Smokey-13

As a collector of the horror genre I always try and seek out some of the rarest titles I can find, so you can imagine my delight when I came across this seldom seen werewolf yarn at my local flea market. Not only is it no longer available for distribution but it had Peter Cushing's name in the credits! That's reason enough for me to purchase it. The story centers around a young boy named Etoile, whose parents were slaughtered by wolves when he was a baby. The wolves then took it upon themselves to raise Etoile as one of their own. Years later a traveling sideshow stumbles upon Etoile in the forest and they take him along as an attraction for their show dubbing him "wolf boy". As Etoile grows into a man he finds that some unusual characteristics have come along with his adulthood, especially when the moon is full. The rest of the movie details Etoile's obsession with a prostitute he has fallen in love with. When her clients turn up brutally murdered the police start a full investigation. Who will turn up as the guilty party? You'll have to watch the movie to find out and believe me it's worth tracking down. Outstanding performances from Peter Cushing as a coroner who tries to play detective and track down the killer, and Ron Moody as a sleazy and truly creepy zookeeper that Etoile works for. This British werewolf flick is probably now long forgotten and in my opinion deserves to be rescued from obscurity. With names like Peter Cushing and Freddie Francis attached to it, how can you resist?

Anthony Perkins gives a bizarre and unhinged performance in this gothic style adaption of the Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde story complete with elements from Jack the Ripper. This time it's a cocaine-like substance which causes the good doctor to metamorph into the uncontrollable Jack Hyde. When Perkins is transformed into the savage beast he decides to make slashing the throats of prostitutes a hobby. Intriguing take on the over-played Jekyll and Hyde story with some twists and turns thrown in to keep the viewer interested. Also an excellent performance from Glynis Barber as Mrs.Jekyll. Atmospheric settings, weird situations, and over the top performances make this one an eye opener for anyone looking for something a little different. And when it comes to the role of Perkins, Edge of Sanity is a more than appropriate title.

Another contribution to the countless slasher films made during the 1980's, this one is a bottom of the barrel edition to the genre. There's more goofing around from the idiot college students in this movie than there is bloodshed. For some unknown reason a nutcase decides to hack and slash a bunch of teenagers during exam week on a college campus. Maybe he's bitter because he failed an exam there once. Or maybe he's bitter because the makers of this film failed so badly at giving the viewers any type of suspense whatsoever. Whatever the case may be this one is a definite flop.