The Cult of the Evil Geezers

Christopher Coppola's THE CULT OF THE EVIL GEEZERS is no doubt the first trailer-trash comedy about demonic cult worshippers and racial intolerance. When the owner of an Afrocentric cafe (Andre Ware) and a bigoted redneck (Steve Hedden) discover they've inherited property from a mother they never knew, neither of these hot-headed bruisers are at all pleased to meet their "lost-long brother." Weird goings-on in the desert community they've been summoned to force a reluctant alliance, however. Among the "geezers" who know something they don't (something involving a murderous man-sized reptilian creature of the general "Black Lagoon" variety) are an all-star roster of aging celebrities including erstwhile WONDER WOMAN Lynda Carter, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY's Shirley Jones, BATMAN's television "Riddler" Frank Gorshin and THE LOVE BOAT'S Bernie Kopell. This amusingly daft sendup of '70s drive-in cinema and 1950s monster movies (complete with a film-within-the-film, TEXAS VAMPIRE MASSACRE) leaves no vintage pop culture in-joke unturned. Like some of the grade-Z genre films it was inspired by, CULT is also known under other colorful titles, including THE CREATURE OF SUNNY-SIDE-UP PARK and THE CURSE OF BLOODHEAD. - Dennis Harvey