God bless Retromedia, that's all I can say. Well, actually I can say a lot more than that: I've been wanting to see Don (The Alien Factor) Dohler's Fiend for just over 20 years now, if you can believe that. As an avid subscriber to Dohler's Amazing Cinema magazine back in the day, I geeked-out in quite an embarrassing manner over an article the mag ran on the making of Fiend, but could never find a copy of the movie before now.

So was it worth the 20+ -year wait? Two words: Holy Freakin' Hell, Yes. Any movie that delivers this kind of cheese-slathered drive-in goodness is gonna get the big thumbs-up from this li'l reviewer, you can count on that - and Fiend serves it up big.

The movie opens as a glowing energy-bug-thingie inserts itself into a gravesite. After an atmospheric credits sequence shot in the spooky cemetery, we meet a young couple who are in the graveyard for a little make-out action. Unbeknownst to the two, the energy-thingie has reanimated a decomposing corpse, which crawls from the grave. When the young fella wanders off to fetch a blanket for his girlfriend, the corpse attacks her. Draining her energy, the corpse is rejuvenated and becomes a sort of waxy, puffy cross between Joe Spinell and Ron Jeremy (played by Don Leifert, who also starred in The Alien Factor).

Wandering into a nice suburban neighborhood, the corpse (who has assumed the identity of "Eric Longfellow") buys himself a swell little house, then opens a music school (aided by George Stover, a Dohler and John Waters regular player). Meanwhile, he must continue to kill and drain his victims of their lifeforce in order to survive (when he needs to suck down some human-juice, he becomes even more waxy and puffy and his lower eyelids get all droopy - an effect that kept making my eyes water; it's pretty cool, really). When at home, Longfellow prefers to hang out in his swanky basement, which is dank and moist (not unlike the grave!). There, he has a little room partitioned off with curtains where he ritualistically slashes photos of his victims and howls with fury.

Gary Kender (Richard Nelson, who looks like the result of a sexual tryst between Kurt Russell and Dick Butkus) and his wife Marsha (Elaine White) live next door to Longfellow. Kender constantly gripes to Marsha about their creepy neighbor's loud violin playing, but she thinks she might take lessons. As the body count continues to rise, Kender grows more and more suspicious of Longfellow, eventually tracking down some rather startling information about glowing energy-bug-thingies that possess the bodies of the dead. Longfellow's murders are getting closer to home all the time, and Kender has to move fast to confront the creature.

Retromedia's DVD features a good transfer of the 16mm film, with a slight (and expected, considering the source materials) amount of dirt and speckling. The mono soundtrack delivers everything it needs to, as well. Extras include a blooper reel, a still gallery, and the "gratuitous George Stover gallery" (there's also a great photo of the lovely "Miss Kim" (Fred Olen Ray's wife) on the Retromedia website link).

Avoiding gore in favor of atmosphere, writer/director Dohler does a great job of delivering some creepy moments, one of which - involving a little girl behind Longfellow's house - will have you squirming in your seat. It gets goofy in places, but that's part of what makes it so enjoyable (and check out the numerous plugs for Dohler's great book, Film Magic!). Fiend is a must-see for anyone who loves Old School late-night horror flicks.