This 1970 cult favorite enjoyed a blue-chip DVD release from the Criterion Collection, though its genesis story is more entertaining than the movie itself. Made for $6,500 by a trio of teenage horror geeks, abetted by Famous Monsters of Filmland publisher Forrest J. Ackerman, it’s a charmingly amateur retread of H.P. Lovecraft: four teens discover a Necronomicon-style book of supernatural secrets and get chased around by a winged demon and a giant apelike creature. The beasts are rendered in cool Ray Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation, though there isn’t enough of it to compensate for the flat dialogue and colorless acting. A Hollywood producer bought the film and assigned Jack Woods to shoot a few more scenes; Woods took sole directing credit, though one of the kids, Dennis Muren, has gone on to become the industry’s premier visual effects designer. 82 min.
