Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Fangs (1974, Art Names)

Fangs aka Snakes, aka Holy Wednesday, aka killer snake movie that begins as a slow burn drama and turns into a horror revenge thriller. One man who loves snakes too much decides to get his revenge on people and goes on a killer spree. This movie is the kind of campy weird drive in fare that in this case isn’t quite weird enough.

The second half works better than the first, mostly because you witness a man driven to the limits of sanity. Are we supposed to identify with this lunatic? Probably not, yet 1970s cinema had many a revenge movie where the hero or heroine wrecks their terrible retribution upon those they feel deserve it.

Les Tremayne is actually quite good here in the title role, however I actually felt there wasn’t enough interesting events happening in this movie to really love it or even like it. I gave it a 7/10 at least since the movie does try to be more than your typical grindhouse movie, still I’ve seen better made 1970s revenge flicks than this one. Perhaps I’m starting to hit the bottom of the barrel for that decade in regards to B-movies.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972, Andy Milligan)

Andy Milligan had an interesting low budget career where he made whatever movies he could, right up until he sadly passed away. I’ve seen one already and just like this one it’s a mix of low budget oddities and a still wonderfully goofy take on horror cinema. I don’t mind either one, yet I can’t fully endorse the two. The title for his 1972 cult movie is a mouthful, that’s for sure, and concerns a werewolf clan hiding out at an old mansion.

The clan’s patriarch is dying, and the family is desperate to find a cure for their lycanthrope curse, which has plagued them for their whole lives. Some parts work, others don’t, and the movie plays out mostly in a soap opera vein. The full moon also shows up to wreck havoc in the finale, and I did greatly enjoy the ending, which has some nice surprises. Check this out anyways despite it being uneven, and I’ll always eagerly watch cult cinema no matter what.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Mansion of the Doomed (1976, Michael Pataki)

Mansion of the Doomed is a low budget 1970s take on the much better classic Eyes Without a Face. I tried not to compare the two but Mansion felt a bit too similar. I did like Mansion, however I feel it’s not as good or half as interesting as Eyes is, which is too bad all things considered. Both are easily better than the still wonderfully campy/goofy Atom Age Vampire, which I reviewed years ago on paper. No idea if that review was ever posted or not, I would have to look.

This movie does have a good cast: Richard Basehart as the doctor willing to do evil for his daughter to see again, Gloria Grahame as his willing assistant, Lance Henriksen as one of the victims and Trish Stewart as the doctor’s daughter. The eyeless victims are pretty creepy, however the movie sometimes fails to use them for more, better effect in my opinion. I was hoping for a far scarier movie, still this one is decent/solid enough and has a satisfying conclusion. One you can maybe say you saw coming, ha ha….I’ll show myself out.