Florida Cable TV Party, 1978 – Vengeance of the Zombies, Oasis of Fear and Other Video Favorites

10-18-77 – Philadelphia – A serious great combo featuring The (very quirky) Saga of Dracula and the Paul Naschy epic Vengeance of The Zombies plays the Milgram. At that time, the films originally released by International Cine Film in The US were picked up by the Florida-cased Libert Films, headed by Ron Libert and which originally focused on small films made in Florida like My Brother Has Bad Dreams (which we will get to later in the post) and other pick-ups until hooking up with Cougar Films and it’s mountain of movies bought from ICF which closed down quickly after the release of the under-performing Messiah of Evil. this led to huge amount of imported movies listed in the Boxoffice Booking Guides that went to lower-level theaters and Drive Ins. This double feature played here and there through the Late 70’s, but something more interesting happened shortly after this show.

By the start of 1978, a Cable TV station in St. Petersburg ran by Libert which started off with the programming of some of these films including these two to an audience that was possibly scratching their heads give or take a few who were intrigued. Those who have follow this Blog will already know about the first one, and most of their journeys from screen to DVD/Blu Ray, but recent research has brought in another dimension to the story that is more than just Cult Movie history, but a odd little part of Cable history when things were very hit and miss. While many fans of these films and some of the others this article is about are mainly enjoyed for the real reasons, those with an interest in a serious detail of when and where they played should read on, because it’s going to get interesting with plenty of movies to talk about.

Think Umberto Lenzi, think Paul Naschy (the leading ad), think Burgess Meredith in Hong Kong, think those 50 movie DVD sets with titles with the European films that made you wonder where they came from and where they played, then think Florida Cable TV in Early 1978 when the format was still working out it’s kinks.

Then also think Shameless Video who have two of these titles.

10-27-74, Florence, SC – The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go may only have about 10 fans, most of them (like me) interested in flop-a-doodles made in the Late 60’s-Early 70’s which played some out of the way Drive Ins and low-end theaters. The Burgess Meredith-“Directed” (using that term loosely) movie made in Hong Kong in 1969 starring James Mason and Jeff Bridges was possibly seen as something with a lot of potential while talking about it, but the making of it and the release of it years later was another thing. In the end, this went to International Cine Film, played here and there to no fanfare and then played Late Night TV movie blocks (I’m sure drunk viewers were going “What’s THIS?!!!”) and then winding up on PD VHS and DVD releases – some with the title The Third Eye (I’m sure renters and buyers expecting something more modern were wanting their dollar back). I like it for it’s wack-job Late 60’s 2AM stupidity, though.

The Larry Cohen classic Bone was the B under the title Housewife

12-13-74, Shreveport – No surprise, it wound up at the Don Drive In.

2-5-75, Honolulu – Believe it or not, The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go also hit somewhere outside of The South, in this case all the way into Hawaii. Take note of the company – International Cine Film!

4-25-75, LA – Messiah of Evil is now a cult classic, but back in the day it was another horror film seen as just riding no the coat-tails of the one and only Night of the Living Dead made by the Screenwriters of American Graffiti (and…er…Howard the Duck) with an attempt in LA to give it some major success which never happened. A damning review even pointed out the time between creation and release as the film reportedly waiting to be distributed for about a couple of years until it (and the very non-funny fiasco that is Gone With the West) was picked up by International Cine Film as their big breakthrough hope that never happened. While it never ended up in Libert’s Cable movie marathon in Early 78, it’s a good guess that it was with some other company as wound up in one of the most mind-twisting re-title campaigns through the Late 70’s – it would later wind up on the Late shows and PD video circuit before finding a real home on DVD with Code Red.

2-17-75 – Paris, TX – Once again, an International Cine Film double feature plays somewhere in Texas, this one featuring an Umberto Lenzi film in An Ideal Place to Kill, sometimes known as Oasis of Fear, and at other times known as Dirty Pictures – The Oasis of Fear title is now part of the Shameless Video collection…

Maurizio Lucidi’s Crime Drama with Thomas Milan also from 1971 was picked up by International Cine Film for US release, only to have played a few theaters and wound up in the same destination as most of these films in Early 1978.

10-21-77, Toledo – Dirty Pictures with Hassled Hooker starring Terrence Hill and Paola Pitagora playing in the glass city at the Telegraph and East Side DIs.

2-21-75, San Antonio – The Devil Has Seven Faces, Directed by Osvaldo Civirani and starring Carroll “Baby Doll” Baker is the movie in focus in this ad. I know that Hell’s Bloody Devils is the more known of the two as it is one of Al Adamson’s best, but this is all about the International Cine Film. Imported, thrown onto a few screens, then to TV, the Devil Has 7 Faces actually had some playdates here and there.

2-21-75, Harlingen, TX – once again with Hell’s Bloody Devils – must have had the same Sub Distributor.

6-13-75, Lubbock

12-12-75, Jackson, Miss. – this time with Messiah of Evil!

3-15-74, Greenville, SC – This Scream Bloody Murder was also known as My Brother has Bad Dreams (or just Bad Dreams) as there was a better known Gorenography by that same title (which also was known as The Captive Female). Filmed in Tampa, Florida, this film gets more to the home of our trip down little-known Cable TV history and Mom and Pop video store logs. directed by Robert J. Emery and starring Paul Vincent, this quirky film had a number of playdates in The South before fining it’s destination as being distributed by Libert, a company that we’ll now get to talking about.

To those wanting to know how most of these films connect, here’s something from the 2-12-78 issue of the Tampa Bay Times about Channel 7’s line-up with some familiar titles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2-12-78
Ron Libert owned both Libert Films, who distributed a lot of International Cine Film product, and TelePrompTer, a Cable company that used some of those titles to fill in the time for the start up of Channel 7 in Early 1978. Broadcasting for the St. Petersburg area, the longevity of this programming was very short as there were very few viewers due to the fact that the familiarity of these films was right down at 0. Still, placing myself with this choice, I possibly would have been among those interest to see what it had to offer as these were not the kind of films Mr. and Mrs. Mainstream would have heard of.

I’m hoping that Evil Eye is actually the Mario Bava film distributed in the States through AIP, but then again you never know. Still, Flatfoot has been listed as Hello Glen Ward, House Dick (a title not to comfortable for US movie goers) and Two Men in Dallas is a Documentary about Sheriff Roger Craig talking about the day John F. Kennedy was shot. Never Too Young to Rock was a musical about a time when Rock was banned from TV shown on TV featuring Freddie Jones and Peter Noone with musical gusts including Mud which received some US distribution to little response except from the very few who know about the British Glam scene and had some time to waste – it was no Born to Boogie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2-19-78 – Note the appearance of Vengeance of the Zombies and Stateline Motel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2-26-78 – Featured films include The Dracula Saga, The Devil Has Seven Faces, and Cult of the Damned. the later film which might be Night of the Damned from 1971. Take note of The Swinging Monster,  and then changed later into…

6-8-79, Akron – The Lorelei’s Grasp was also known to a couple cities at The Swinging Monster, Rated X. This happened in between International Cine Film’s original pick-up and this International Artists re-release that played for years.

12-7-73, Philadelphia – Violent City is a film that was once called The Family starring Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas with a ad campaign The Scene could not refuse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-12-78 – So Sad About Gloria, a very low budget Horror with Lori Saunders and Dean Jagger spiced up by some scenes that were strong for a PG rating. was thrown in.

12-7-73, Orlando

10-31-75, Toledo – It may be “so sad” that I would like to end this part now, but we will “Encounter” this topic at a later day.

More later!

~ by screen13 on November 27, 2017.