Wizard-8 American-International Pictures during the 1960s usually had a good idea of what their drive-in audience would like to see, but they really missed the boat with "Angel, Angel, Down We Go" (a.k.a. "Cult of the Damned"), which was a box office disappointment. Studio head Samuel Z. Arkoff theorized that the failure of the movie was because the characters in the movie simply were not sympathetic, and the movie was extremely downbeat. That's certainly true, but the movie has additional problems. It's also pretty slow, with its thin story stretched out to the breaking point. Also, I am not sure what point the movie was trying to make, unless it was that life is a real downer. The movie is sometimes directed in an eye-catching manner (particularly the opening minutes), but it doesn't manage to hide that the story and characters are drab and uninteresting. It took a long time for this movie to get a home video release, though if you ask me, it could have stayed in obscurity.

ksf-2 ALL over the map. Silly. Fun. Kind of a John Waters film, but it's not one of his. Tara Steele (Holly Near) is an overweight daughter of Astrid (Jennifer Jones) and Willy (Charles Aidman) going through the typical issues of girl who doesn't feel accepted by her age group. Jennifer Jones is probably best known for her 1940s' roles in Portrait of Jennie, with Joseph Cotten, and Song of Bernadette (won the Oscar). Lots of slow motion. Jordan Christopher, lead singer of the real rock group "Wild Ones", has a pretty major role here, playing a Jim Morrison type, shirtless, shoeless, and tripping out, singing at the party. Lou Rawls as Joe.... Roddy McDowell as Santoro. Some big names in this obscure, wacky film. Fortunately, this IS now available on Blu Ray! Lots of Humphrey Bogart references. Odd connection, but Jennifer Jones DID make Beat the Devil with Bogart in 1953. Holly Near also has a REALLY interesting Bio on wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Near .. also an interesting collections of stills shown here and there through-out the film. Lots of blood dripping from famous photos of movie stars, politicians and generals. Skydiving, for some reason. Spooky organ music. If you like weird, offbeat cult films, you will LOVE this! There's almost a plot, but just barely. First, Stuyvesant (Christopher) falls for Tara, then he falls for her mother. Then he sings a song about it. "Mother Lover". This was the first film role for a LOT of the cast, and that's part of its charm. Why is it rated so low??? Some nudity.Written and directed by Robert Thom, who accomplished a lot of in his short life. Died at 49. No details.

Boyo-2 **Spoiler Alert**I've been watching Jennifer Jones since I was in grade school. I clearly remember the Saturday night I watched "The Song of Bernadette" with my grandmother on television. As a kid in Catholic school, taught by nuns, it left quite an impact. I mention this mostly cause I've had a life-long respect for Jennifer Jones and have made every effort possible to see as many movies of hers as possible. To say I was curious about "Angel, Angel Down We Go" would be the understatement of the year. I appreciate trash as much as the next movie-lover..but this one really tested my patience. Its mean-spirited, its long-winded, its cinematic nonsense. I can't imagine what in the world possessed Jennifer to do this movie cause its, by light years, the worse movie she's ever been involved in. I have a feeling she was having one of her parties and Roddy McDowall and maybe even Lou Rawls was there and someone spiked the punch with acid and they all made a pact to do this movie as a lark. Either that or she lost a bet or owed on the landscaper but there had to have been some unexplicable reason why this movie...maybe Lana Turner was there was said that doing the "The Big Cube" wasn't worse than some of her marriages and so Jennifer figured what the hell, no one will ever see it. A biography I have of hers said she clearly did it for the movie, since AIP was paying stars like Vincent Price a lot for doing the movies he was making for them, and let's face it, you gotta eat..I got a laugh or two. She mentions "Gone with the Wind" and it IS one of the only movies I can think of where the hairdresser, Sydney Guillaroff, is mentioned. But her death scene was just as unpleasant as her death scene in "The Towering Inferno", and its just not bad enough to be good. I forgive you, and I think Showtime Beyond for unearthing it, and I am very glad I got to see it, but obviously it was not a lot of fun for me.Speaking of "The Big Cube"..hey Showtime, how about it?

Lubin Odana I recommend that this is watched on a double-bill with Wild in the Streets, also written by Robert Thom. Both films contain similarities - a Messiah-like pop star with pretensions for a new social order, overbearing parents, LSD sequences, pop music, alternative forms of sexuality, camp and "established" actresses freaking out.This film is like being in a long trance - there's so much imagery and symbolism that you'll need to watch it three or four times before it starts to make sense.It's a little nihilistic for my liking, but well worth watching - Jennifer Jones gets to call her maid a sadistic lesbian, her husband appears in the first scene naked in the shower with his young male friend, while the daughter's voice-over says "My first memory is that my parents were perfect." There's all sorts of weird stuff like the cast taking a walk along Santa Monica Beach and Jennifer Jones buying candyfloss with her jewellery and then discarding it.The songs are reasonably good too, especially The Fat Song, Bloody Mama (also another Robert Thom film) and Angel, Angel Down We Go. This is one freaked out movie. I love it!