Wicked, Wicked was presented in ANAMORPHIC DUO-VISION! What’s Duo-Vision? It’s two separate images projected at the same time. “Twice the tension! Twice the terror!” screamed the movie’s poster art, making the most of what was basically a fancy name for split-screen.
Film and TV journeyman Richard L. Bare (Cheyenne, Green Acres) wrote and directed this goofy tongue-in-cheek slasher with a twisted gimmick worthy of William Castle. With DUO-VISION, the audience experienced the terror as both the hunter and the hunted in split-screen.
Shot on location at San Diego’s spectacular Hotel del Coronado, Wicked, Wicked took us inside the lives of staff, residents, and visitors to the hotel.
As Jason Gant, the handyman at the hotel, Randolph Roberts wears a monster mask while he kills and dismembers women with blonde hair. Tiffany Bolling is Lisa James, a loose lounge singer, Scott Brady is the in-house detective and haunted ex-cop, and Edd “Kookie” Burns (from 77 Sunset Strip) is Hank, the lifeguard.
Leading man David Bailey, who later found his niche in soap operas, is like a caricature of every hairy-chested 1970s heartthrob and his delayed-reaction responses during fight scenes are beyond silly.
The oddest characterisation comes from Madeleine Sherwood, best known from the sitcom The Flying Nun, who plays Lenore Karadyne – a strange old woman who unknowingly bonds with the baby-faced killer. She and her new young friend share stories of their pasts while revelatory flashbacks play on the opposite side of the screen.
It turns out that sweet Mrs Karadyne once killed a man herself, even though she now spends her days chatting with pigeons and practising dance moves alone in her apartment.
The bloody mayhem is set to the organ music created for the 1925 silent classic Phantom of the Opera.
Rick Stewart
David Bailey Lisa James
Tiffany Bolling Jason Gant
Randolph Roberts Police Sgt. Ramsey
Scott Brady Henry Peter ‘Hank’ Lassiter
Edd Byrnes Dolores Hamilton
Diane McBain Simmons, Hotel Manager
Roger Bowen Lenore Karadyne
Madeleine Sherwood Genny
Indira Danks (Stefanianna Christopherson) Mr Fenley
Arthur O’Connell Bill Broderick
Jack Knight Mrs Griswald – Housekeeper
Patsy Garrett Fred, Day Clerk
Robert Nichols Owen Williams
Kirk Bates Adele Moffett – Organist
Maryesther Denver
Director
Richard L. Bare
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