You may have heard of the term Kirlian. It is usually associated with photography and refers to a process where an image is created by applying a high-frequency electric field to a living object. The result captures a pattern of luminescence which is recorded on photographic film and represents a life force or energy field surrounding the living object. The concept has never been embraced by the scientific community but became popular in parapsychology and paranormal research in the mid-fifties. It even inspired a low-budget indie art house mystery called The Kirlian Witness (1978), directed by Jonathan Sarno, about a murder that is solved by a houseplant that witnessed the crime. Yet, even before this obscure, rarely seen feature, the concept of Kirlian energy provided an explanation for the behavior of the insane protagonist of Psychic Killer (1975 aka The Kirlian Force aka The Kirlian Effect), a trashy but consistently entertaining horror thriller featuring a cast of familiar Hollywood character actors and Jim Hutton as the unlikely title character in his final theatrical feature. If you’re looking for an offbeat, non-traditional horror movie for your Halloween viewing, this is a good choice.
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The Kidnapped Heiress
When it comes to crime films, what’s your pleasure? The genre breaks down into so many sub-categories that it helps if you have a particular theme in mind. Bank Heists? Home Invasions? Police procedurals? Gang wars? How about kidnapped heiresses? James Hadley Chase’s 1939 pulp fiction novel No Roses for Miss Blandish is a classic example of this edgy situation and has been adapted for films at least twice – the 1948 British noir of the same title starring Jack La Rue and The Grissom Gang (1971), Robert Aldrich’s violent remake with Kim Darby as the unfortunate victim. Even real-life cases involving kidnapped heiresses have inspired numerous crime dramas such as the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst which spawned Abducted (1975), a sleazy exploitation rip-off from director Joseph Zito, The Ordeal of Patty Hearst, a 1979 made-for-TV dramatization, Patty Hearst (1988), Paul Schrader’s take on the events with Natasha Richardson in the title role, and probably the best of the lot, Robert Stone’s 2004 documentary, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst. But, if you want to see an arty, minimalistic treatment of the kidnapped heiress theme with erotic interludes and a cool jazz score by trumpeter Chet Baker, look no further than L’enfer dans la peau (1965), a French softcore crime drama from director/writer/producer Jose Benazeraf, and released in the U.S. in an edited form entitled Sexus.
Continue readingLittle Demons
“We Want You Sally….We Want You….Come to Us!”
For those who first saw Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark at a young impressionable age when it originally aired on ABC in 1973, those maniacal, whispering voices of the little demons have probably stayed with you and so has this creepy little made-for-TV movie that has one of the more memorable endings of any haunted house genre picture.
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