Shameless Self Expression

Set in 14 th century, in a small Cumbrian mining village ravaged by the Black Death (i.e. the plague). Hamish McFarlane plays a young boy who claims to have had a vision that told him that the plague will pass over the village if they all make a pilgrimage to a mysterious land, carrying a cross to put atop a church. This involves digging a huge tunnel through the centre of the Earth...which leads them to present day New Zealand! Needless to say, the Christian villagers are bewildered, frightened, and obviously fish out of water. In a cast mixing Aussies and Kiwis, Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Paul Livingston (better known as oddball Aussie comedy character Flacco), and Marshall Napier are amongst the villagers. Jay Laga’aia turns up as a modern day Kiwi welder. Everyone’s been through it at some point in their life, and you never, ever forget it. Being dragged to the cinema by someone (usually a date or your parents) to see a film you have absolutely no interest in, but they’re re...

Rock Hudson is a lothario high school coach/guidance counsellor (!) who enlists the sexy new teacher (Angie Dickinson) in helping student John David Carson with his...erm...sexual ‘issues’, whilst Dickinson seemingly has an interest in Hudson, who in turn, is inviting many a young female student into his office for ‘private sessions’. Did I mention that there’s a killer on the loose bumping off pretty female students? Or that Hudson is a married man who never seems willing to leave his wife for any of his girlfriends? Roddy McDowall is the shameless principal who doesn’t even pretend that he cares about anything other than the school’s reputation. Telly Savalas and “Star Trek” actor James Doohan play big city cops, whilst Keenan Wynn is the incompetent local lawman, more concerned with the high school football team. This 1971 Roger Vadim (the stupendously entertaining cult classic “Barbarella” ) mixture of sex comedy, black comedy, and serial killer flick is kinda dirty and me l...

Buxom Pam Grier is the title private eye Sheba Shayne, who tackles the gangsters trying to muscle in on her father Rudy Challenger’s business. Austin Stoker is his faithful business partner. This 1975 AIP blaxploitationer written and directed by William Girdler (director of the blaxploitation horror flick “Abby” , the ‘Jaws with Fur’ flick “Grizzly” ) has little or none of the sex and violence so important to these films (or at least, important to me ). Did they expect us to care about the plot? Sadly, I didn’t. This is a particularly cheap, lukewarm entry into the genre, with even Grier delivering a rather lacklustre performance, free of the energy and enthusiasm usually found in her genre work (even the worst of it). Dick Merrifield (who isn’t in the film nearly enough), Christopher Joy (hilarious as a spineless loan shark) and a sleazy D’Urville Martin (director of the crappy cult blaxploitation flick “Dolemite” and co-star of the excellent blaxploitation film “Black ...