
Paul Lavond was a respected banker in Paris when he was framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to Devil’s Island. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond however is consumed with hatred for the men who betrayed him, and takes the scientist’s methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.
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Horror
Night of 1,000 Sexes / Mil sexos tiene la noche (1984) Jesus Franco, Lina Romay, Daniel Katz, Carmen Carrión, Horror, Thriller, Erotic

Franco at his finest – somebody get this film on DVD now! This obscure Golden Films production got to pop the Franco-cherry on my new movie projector. It was just the right choice! Lina Romay, chubby like she just walked out of an Anders Zorn-painting, plays Irena (Female Vampire flashbacks, anybody?) who’s part of a kind of hypnosis nightclub act with the magician Fábian. He’s not a very nice guy and uses his hypnotic powers to use poor Irena as an instrument of vengeance, sleeping with and killing off his enemies. Or is the whole set up just part of her nightmares? An unusually good, hypnotic (in both meanings of the word) sleaze flick that really shows what Franco can achieve with extremely limited resources – some hotel rooms, a handful of actors (the same old faces that’s in all films from this period), a film camera and some re-used Daniel White music. Man, I really love this stripped down Golden Films stuff when it’s done right and this films is much closer in spirit to, say, Macumba Sexual than Mansion of the Living Dead. Parts of the film are almost delirious. There’s a thick, intimate atmosphere and interesting experimental photography. Some scenes are almost bordering on the poetic, for example we have a beautifully shot long kiss filmed through a glass door, bathing in sunlight. Say what you want about Lina’s acting capacity but here she gives all she’s got, somewhat reprising her roles in Female Vampire and Doriana Gray. Even though the story itself is more similar to Nightmares Come at Night. Highly recommended!
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White Slave / Schiave bianche – Violenza in Amazzonia (1985) Mario Gariazzo, Elvire Audray, Will Gonzales, Dick Campbell, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Erotic

A young woman seeks vengeance and finds love when her parents are killed in the Amazon and she is taken prisoner by an indigenous tribe of headhunters.
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Female Vampire (1978) Jesus Franco, Lina Romay, Jack Taylor, Alice Arno, Horror, Erotic

A beautiful female vampire lures men to their doom.
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Ishirô Honda, Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

When American reporter Steve Martin investigates a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan, he comes face to face with an ancient creature so powerful and so terrifying, it can reduce Tokyo to a smoldering graveyard. Nuclear weapon testing resurrected this relic from the Jurassic age, and now it’s rampaging across Japan. At night, Godzilla wades through Tokyo leaving death and destruction in his wake, disappearing into Tokyo Bay when his rage subsides. Coventional weapons are useless against him; but renowned scientist Dr. Serizawa has discovered a weapon that could destroy all life in the bay – including Godzilla. But which disaster is worse, Godzilla’s fury, or the death of Tokyo Bay?
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Zoom In: Rape Apartments / Zûmu in: Bôkô danchi (1980) Naosuke Kurosawa, Erina Miyai, Yôko Azusa, Yûko Ôsaki, Horror, Pinku, Erotic

Saeko, a somewhat enigmatic young woman, is brutally beaten with a rock and raped by a man wearing a dark-colored mask and black gloves. She eventually recovers, but not long afterwards a series of horrific murders begins occurring in the apartment building she lives in. When it turns out that the victims are badly beaten, then killed and their genitals burned off, Saeko begins to think she has an idea who the killer is, but realizes she may be murdered before she has a chance to expose the maniac.
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Arena (1989) Peter Manoogian, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Camp, Claudia Christian, Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-fi

An intergalactic fighting competition between champions of various worlds has traditionally been won by a species much larger and stronger than humans. Entering the contest, a human finds he has to battle against not just his opponents and his self-doubts, but the corrupt system.
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I Am a Ghost (2012) H.P. Mendoza, Jeannie Barroga, Rick Burkhardt, Anna Ishida, Horror, Thriller

Emily, a troubled spirit, haunts her own house every day, wondering why she can’t leave. With the help of Sylvia, a clairvoyant hired to rid the house of spirits, Emily is forced into a ‘patient/therapist’ relationship, uncovering disturbing mysteries about her past that may help her move on to ‘the next place’.
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The Night Digger / The Road Builder (1971) Alastair Reid, Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay, Horror, Thriller

Effective psychological love story with a macabre twist not found in the original Joy Cowley novel. The dreary existence of middle- aged spinster Maura Prince takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of young handyman Billy Jarvis, but there is more to Billy than meets the eye. This well-crafted film, full of sexual tension and Gothic flavor, was Patricia Neal’s second after her return to acting, her real-life stroke worked deftly into the story by then-husband Roald Dahl.
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Hells Highway (2002) Jeff Leroy, Phoebe Dollar, Kiren David, Hank Horner, Horror, Sci-Fi

A sexy homicidal hitchhicker, calling herself Lucinda, commits acts of gory mayhem against unsuspecting people who pick her up off the road to help her out.
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