Code Red has graced us with a screener for this 'Exploitation Double-Feature,' which raises a very important question. Who is being exploited, and how? Many will define an exploitation movie as one that exploits and victimizes a seemingly vulnerable group. This usually comes in the form of women getting all cut up by a maniac, but race baiting, drug using and more also come into play. The point is such movies are cheap, nasty and offensive. Neither lovable, laughable film on this disk even comes close to being exploitation, but releasing the two in bottom of the barrel quality, and calling them 'exploitation' movies, may serve to exploit the buying public. But if it's cheap and boring fun you're on the lookout for, you've come to the woefully right place.

Encounter With the Unknown:
I've fond memories of this Encounter ruining my rainy Saturday afternoon with all its weird supernatural creepiness. Stuff that just can't be explained, and plenty of it is bad, baby, bad. Well, now with a few miserable decades between that mess and me it's easy to see what a hardcore junker this film is, even with those creepy bits.

Clue one that things aren't totally copasetic: Rod Serling's narration, mirroring a text crawl, does not stick to that crawl, and vice versa. That's probably no big deal, since it sounds to me like Serling isn't even allowed to narrate the whole thing, quite possibly turning over the reins to some other bloke until the end, who leads us into a tale of three platform-wearing, hair-and-sideburns-to-the-collar-having blokes who prank some poor fool into getting a gutful of lead. Not their fault, really, but enough to get the kid's creepy mother to curse them during the funeral. Talk about tact! It's all hyper-melodramatic pulp, but not so hyper that the producers aren't against using healthy doses of recycled footage within the very first story.

Next up we get to the story that probably cursed me for life, as some poor turn-of-the-century sap's little pup-dog runs off into the countryside, only to fall into a mysterious, steaming hole, from which disturbing groans arise. It goes to hell, right? That's what the kid's dad thinks, as he volunteers to be lowered into the hole to look for the dog. Let's just say when he comes out - after a blood-curdling scream - he's changed. In the day, I changed the channel at this point. You'd be well advised to do the same.

Lastly, a truly old chestnut (even mentioned as such in the narration) finds a man picking up a strange hitchhiker on a bridge. This girl's so gone she doesn't even bother to put the thumb out, but her spacey, ghostly mien is worth a few raised eyebrows. It won't come as a surprise (unless you're reading this right after crawling out of your mommy's womb) that this hitchhiking honey isn't all what she seems, but it won't affect your enjoyment, which should be mighty, mighty small, because there's nothing else here to enjoy except a misguided folk-rock chickee breakdown.

These stories, supposedly based on true events, are mildly ominous in the fashion of an early-'70s TV show, but nothing that will scare anyone today. In fact there was nothing there to scare viewers in 1973, either. Further, I'm not really sure what the last two stories have to do with the connective story, but rest assured that we'll get a lot more recycled footage featuring the creepy, curse-spewing mother by the gravesite, before we're through. Heck, if you stay until the end of the credits, you'll note that the movie even does a 180 degree turn and STARTS PLAYING BACKWARDS before whoever was feeding this VHS copy into the transfer machine remembers to turn the damn thing off.

Where Time Began:
Sure, there have been many movie adaptations of Jules Verne's books, but each one often has its own merits. In the case of Where Time Began (also known as Jules Verne's the Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth) there's already a far better, near identical version: Journey To the Center of the Earth, which at its worst is fathoms better than this cheap-jack version. However, at this Journey's worst, it's sadly, pathetically laughable. The rest of the time it's just boring.

While updating the era in which our story is set, director Juan (Pieces) Ramon hews closely to the source, including many familiar set pieces. Unfortunately, these set pieces are surrounded by non-stop walking and talking, all of it extremely stultifying. Worse still, each thrilling scene lasts about 2 seconds (save the bombastic finale) so your opportunities to laugh will be few and far between. However, there is a time-traveling scientist.

It becomes clear, then, that in the case of Where Time Began the viewer is the one being exploited, as the reward of watching hand-puppet sea monsters battle briefly in a swimming pool, or hand-puppet giant turtles hissing and moving arthritically in the blink of an eye, really doesn't make up for 90 minutes of half-hearted tedium.

This exploitation double feature delivers two thoroughly tame, boring and pathetic pictures, which don't even have nerve enough to flirt with being mildly entertaining. Yet, as seldom seen forgotten VHS oddities (one of which held me in a hazy thrall for years, until this viewing) these two duds will appeal to genre fans longing for old-school disappointment.

Clearly, we're talking quality.

The DVD

Video:
Our pro-screener comes in anamorphic widescreen, but may not reflect final product quality. Both prints used are fairly rough around the edges, touting some print damage, less than robust colors, and so on. Just like the old days.

Sound:
Digital mono audio is likewise not-necessarily-representative, but sounds OK for both films, without any serious distortion or degradation.

Extras:
Really rough-condition Trailers for more obscure forgotten films represents the only extra on this disk.

Final Thoughts:
Code Red presents two movies that stretch, and then break, the notion of exploitation, simply due to the fact that neither film is even remotely exploitative. You'll feel exploited, however, if you come into this endeavor expecting to be shocked or mortified by anything other than sheer boredom and the promise of a few guilty laughs. Encounter tells three tepid terror tales, partially narrated by the soon-to-depart-Earth Rod Serling. There are no laughs here, just mild amusement at how tedious and talky these tales are. Where Time Began pretty shamelessly mimics the earlier James Mason-starring version, minus everything that made that movie worthwhile. Tons of talking, phoned-in performances and a dearth of not-special-at-all effects relegate this one to the 'good for drinking games only' category. Mom and Pop VHS Rental Store denizens who miss the thrill of renting some unknown piece of crap will sense the appeal here, so in their honor I recommend you Rent It.

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