Born in 1920, Dorothy Green emerged as a notable figure in cult cinema, with a career that spanned over four decades. In Them! (1954), she contributed to the film's eerie atmosphere, playing a role that highlighted her ability to navigate the tension of science fiction horror. Later, in Help Me... I'm Possessed (1974), she showcased her versatility in the realm of exploitation cinema, adding depth to the film's narrative. Green's performances in these films reflect the unique blend of genres that SassyFlix champions.
Help Me... I'm Possessed
In the American desert, a young couple has been brutally murdered and the local sheriff immediately suspects fishy goings-on at the castle-like sanitarium run by reclusive Doctor Arthur Blackwood (Bill Greer). Assuring the sheriff that his work there is entirely above board and consists of little more than helping disturbed individuals return to society, he does little to allay the police’s fears, not least when his loopy doll-hugging singing sister appears. Indeed, we soon learn that the doctor is perhaps not entirely qualified, housing a collection of chained up, scantily clad ladies, a Catweazle-alike prisoner and a hunchback in his basement, all at the mercy of his insane experiments, designed to rid them of madness. When not being whipped and brutalised, these ‘volunteers’ suffer an even worse fate if they don’t behave or illicit positive results, being killed by snake, guillotine and being hacked up to fit the wrongly-sized coffins. The arrival of the doctor’s new wife (Peters) sees his plans begin to unravel as disappearing members of staff and her cranky husband arouse her suspicion. Worse still, when she uncovers his experiments she learns that the harnessed ‘evil’ extracted from the patients has manifest itself as something malevolent and hideous.
