Well, here it is: the final countdown… to Christmas, that is. Or perhaps Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or whatever you feel like celebrating this time of year. In the previous entry of my B-Movie Gift Guide series, I started to scratch the rusty surface of cult movies as gifts. For me, there’s nothing greater than opening a present on (enter_celebratory_event_here) Day and seeing the words “Directed by Umberto Lenzi,” or “Starring Barbara Steele.” Oddly enough, I have found out that I am not alone — and therefore, I present the final chapter of my B-Movie Gift Guide (for 2009, that is): Cult-O-Rama.
• Knife Of Ice / 1972 / Wham! USA / Not Rated
With there being very little doubt in my mind that Umberto Lenzi’s wacky masterpiece Eyeball will always be his best work (if that’s saying anything), it’s very difficult for me to settle for second best. Fortunately, in this case, “second best” happens to be Knife Of Ice, a stellar entry in the giallo genre in which Lenzi casts Carroll Baker as Martha, a mute woman who gets caught up in a Euro web of terror when a killer sets his sights on Martha and her cousin.
• Zombies Of The Stratosphere / 1952 / Cheezy Flicks / Not Rated
After thrilling the youthful audiences of the Saturday matinee in both King Of The Rocketmen and Radar Men From The Moon, Republic Studios decided to brush off their Rocket Man outfit once more — calling the character Larry Martin this time ‘round, and pitting him against some invading Martians. Zombies Of The Stratosphere is twelve chapters of guilty Saturday matinee serial fun, and features a young Leonard Nimoy as one of the alien baddies.
• Hardware (1990) / 1990 / Severin Films / Not Rated
In a barren post-apocalypse world, a young scavenger named Moses Baxter (Dylan McDermott) comes across the weird metallic skull of a fallen cyborg. Taking the souvenir home to his artist girlfriend (Stacey Travis), the two soon learn that the skull is from a murderous machine known as the MARK 13, which promptly reactivates itself and begins manipulating all sorts of household objects to kill. This cult classic is available on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films, along with a slew of great special features.
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