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Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)

May. 01,1973
|
6.2
|
PG
| Horror

A notorious bank robber kills his wife and flees the police, only to be captured by a mysterious group of figures in an abandoned town. His beautiful daughter, Lila Lee, receives a letter stating that her father is near death and that he needs to see her. Sneaking away at night from her minister guardian, Lila embarks on a terrifying journey...

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WasAnnon
1973/05/01

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

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Claysaba
1973/05/02

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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filippaberry84
1973/05/03

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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Marva
1973/05/04

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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Scott LeBrun
1973/05/05

The late, great drive-in goddess Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith shines in this overlooked low budget gem. It's a fairy tale for adults, absolutely full of haunting dreamlike atmosphere and a nonstop sense of dread. You're never quite sure what's going to come from around the next corner. As the main character makes her journey, so too does she start on the path to adulthood - albeit an unconventional adulthood. It doesn't waste time, diving headfirst into the action and offering no letup in tension until the memorable finale.Cheryl is endearing as always; 18 years old at the time, she's convincing as a 13 year old girl named Lila Lee who sings at her church, under the guardianship of a reverend (played by co- writer / director Richard Blackburn). Her father is a gangster who's murdered his unfaithful wife, and taken it on the lam. Some time after that, Lila receives word from a woman named Lemora that her father is deathly ill, and would she please come see him. Determined to find her dad and forgive him, she runs away, eventually arriving at the isolated mansion of Lemora (Lesley Taplin), a strange, enigmatic lady with a hidden agenda.Taplin does a fine job as the title character, but a lot of the minor characters add their own special moments to this terrific tale. Hy Pyke hams it up quite nicely as a demented bus driver, Maxine Ballantyne is wonderfully creepy as an old witch woman, and Blackburn, who later would co-write and act in the cult black comedy "Eating Raoul" with Paul Bartel, does a solid job of underplaying his role. Robert Caramico's moody cinematography is another plus, as is the beautiful music by Dan Neufeld. Byrd Holland does the effective makeup effects, creating a variety of ghouls that provide a lot of menace throughout. Blackburn and company definitely come up with some great horror movie visuals in this eerie chiller, which does deserve a look if one is looking to discover the genre gems of decades past. It's also well worth catching for any fan of Cheryl - it's easy to see why she would be beloved by fans of 1970s exploitation cinema.Eight out of 10.

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loomis78-815-989034
1973/05/06

Lila Lee (Smith) is a 13 year old girl who is being raised by a Reverend (Blackburn) of a church who has made her a choir angel. Her mother was murdered by her father Alvin (Whitton) who is taken in by a mysterious group of strangers in an abandoned town. Lila gets a message from her father and longing to forgive him, she sneaks away from the Minister and begins a journey to see him. After a terrifying Bus ride in which creatures attack her bus she arrives at a mansion being run by Lemora (Gilb), a mysterious woman in black whom everyone listens to. Lila is kept captive for awhile until eventually Lemora wins her over. It is soon revealed that Lemora and her minions are Vampires and want Lila to join them. This cult movie was banned by the legion of decency and the Catholic Church and remained unavailable for the longest time other than late night edited TV showings. All though only having a 'PG' rating Lemora does test correctness in putting the 13 year old Lila in some inappropriate situations that wouldn't be aloud today. Still, this films value is in its bizarre story telling. It plays like a demented fairy tale. The monsters that attack the bus are Vampires from the clan that mutated into these creatures. Intense lighting and mood is created, and there are some scary sequences. Make up is a highlight, and the creatures along with the Witch like servant of Lemora are very good. The story is easy to follow, just odd with weird beats and the pacing seems to wander at times. Hardly the classic it is being called today, Lemora still has a nightmare feel to it that should be seen.

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Boba_Fett1138
1973/05/07

This is a very likable and intriguing movie to watch but man, is it odd as well! To be frank, I couldn't really always follow the story but I also can't say I cared all too much about it. This is a movie that is all about its atmosphere and in that regard this is still a good and also certainly unique movie to watch.Nothing in this movie ever feels as if it's taking place in the real world. It has a surreal kind of feeling to it, all throughout and the movie feels more like a sort of dark fairy tale. It has an almost Alice in Wonderland-gone dark kind of vibe to it but not really the budget to pull it all off. It's still a low-key and cheap little movie with still plenty of good and original ideas in it though.I can see how people can be taken by its atmosphere and why some people consider this to be one great and scary horror movie! It has some real classic horror ingredients in it, which actually seem to be taken from the more old fashioned type of horror productions, from the 1930's. It wasn't exactly scary in my book but I still was very fond of the movie its atmosphere and oddness.The overall movie is still a bit too strange though, with all of its characters, storytelling and the story itself. A better, or more clear, main plot line would had helped this movie a lot. It would had given the movie more focus and a more clear point to it all.It's still a perfectly watchable movie but not really one everybody should rush out to see right now. Just watch it when you get the chance. Chances are you might end up really liking it, since it's still clearly something unique, even almost 40 years later now.6/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

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christopher-underwood
1973/05/08

This is an unusual and enjoyable film that may have ambitions beyond it's means but is nevertheless a very brave attempt to do something just that little bit different. We begin with Cheryl Smith as the angelic, purer than pure, Lila Lee, star of the local church and living under the protection of her minister in the absence of her gangster father. Both here and later in the scenes with the magnificent lesbian vampire, Lemora, played by Lesley Taplin (Gilb) there are unmistakable hints that these older 'guardians' have more than the interests of the virgin child at heart. The opening scenes in the church and the later ones in Lemora's residence are colourful and rather grandly shot but it is the sequence depicting the young girl's seeming trip to find her father that is most astounding. From the moment she leaves the protection of the minister, she seems not only most vulnerable but the sets seem flimsy and almost laughable, but I'm guessing that this was deliberate and that even the bumpy creaky bus with the unbelievable driver are all designed to let us know that maybe not all is how it seems here. After this great sequence we meet the impressive Lemora and various zombies but despite a rather creepy bath scene there is just a little too much, running about. Still, unusual and well worth seeing.

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