But Adamson didn’t stop there – in 1971 he injected a voodoo element to the already harebrained story in which Kent Taylor plays a quasi-witch doctor and Tommy Kirk is a harried police sergeant. The new scenes reveal John Carradine as the surgeon whose mind control experiments led to the thief’s murder spree. The story of a deranged killer in hot pursuit of stolen jewels, Psycho A Go-Go was re-edited in 1969 with newly shot footage and released as The Fiend with the Electronic Brain. The second disc doubles back to 1965 with Adamson’s first credited directorial effort, Psycho A Go-Go. 1971’s The Female Bunch, a down and dirtier gloss on Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is included on the same disc as an extra. The merry-go-round begins with David Gregory’s fine documentary about the director’s life and final days, Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death Of Al Adamson (reviewed by Glenn Erickson here). Zsigmond wound up shooting four films for Adamson – one of them, Horror of the Blood Monsters, was produced in 1970, one year before McCabe and Mrs. He gave a leg up to cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács and 31 year old Gary Graver whose head-spinning resume notes everything from Invasion of the Bee Girls to Orson Welles’ final film, The Other Side of the Wind. He remembered – and hired – stars from Hollywood’s golden age including John Carradine, Broderick Crawford, J. “Unwatchable” is a word that pops up frequently when talking about Adamson’s movies – nevertheless he and Sam Sherman, his longtime friend and producer, treated actors and crew like family. But for students of the lurid underbelly of motion picture production, it’s a fascinating ride – especially when it goes off the rails. It’s the story of one man’s twenty year run in exploitation cinema that may be too exhausting for the casual viewer to contemplate. The Happy Hobo?Īl Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection is an alarming new release from Severin Films presenting 32 of the director’s misbegotten “masterpieces” in beautifully restored transfers with enough added attractions to choke a horse. His last gasp – Cinderella 2000, Nurse Sherri, The Happy Hobo. The rant turns political, incendiary: Black Heat, Mean Mother, Black Samurai. The titles grab you by the collar like a desperate carny barker – Psycho A Go-Go, Blood of Ghastly Horror, Satan’s Sadists – then something for the raincoat crowd – Girls For Rent, Nurses For Sale, The Naughty Stewardesses. Starring Russ Tamblyn, Regina Carrol, Lon ChaneyĬinematography by Gary Graver, Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács

The last witch hunter cast stewardess