"Luana" Original Half Sheet. aka "Luana - the Girl Tarzan," aka "Luana - Jungle Girl." "As savage as the beasts that raised her!" Mei Chen is Luana, a girl who was lost in the jungle when her father's plane went down. Typical jungle girl flick with monkey high jinks and blow-gun toting natives. Frank Frazetta art. From 1973. Trailer here. Also, "Shades of Gray" blog has a promotional comic of the film here.

"Xtro" Original One Sheet. "Some extra-terrestrials aren't friendly." A bizarre film about a father and son. The father was abducted by aliens, but returns a few years later in the form of an alien on all fours with backward legs and a forked tongue. It creeps into town and attacks a woman in a secluded house, who then gives birth to a full grown man (the father.) The movie gets more bizarre after that, because the son begins to realize that he has telekinetic powers. He uses them to animate a toy tank to attack people. Also, he makes a man-size G.I. Joe to terrorize a mean old lady in their building. Other highlights include Maryam d'Abo in a cocoon, a crazy clown and an unexplained panther. Actually, the best part of the DVD is the interview with the director. He admits the movie is a piece of crap and that he just tried to make the grossest film he could. Also, he tells how he's watching the news a few years after the video release and they've caught a serial killer. They're looking around his home and the camera zooms in on a bunch of so-called "video nasties." "Xtro" is right in the middle. Ha ha. From 1983. Trailer here.

"The Nest" Original One Sheet. "Roaches have never tasted meat... Until now." A biological experiment on roaches in an island community creates mutant man-eating cockroaches. Also, whatever they chow down on becomes a part of the DNA of the next generation, so you get to see people-roaches, cat-roaches, etc. Possibly the inspiration for the "Mimic" films, which have a similar plot line. Pretty boring. The scene on the poster never takes place either. 1987. Trailer here.

"War Goddess" aka "Terence Young's Amazons" Original One Sheet. "Women Warriors as Sensuous as they are Savage. Women Rulers as Passionate as they are Powerful." The 1975 film about a tribe of wild Amazons. Every 4 years, a new Queen is chosen for the Amazons through intense competition and battle, including wrestling, javelin throwing, climbing challenges and horse racing (while whipping other contestants.) In order to compete, each woman must bring the head of a man. The Amazon women enjoy a fine existence, except for once a year when they must breed with men to further their race.

Director Terence Young and colleagues reviewed 14,000 photographs and conducted "Miss Amazon" contests in Trieste, Paris, Hamburg, Munich, Rome and Nice to come up with the 100 women who are the "Amazons." They then endured a six-week training regimen that included riding, calisthenics and running from early in the morning until lights out. They did mostly their own stunts too; several girls had broken legs and one lost a finger under a chariot wheel!

It was filmed in Spain. The original is 105 minutes, but the U.S. release (War Goddess) is a cut up 89 minutes. There is a Japanese DVD that has English language that clocks in at 103 minutes. Here's the trailer. Contains nudity. From 1973. Also see my movie program.

"Gator Bait" 8x10 Promotional Still. "Untamed and deadly as the swamps that spawned her!" "Half animal... All Woman." Claudia Jennings is Desiree, a backwoods gal who takes care of her siblings through poaching alligators. When two hillbilly deputies catch her poaching, they give chase and through a series of mishaps, one of the deputies accidentally shoots and kills the other one. Well, they go back and tell the sheriff that Desiree is the killer. Then, one of the crazy Brackett clan kills her sister. After that, Desiree goes on a revenge killing spree. Has to be seen to be believed. Not available in any format except VHS. Unfortunately, Claudia Jennings' career was just getting started when she was killed in a car accident in 1979. Here's the trailer. From 1974.

"Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" Original International One Sheet. aka "The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula." "Deadly Horrors! Dragon Thrills! The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular!" While lecturing in the Far East, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) tells his students of a doomed village in China that becomes cursed every year at the time of the 7th moon. Van Helsing is persuaded by a family of kung fu experts to rid the village of the 7 vampires that torment its citizens. He is joined by seven brothers and one sister, who help him fight Count Dracula (in the guise of a local warlord,) and his kung fu vampire minions. Whew! This movie's actually pretty good. Christopher Lee turned down the chance to play Dracula this time after the not-so-great "Dracula AD 1972," although it's obvious that they used a close up of his eyes when Dracula is brought back from the dead near the beginning. Good stuff. Also, be on the lookout for a "Wilhelm Scream" during the big fight scene at the village (at 1hr 12mns) when Van Helsing shoves a zombie into the fire pit. From 1974. Trailer here.

"Scanners" Original Insert. An experimental tranquilizer called Ephemerol, which was used on pregnant women, fails due to an unseen side effect on unborn children: It creates scanners. (Psychics with the ability to control minds, cause intense pain and in some cases, kill.) When the strongest of the Scanners starts an underground movement tasked with world domination, only other Scanners can stop him. I love this movie and although the poster art gives away the ending, the poster is great too. It spawned 3 sequels: "Scanners II: The New Order" (1991), "Scanners III: The Takeover" (1992) and "Scanner Cop" (1995). Here's the trailer. 1981.

"Heavy Metal" Original Half Sheet. "A shadow shall fall over the universe, and evil will grow in its path... and death will come from the skies." An animated sci-fi anthology based upon stories from Heavy Metal magazine that are tied together with a story about a flying orb containing the essence of evil, called the Loch-nar. Actors contributing their voice talent include John Candy, Harold Ramis and Eugene Levy. Interestingly, Elmer Bernstein's theme for Taarna was actually written for the character of Alex in "Saturn 3" (1980). The theme was never heard in the film, so Bernstein used it for this film. From 1981. Here's the trailer.