I’m always up for lesser-known horror flicks that star veteran actors from the old days, and these three feature appearances by George Kennedy and Cameron Mitchell. I don’t regret adding two out of three of these blind buys to my collection. Let’s find out why.
INTENSIVE CARE (1991)
Here’s another one that passed me by in my video store clerk heyday, so I’m thrilled that it got a Blu-ray release. Shockingly, the reviews on IMDb are absolutely terrible, but for me, this is classic direct-to-VHS era goodness. What I especially love about it is that while it’s a 1991 slasher, it looks and feels more like a 1981 slasher.
Although it’s not about Christmas and no one mentions the season, I am going to put it on the holiday horror page, because there are Christmas decorations in both the hospital where the horror starts and in the neighboring houses where it ends, including Christmas trees.
George Kennedy briefly plays a scientist who loses a grant because of his unorthodox experiments on coma patients. He gets into a car accident and, ironically, ends up in a coma.
Seven years later, the main guy in the movie, who is either an intern or an orderly (I’m not sure), goofs around with the scientist’s burned, comatose body. A little while later, the scientist wakes up, grabs a scalpel, and heads off to kill. I have no idea how he realizes he should go directly to the main dude’s house for revenge…or how he knows exactly how to get there.
Anyway, the parents of both the main guy and the main girl, who lives next door, go out together for the night. Maybe to a Christmas party? No idea.
We get killer POV and heavy breathing as the killer roams around the houses peering in windows. While the main guy tries to get with the main girl next door, her boyfriend shows up, making for some good old cheesy slasher drama. We also get some good old slasher boobs.
There aren’t a lot of kills, but they are satisfying and gory, plus we get jump scares, a gnarly killer face (he doesn’t wear a mask and isn’t played by George Kennedy!), a body reveal chase scene, and the main girl and her little brother having some tense moments with the killer. But it’s the final takedown of the killer, which involves big ass bottle rockets, that brings the best laugh of the movie. Classic.
ISLAND OF THE DOOMED (1967)
At some point, I realized that I own a load of horror movies starring veteran actor Cameron Mitchell dating back to the 60s, and me being me, I decided I must own every horror movie he was ever in. Yeah, I basically elevated this dude to Vincent Price or Christopher Lee status in my mind. So here we are. I picked up this recently released flick starring Mitchell.
The animated, horror-themed opening credits sequence was a pleasant surprise, and the movie itself has some classic atmosphere and a traditional plot.
Tourists come to the island of a scientist (Mitchell) to see the amazing plant life he has cultivated. Turns out it’s more than that. He’s been crossbreeding plants to make a new carnivorous species. Eek!
If only the movie had leaned into the human-eating plants. As we get to know the quirky cast of characters and realize things are kind of eerie on the island, we occasionally witness someone being attacked by something in cutaway kills.
Eventually, those already killed are discovered, and based on the condition of the bodies, those still alive become convinced there are vampires on the island. The movie gets kind of trippy at this point, complete with a goon who seems to be working for Cameron Mitchell…until he isn’t.
The leading man is sizzling hot, so the eye-candy definitely kept my eyes glued to the screen until we at last get giant killer plant action in the final act, which is definitely the highlight, complete with a stormy night, nasty plant parts, and people being devoured. Plus, the final frame is perfectly macabre.
DEMON COP (1990)
It’s another purchase for my Cameron Mitchell pile, but it turns out he basically serves as a horror host telling the tale of Demon Cop. This one is a German DVD release with picture quality that makes you feel like you’re watching it on VHS back in the day.
A Black dude wrote, directed, and stars as Demon Cop in this absolutely awful shot-on-video movie (there’s even a bad edit where he’s supposed to be inside, but when it cuts to him, he’s outside). He’s an ex-cop who escapes from a mental institution after being tainted by blood that was meant for researching an AIDS cure.
Turns out this infection transforms him into a demon that is brought out by the full moon, much like a werewolf. And yet he always goes out killing in broad daylight, because good lighting is expensive when you’re making an indie film.
And get this. While cops are working on the case and trying to find him, this Black dude is basically killing Black gang members! What an asshole.
It’s terrible, I’m shocked Cameron Mitchell agreed to film an opening and closing scene for it, and I wouldn’t have even bought it if I’d known it was going to be this bad. However, the score is 80s synth score perfection, and this dude is such a 1990 vibe.
