Chikara

Offbeat western in which an ex-confederate captain (Baker), his Indian friend(Houck) and a professor (Neeley) joined forces to find a treasure of diamonds buried in a haunting mountain. Low budget production has some charming moments but the outcome is just a forgetable tale of horror blended with western style. Miss Locke, Eastwood's ex-wife, is the girl on the spot. I give this a 05 (five).

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Familiar isn't it, Jungle coming to life, invisible enemies, a lone girl who has experienced the terrible thing that comes from the trees. The brave Indian tracker, its all there. Predator by any other name, and worth watching. Forget the other reviews, this was blockbuster (popular soundtrack The Band, horror, fear , scares, b grade cast?)

Great cast they are familiar.

Just watch it, its good.

The director should have made more films, he had a talent and I think it was wasted, I loved it Earl, you did well

Halcow international film (who was famous for making western in the 60's & 70's drive-in era) made this poorly put together film. Paramount Pictures picked it up in 1977 under the title SHADOW MOUNTAIN and released briefly before it disappeared and to re-appear in several diffrent video labels. Joe Don Baker stars as a Southern soldier who comes home to find his wife with a Northern Soldier after the Civil War ended. He, Ted Neeley (from Jesus Christ Superstar) and an indian goes and travels and finds a Sondra Locke who is hiding some secret. Pretty amateurish film with bad sound, bad lighting, and a cameo by Slim Pickens. A song from the rock group "The Band" is also heard in the soundtrack.

On Friday 14th May 1982 this was the first film I ever recorded on a VCR - thats why I remember it so vividly - and I loved it. Yesterday I finally tracked it down on DVD under the title Curse of the Demon Mountain in the UK.

This has to be the worst official DVD release I have ever seen. I was still able to enjoy the movie, it is (in my opinion) a masterpiece of the horror/western cinema subgenre, but the film transfer was awful.

Sound was poor, colours went from over exposed to faded, the film was full frame (despite being shot in Panavision) and the sound went totally muted whenever an insult was hurled! Talk about censorship! The horse fall was there, the bloody battle at the start, the arrow in the arm, but any old insult gets censored out! Unbelievable.

Its about time Chikara got the DVD treatment it deserves. Full 2.35 to 1 widescreen, with loads of extras. I would love to see it that way.

And I would happily pay good money for the chance!

I love this forgotten gem of a film - so atmospheric and haunting. Sure, it's maybe not even a 'good' film in most people's definition of the term - it's low budget and a little rough around the edges, but it has a strange, uncanny quality that's hard to put your finger on, and that few films have. Magic caught in the film grain. If you're on the right wavelength, and have some imagination, there's really nothing else around like it.

I'd agree with the other reviewer who calls it 'The Greatest Horror Western Ever Made' (and I'd put the fantastic 'Bone Tomahawk' in second place).

Tragically, the only version that is available is of such incredibly bad quality - missing 20 minutes, censored swearing, 4:3 aspect instead of the 2.35:1 cinemascope it was filmed in, and truly HORRIBLE image quality. In fact, I'd say it's fair to call this a 'lost' film.

Where, oh where, is the uncut widescreen blu ray?