When people think of b-movie directors, the 2 that come to mind most are Roger Corman and Ed Wood. One whose films I’ve enjoyed was this guy, Al Adamson. Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Horror of the Blood Monsters (aka Vampire Men of the Lost Planet), Satan’s Sadists, Nurse Sherri and Brain of Blood are some of my favorites. I’ve also watched Blood of Ghastly Horror, which has a great title, great trailer, but is a terrible flick. I sat and watched this documentary about the filmmaker and learned some things about him, including the fact that he made quite a lot more flicks than I realized, and that he was murdered. I had no idea his life ended like that.
The film starts off documenting how he got into movie making. His father, Victor Adamson, was a New Zealand director, screenwriter, producer and actor who went by the name of Denver Dixon. He made and starred in a lot of B and Z grade westerns. His son, Al, always wanted to be in films. Growing up, his favorites were musicals, but he wasn’t much of a dancer or singer. He got his first taste of directing when he starred in a movie his Dad was directing. The Dad had a falling out with the producers, so he walked off the movie. Al ended up taking over as director and finished it. After this experience, he decided that this is what he wanted to do, so he followed this career path.
He partnered up with Samuel M. Sherman, who worked as producer on most of Al’s films. One of their first efforts was a film about a guy who goes on a murder spree. After being shown to distributors, they weren’t too impressed. They went back and added a few scenes of go-go dancers at the time, since that was the big craze at the moment, and changed the title to Psycho A Go Go. Later, they added more scenes and restructured the film as Blood of Ghastly Horror, which is a jarring mess, obviously shot in different time periods, with vastly different camera quality between the scenes. It wasn’t until he made Satan’s Sadists, the biker flick where he got Russ Tamblyn to star in, that he finally had a hit that made him money. This allowed Al and Sam to distribute the rest of their movies they had made, oftentimes releasing them with multiple, different titles for the same film.
There were multiple interviews with actors, producers, etc, who all worked on his various films. Al had a big crush on actress Vicki Volante, but she wasn’t interested in him. Later, he met Regina Carroll, who was working as a waitress at the time and spilled coffee on him. It was love at first sight, so they married and she became his leading lady and muse. Russ Tamblyn talked about how the script to Satan’s Sadists wasn’t very good, so Al let him write and recite his own lines. He mentioned how Quentin Tarantino was a big fan of the film, and recited a speech Russ’s character gave line for line to him; Russ was delighted, as he had written that dialogue himself. Roger Engel was Al’s stockbroker and ended up being cast as the title vampire in Dracula vs. Frankenstein, given the pseudonym Zandor Vorkov. He had doubts about being in the film, and later mused about how he was considered one of the worst Draculas on screen. Regina Carroll died in the 90’s, leaving Al heartbroken. He later met a woman named Stevee Ashlock and they ended up getting married, until his death in 1995.
The last half of the documentary focused on his final years of life, including a bizarre segment about how he started making a docudrama about UFO’s, going into it as a non believer, and then becoming convinced that the stories were real. His wife Stevee talked about how he claimed to have met a hybrid being that was half human and half alien, and that helped to convince him. He was living in Indio, California, when he hired a contractor named Fred Fulford, who ended up impersonating Al to steal money from him. After Al finally confronted him, Frank killed him and buried his body under concrete in his home. His cleaning lady, who was living in a trailer on Al’s property, started noticing bizarre things around the house, and informed Al’s brother, who called the police. They eventually found Al’s body and arrested Frank, who was charged and convicted for the murder.
Everyone who was interviewed spoke highly of Al, and how he was such a nice guy. I had seen photos of him throughout the years, and he always seemed like a tough, biker type to me. It was interesting to learn that he was more of a chill, gentle guy. There were also stories of how he cast Colonel Sanders in one film, as he was given a deal on free KFC for his cast and crew, how he kicked some hippy guy off one of his sets, only to learn a few weeks later that it was Charles Manson, who had been found guilty of being behind the infamous murders, and how Lon Chaney Jr. had such a drinking problem that he couldn’t recite his lines for his role in Dracula vs. Frankenstein. It was an interesting documentary that revealed a lot about him. Anyone who’s a fan of his movies should check it out.
The next flick I watched was one from 1977 called Foes.
A lighthouse keeper and his wife notice a UFO hovering over the ocean. It then flies over them and goes to the other side of island. The man tries to call for help on his radio, but there’s interference preventing him from getting through. They decide to go to the other side of the island to investigate the UFO. Meanwhile, 2 guys who have gone scuba diving suddenly find that their boat’s motor won’t start. When they open it and check, they see that parts of it have been burned. They paddle over to the island to seek help. They come across the wife of the lighthouse keeper, who’s wandering around in a daze, with strange burn marks on her body. They also find the charred remains of the husband. They take the wife back to the lighthouse. Soon enough, they see the UFO, as well as some strange glowing lights coming from it. They spend the night trying to escape the island, as well as witnessing the UFO and it’s odd light phenomenon.
While the acting isn’t particularly great, especially from the wife and husband, it still manages to keep a creepy atmosphere and mood, with the well done shots of the UFO and strange lights. A few of the characters have odd flashbacks of being lifted in the sky by the craft and seeing it up close, hovering over them. The movie gives no resolution to what they witnessed, and like most UFO reports, leaves the viewer with more questions than answers.
I had never heard of this movie before. It came up on my YouTube suggestions, so I decided to check it out. It started out a bit corny at first, but soon got weird and stayed serious throughout its runtime, helping to keep the creepy and mysterious mood. It’s one of the better UFO encounter movies I’ve seen. This flick would probably have scared me if I saw it when I was a little kid, especially those creepy lights coming from the craft at night. Check it out if you get the chance. As for the Al Adamson documentary, it’s available to stream on Tubi, which is free.
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