Rant #1,906: This Door Swings Both Ways

This past Saturday was a horrible one in my neck of the woods.

We were hit with a nor'easter, we got socked with rain and wind and cold, and the best place to spend the day was inside.

My son and I were supposed to attend a game at Yankee Stadium, but happily, the game was postponed. We will be going later this season to two games to make up for the one game we missed (a story for another time).

Anyway, with little to do but to plant myself in front of the TV, I found a film on Daily Motion--a site much like YouTube but one that is often more liberal in what it will allow to be shown--that I was quite surprised at, one that really kept my attention and one that I would recommend to you.

It is called "Day of the Nightmare," and stars John Ireland and Elena Verdugo and several other actors and actresses who few people probably ever heard of, like the fetching Beverly Bain, who plays the tortured wife.

The 1969 black and white film--which appeared to be shot probably at least three or four years before that date--takes the "Psycho" vibe of several years before and moves it to the next level.

No, it is nowhere as good as the Alfred Hitchcock film, but don't dismiss it totally; it definitely has its merits.

The film--written by Leonard Goldstein and directed by John Bushelman--is set in California, where a relatively newlywed couple--two years of wedded bliss--have set up shop.

The husband is an artist, and he has his studio well away from his home, a several hours drive away.

His wife understands this, and accepts the fact that her husband will be away from home for long periods of time.

What he is doing in his studio is another matter.

Yes, he is sketching, but he is also sexing with his models, behind his wife's back.

And we are talking about kinky sex.

Why is he doing it?

The story comes to a head when there is a report of a murder in the building that he has his studio in, and through trial and error, he becomes the prime suspect. The wife catches wind of this, and because she loves her husband and believes his every word, she tries to prove, in her own mind, that he did not commit the murder.

This leads to a number of twists and turns, all climaxing with a "Psycho"-like ending which I am not going to reveal to spoil the fun for you should you want to watch the film.

I just love movies like this. They push the envelope for what one could actually see on the screen, but this one goes over the edge on a few occasions. I will bet that yes, it was shot a few years earlier, but was held back because you could show much more in 1969 than you could in 1967.

Ireland plays a police detective who tries to get to the bottom of the case, while Verdugo has a small role as one of the alibis the husband uses to try to prove that he wasn't involved in anything.

This is one of those films that is definitely under the radar, but once you see it, it is a film that quite frankly, you won't forget, due to the subject matter and the story and how it evolves.

No, the acting isn't top rate, and the film appears to have been made on a real tight budget, but as a relic of a different time, this is one of those films which gets away with a lot, and has a lot to say.

I highly recommend it, and you can find it at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x204ldi_day-of-the-nightmare_shortfilms

I have something to attend to tomorrow, so I will have to skip a day here. I will speak to you again on Friday.