Tag: 1976

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Movie Review

At the Earth’s Core (1976) Movie Review

At the Earth’s Core – Movie Review

At the Earth's Core Poster

Director: Kevin Connor

Writer: Milton Subotsky (Screenplay)

Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs (Novel)

Cast

Plot: A Victorian era scientist and his assistant take a test run in their Iron Mole drilling machine and end up in a strange underground labyrinth ruled by a species of giant telepathic bird and full of prehistoric monsters and cavemen.

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: At the Earth’s Core starts when Dr Perry (Cushing) and his assistant David (McClure) take their Iron Mole drilling machine on a test run. The plan it to go through a mountain, however, they end up going into the Earth’s Core.

When they stop, they find themselves in a new world inside the Earth’s surface, filled with monsters. A place where humans are treated like slaves to telepathic monsters. David must lead a rescue to return to the surface to save humanity in this world.

Verdict on At the Earth’s Core

At the Earth’s Core is a fantasy sci-fi following scientists that travel into the Earth’s core. This sees them meeting a different society and look to help free them from their monstrous rulers.

The movie does feel like a rip-off of ‘Planet of the Apes’. Having a different society holding humans as slaves and a new visitor looks to help free them. This is seen in the battles between David and different creatures along the way. However, this leaves the movie looking bad, not connecting on any levels. The effects look weak, at a time when things did start improving.

Peter Cushing gives us an almost comical performance as a scientist that doesn’t feel like he has ever been in the wild. In the end, this becomes a largely forgettable movie, that fails to use the concept enough.

Final Thoughts – At the Earth’s Core hasn’t stood the test of time well at all.

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Movie Review

The Omen (1976) Movie Review

The Omen – ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – O – The Omen – Movie Review

Omen

Director: Richard Donner

Writer: David Seltzer (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)
  • Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder)
  • Harvey Stephens
  • David Warner (Titanic)
  • Billie Whitelaw (Hot Fuzz)

Plot: Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil’s own son?

Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Omen starts when American ambassador Robert Thorn (Peck) and his wife Katherine (Remick) adopt a baby after losing theirs. They adopt young Damien (Stephens) and start a life together with him. Robert gets a chance at a new life, moving his family to England.

Soon after they move, a sudden death rocks the family. This leads to journalist Jennings (Warner) making a startling discovery about Damien.  Robert learns about the discovery and must make a difficult decision when he learns he might be raising the Antichrist.

Verdict on The Omen

The Omen follows a family that has adopted a baby who learns he might well be the Antichrist as he grows. This sees the father needing to investigate what is happening before losing everything he loves and understand why he was selected to raise the child.

The Omen is considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time and you can see why. In the movie, we get a massive amount of tension and atmosphere developed throughout the story. The sense of dread is clear to see and by the end of the movie, a film about the Antichrist develops a character we fear. Nothing gets held back and when it comes to shock value, we get it all.

Final Thoughts – The Omen is a brilliant horror movie, filled with tension in every scene.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – L – Schizo (1976) Movie Review

This is under L because of star Lynne Frederick

Director: Pete Walker

Writer: David McGillivray (Screenplay)

Starring: Lynne Frederick, John Leyton, Stephanie Beacham, John Fraser, Jack Watson, Queenie Watts

Plot: A newly married woman becomes convinced someone from her past is stalking her, but nobody believes her until the bodies start to pile up.


Tagline – Schizophrenia… When the left hand doesn’t know who the right hand is killing!!

Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Schizo starts when Samantha (Frederick) is getting married to Alan (Leyton) only to find herself being stalked by William Haskins (Watson) her mother’s ex-lover and murder of her, he has returned to the life of Samantha to continue on his killing spree of the family.

With Samantha needing to prove that Haskins is stalking her, the people closest to her suffering his wrath, as she needs to try and get out of her situation before becoming the latest victim.

Thoughts on Schizo

Characters – Samantha is a famous ice skater who is about to get married, she had a traumatising childhood, which she saw her mother killed and on her big day, the killer returns to her life with a message, leading her to go through a situation where everyone is questioning her mindset. Alan is her new husband that isn’t happy her about not learning about the past Samantha has kept secret. William Haskins is the man released from prison that has come in search of Samantha, he has killed her mother and now it looks like he is coming to take her too. We do meet plenty of people that are trying to help Samantha along the way, be it the therapist Leonard, or best friend or landlady.

Performances – Lynne Frederick is the leading lady of the film and is strong with her characters reactions to everything happening through the film. Jack Watson does look the part of a creepy stalker through the film, while the rest of the cast do their jobs well.

Story – The story here follows a woman on the biggest day of her life getting a visit from a man from her past, a man that killed her mother, he is stalker her in, with her friends slowly getting picked off. This is a very early slasher style story, it dives into the idea that someone might be stalking someone, which will create a paranoid image to the friends and loved ones, while giving us the early formula of seeing people slowly picked off along the way. It does use the environments to create different kills, and plants the early seeds of doubt about who the killer really is.

Horror/Mystery – The horror side of this film comes from seeing the different styles of kills being performed through the film, which plays into the slasher elements, while keeping us guessing as to who the killer might be.

Settings – The film does adapt the environments to create the unique kills being performed through the film, using the available weapons along the way.

Special Effects – The effects look great for the time, as we see the different injuries inflicted from the kills.


Scene of the Movie – Needle work.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The séance felt out of place.

Final Thoughts – This is a big early slasher that might well have paved the path for many of the ones we know now.