Crime Prevention Scare Films Vol 01

Yeah, sure, everything may look fine but bubbling beneath the surface, lurking in the dark shadows, and hiding just behind the next corner, is the World of Crime. Thieves, drug addicts, teenage thugs, and all sorts of anti-social vermin lie in wait and poised to strike. What to do? Support your local police and, above all, watch the following crime-hating classics:

The Prowler (1957, b&w, Police Science #157): When the city shuts down, the men of law enforcement face a new set of problems: night time. It brings much trouble to the table, but nothing so horrific as the prowlers -- psychos, peepers, and burglars out to terrorize the nubile neighborhood girls. Lucky for 1950’s suburbia, Police Science was busy producing films like this to educate cops in the A to Z of prowler observation, gestation, and pursuit. Where would we be today? Scary says: "Stalker, Texas Ranger!"

The Shoplifter (1950’s, color, Highway Safety Films): Momentarily diverted from his Highway Safety series, DICK WAYMAN trains his cameras on the shoplifting epidemic. And who better to make a film about shoplifting than the man who brought us Signal 30 and Mechanized Death? Watch in amazement as skirts, coats, sunglasses, and steaks are pilfered nonchalantly from the local supermarket! Watch in horror as one particularly skilled booster stuffs an entire rack of ribs up her skirt! Submit! Scary says: "Off-road carnage from the King of Gore!"

The Hot Car (1950’s, Police Science #245): Police Science returns to shake its ideological baton at car-jacking teens. We all know that Teens + Cars = Trouble, but what about the art of the chop shop? Never in the history of law enforcement has police work been this complicated and convoluted. It may look like Dragnet meets Mission: Impossible, but its a whole lot tastier. Scary says: "The sound of science never rocked so hard!"

Use Your Eyes: Surf music is blasting and the party ain’t even started. Do you know what a roach looks like? Does a hair-pin suggest illicit activity? What does pot smell like? What are those cigarettes doing on the coffee table? Does hashish burn like tobacco, or does it smoulder slowly like 4th of July Punk? Use your eyes, dammit, and you too can learn how to identify the tools of marijuana smoking. Scary says: "Pass the dutchy pawn the left hand side!"

Peace Is Our Profession (Sid Davis, 1969): SID DAVIS’ morally bankrupt universe enters the genre of Police Training in this hyper-real valentine to the men of law enforcement. We see the oft neglected "human dimension" of cops as they cut their way through the jungle inferno of Inglewood California, busting acid parties and heads. Sid Davis went on to produce many more fine Police Training films (featured on Volume 2), but this was the firstborn. Like Dangerous Stranger, we see a tormented artist struggling with the gist of his gritty subject matter. Scary says: "More gold from the master of social disaster!" -- Scary Ed