins and grindhouses -- but no, Dave insisted, this was a totally different movie.

When I talked to Dave earlier this year and mentioned MOTORCYCLE MASSACRE, he told me that he was pretty sure it was a re-titling of another movie -- but he has no idea what that movie is. He also told me that people in 'zines and on message boards have accused him of making up the movie.

The following appeared in Wet Paint #25 (March/April 1989, p. 19)

MOTORCYCLE MASSACRE (1971) Amateurishly produced and extremely obscure but surprisingly well-made and conscientiously written sleaze. No massacre – somebody obviously just liked the sound of that title – as lone biker rescues and returns a kidnapped girl, but his motives are misinterpreted and he becomes the target of rednecks. Offbeat and satisfying, with uncharacteristic evidence of brains; recommended to buffs of the obvious genre. Keith Hotchkiss, Connie Conklin, Lee Marsden, Simon Stewart, Art D'Angelo, Charles Lysander. -- Dave Szurek

Does anyone know the true identity of MOTORCYCLE MASSACRE? Can someone shed more light on this mystery?