The first part of our Turkey Day 20^th Anniversary was yesterday, and I have survived to tell the tale! In fact, we all did! It was a little different this time out because we spent some time doing a little filming here and there for a documentary about just how crazy we are for doing these little get-togethers for the last two decades, all in celebration of these cinematic shipwrecks. We had around 15 people joining in this year, most of which stayed here from the very beginning right to the very last film, knocking out SIX features (and about 21 pizzas!) before it was all said and done.

It is really hard to believe that not only have I continued this crazy tradition, but that I have more than a few die-hard friends that actually look forward to these little marathons with great joy and excitement. Yes, we are all mad cinephiles. It really is hard to explain to most people what exactly the reasoning is behind these, and even more importantly, why they are so much damn fun. But if you know, then you know and don’t need the explanation.

We had a lot of regulars this time out, and a few Turkey Day virgins. Of course, Aaron Christensen was here, who has been my faithful co-pilot in these endeavors since 2005. We also had Jason Coffman, Matt Harding, Bryan Martinez Tim Palace, and Gavin Schmitt, who, as always, drove down from Wisconsin for the event. But other out-of-state attendees were Scott Bradley, setting the record for coming the longest distance to watch Turkeys, flying out from San Francisco! He was here once before in 2017, so he was making his triumphant return! One of my Discover the Horror co-hosts, Aaron AuBuchon, made his Turkey Day debut, as well as doing double-time in filming different things for the documentary. We also had our good friend Chelsea Fetherlin come out from Pennsylvania making her first Turkey Day event. My son Nick was able to get a day off of work, and not only do his usual incredible job helping in the kitchen, but also was able to relax and watch a few of the films. His buddy Austin Robinson came over as well. While not his first time here, Austin got his fill of both Turkeys and pizza! Another Turkey Day virgin was my wife’s cousin Brett, who was here the whole day and just had a great time. Of course, we all did.

Before we get to the films, a HUGE shout-out to my wife for continuing to knock out the pizzas. We had our usual ones such as the Chili Dog pizza, crab ragoon, biscuits & gravy, as well as a few new ones such as a gyro pizza, which was tasty as hell. Of course, there is our Turkey Day Cake, with the great and powerful Ro-Man busting out of an old console TV that she made! Her creativity and talent never cease to amaze me. It wasn’t an easy task to do, and nerves were a bit on edge, but she blew everyone away with it. Plus, another shout-out and thanks to her sister Debbie for coming up from Tennessee to help Dawn in the kitchen, getting everything ready, and helping crank out the pizzas. This Turkey Day just wouldn’t be the same without their hard work.

Let’s get to those films!

Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956) – For years, my friend and fellow dealer had a one-sheet for this movie, which just looked amazing, that he was selling. I had never heard of the movie before then and had always looked for it. When I finally did find a copy, not only was it in black and white, but the quality was also so bad that it was pretty much unwatchable. And then Vinegar Syndrome released it in not only an amazingly looking release, but I soon discovered that it was actually a color film! I quickly pre-ordered it and watched it the day it arrived. And right away, I knew it would be in the next Turkey Day lineup.

Written and directed by Curt Siodmak, the film stars John Bromfield and Beverly Garland which has them traveling up the Amazon River to uncover the truth about the title beast, which is making the plantation workers run off in fear. Bromfield, playing a character named “Rock”, hasn’t quite mastered his union negotiation skills since he just goes over the upset workers and starts swinging punches! The film is very dated when it comes to men and women, which makes the film a lot of fun in how they are both reacting to different obstacles on their journey. Not a great monster film, but if you are a fan of this style from the ‘50s, not only does this print look beautiful (a HUGE shout-out to Vinegar Syndrome) but it is a pretty entertaining film.

Creature of the Walking Dead (1965) – Good old Jerry Warren. By this time in his career, he learned that he didn’t actually have to make his own movies, but buy up some foreign picture, shoot a few additional sequences, and release his own film around the footage from the one he bought. This is a perfect example of that. There are some shots from the Mexican film The Black Pit of Dr. M (1962), but most of the picture is from La marca del muerto (1961). One of the scenes Warren did shoot is where Bruno VeSota is getting an arm massage while giving a lot of exposition away to the audience. It goes on for well over 5 minutes and was the part I knew that made it perfect for Turkey Day. And I wasn’t wrong.

The man plot of the movie is about a doctor reviving his grandfather, who had experimented with continuing this life by transfusing blood of an unwilling victim into himself, which somehow kept him young, which caused him to get arrested and hung. Of course, after reviving the old coot, he doesn’t give a crap about the morals of his grandson and doesn’t care how they acquire the blood, or from where. It’s not the original film that makes it a Turkey, but what Warren did to it, such as having a narration telling what is going on, even over long dialogue sequences on screen. I guess it was easier to do that than to dub the two actors!

Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972) – This has got to be one of the best exploitation movie titles out there. There can be no misconception about the type of movie you are going to see when you sit down for this one. But is it worth it? I mean, it was filmed over 3 weekends, has a budget of only $24K, and pretty much an entire cast of amateur actors, who how could it be, right? Wrong. That is the real thing about these kinds of films. Yes, the dialogue is often laughable, as well as some of the acting. But everyone in here is giving it their all, so for that alone, I have to applaud them.

Written and directed by Ed Adlum, who’s really only other claim to fame is that he wrote Shriek of the Mutilated (1974), which is another Turkey. While the cast was all amateurs, the crew wasn’t. Roberta Findlay was the cinematographer and her husband Michael edited it. It does have some interesting shots, a crazy-as-hell story, but is something completely different and unique. So again, you have to give some credit for that. The plot is about some ancient druids that are trying to bring their queen back to life, by draining the blood of others to keep them going but also to use in the ceremony to revive their queen.  

Thanks to Severin for putting this out on Blu-ray because the print looks amazing. So thankful that they treated this film with care and to archive it for future fans.

Zombie Lake (1981) – This is a Jess Franco film that he actually turned down because of the low budget. He was replaced at the last minute by Jean Rollin, who did it as a favor to the producer. This was one of those VHS tapes that had such great artwork that would get you to rent it, only to be slightly disappointed in out bad it was. But, if you’re looking for a film filled with nudity, then at least you got that part! And it does have underwater Nazi Zombies, but nowhere near as good as in Shock Waves (1977). Believe it or not, this is actually a love story, between a German soldier and a French woman, who ends up getting pregnant and has a daughter after the soldier is killed by the villagers, along with this regiment, and thrown into the local lake, which now because cursed, and a hunting place for these undead soldiers.

The makeup is literally coming off the zombies anytime they tough someone or something. For being zombies, all they seem to do is drool blood all over their victims’ throat. When they are under the water, usually attacking young women who are completely naked, with the underwater camera getting a little too close in some shots, you can see they are actually in a swimming pool. But for some reason, the film is more entertaining than it has any right to be. That might have something to do by watching with a group of like-minded film fans. Watching it by yourself . . . not sure I would recommend it.

The Black Cat (1989) – Yet another film that is titled in reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s story but has nothing to do with it. Surprise, surprise. But what this IS, is Luigi Cozzi’s official entry in The Three Mothers trilogy that Argento started with Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980). The story goes that Daria Nicolodi had written the original script, to be the actual third film in the trilogy, with Argento to direct. But he went off to direct Tenebrae, so the script ended up going to Luigi Cozzi. He rewrote the script, making it sort of a homage to those previous two films, but also setting it up to be the final film. The problem is that the script is all over the place and just doesn’t work. It features a lot of crazy lighting effects, gooey makeup effects, characters that make no sense, and just a lot of “What the hell?”. In other words, a perfect Turkey Day film.

Again, these are not inept filmmakers who haven’t a clue what they are doing. Everyone here is trying to make the best film they can. The problem is I’m not sure anybody KNEW which film that was! The film does star Caroline Munro, mainly known for Hammer, but also has done some great work in plenty of other genre films. But she is not given much to do here other than look damn sexy! We also have Urbano Barberini, who appeared in Argento’s Opera and Lamberto Bava’s Demons, and even Michelle Soavi appears as a movie director in the very beginning, so there are a few familiar faces. Once again, Severin Films put out a stunning looking Blu-ray of the film, which is so much better than the shabby looking bootlegs we were all used to.

The Abomination (1986) – The last film for the day came from Texas, and from writer/director Bret McCormick, which shot on Super 8mm. This was made at the time SOV (shot-on-video) films were hitting the video stores just to get titles on the shelves. As long as it had nudity, sex, gore, or any one or more of those, it would probably get rented. I don’t remember when I first saw this title, but I remember it being so schlocky, with some crazy rubber monsters living in this small house, like in the stove, washing machine, and kitchen cabinets. But there was plenty of blood and gore, including some really gross tumors that after getting coughed up, are alive and well, and very hungry. So yeah, another perfect Turkey Day entry. Since it was a super low-budget, and shot on Super 8, appearing very grainy throughout the running time, and had the longest running time of any of the features playing that day, I was a little worried since it was the last film of the day, it would put my audience either to sleep, or over the edge. I was wrong on all counts. For fans of those old, rubber monster, gore-filled flicks, this one really is a crowd pleaser. There are a ton of things that make no sense whatsoever, with the dialogue, the plot, or just what the hell is happening, but damn if it isn’t a lot of fun. Again, with a bunch of crazy cinephiles. The creatures are like something out of a student film . . . in grade school, but I have to give them credit for being original and a lot of fun.