Fiend (1980; Don Dohler)

Don Dohler's Amazing Cinema magazine,
which often plugged his own films.

Before Don Dohler had ever picked up a movie camera and directed his own feature-length micro-budgeted science fiction-horror films, he was already a "do-it-yourself" legend. He had published underground comics in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he released his influential magazine, Cinemagic, which was a primer for aspiring filmmakers to create their own special effects.  His first feature, The Alien Factor (1978), shot for a paltry $6000, proved he was a trailblazer for another medium. This film with such a small budget had the good fortune in being sold to cable. Those who saw it were inspired, alerted to the possibility that "Hey, I can do this too".

Don Dohler would produce or direct another ten features in his native Maryland over the next three decades, until his untimely death in 2006. He would direct four features before a hiatus in the 1980s, and then in 1999, he resumed making films, often as a producer, as Joe Ripple directed. All of the four features from his early period are gems. These titles (including Galaxy Invader and Nightbeast) are full of the same wide-eyed "golly gee" innocence as the 50's sci-fi horror films that no doubt influenced him, and whose small budgets are contrary to the impressive special effects.  But for my money, his second feature, Fiend, remains his greatest achievement.

The charming opening features a red cartoonish, ectoplasmic demonic looking entity that travels through the night sky, descends into a cemetery, and then disappears into the earth of a grave site. Then the reanimated corpse digs its way out of the ground and touches its face, delighted at the notion of being alive again.  That shot is perhaps the crux of this brilliant satire from writer-director Dohler (who in true guerrilla fashion, also co-produced and was one of the two cinematographers).  The monster simply wants to live a normal –human- existence in suburban Maryland.  And so several months later we see the fiend, under the name of Eric Longfellow, moving into the quaint neighbourhood of Kingsville, opening a lucrative music publishing business and even offering lessons from his bungalow.  

However, there’s one problem: evidenced as soon as he rises from the grave and strangles a girl in the cemetery.  The fiend needs to survive by killing others and absorbing their life force (as seen with the red glow emanating from its body upon doing so), otherwise the host body it controls begins to decompose (as seen a couple of times with convincing makeup).

Most of Don Dohler’s features are ensemble pieces, in which a mosaic of characters is thrown into a fantastic situation.  By comparison, Fiend only has a handful of key characters.  Don Leifert was always given colourful characters to play in Dohler’s work, but with his lead role, this picture rests comfortably on his shoulders.

Longfellow’s neighbour Gary Kender (Richard Nelson) has been reading about the mysterious strangulations in the county.  He’s already been irritated by the music coming from next door, and has commented on Longfellow’s strange behaviour. Kender delves further into the truth about the killings (including a hilarious sequence with a graveyard custodian who so happens to carry around a newspaper clipping of the graveyard exhumation that began this movie), and begins to suspect Longfellow, especially after a girl is killed in their own neighbourhood.

The idea of a monster yearning to be human is as old as Frankenstein- the subhuman creature usually wants to love and be loved.  However, one cannot think of another movie monster that rejoices in the most everyday things, like sipping wine or washing the car, however all while still dressed in the same black suit he was buried in.

Dohler creates a picture postcard of the film’s suburban setting with candid shots of kids playing street hockey, a man mowing the lawn, and cut-ins of birds, skies and branches.  We are also witness to the daily ritual of the Kender couple.  Richard is the typical suburban husband who comes home from work and expects to unwind while his wife Marsha prepares dinner.  Also, Marsha is an obsequious surrogate mother to her cub scouts, and obsessive about helping them make a movie in the spring.  She even recruits her husband to make the trek to 704 Market St, to buy a book called Film Magic, which is about creating special effects (a clever way for Dohler to plug his own product).  Because Richard Nelson and Elaine White (who plays Kender’s wife Marsha) are obviously unschooled actors, their tendency to overact, intentionally or not, actually makes this setting larger than life. Dohler presents this landscape that is familiar to us, and slyly turns it into a satirical cartoon.

Most importantly, Fiend works as a horror film as it sustains a creepy mood.  The old-fashioned special effects do not date the work, but rather compliment the narrative's low-key tone.  Although it slowly builds to its climax, it is exciting to watch for its plethora of ideas, inventive visual touches, and a brooding electronic score by Paul Woznicki.  Kudos to Don Leifert for his commanding performance as the fiend (his delivery reminds me a lot of Orson Welles’), and we would also be remiss to forget Dohler's regular actor George Stover’s appearance as Dennis Frye (likely named after the immortal horror movie lab assistant Dwight Frye), who plays Longfellow’s cloying employee (a modern variation on Renfield, perhaps?).   This film is also a family affair as Dohler’s son Greg has a supporting role as Scotty, who confides in Kender about some strange encounter, and daughter Kim was hired to play the poor little girl whose death advances the plot!   It is too bad that Fiend only played for the small screen.  It deserved to be shown in drive-ins, which was the perfect home for regional horror films (and Fiend remains among the best of these).

Still, it became a mini-favourite among genre fans who discovered it back in the days of big box horror VHS. Fiend would rise again in the digital age, as Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia company released it to DVD in the 2000s. However, if you're a fan of this picture, likely the definitive edition will remain the Blu-Ray release from Massacre Video. Among its plentiful extras (including a new commentary track with George Stover and cinematographer Richard Geiwitz, moderated by Cinema Arcana’s Bruce Holecheck) is a collection of 8mm films that Dohler had made in the 1960s (already evidencing his DIY mentality, and his inspiration from 50s sci-fi), and an Easter egg of his 1987 feature, Blood Massacre. This is an absolute must for collectors.

Special thanks to The Big Movie House, blu-ray.com and Critical Condition for the stills.