Tag: 1972

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Movie Review

Beware My Brethren (1972) Movie Review

Beware My Brethren – Movie Review

Beware My Brethren is a disturbing horror film about a religious cult that leads a mother's son into madness, causing chaos and murders.

First Reaction – Beware My Brethren is a creepy horror.

Director: Robert Hartford-Davis

Writer: Brian Comport (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: A religious sect called the Brethren has taken control of widow Birdy, sending her unstable son, Kenny, into a spiraling descent into madness. No woman is safe when Kenny’s religious mania overpowers him and leads to murder and chaos.

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Beware My Brethren starts when Birdy Wemys (Todd) follows a strict religious lifestyle. She pushed in on her son Kenny (Beckley) which has led him to become unstable and a murderer. He tracks down women and brutally murders them.

Elsewhere, Brigitte (Hinde) becomes Birdy’s nurse and questions her religious following. Meanwhile, Kenny continues his body count, and the town becomes fearful of a killer. When Kenny’s life begins changing, he is forced to take the problems into his own hands.

Verdict on Beware My Brethren

Recap

The movie follows a religious cult whose ways question everyday life. One of the members begins taking things into his own hands, leaving a trail of bodies. However, when he finally breaks it becomes a race to stop him.

Best Parts

This uses the creepy stalker killer idea well, it makes the awkward interactions turn into nightmares. It also highlights how easily cults can take over people, leading to consequences in their actions. We get solid performance throughout, to keep us at an uneasy mindset.

Worst Parts

This falls into a strange naïve mentality often painting the victims as dumb and overly innocent. Elsewhere, the investigation often takes the back burner to the disturbing action being done.

Final Thoughts –Beware My Brethren is creepy and disturbing.

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Movie Review

Amuck (1972) Movie Review

Amuck – Movie Review

Amuck is a 70s horror film featuring a secretary uncovering her employers' sinister secrets and desires while investigating her friend’s disappearance.

First Reaction – Amuck fits the 70s era of sexualised violent horror.

Watch Amuck on Tubi.

Director: Silvio Amadio

Writer: Silvio Amadio (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Farley Granger (Rope)
  • Barbara Bouchet (Gangs of New York)
  • Rosalba Neri (The Arena)
  • Umberto Raho
  • Patrizia Viotti

Plot: The secretary of a writer and his wife investigates the disappearance of her lover – their previous secretary – and finds herself the target of the couple’s erotic desires and a murder plot.

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Amuck starts when Greta (Bouchet) takes a role as a secretary for author Richard Stuart (Granger) and his wife Eleanora (Neri). However, Greta soon discovers the family has secrets and demands from the female guests.

Greta discovers she is involved with a family who enjoy different sexual desires, and she must take part if she is ever going to learn what happened to her friend.

Verdict on Amuck

Recap

The movie follows a young woman who goes in search of answers after her friend disappears. She finds herself working for the same family and learning about their seductive ways of life. However, some of their action is a lot more sinister than she imagined.

Best Parts

The mystery about what the family gets up to is interesting. It creates a world where the options feel unlimited, and it adds terror to the situation. This creates the idea of uncertainty in every encounter in the movie.

Worst Parts

The movie falls into a movie of the era, it relies too heavily on the sexual content occurring throughout the story. There is also moments which are not easy to watch in the type of violence happening.

Final Thoughts – Amuck is a disturbing journey into violence.

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Movie Review

Fear is the Key (1972) Movie Review

Fear is the Key – Movie Review

Explore the thrilling movie 'Fear is the Key' with this insightful review. Join John Talbot on his dangerous mission to seek justice and uncover secrets.

Director: Michael Tuchner

Writer: Robert Carrington (Screenplay)

Writer: Alistair MacLean (Novel)

Cast

Plot: A man is in radio contact with his family when their airplane is shot down. He wants those responsible and becomes a criminal to get a job as a deep sea diver with those salvaging the plane’s cargo.

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Fear is the Key starts when John Talbot (Newman) listens on helplessly as his family’s plane is shot down. He has turned to a life of crime to find the people behind their murders, giving himself a massive reputation but always managing to get away from the law.

His latest escape sees him take Sarah Ruthven (Kendall) hostage and he starts explaining some of his actions. He uses this opportunity to get closer to the people who killed his family to get the final act of revenge.

Verdict on Fear is the Key

Fear is the Key is an action thriller following a man whose family are killed when their plane is shot down. He spends the next couple of years becoming a criminal to track down the people responsible for their murders to get his revenge.

This opens with a lengthy chase sequence that feels like it keeps going and going. It has a well-constructed story of revenge, which keeps surprising us with each twist. However, the core idea of tracking down killers is always going to come through strong and this delivers on every level. This is a movie not many people will have heard of but many could enjoy the premise.

Final Thoughts – Fear is the Key is a tense thriller with plenty of twists.

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Movie Review

Vampire Circus (1972) Movie Review

Vampire Circus – Movie Review

Uncover the horrifying secret behind a mysterious circus in this Vampire Circus movie review. Find out why the locals suspect foul play.

Director: Robert Young

Writer: Jud Kinberg (Screenplay)

Writer: George Baxt, Wilbur Stark (Story)

Cast

  • Adrienne Corri (Doctor Zhivago)
  • Thorley Walters (Murder She Said)
  • Anthony Higgins (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
  • John Moulder-Brown
  • Laurence Payne

Plot: As the plague sweeps the countryside, a quarantined village is visited by a mysterious traveling circus. Soon, young children begin to disappear, and the locals suspect the circus troupe might be hiding a horrifying secret.

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Vampire Circus starts when a small village destroys the local vampire holding them hostage for years. However, he swears revenge and 20 years later a circus arrives in town. They are unwelcome to start with but entertain the crowds.

However, they soon start selecting the children/young adults of the people who killed the Count. They have been planning for years, and the battle to survive is on.

Verdict on Vampire Circus

Vampire Circus is a horror thriller that follows a small village that has become the curse of a vampire. A circus has arrived to get revenge on them, and they must think of a new way to defeat the creatures.

This movie plays into the medieval battle between good and evil, with vampires and shapeshifting creatures. It uses a small town’s paranoia to drive the story, as they search for answers to something which can’t be explained. There is creative peril, seductive nature and everything you would expect from a 70s horror. It leads to the idea that good will defeat evil, however often it comes for them. All while keeping with the era to make us see the problems with medeival battles between the two.

Final Thoughts – Vampire Circus is a fun 70s horror movie.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nomination – C – The Candidate (1972) Movie Review

Director: Michael Ritchie

Writer: Jeremy Larner (Screenplay)

Starring: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas, Don Porter, Allen Garfield, Karen Carlson

Plot: Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.


Tagline – Too Handsome. Too Young. Too Liberal. Doesn’t have a chance. He’s PERFECT!

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Candidate starts when Bill McKay (Redford) is asked to run for US Senate for California, he doesn’t expect to win, he isn’t expected to win, he is expected to be a rival that could help the first choice Crocker Jarmon (Porter) look better, with Bill needing to just say what he wants on the campaign.

As the campaign continues, Bill starts gaining momentum seeing he being a real challenge to take the senate seat, with his honest speaking, one that is looking to make a difference in America.

Thoughts on The Candidate

Characters – Bill McKay is a honest guy that saw his father in the senate and now has been convinced to run for a public show, one where he can do what he wants, never being seen as a true contender to win. He doesn’t want to listen to instructions or use his father’s reputation to help him, but his speeches turn the heads of the public who see him offering something more that before. Marvin Lucas is running the campaign for Bill, he puts him in the right locations for the press, campaign moments, he knows how to do his job behind the curtain. Senator Crocker Jarmon is the favourite to retain the seat, he is the easy favourite for the seat and is using Bill as an easy opposition.

Performances – Robert Redford is wonderful in the leading role, showing us all that he was one of the best in the business when this film was released. Peter Boyle works well in his role, which can be said for the whole cast who shine through the film with the acting never looking out of place.

Story – The story here follows a man that finds himself put into a race for senate only for his views and opinions to lead him to become the front runner in a world he wasn’t prepared for. When you look at this story, you need to first understand how the American election process works, which can be a lot more complicated than it shows in the film, this can make this film a little bit hard to follow, while seeing how somebody saying the things people want to hear could see them become the one the people want to see in power.

Comedy – The comedy does seem to come from how Redford delivers some of the lines and how he speaks like most normal people would like to see a Politian speak.

Settings – The film takes us to most of the campaign based settings, it shows us how a potential senator would need to meet people from most backgrounds.


Scene of the Movie – What do we do now?

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is difficult to understand the election process.

Final Thoughts – This is a well-acted and comedy that shows how if you say the right words, the people will believe you can make a difference.