Movie Ad of the Week: MORTUARY (1982/1983)

World Premiere - Friday, May 7, 1982 - Tucson, AZ

In May of 1982, Paramount Pictures arranged a test release in Tucson of MORTUARY, the latest low-budget production by filmmakers Howard Avedis and Marlene Schmidt. Perhaps the box-office results of that test run were more in line with MY BLOODY VALENTINE or NIGHT SCHOOL than the first two FRIDAY THE 13th films; whatever the reason, the studio passed on acquiring the movie and Film Ventures International wound up releasing it over a year later.

September 2, 1983 in Los Angeles

Movie Ad of the Week: NIGHTMARE w/ STAYIN' ALIVE (1980)

This action-packed double bill opened at the Woods Theater in Chicago on September 26, 1980. NIGHTMARE was shot in 1978 as SPREE but received its widest exposure as SURVIVAL RUN (1980), while STAYIN' ALIVE is one of several alternate titles for Robert Endelson's grindhouse favorite FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (1977).

Movie Ad of the Week: HOUSE OF HOOKERS w/ HILLBILLY HOOKER (1975)

The British crime film A TOUCH OF THE OTHER (1970), directed by Arnold L. Miller and starring Kenneth Cope and Shirley Anne Field, was first released stateside by Film Ventures International as THE HAPPY HOOKERS in 1973 with an ad campaign created by Donn Davison. By 1975 it had been re-titled HOUSE OF HOOKERS and was being used as a co-feature with MASSAGE PARLOR HOOKERS, a re-titling of the NY-shot psycho-thriller THE MASSAGE PARLOR MURDERS! When HOUSE OF HOOKERS opened in Panama City, Florida on May 11, 1975, the second feature was HILLBILLY HOOKER, an FVI re-titling of Davison’s HONEY BRITCHES (1971). Also released as SHANTYTOWN HONEYMOON and THE LITTLE WHOREHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, Davison’s film was sold to Troma in the late 1980s as DEMENTED DEATH FARM MASSACRE after Fred Olen Ray shot new wraparound scenes for it with John Carradine.

Updating the IMDb: The Alternate Title Roundup

A handful of new alternate titles have recently come to our attention, but before we get to those, there's apparently still some confusion over whether or not Norman J. Warren's ALIEN-inspired birth-of-a-baby bloodbath INSEMINOID actually received stateside release under that handle. The answer is a very loud YES, and here's the proof: a May 1982 newspaper ad from Madison, Wisconsin. By the time the movie reached the New York City area six months later (on November 26th, 1982), the title had been changed to HORROR PLANET.

It's been almost a year and a half since we did a "Mystery Movies" entry on the Crown International obscurity KISS THE TEACHER GOODBYE, which was revealed by dedicated TOS reader and researcher John Black to be a re-release of HORROR HIGH. Lead actor Pat Cardi's name on the newspaper ad below should finally convince the IMDb to include this in their HORROR HIGH entry as a legitimate alternate title.

The sexy Tigon production ZETA ONE, produced in 1969 and co-starring Anna Gaël (THERESE AND ISABELLE) and Yutte Stensgaard (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE), was released stateside by Film Ventures International in 1974 under the title THE LOVE FACTOR. However, the newspaper ad below - from 1973 - indicates that Donn Davison, FVI's head of promotion, originally had another title and ad campaign in mind for the film.

Next we have another Donn Davison/Film Ventures campaign from 1973, for a British film titled A TOUCH OF THE OTHER (1970) but given its widest exposure in the U.S. as HOUSE OF HOOKERS. I love how Davison implies that it's based on a book, hoping viewers will confuse it with Xavier Hollander's memoir The Happy Hooker (which was still on the New York Times bestseller list at this point and had sold 4 million copies).

Back in March we did a "Movie Ads of the Week" post containing 5 ads for S.F. Brownrigg's DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT under 5 different titles (See them all here). Below is a recently found sixth alternate title, DON'T GO IN THE ASYLUM.

And just when you thought it was safe to close the file on Al Adamson's HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS, yet another alternate title has been discovered. Big thanks to our pal John Charles of Video Watchdog and the ByJohnCharles blog for sending along this ad for its October '71 run in San Antonio as PLANET OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS.

The Endangered List (Case File #48)

THERE IS NO 13 (1974)

Written and directed
by William Sachs

Produced by
Robert Boggs and William Sachs

Cinematography by
Ralf D. Bode

Music by
Riz Ortolani

Edited by
George T. Norris

CAST
Mark Damon (as George Thomas)
Margaret Markov (as Number Eleven)
Harvey Lembeck (as Older George)
Jean Jennings (as Number Twelve)
Lee Moore (as Dr. Honneycutt)
Reuben Schafer (as Mr. A.)
Bonnie Inch (as Rosie)

91 minutes
No MPAA rating (?)
Released by Film Ventures International circa 1976-1977

Variety review

This first feature item by William Sachs is an ambitious (perhaps overly so) and interesting attempt to put onto film the day and nightmares of war vets, and with them to convey the deterrent horrors and permanent mental physical mutilations that result from any violent conflict.

Though intricately patterned and thought out via flashes forward and back, and despite some amusing and well-routined components to the mosaic, too much of the pic remains talky (key character speaks almost endlessly at camera) and jumpy to form an effective whole, and its chances must ultimately be assessed as spotty.

Action revolves principally around a youth (well played by Mark Damon) and his vocally and visually-expressed daydreams (or reminiscences, or both: it’s that kind of picture) on life, love, death and existence in general. We witness, among many other things, his 11th and 12th love affairs but, as the title says, there is to be no thirteenth, not in the traditional sense anyway, as evidenced by the deliberately shock-tactic finale.

Though one may have one’s doubts about the core of the film rather than some of its more effective passages, there is no denying the director’s sincere emotional involvement with his subject, and despite some youthful pretension, a sure knowledge of his medium. With above reservations, all departments a very smooth and attractive job. – Hawk.

(Reviewed July 2, 1974 at the Berlin Film Festival. Published in Variety on July 10, 1974)

Thanks to Robin Bougie and Fred Adelman for the Variety advertisement

One-Sheet of the Week: THE FORCE BEYOND (1978)

THE FORCE BEYOND (1978)

One-Sheet of the Week: SORCERY (1982)

STUNT ROCK (1978)

U.S. release as STUNT ROCK in 1980, as CRASH in 1981, and as SORCERY in 1982