Blood of Ghastly Horror

Starring:John Carradine, Kent Taylor, Tommy Kirk, Regina Carrol, Roy Morton, Arne Warde, Richard Smedley, Kirk Duncan, Tanya Maree, Barney Gelfan, John Armond, Lyle Felice, Joey Benson, John Talbert (II), K.K. Riddle, J.P. Spohn, Tacey Robbins, Bob Dietz
Director: Al Adamson
Studio: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Director Al Adamson and producer Sam Sherman picked a suitably vague title for their incoherent horror film about jewel thieves, a psychotic Vietnam vet with an electronic brain, and a vengeful killer with a bright blue zombie henchman. Laden with flashbacks and sidetracks, this was another of Adamson's do-overs, an unfinished picture reborn with new scenes and an entirely new story. "It's a little choppy," says Sam Sherman with deadpan understatement in his introduction. "If you fall asleep I swear you'll think you've woken up in two different movies." Only two?

Former Disney star Tommy Kirk stars as the tough detective who gets a severed head in the mail, Regina Carrol (Adamson's wife) is an innocent targeted by the mad killer with revenge on his mind, and John Carradine receives top billing for what must be a single day's work as Dr. Van Ard, whose misguided science project starts the whole mess. It's not hard to see where the two films--the heist picture and the horror film--were stitched together because the seams are glaring, but that's hardly the worst Blood of Ghastly Horror has to offer. Wooden performances, clumsy drama, bizarre dialogue ("Dr. Van Ard died a much more horrible death than he really deserved," eulogizes Kirk), awkward editing, and the worst camera work ever attributed to future Oscar winner Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter) all contribute to this mind-boggling mess.

Amazon.com

Director Al Adamson and producer Sam Sherman picked a suitably vague title for their incoherent horror film about jewel thieves, a psychotic Vietnam vet with an electronic brain, and a vengeful killer with a bright blue zombie henchman. Laden with flashbacks and sidetracks, this was another of Adamson's do-overs, an unfinished picture reborn with new scenes and an entirely new story. "It's a little choppy," says Sam Sherman with deadpan understatement in his introduction. "If you fall asleep I swear you'll think you've woken up in two different movies." Only two?

Former Disney star Tommy Kirk stars as the tough detective who gets a severed head in the mail, Regina Carrol (Adamson's wife) is an innocent targeted by the mad killer with revenge on his mind, and John Carradine receives top billing for what must be a single day's work as Dr. Van Ard, whose misguided science project starts the whole mess. It's not hard to see where the two films--the heist picture and the horror film--were stitched together because the seams are glaring, but that's hardly the worst Blood of Ghastly Horror has to offer. Wooden performances, clumsy drama, bizarre dialogue ("Dr. Van Ard died a much more horrible death than he really deserved," eulogizes Kirk), awkward editing, and the worst camera work ever attributed to future Oscar winner Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter) all contribute to this mind-boggling mess.

The DVD features a commentary by producer Sam Sherman, along with a newly recorded introduction, a profile taken from the cable TV series Split Screen, and trailers to this and four other Al Adamson-Sam Sherman collaborations. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Al Adamson's classic tale of undead terror comes to DVD with a shocking bang as part of Troma Team Video's Al Adamson Collection! Human zombies rise from their coffins as living corpses! A doctor (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic brain component in a man's skull and a psychotic killer is born, to be used as a remote-control zombie by a crime syndicate. The zombie psychopath subsequently goes haywire and turns on his masters, killing some go-go dancers along the way, before getting his ultimate revenge on Carradine. Also known as The Man with the Synthetic Brain, The Fiend with the Atomic Brain, The Fiend with the Electronic Brain, The Fiend with the Synthetic Brain. This DVD comes with an audio commentary by producer Sam Sherman and a featurette "Producing Schlock." A great double bill with Adamson's recently restored classic Psycho A Go Go!

Customer Reviews:

Al's done better........2004-10-04

As I sit typing this I've concluded that Al Adamson's 1971 Blood of Ghastly Horror reigns as the most convoluted mess of a movie that I've ever seen in my life. The acting, lighting, directing and editing is of immeasurable low quality, and the narrative? Whoa! No movie could possibly deliver all that this one claims to, well not competently anyhow.

Al's '71 celluloid offspring is no less than 4 films patched clumsily together in a feeble attempt at creating an enjoyable motion picture. It was shot in `chill-o-rama' but truthfully it should have been `confuse-o-rama' because the only chill you'll feel is the whisking of air through the empty spot in your wallet where you once had some cash but now you have this DVD.

Blood of Ghastly Horror seems to have been doomed to an endless amount of uncertainty from the get-go. Initially it was a jewel heist movie called Two Tickets of Terror (1964) then changed later that same year to Echo of Terror. Poor Al couldn't sell it; hell he couldn't give it away. Plan B was put into effect and in 1965 he added some dancing chicks and re-christened it Psycho A Go Go, but still no go (go). Fine, he pulls out all the stops and hires waning but always-proficient actor John Carradine to star alongside the cavernous cleavage of Regina Carrol. Seven years after it was originally shot Adamson threw in a `Nam vet gone mad subplot along with a few zombies and some nonsensical voodoo (...), re-titled it Blood of Ghastly Horror and off to the drive-in we go.

As if all of this wasn't puzzling enough `ole Al gave it an alternate moniker for the southern regions that couldn't or wouldn't run a movie with `blood' in it's title. So The Man with the Synthetic Brain became the obvious answer and this also served as the T.V. label as well. Sound good? Well it's not. There are no smooth transitions here, just cut, chop, slice, paste and insert. The hair-do's change chaotically as do the vehicles and décor. You either give into its inanities or you simply turn it off. Producer Sam Sherman said that it was a big hit in Pakistan.

By Christopher Curry

sorry if u don't get it.......2004-08-15

This movie rocks. While it does seem at times - well, pretty much the whole movie - that the end result is just a bunch of disparate clips strung together, there actually is a semblance of a plot that rears its head unexpectedly. But even looked at in terms of its fragmentary nature, this flick is a great exercise in dadaist, hallucinogenic filmmaking. It is supremely entertaining in a "so bad it's good" way, and should be approached with an open mind and relaxed critical hackles. If you still just don't get it, like the previous reviewer , then that's your loss, pally.

Al Adamson fails again.... Stay away!.......2003-03-04

I had seen two movies by Al Adamson before this one, "Dracula vs Frankenstein" and "Vampire Men of the Lost Planet", so needless to say, my expectations weren't very high, but this movie still managed to disappoint me.

As usual, it doesn't take long until Al Adamson seems to forget the main plot, and instead focuses on totally uninteresting side plots. And unlike "Vampire Men of the Lost Planet", this movie isn't the least "good-bad", it doesn't have any entertainment value at all except maybe in some of the scenes in the beginning with John Carradine. He gets top billing but his part is actually pretty small.

I can not recommend this movie, not even to fans of bad movies, like myself. Save yourself the time and money.

Charming Trash.......2002-04-21

This is one beauty of a head-scratcher. It is, literally, 3 movies in one. Al Adamson made the tight-yet-pointless heist film ECHO OF TERROR (a/k/a TWO TICKETS TO TERROR) in 1964, only to see it chopped up and intermixed with new footage several years later (starring John Carradine as an ethical but mad scientist) and retitled MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN, and sold as a horror cheapie to television. Not to be outdone, he and producer Sam Sherman further complicated matters by adding a third plot strand to the mix (something to do with killer zombies and yet another mad scientist, not to mention a rather sickly looking Tommy Kirk), and another new title, BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR. In order for the final incarnation to make sense, there are flashbacks-within-flashbacks all over the place. There was yet another version, PSYCHO-A-G-GO, which had musical numbers spliced amongst the madness!
Amazingly, it's quite an enjoyable viewing experience following the severely warped logic of the narrative, which only gets more confusing with each viewing.
Topping it off is some of the best commentary I've yet heard on any dvd, provided by Sam Sherman, who promises to some day restore the integrity of Adamson's ECHO OF TERROR to its original glory (well, one can hope).
As with Ed Wood, it's hard not to admire director Al Adamson's earnestness, and Vilmos Szigmond's cinematography (on the ECHO OF TERROR portions), despite the faded print used for the dvd, shows a precocious eye for composition. A most unusual recommendation!

blood of ghastly horror.......2001-12-12

I just bought this movie, & must give it 4-stars for that old time, low budget appeal. Good movie to watch when you want something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. Normally, I can figure out the ending, or what will happen next, but not in this one. It will keep you guessing. Reminds you of those summer nights at the Drive-in movie.

"Deluxe Collector's Edition 4 DVD Set" Blood of Ghastly Horror / House on Haunted Hill / the Bat / the Last Man on Earth

Average customer rating:

"Deluxe Collector's Edition 4 DVD Set" Blood of Ghastly Horror / House on Haunted Hill / the Bat / the Last Man on Earth

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

DIGITALLY MASTERED, INTERACTIVE MENUS, CHAPTER SELECTIONS, & MORE...

DVD:

DVD