MonsterGirl’s 150 Days of Classic Horror #66 God Told Me To 1976

Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To (1976) is one of the most audacious and thematically combustible films to emerge from the 1970s horror landscape- a feverish blend of police procedural, religious horror, and science fiction that channels the urban paranoia and spiritual unease of its era. Written, directed, and produced by Cohen, the film unfolds with the raw, guerrilla energy that defines his best work, using the gritty streets of New York City as both a backdrop and a character in its own right.

Larry Cohen was a prolific and innovative, and often subversive, writer-director for both feature film and television, whose career spanned genres and decades, leaving an indelible mark on cult and genre cinema. He first gained attention with the gritty blaxploitation classics Black Caesar (1973) and Hell Up in Harlem (1973), before making his name in horror and science fiction with the It’s Alive trilogy (beginning in 1974), which blended family drama with ecological and mutant-monster terror.

With Cohen’s God Told Me To (1976), he pushed boundaries with its fusion of detective drama, supernatural thriller, and speculative, imaginative science fantasy, earning cult status for its audacious themes and urban paranoia. He continued to innovate with films like Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), a unique black comedy monster movie set in New York City, and The Stuff (1985), a satirical horror film about a deadly, addictive dessert.

God Told Me To opens with a jarring act of violence: a sniper perched atop a water tower calmly picks off pedestrians below, killing fifteen people in the span of minutes. When NYPD detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) confronts the shooter, the man, almost serene, explains his motive with chilling simplicity: “God told me to,” before leaping to his death.

This phrase becomes the haunting refrain of the film, echoed by a series of seemingly ordinary New Yorkers who, in rapid succession, commit brutal murders, each claiming divine instruction as their reason. As Nicholas investigates, the case spirals from urban crime drama into metaphysical nightmare: mass stabbings, a police officer opening fire at a parade (in a memorable early screen appearance by Andy Kaufman), and a family annihilation linked by the same cryptic justification.

Cohen’s script is a wild, genre-mashing ride, propelling Nicholas through a labyrinth of clues that lead from the city’s underbelly to the heights of cosmic horror. The detective’s journey is as much internal as external: a devout Catholic, Nicholas finds his faith and identity unraveling as he discovers that the murders are orchestrated by Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), a mysterious, androgynous cult leader with psychic powers and a messianic aura. Phillips, it emerges, is the product of a “virgin birth” after his mother’s alien abduction – a revelation that not only reframes the film’s religious overtones as extraterrestrial intervention, but also implicates Nicholas himself as another hybrid, caught between human and alien ancestry.

The film’s most striking set pieces- the opening massacre, the parade shooting, the chillingly calm confession of a family murderer- are shot with a documentary immediacy. Cohen and cinematographer Paul Glickman employ handheld cameras, natural lighting, and real New York locations, giving the film a vérité authenticity that makes its supernatural turns all the more jarring.

The city itself is rendered as a living organism: chaotic, dangerous, and indifferent, its steam vents and neon-lit streets amplifying the film’s sense of urban malaise and existential dread. That gritty feel of New York City in the 1970s permeated and captured cinema in the decade. When the narrative veers into the surreal-alien abduction flashbacks, glowing messiahs, and the infamous “alien vagina” reveal-the effect is both disorienting and hypnotic, a collision of grindhouse exploitation and philosophical provocation.

Tony Lo Bianco anchors the film with a performance of haunted intensity, his stoic exterior slowly eroded by the mounting horror and personal revelations. He’s ably supported by a cast of genre stalwarts and character actors, including Sandy Dennis as Nicholas’s estranged wife, Sylvia Sidney as a doomed mother, and Richard Lynch, whose ethereal menace as Phillips is unforgettable, as is all of Lynch’s other work.

Sandy Dennis was renowned for her utterly distinctive acting style, marked by a nervous, fragile energy, a fluttering vulnerability, and a method-trained authenticity that made her performances feel raw and unpredictable.

Critics often described her as “neurotic and mannered,” with a signature delivery that included sudden shifts in pitch, staccato phrasing, and expressive, almost twitchy gestures, all of which lent her characters a sense of emotional volatility and depth. Dennis excelled in both stage and screen roles, earning two Tony Awards and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as the vulnerable Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Other notable roles include the idealistic teacher in Up the Down Staircase (1967), the quietly obsessed Frances in That Cold Day in the Park (1969), and the eccentric Mona in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Her performances, whether in drama or comedy, were transformative, imbuing even supporting roles with a haunting, unforgettable presence. And she was crazy about her cats, like me!

Altman’s That Cold Day In The Park: 1960’s Repressed Psychosexual Spinster at 30+ and the Young Colt Playing Mute

Richard Lynch, meanwhile, was instantly recognizable for his striking, angular features and intense, almost spectral screen presence- often attributed to the burn scars he sustained early in life, which gave him a uniquely menacing, otherworldly look. Lynch’s acting style was chillingly understated yet magnetic, exuding a quiet, simmering menace that made him a natural fit for villains and enigmatic figures, becaming a cult icon in horror and genre cinema, Richard Lynch delivers one of his most haunting performances in The Premonition (1976), embodying the carnival clown Jude with a strange, unnerving charisma-in that film, his portrayal is both profoundly unsettling and unexpectedly sympathetic, imbuing the character with a deranged innocence and a sense of alienation that lingers long after the film ends.

A Trailer a Day Keeps the Boogeyman Away! The Premonition 1976 – Bright Mother, Nightmare Mother

Other of his genre films include God Told Me To (1976), where his ethereal, messianic antagonist left an indelible mark; The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982); Bad Dreams (1988); and Halloween (2007). Lynch’s legacy is that of a performer who could command the screen with a glance, embodying both supernatural evil and tragic complexity.

Even in fleeting roles in Cohen’s film, such as Andy Kaufman’s deranged police officer, the ensemble brings a lived-in authenticity that grounds the film’s wildest conceits.

Frank Cordell’s score, originally intended to be composed by Bernard Herrmann before his untimely death, adds a layer of somber unease, while Cohen’s script laces the narrative with biting social commentary on faith, fanaticism, and the thin line between religious devotion and madness.

The film’s willingness to question the benevolence of higher powers and to conflate religious ecstasy with alien manipulation was controversial in its day and remains provocative today.

Critically, God Told Me To was met with confusion and some derision upon release. Roger Ebert called it “the most confused feature-length film I’ve ever seen,” but its reputation has only grown with time. Modern critics and horror historians now recognize it as a cult classic, a film whose “messy” structure and tonal shifts are part of its singular charm and lasting impact. Its influence can be traced in later works that blend urban realism with cosmic horror and religious paranoia, from The X-Files and beyond.

In the context of 1970s horror, God Told Me To stands out for its fearless genre-blending, its willingness to confront taboo subjects, and its portrait of a city- and a society- on the brink of spiritual and existential crisis. Cohen’s film is as unsettling as it is original: a work that refuses easy answers, leaving audiences with the chilling possibility that the most terrifying commands might come not from monsters or madmen, but from the voices we trust most.

#66 down, 84 to go! Your EverLovin’ Joey, formally & affectionately known as MonsterGirl!

The Great Villain Blogathon 2016: True Crime Folie à deux: In Cold Blood (1967) & The Honeymoon Killers (1969)

It’s here again! THE GREAT VILLAIN BLOGATHON 2016!

One of the most dread-inspiring Blogathons, featuring a slew of memorable cinematic villains, villainesses & anti-heroes… Thanks to the best writers of the blogosphere Kristina of Speakeasy, Ruth of Silver Screenings, and Karen of Shadows and Satin!

Folie à deux (/fäl? ä ?d?,f??l? ä ?d?/; French for “a madness shared by two”), or shared psychosis, is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another.

or

Amour fou (ämoi)

1. uncontrollable or obsessive passion.

“The puzzle and threat of random violence is one of the defining tropes of true-crime”-Jean Murley

CapturFiles_2 — **Scott Wilson as Dick Hickock and Robert Blake as Perry Smith.**

Smith & Hickock — **The real killers were Perry Smith and Richard ‘Dick’ Hickock.**

In Cold Blood (1967) is director Richard Brooks’s (The First Time I Saw Paris 1954, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958, Elmer Gantry 1960) masterpiece of modern nightmarish nihilistic ‘horror of personality.

The film went on to receive four Academy Award nominations: Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Music Score, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Columbia Studios actually wanted Paul Newman and Steve McQueen to play the roles and wanted it shot in color. Newman went on to do Cool Hand Luke that year and McQueen starred in The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt in 1968. Thank god Brooks got his way and got to do his treatment in Black & White, on location and with lesser-known actors, who both went on to earn Oscar nominations for their chilling performances of the murderous pair.

Blake Wilson and Brooks — **Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, and director Richard Brooks on location for In Cold Blood (1967).**

Capote and Richard Brooks — **Author Truman Capote and director/screenwriter Richard Brooks.**

A post-war true crime thriller, what author Elliot Leyton terms Compulsive Killers: The Story of Modern Multiple Murder, the film is steeped in expressive realism about two thugs Robert Blake as Perry Smith a dark and damaged swarthy angel of death & Scott Wilson (In the Heat of the Night 1967, The Gypsy Moths 1969, The New Centurions 1972, The Great Gatsby 1974, The Right Stuff 1983) as Dick Hickock, who inspire in each other a sense of anti-establishment negativity.

These two drifters, having heard about a wealthy wheat farmer from a fellow inmate, think there is a safe in the house filled with $10,000. The two dark souls take siege upon the rural Holcomb, Kansas, Clutter family in the middle of the night, hogtie them, and look for the money, only to find this clean-cut, humble family has nothing to steal but $43, a Bible, and pasteurized milk in the icebox. The two proceed to shotgun murder and cut the throats of the entire household so there are… “No witnesses.” – Dick Hickock. There are two surviving daughters, Beverly and Eveanna, who were spared this horror.

CapturFiles_8 — **Robert Blake as Perry Smith, John Forsythe plays Alvin Dewey, head of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and Scott Wilson as Dick Hickock… being brought in…**

Continue reading “The Great Villain Blogathon 2016: True Crime Folie à deux: In Cold Blood (1967) & The Honeymoon Killers (1969)” →

MonsterGirl’s 13 Days of Halloween: Obscure Films Better Than Candy Corn!

13 Days of schlock, shock…horror and some truly authentic moments of terror…it’s my pre-celebratory Halloween viewing schedule which could change at any time, given a whim or access to a long coveted obscure gem!

No doubt AMC and TCM will be running a slew of gems from the archives of Horror films to celebrate this coming Halloween! Films we LOVE and could watch over and over never tiring of them at all…

For my 13 days of Halloween, I thought I might watch a mix of obscure little gems, some vintage horror & Sci-Fi, film noir, and mystery/thriller. Halloween is a day to celebrate masterpieces like The Haunting, The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill, Curse of The Demon, Pit and The Pendulum, Let’s Scare Jessica To Death, and Psycho just to name a few favorites.

But the days leading up to this fine night of film consumption should be tempered with rare and weird beauties filled with a great cast of actors and actresses. Films that repulse and mystify, part oddity and partly plain delicious fun. Somewhat like Candy Corn is…for me!

I’ll be adding my own stills in a bit!…so stay tuned and watch a few of these for yourselves!

The Witch Who Came From The Sea 1976

Millie Perkins bravely plays a very disturbed woman who goes on a gruesome killing spree, culminating from years of abuse from her drunken brute of a father. Very surreal and disturbing, Perkins is a perfect delusional waif who is bare-breasted most of the time.

Ghost Story/Circle of Fear: Television Anthology series

5 episodes-

The Phantom of Herald Square stars David Soul as a man who remains ageless, sort of.

House of Evil, starring Melvin Douglas as a vindictive grandpa who uses the power of telepathy to communicate with his only granddaughter (Jodie Foster) Judy who is a deaf-mute. Beware the creepy muffin people.

A Touch of Madness, stars Rip Torn and Geraldine Page and the lovely Lynn Loring. Nothing is as it seems in the old family mansion. Is it madness that runs in the family or unsettled ghosts?

Bad Connection stars Karen Black as a woman haunted by her dead husband’s ghost.

The Dead We Leave Behind stars, Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. Do the dead rise up if you don’t bury them in time, and can they speak through a simple television set?

Night Warning 1983

Susan Tyrrell plays Aunt Cheryl to Jimmy McNichol’s Billy, a boy who lost his parents at age 3 in a bad car wreck leaving him to be raised by his nutty Aunt. Billy’s on the verge of turning 17 and planning on leaving the sickly clutches of doting Aunt Cheryl and she’ll kill anyone who gets in the way of keeping her beloved boy with her always…Tyrrell is soooo good at being sleazy, she could almost join the Baby Jane club of Grande Dame Hag Cinema, making Bette Davis’s Baby Jane seem wholesome in comparison.

Also known as Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker...

Murder By Natural Causes (1979 Made for TV movie)

Written by Richard Levinson and William Link the geniuses who gave us Columbo, this film is a masterpiece in cat and mouse. Wonderfully acted by veteran players, Hal Holbrook, Katherine Ross and Richard Anderson, and Barry Bostwick. Holbrook plays a famous mentalist, and his cheating wife has plans to kill him.

Tension 1949

from IMDb -A meek pharmacist creates an alternate identity under which he plans to murder the bullying liquor salesman who has become his wife’s lover. Starring Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, and Barry Sullivan

Messiah of Evil aka Dead People 1973

A girl arrives on the California coast looking for her father, only to learn that he’s disappeared. The town is filled with eerie people and a strange atmosphere of dread. She hooks up with a drifter and they both uncover the true nature of the weird locals and what they’re up to. They learn the horrific secret about the townspeople…This film is very atmospheric and quite an original moody piece. Starring Marianna Hill, Michael Greer, Joy Bang, and Elisha Cook Jr.

Devil Times Five aka Peopletoys 1974

This film is a very unsettling ride about a busload of extremely psychopathic children who escape after their transport bus crashes. Finding their way to a lodge, they are taken in by the vacationing adults and are eventually terrorized by these really sick kids. Claustrophobic and disturbing. Stars Sorrell Booke, Gene Evans. Leif Garrett plays one of the violently homicidal kids.

The Night Digger 1971

Starring the great Patricia Neal, this is based on the Joy Cowley novel and penned with Cowley for the screen by the wonderfully dark Roald Dahl, Neal’s husband at the time.

From IMDb -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. Written by Shane Pitkin

They Call It Murder (1971 Made for TV movie)

A small-town district attorney has his hands filled with several major investigations, including a gambler’s murder and a possible insurance scam. Starring Jim Hutton, Lloyd Bochner, Leslie Nielsen, Ed Asner and Jo Anne Pflug

A Knife For The Ladies 1974

Starring Ruth Roman and Jack Elam, there is a jack the ripper-like killer terrorizing this small Southwest town. Most all the victims are prostitutes. A power struggle ensues between the town’s Sheriff and Investigator Burns who tries to solve the murders.

Born To Kill 1947

Directed by the amazing Robert Wise ( The Haunting, West Side Story, Day The Earth Stood Still )this exploration into brutal noir is perhaps one of the most darkly brooding films of the genre. Starring that notorious bad guy of cinema Lawrence Tierney who plays Sam Wild, of all things, a violent man who has already killed a girl he liked and her boyfriend. He hops a train to San Francisco where he meets Helen played by Claire Trevor who is immediately drawn to this dangerous man.

The Strangler 1964

Starring the inimitably imposing Victor Buono, who plays mama’s ( Ellen Corby/Grandma Walton) boy Leo Kroll, a psychopathic misogynous serial killer, under the thumb of his emasculating mother. Kroll’s got a doll fetish and a fever for strangling young women with their own pantyhose. The opening scene is chilling as we watch only Buono’s facial expressions as he masturbates while stripping one of the dolls nude by his last victim’s body. Part police procedural, this is a fascinating film, and Buono is riveting as Leo Kroll a psycho-sexual fetish killer who is really destroying his mother each time he murders another young woman. Really cool film by Allied Artist

Murder Once Removed (1971 made for tv movie)

A doctor and the wife of one of his wealthy patients hatch a plot to get rid of her husband so they can be together and get his money. Starring John Forsythe, Richard Kiley, and Barbara Bain.

Scream Pretty Peggy (1973 made for tv movie)

This stars Bette Davis who plays Mrs. Elliot. Ted Bessell plays her son Jeffrey Elliot a sculptor who hires young women to take care of his elderly mother and his insane sister who both live in the family mansion with him. Also stars Sian Barbara Allen. What can I say? I love Bette Davis in anything, specially made for tv movies, where something isn’t quite right with the family dynamic. Lots of vintage fun directed by Gordon Hessler

The Man Who Cheated Himself 1950

A veteran homicide detective witnesses his socialite girlfriend kill her husband. Then what ensues is his inexperienced brother is assigned to the case. Starring Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, and John Dall.

The Flying Serpent 1946

Classic horror/sci-fi flick that just doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Almost as fun as The Killer Shrews.Â Starring veteran actor George Zucco

The Pyjama Girl Case 1977

This more obscure Giallo film was directed by Flavio Mogherini and starred one of my favorite actors Ray Milland, Also starred Mel Ferrer and the beautiful model/actress Delilah Di Lazzaro. I’ve left my passion for Giallo films in the dust these days, but I decided to watch one that was a little off the beaten track.

From IMDb- Two seemingly separate stories in New South Wales: a burned, murdered body of a young woman is found on the beach, and a retired inspector makes inquiries; also, Linda, a waitress and ferry attendant, has several lovers and marries one, but continues seeing the others. The police have a suspect in the murder, but the retired inspector is convinced they’re wrong; he continues a methodical investigation. Linda and her husband separate, and there are complications. Will the stories cross or are they already twisted together? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

Cul-de Sac 1966

Directed by Roman Polanski starring Donald Pleasance andÂ FranÃ§oise DorlÃ©ac as Teresa

A wounded criminal and his dying partner take refuge in a seaside castle inhabited by a cowardly Englishman and his strong-willed French wife. A bizarre dynamic unfolds as this eccentric couple once captives of the criminals at first, their relationship strangely begins to evolve into something else.

Dr Tarr’s Terror Dungeon aka Mansion of Madness 1973

This is a mysterious and nightmarish excursion into the “the inmates have taken over the asylum” theme. Based upon Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather

Blue Sunshine 1978

Three women are murdered at a party. the wrong man is accused of the crimes. yet still more brutal killings continue throughout the town. What is the shocking truth behind this bizarre epidemic of …people losing their hair and turning into violent psychopaths?

Homebodies 1974

Starring Peter Brocco, Francis Fuller, William Hanson, the adorable Ruth McDevitt, Ian Wolfe, and Paula Trueman playing elderly tenants who first try to thwart by rigging accidents, a group of developers from tearing down their building. Old homes and old people…It turns into murder! This is a wonderfully campy 70s-stylized black comedy/horror film. I love Ruth McDevitt as Miss Emily in Kolchak: The Night Stalker series.

The ensemble cast is brilliantly droll and subtly gruesome as they try to stave off the impending eviction and relocation to the institutional prison life of a cold nursing home facility.

A modern Gothic commentary on Urban Sprawl, the side effects of Capitalism on the elderly and their dust-covered dreams, and the fine balance between reverence for the past, and the inevitability of modernity.

The jaunty music byÂ Bernardo SegÃ¡ll and lyrics by Jeremy Kronsberg for “Sassafras Sundays” is fabulous!

The Evictors 1979

Directed by Charles B. Pierce whose style has somewhat of a documentary feel ( The Town That DreadedÂ Sundown 1976 Legend of Boggy Creek 1972) This film has a very stark and dreading tone. Starring one of my favorite unsung naturally beautiful actresses, Jessica Harper ( Suspiria, Love and Death, Stardust Memories, and the muse Pheonix in DePalma’s Faustian musical Phantom of The Paradise ) and another great actor Michael Parks. A young couple Ruth and Ben Watkins move into a beautiful old farmhouse in a small town in Louisiana. The house has a violent past, and things start happening that evoke fear and dread for the newlyweds. Are the townspeople trying to drive them out, or is there something more nefarious at work? Very atmospheric and quietly brutal at times. Also stars Vic Morrow

Jennifer 1953

Starring Ida Lupino and Howard Duff. Agnes Langsley gets a job as a caretaker of an old estate. The last occupant was the owner’s cousin Jennifer who has mysteriously disappeared. Agnes starts to believe that Jennifer might have been murdered. Is Jim Hollis the man whom she is now in love with… responsible?

Lured 1947

Directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Lucille Ball, George Sanders, and my beloved Boris Karloff!

There is a serial killer in London, who lures his young female victims through the personal ads. He taunts the police by sending cryptic notes right before he is about to murder again. The great cast includes Cedric Hardwicke, George Zucco, and Charles Coburn...

Love From A Stranger 1947

A newly married woman begins to suspect that her husband is a killer and that she is soon to be his next victim. Starring John Hodiak and Sylvia Sidney

Savage Weekend 1979

Several couples head upstate to the country and are stalked by a murderer behind a ghoulish mask.

The Beguiled 1971

Directed by the great Don Siegel ( Invasion of The Body Snatchers 1956, The Killers 1964 Dirty Harry 1971 This stars Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Hartman. Eastwood plays John McBurney who is a Union soldier imprisoned in a Confederate girls boarding school.Â A very slow yet tautly drawn web of psycho-sexual unease forms as he works his charms on each of these lonely women’s psyche.

The Mad Doctor of Market Street 1942

An old-forgotten classic horror, starring Lionel Atwill and Una Merkel. Atwill plays A mad scientist forced out of society when his experiments are discovered. He winds up on a tropical island, there by holding the locals hostage by controlling and terrorizing them.

The Man Who Changed His Mind original title (The Man Who Lived Again) 1936

Directed by Robert Stevenson. Starring my favorite of all Boris Karloff, and Anna Lee of Bedlam

Karloff plays Dr. Laurence, a once-respected scientist who begins to delve into the origins of the mind and soul connection.

Like any good classic mad scientist film, the science community rejects him, and so he risks losing everything for which he has worked, shunned by the scientific community he continues to experiment and further his research, but at what cost!…

The Monster Maker 1944

This stars J. Carrol Naish and Ralph Morgan. Naish plays Dr Igor Markoff who injects his enemies with the virus that causes Acromegaly, a deformity that enlarges the head and facial structures of his victims.

The Pyx 1973

I love Karen Black and not just because she let herself be chased by that evil Zuni doll in Trilogy of Terror or dressed up like Mrs Allardice in Burnt Offerings. She’s been in so many memorable films, in particular for me from the 70s. Here she plays Elizabeth Lucy a woman who might have fallen victim to a devil cult. Christopher Plummer plays Detective Sgt. Jim Henderson investigating the death of this heroin-addicted prostitute. The story is told using the device of flashback to tell Elizabeth’s story.

Five Minutes To Live 1961

Johnny Cash, the immortal man in black, plays the very unstable Johnny Cabot, who is part of a gang of thugs who terrorize a small town. This is a low-budget thriller later released as Door to Door Maniac. I could listen to Cash tune his guitar while drinking warm beer and I’d be satisfied, the man just gives me chills. Swooning little me…….!

The Psychic 1977

In this more obscure EuroShocker, a clairvoyant… the gorgeous Jennifer O’Neill, suffers from visions, which inspire her to smash open a section of wall in her husband’s home where she discovers a skeleton behind it.

She sets out to find the truth about how the victim wound up there, and if there’s a connection between their death and her fate as well!

Too Scared To Scream 1985

Directed by actor Tony Lo Bianco A killer is brutally attacking several tenants that live in a high-rise apartment building in New York City. Mike Connors stars as Detective Lt. Alex Dinardo who investigates the killings. Also stars another unsung actress, Anne Archer, Leon Isaac Kennedy, and Ian McShane

Violent Midnight 1963

An axe murderer is running loose in a New England town! Also known as Psychomania not to be confused with the fabulous British film of devil-worshiping bikers who come back to life starring Beryl Reid. This film features Dick Van Patten, Sylvia Miles, James Farentino, and Sheppard Strudwick. It’s got it’s own creepy little pace going for it.

When Worlds Collide 1951

Another classic sci-fi world is headed toward destruction film, that I remember from my childhood. Starring Barbara Rush and John Hoyt, two of my favorite character actors. It’s a lot of fun to watch and a well-made film that’s off the beaten path from… Forbidden Planet and War of The Worlds.

All The Kind StrangersÂ (1974 made for tv film)

Starring Stacy Keach, Sammantha Eggar, John Savage, and Robby Benson

A couple traveling through a backwoods area is held hostage by a group of orphan children who want them to be their parents. Whenever an adult refuses to participate in the delusion, they are killed. Great disturbing made for tv movie.

The Todd Killings 1971

Directed by Barry Shear and stars Robert F. Lyons as Skipper Todd, a very sociopathic young man who holds sway over his younger followers like a modern-day Svengali. Also starring Richard Thomas, Belinda Montgomery, and the great Barbara Bel Geddes as Skipper’s mother who takes care of the elderly.

From IMDb-“Based on the true story of ’60s thrill-killer Charles Schmidt (“The Pied Piper of Tucson”), Skipper Todd (Robert F. Lyons) is a charismatic 23-year old who charms his way into the lives of high school kids in a small California town. Girls find him attractive and are only too willing to accompany him to a nearby desert area to be his “girl for the night.” Not all of them return, however. Featuring Richard Thomas as his loyal hanger-on and a colorful assortment of familiar actors in vivid character roles including Barbara Bel Geddes, Gloria Grahame, Edward Asner, Fay Spain, James Broderick, and Michael Conrad.” Written by alfiehitchie

This film has a slow-burning brutality that creates a disturbing atmosphere of social and cultural imprisonment by complacency and the pressure to conform, even with the non-conformists.

Todd almost gets away with several murders, as the people around him idolize him as a hero, and not the ruthless manipulating psychopathic killer that he is. Frighteningly stunning at times. One death scene, in particular, is absolutely chilling in his handling of realism balanced with a psychedelic lens. This film is truly disturbing for it’s realism and for a 1971 release.

To Kill A Clown 1972

Starring Alan Alda and Blythe Danner. Danner and Heath Lamberts play a young hippie couple who couple rent a secluded cabin so that they can try and reconnect and save their marriage.

Alan Alda plays Maj. Evelyn Ritchie the man who owns the property and who is also a military-raised- sociopath who has two vicious dogs that he uses as an extension of his madness and anger.