Thursday, October 31, 2024

"Night" Schtick!

Since the afternoon my mother and I caught What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) on a local UHF channel back in the mid-1970s, I've had an affection for the "psycho-biddy" or "hag horror" (or whatever you may call it) genre, in which once-glamorous actresses turn up in late-career parts either terrorizing one another or being terrorized. We've covered several here, some of them pretty obscure, like Savage Intruder (1970) with Miriam Hopkins or Blood and Lace (1971) with Gloria Grahame. To us, they are irresistible, whether they are good or bad. And today in time for Halloween, we have another one to offer up and it is obscure...!  Do you even know which star of the 1940s and '50s is the featured centerpiece of The Night God Screamed (1971?)

Well now you do!

It's Miss Jeanne Crain, pert little Margy Frake from State Fair (1945), the heroine Ruth from Leave Her to Heaven (1945), the fretful Deborah from A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and the mixed race title character in Pinky (1949), among many other roles. Then 45, this is about the last sort of thing most folks would have expected to see her in. The following year, after one more movie, she exited stage right.

The film opens in a wooded area near a pond where religious fanatic Michael Sugich (clearly taking his lead from the still-recent Manson Family cult murders of 1969) is baptizing one of his followers.

The Charles Manson-ish Sugich raves on about how he and his cult members consider getting high as a way of obtaining further closeness with Lord Jesus.

Nearby, a cross-wielding, cloaked "Atoner" watches over the proceedings.

Sugich begins to preach out about interlopers from the outside who've infiltrated the group with the intention of betraying them. He calls out anyone there who hasn't been properly baptized into the family.

Then he gets a little more specific and calls out one particular girl.

She protests and proclaims her devotion, but Sugich isn't having it...

The Atoner drags her out into the middle of the pond for her baptism. And it doesn't end well.

Cut to our star, Jeanne Crain, walking down a dilapidated city street with a bag of groceries in each hand.

The unnamed city is presumably part of Los Angeles and it looks seedy! It's movies like this with authentically run-down neighborhoods (so common in 1970s films) that ensured I would spend virtually my entire life in the suburbs or further out than that!

As she approached her destination, a grizzled bum with summer teeth ("summer there, sum ain't!") grabs one of her grocery bags and runs off with it!

She calls after him, exclaiming that he doesn't have to steal from her, but it's no use... He's gone. And where was she headed?

Her minister husband Alex Nichol runs a soup kitchen. He's inside pouring coffee to a steady line of homeless men.

I never quite got why there wasn't a single female to be found among the attendees there. Was it segregated by sex? Women weren't homeless in 1971? I have no idea.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out the schematic of the soup kitchen either. Some men got deli sandwiches, there was a teeming pile of glazed doughnuts that even I couldn't make a dent in. The others got a disgusting pinto bean-ish gruel that looked like vomit.

In the face of all that's on site being passed out, I don't know what Crain's two flimsy bags of more food was going to do, but she has to confess to Nicol that she lost one to the pilferer out front. She's getting really weary of the whole enterprise.

Nicol lets her know that he's rented a hall in a nicer part of time in which to hold a revival meeting and bring in more and better offerings. He says things will be better when they have their own church. She points out that after 25 years, they're still struggling to get any sort of foothold.

On their way to the hall, Crain is dismayed that with their rent behind, the cost of the hall looming and newspaper advertising, Nicol has spent $50.00 (a dearer sum in 1971 than now) for a huge cross!

The weary couple pulls over to put some gas in their ramshackle truck.

Also there is the dreaded Sugich, who tries the cross on for size!

Self-proclaimed prophet Sugich and minister Nicol engage in a discussion over their professions and their interest in Jesus.

Not one to turn away a potential customer, Nicol invites him to the revival meeting that evening.

Meanwhile, Crain (wearing a wig from The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, or something) is fending off one of Sugich's followers.

He tells her how good he is at handling a machine, but... uh... as he strokes the door frame and gazes at Crain, I don't think he's really referring to the truck!

This location, by the way, was a very frequently used one in the 1970s. Apart from popping up in various movies, it seems like virtually every TV show of Quinn Martin's from Barnaby Jones to Cannon and beyond, had scene filmed here multiple times.

As the preacher and his wife pull away, Sugich tells his buddy that he believes that they will attend the revival that night.

Somehow on the way, Crain's hair is now fuller (not to mention real!) as they approach the hall. She watches as Nicol and a friend put the cross in place on stage.

Said associate is played by James B. Sikking, later to gain fame on Hill St. Blues.

Nicol goes through his paces of encouraging salvation before the smattering of attendees, then sends Sikking out with the collection plate.

Sikking gets a jolt when he heads down the rows and comes to a stoic and menacing-looking Sugich, who has no intention of donating so much as a penny to the cause.

When the service is over, Nicol begins to close up the hall and receive (scant) collection while Crain heads outside with Sikking.

I can't see this ending well...

Sugich and two of his followers, along with the ever-unseen Atoner, confront Nicol.

They want his collection money, which he's reluctant to hand over. He refers to them as hoodlums, which isn't exactly endearing to Sugich.

Meanwhile, outside talking with Sikking, Crain vents about how she has nothing at all, including no children, after 25 years of alignment with Nicol.

On her way back in, Crain hears voices, a scuffle and, eventually, blood-curdling screams! She fumbles for change to call the police, but is too distraught to focus.

When it seems to have calmed down, she opens the door to the hall. (Had I been calling the shots, this image would have made it onto posters.)

She lumbers through the hall towards the stage-turned-altar.

Finally near some light, she discovers a gruesome scenario!

Cut to a trial, in which Sugich and his two buddies (but no Atoner) are accused of Nicol's murder.

The judge Stewart Bradley struggles to maintain order in the court (in which virtually every attendee besides Crain seems to be a teen or twenty-something!)

The prosecutor Jack Donner (known for having played a Romulan on an early episode of Star Trek) calls for the death penalty.

A rather glazed-over Crain watches with downtrodden interest.

Traumatized as she is by the death of her husband, at least she gets the vindication of a guilty verdict in the case, even though the Atoner, who carried out the physical act, was never arrested.

When the verdict (death row) is read, Sugich launches into a wild reaction that must be seen to be believed.

As he's taken into custody and Crain departs the courtroom, he swears vengeance on her.

A gaggle of Sugich's followers confront Crain on the courthouse steps with further threats of retaliation.

Crain finds work as a Mrs. Bates stand-in at the Psycho house at Universal Studios. (Just kidding... She's understandably despondent after her ordeal.)

After 25 years as a minister's wife, her career options are limited. Finally, the judge at the trial for her husband's murder employs her as a cleaning lady at his sizeable estate.

One evening, he asks if she'll go there and spend a long weekend as guardian for his four teen children. He and his wife want to get away and he wants the kids to stay home the entire time. She's reluctant, but he offers her an extra $50.00 (The same amount that doggone cross cost...! If you're curious, the value today is about $390.00.)

The house is huge and semi-remote.

On the way there, Crain is unnerved when some motorcyclists seem to be following the judge's car. After what happened to her, she's instantly distrustful of anyone who seems as if they might be a follower of Sugich.

She arrives at the house and gets attitude right away from the eldest son Daniel Spelling.

He's pissed because he has to stay home when he is supposed to be playing in some sort of tournament the next day. (And why shouldn't be be?! He's a grown man, quite obviously. All the kids are old enough to be alone for a couple of days, for Pete's sake.)

As Spelling is helping his father pack the trunk, he's told once more to stay home all weekend or he won't get the new car he wants...!

The already tense Crain doesn't find things any easier once the phone starts to ring, but no one's there.

Sometimes no one's there. Sometimes it's the mother of the kids. Sometimes it's a cretinous voice proclaiming "Vengeance is mine!"

One of the daughters (Dawn Cleary) is annoyed by the calls because she's expecting one from a boy she had intended to go on a date with the next day until the edict about staying home came about. Crain is about to call the police after one threatening call, but now the line is dead!

Before long, mysterious figures are being spotted outside! Crain and the kids lock all the doors and turn the lights out so that they might see out the windows better.

When a lurking figure is seen out in the garden, Crain is elected to go see who he is (!) while Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Velma watch through the window!

With trepidation, Crain heads towards the cloaked intruder.

He turns out to be a dummy (even a bigger dummy than me for sitting through this movie!) Attached to it is a note with a skull on it that reads "Vengeance."

Back inside, she relays that it was a stuffed dummy, but keeps the "Vengeance" thing to herself.

Creepy happenings are far from over, however. Someone's turning the front doorknob, trying to get in!

She rallies the children together, telling them to be sure the place is locked up. Spelling informs her that he knows about the trial and the cult followers, believing it is she that they're after, not the quartet of sibling.

Crain has the youths all gathered around the dining room table, demanding that they stay put. If they didn't want to stay home all weekend, they sure as hell don't want to sit around a table like this till morning! Ultimately, they break away from her.

But then Crain is forced to defend herself from an intruder who bursts his arm through the window!

The kids finally agree that someone has to go to a neighbors for help. After some discussion, Spelling calls upon his younger brother Gary Morgan to do it.

When Morgan is seen and pursued by a hooded baddie with a knife, Crain can't bear the guilt and horror of it.

It falls to her to break it to his sisters that Morgan did not make it to The Johnsons, but she can't bring herself to do so.

When Spelling produces the ominous note, he confronts her with the fact that she is the one that the lurkers are after.

The siblings are none too pleased that the put-upon Crain has apparently led a band of cult members to their home. Wracked with fear, Crain searches for a weapon...

What the fork....!?!

Now that's more like it...

They're baaacck. The kids think it might be Jimmy returning from the neighbors, but Crain secretly knows that it can't be.

Since the judge is anti-gun, Crain sends Spelling upstairs to grab one golf club apiece for him and his sisters.

A short while later, one of the sisters (Barbara Hancock) is practically in shock.

She and Crain go in search of Cleary and find...

The infamous elevator blood splatter from Earthquake! (Ha ha! Just kidding. That epic was yet to come...)
Now things are just plain not good... Crain hears noises and heads to a hall closet.

...and finds this! (I normally wouldn't do this much of a spoiler, but this shot is practically the only skin visible in the movie.)

Fix it, Jesus!

Now Crain really gets a chance to demonstrate pure terror.

They're dropping like flies around here, I tell ya!

Finally, Crain is forced to confront the evil that's lurked around the house all evening. And if you think you have it all worked out, you may be in for one last surprise. Should you want to risk being tricked or treated, the obscure movie can be seen in its entirety here.


As I noted at the beginning, Crain had led a career since the mid-1940s, as a young 20th Century Fox contract player, as ingenues, pretty girlfriends and daughters and the occasional meatier role. Oscar-nominated for 1949's Pinky, she lost to Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress. One role I remember in which she was tormented (though not to this degree) is 1953's Dangerous Crossing, about a newlywed whose husband disappears from a cruise ship. In the mid-1950s and 1960s, she could occasionally be seen as a guest on television, but continued to do the occasional movie such as Madison Avenue (1961), though several of them were made overseas such as Queen of the Nile (1961), Pontius Pilate (1962) and Invasion 1700 (1962.) Back home it was sometimes low-rent drek like Hot Rods to Hell (1966), which is nonetheless entertaining. Her final movie was Skyjacked (1972), in which she was given precious little to do, but looked nice at least. A Catholic wife and mother of seven children, there was plenty off-screen to keep her busy. She died in 2003 at age 78 from a heart attack. 

Miss Crain in brighter days.

Nicol was the son of a prison armskeeper and a detention center matron, whose fertile imagination led to enrollment in an acting school and ultimately some success on Broadway, though WWII did interrupt his progress for several years. He understudied Henry Fonda in Mr. Roberts, but never got to go on - even on the night Fonda's wife committed suicide! Later, he replaced Ralph Meeker in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and toured in that show. By 1950, the movies had come calling and he landed a contract at Universal, often appearing in westerns. Always gainfully employed, in projects of varying quality, he never really got that one iconic role or household name classic movie that would ensure he'd be well-known. Perhaps The Man from Laramie (1955) with James Stewart came closest. We've seen him in the hooty Look in Any Window (1961), of course. Having spent several years in Europe making movies there, he returned to the US and wound up in things like Roger Corman's Bloody Mama (1970) and this. By 1976, after the atrocious A*P*E, he'd had enough. He died in 2001 at age 85 from natural causes.

Sikking was a highly familiar character actor who appeared in many movies and on TV from the early-1960s on. Though effective as kind characters, he excelled when playing more snide ones. He played all sorts of doctors, officials, policemen as well as agents and hitmen. Finally in 1981, his role on Hill St. Blues led to notoriety and an Emmy nomination (losing to his costar Bruce Weitz.) After that, he was gainfully employed as the father of Doogie Houser, M.D., followed by a stint on Brooklyn South.  Retiring in 2012, he passed away in 2024 with complications from dementia at age 90.

It's barely worth it to delve much more deeply into the other actors to be found in The Night God Screamed. For Sugich, it was his first and last film role. He only did a couple of eps of Mod Squad and one Ironside beforehand.

Barbara Hancock, top left, had appeared in Finian's Rainbow (1968) as "Silent Sue" along with a couple of other appearances, but this was her swan song. She was principally a dancer. Diminutive Morgan had been a pretty busy child and teen actor (his face might be familiar to you from Logan's Run, 1976) but generally remained in small parts. He ultimately became a regularly employed stuntman who could also deliver lines. Cleary had but only one other credit, a bit part in a 1971 film called The Christian Licorice Store. (This highly-obscure flick starred Beau Bridges and Maud Adams.)

As for Spelling, he'd guest-starred on two episodes of a 1969 show called The New People, about college students surviving a place crash on a Pacific island. It was produced by one Aaron Spelling. His uncle... Though not every credit he ever won was through his uncle, his resume is nonetheless dotted with small roles in Spelling productions such as Mod Squad, The Rookies and S.W.A.T. By 1978, following a couple of bit parts in small films, his on-screen acting days were over.

That's it for this installment of Poseidon's Underworld. Wishing all of you a Happy Halloween!

9 comments:

  1. Even though I don't think it ever played locally, I actually remember when this one was released. Some "monster magazine" I was reading at the time had a negative capsule review, dismissing it as a cheapie vehicle for a "faded star" where she faces off against a low-rent version of the Manson family.

    What really stuck in my head was the still that they ran with the review. It's one that isn't reproduced here that shows Crain confronting the dummy with the "Vengeance" note attached-- which reveals that it's wearing that rubber skull mask with long white hair that can be seen in the montage on that crappy movie poster. The reason that particular image stuck with me is that at the time this movie came out, I actually had a mask exactly like that one!

    I'd picked it up during a vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC ("the Redneck Riviera"!) at a tourist trap that billed itself as "the World's Largest Gift Shop" called "The Gay Dolphin"! (And at that point in time, that name had just become something to snicker over.)

    And I totally agree with your choice of a reaction shot of Jeanne Crain from the film being a *much* better image for the poster than what they actually used to sell it. However, this was a release from Cinemation Industries, a bottom-feeder exploitation mini-distributor (headed by the appropriately-named Jerry Gross) perhaps best remembered for its double feature around this time of I DRINK YOUR BLOOD/I EAT YOUR SKIN.

    The other thing that makes me chortle over this post is finding out that Alex Nicol had a part in this as Crain's ill-fated husband. Nicol had actually starred in and directed his own low-budget horror film in 1958, THE SCREAMING SKULL, picked up by American-International. I went to school with a girl who was the daughter of Nicol's sister, and she always referred to that film as "my uncle's stupid movie" whenever it turned up on TV.


    Thanks for another great nostalgia trip, Poseidon, and for all you do!

    Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!

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  2. Mercy, such goings on! Crain never really registered with me. I’ve seen “Dangerous Crossing”, but it’s a pretty tepid movie - you’re likely to know what’s going on in the first ten minutes. Fun to pick out the leftover sets from “Titanic” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”.
    I wonder why female stars of a certain age did movies like this. Boredom? Miss being in front of a camera? Just the money? Although I can’t imagine it was much of a payday.
    Well, despite your teaser about a surprise ending, I may skip this one - or just foist forward to the last ten minutes. You’ve already done the dirty work!

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  3. I’ve always loved the genre title of 'Grande Dame Guignol' for this type of film. As for the gruel, perhaps that was an option for the homeless men with Summer Teeth… less chewing required!

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  4. hsc, how fascinating that the makers of this cheapie used an apparently rather mass-marketed mask as part of the concept without doing much of anything to it! At least John Carpenter painted the Captain Kirk mask white when he made "Halloween" to cover Michael Myers' face! LOLOL That must have been sort of neat, though, to see a belonging of yours appearing in a movie. (Off topic a bit, I still recall the hilarity of watching "Gray Lady Down" - the submarine disaster movie - on TV one day and my mother strolled through and said, "Charlton Heston is drinking from my coffee cup!" Ha ha!! He did indeed have the very same cup that she used -mostly for hot tea, as it were. White, thick, with some thin teal-blue lines around the outside.) Thanks!

    Dan, I suspect that the female stars' reasons for appearing in movies like this varied depending on the star. In truth, I have been threatening for at least 20 years to write a book on that very subject, but - of course - never do... Some of them may have wanted or needed the work, some may have thought that a late-career Oscar nom (or even win!) might be in store a la "Baby Jane" for Bette or some might have just wanted to get the chance to run around terrified rather than play Pat Boone's mother (!) or something. Ha ha! "Dirty Work." -- I'm the Mike Rowe of bad cinema....! Thanks.

    Steve that IS a good title, more flattering than "Horror Hag" for sure! My buddy always uses the term summer teeth!!! LOL Reminds me of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and their pet charity for a season or two, "Homeless Not Toothless" which caused something of a stir.... Thank you!

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  5. Poseidon, I've always found it highly amusing to spot something you have in your home in a movie or TV show. Your Mom's cup turning up in Charlton Heston's hands must've been a hoot!

    The weirdest thing I've ever encountered was watching a "Men On Edge" video online, and realizing that the double-headed "gooseneck" desk lamp in the shot behind Connor Maguire getting worked over was identical to the one sitting next to my computer. What *really* made it weird was that for years, that lamp used to be mounted on the wall over my parents' bed!

    One point about the movie that I forgot to mention before was that at the point this film was made-- and often even now-- homeless outreach facilities were sex-segregated. Up until relatively recently, the YMCA was a males-only facility that offered cheap meals and housing.

    There have always been shelters and "crisis centers" for women only, and there's been a bit of controversy in recent years over whether to admit transwomen. At the time the film was made, it would've probably been unusual to have seen women with men at a downtown storefront "soup kitchen"-- as opposed to a church handing out meals at its own sanctuary.

    And I agree that "Grande Dame Guignol" is a lot classier than "Horror Hag" or "Psycho-Biddy" as a genre designation-- but since you HAD to bring it up, *PLEASE* write that book, Poseidon! You're the best writer I've ever encountered for this particular subject!


    Thanks again for all you do, Poseidon! Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!

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  6. hsc, thanks for clearing up the whole "men only" soup kitchen thing. I guess too much of my info came from that ep of "The Golden Girls" where the foursome went in search of a jacket of theirs which had been accidentally donated to charity and which contained a winning lottery ticket - and they ended up in a homeless shelter with anyone imaginable staying there! I was born too late to enjoy the all-male YMCAs (the fitness/swimming aspect, not the shelter/housing!) and can only marvel at what that must have been like.... :-O As for the book... it may have to be a project I take up in retirement versus while I'm working (or, this blog would certainly have to go during the process!) I deeply appreciate the compliment, though!! Thanks.

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  7. The YMCA had a parallel with all the same features for women only in the YWCA, which I think is still active as a community resource for women, while all YMCA facilities are now just "family-friendly" fitness places.

    But not only am I old enough to remember the earlier "men only" YMCA, I just missed the period where swimsuits were not permitted in the pool and men and boys were *required* to swim naked! When I was about 10, I was in an after-school program for boys at the YMCA where we could swim in the pool, and I heard a couple of the men in charge laughing about how last year, they'd be trying to get us totally stripped down.

    I was shocked, so when I got home I asked my Dad about it, and was surprised at how he just kind of shrugged it off like it was a perfectly normal "guy thing" that some mothers probably complained about at a PTA meeting and put a stop to.


    And as much as I'd like to see that book, Poseidon-- I guess if it means you'd have to give up this blog, I'd rather you wait a while before you work on it! At least with blog entries like this one, you're already giving us a taste of it "on the installment plan"!


    Thanks again for all you do! Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!

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  8. Oh man this looks awful but fun, I recently loved Jeanne Crain in "The Tattered Dress" (the title really grabbed me"), she was haughty ans sexy. Not so much here but hag cycle movies often were so low budget. Also a favorite genre of mine. I found that as the sixties progressed they got more cynical and depressing. This one reminds me a bit of "Angel Angel down we go" as the charismatic Manson type character got recycled a lot. The cross on the truck is hilarious, and thanks for the hot guy in the closet pic, lol. I hope everyone had a happy halloween. I was Charles Nelson Reilly-and the first one elimnated from a costume contest. They literally said "not a match"

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  9. Ginge, I'd be interested in just how you attempted to achieve CNR's "hair!" Did you and your partner sit around unraveling used, rusty SOS pads??? LOL Poor thing, being ejected right away. That's akin to being chosen last in gym for kickball... something I know all about. Ha ha! Thanks.

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