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FIVE BLOODY GRAVES (1970)
NURSE SHERRI (1978)
Directed by Al Adamson
Retro Shock-O-Rama/ei Cinema DVD
Reviewed 06.14.07
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
(Note: This section strictly covers
Five Bloody Graves. Nurse
Sherri was previously released
on DVD by Retro Shock-O-Rama and
is ported over for this two-disc
set in its entirety, minus a 30
second TV spot. Details on this
foxy pairing immediately follow).
At the conclusion of Five Bloody
Graves, confusion settled in.
I watched an Al Adamson film. I
got a variation on "Death"
from Woody Allen's Without Feathers.
Existential narrators -- they'll
get you every time.
Experiencing Five Bloody Graves
is like perusing a handwritten manuscript
of The Great American Novel. Only,
the author excels in chicken scratch.
And it's a western. According to
David Konow's Schlock-O-Rama:
The Films of Al Adamson, Graves
was intended to be a valentine to
the late Al's father, 1930s western
actor-director Denver Dixon. As
such, the film was to be modeled
on a simplistic western template
and doused with the latest in exploitive
tricks. Good plan. Independent-International's
magic wand of distribution was waved.
Five Bloody Graves became
a plotless, stoned, cowboy 'n' indian
conniption fit with Death as an
existential narrator. That's some
magic wand.
This film has no noticeable plot.
A dozen people wander around the
deserts of Utah and fight Indians;
that's it. Along the way, we witness
a little blood, some John Carradine
preaching, Al Adamson as an Indian,
a half-second rape, bloodless scalpings,
and a fat guy who beats up his girlfriend
after she awakens him in the middle
of the night. He yells, "I'll
give ya a nightmare!" and then,
whammo! There's also a Vegas nightclub-styled
soundtrack, Blood
Feast timpanis, strange
fist fight outbursts, and the most
maddening Vilmos Zsigmond photography
this side of Al's exasperated Blood
Of Ghastly Horror. Oh, and
Death rides a horse. Really.
You could probably go your whole
life without seeing Graves
and still be happy. But that's no
way to live. What would Death say?!
This is one of the strangest films
in Al Adamson's filmography. From
his triumphs (Brain
Of Blood) to his flops
(Doctor
Dracula), a general philosophy
is always in place. You can
find Point A and follow it to Point
Z. Yes, even within
the cut and paste nonsense of Blood
Of Ghastly Horror.Graves, however, is
a maze with no solution. It just
floats along, offering no explanation
and no direction. In a sense, this
film is a chunk of low-budget, light-headed
beauty. The locations are wonderful.
The air is violent, but peaceful.
The heart is tangible. Yet, in another
sense, Graves will put
you to sleep. Immediately. Guaranteed.
What does it all mean?
I've said my piece. It's Death's
turn to do the talking.
"This may be the end or the
beginning. Death is nothing more
than ceasing to be afraid."
Thanks, Death. I think we get it
now.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Two discs, two and a half Al Adamson
movies, loads of extras, and an
experience replicating the old Something
Weird drive-in double feature DVDs.
Quite dashing.
Five Bloody Graves and
Nurse Sherri (the "horror"
version) appear on disc one. Nurse
Sherri (the "sex"
version) appears on disc two. As
previously mentioned, both versions
of Sherri are lifted from
the earlier The
Possession Of Nurse Sherri
DVD. So check out that review for
the scoop. Presented in the 1:33.1
aspect ratio, Five Bloody Graves
takes a hit in terms of quality.
Colors are terrific and the widescreen
chop-cropping is frequently humorous,
but compression runs wild. The left
speaker yelps with a loud dial-tone
noise at 11 minutes, sliding the
faux-stereo sound into strict mono
for the rest of the film. It scared
me. Luckily, Five Bloody Graves
runs low on reasoning. My enjoyment
was not interrupted.
EXTRAS
A little old, a little new. Disc
one delivers a newly found deleted
scene for Five Bloody Graves
(there's some nudity, some sex,
it's in widescreen, and leading
man Robert Dix looks a year older),
four drive-in intermission shorts
(June Foray, is that you?), and
trailers for the two features and
Adamson's unbelievable Cinderella
2000. However, the clear plat
du jour is a duo of commentary tracks
from Independent-International's
always dependable Sam Sherman.
The Sherri track, again,
is pulled from the previous release,
but Graves is brand new.
Here, Sam provides a brief introduction,
presents roughly fifteen minutes
of a taped 2001 interview with writer-producer-star
Dix, then fleshes out the rest of
the track, which runs 53 minutes.
We hear about the film's origins,
locations, and distribution campaign
(Sherman distributed the film, but
did not have a hand in production),
as well as a few extended bits discussing
day-for-night photography, Al's
father, and the history of westerns.
Towards the end, Sam defends Al's
career in the face of ridicule from
cinematographer Vilmos "I Won
An Oscar" Zsigmond. Sherman
über alles!
Disc two delivers another slew of
drive-in promos, trailers for Al's
Mean Mother, Naughty
Stewardesses, Blazing Stewardesses,
and The Murder Gang, and
a thirteen minute interview with
blaxploitation queen Marilyn Joi,
who appeared in Nurse Sherri
and a number of other Adamson hits.
Finally, an insert booklet provides
an excellent, informal interview
with author David Konow by writer
Chris Poggiali. The two discuss
both films in context and provide
a nice complement to the information
in Konow's book. Bravo.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Death is calling you. Nurse
Sherri is one of Al Adamson's
defining moments. Five Bloody
Graves can't be recommended
to anyone on any terms, but I enjoy
it very much. Bottom line? It's
nice to know that there's still
room on Earth for a two-disc Al
Adamson collection. Especially one
that's so thoroughly devoted to
its subject. Death wants you to
buy this. Now's the time to make
a move. |
Injun Al
The Carradine Crop
Fresh out of fries
Me and my arrows
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