The Black Crystal / Made in Tucson!

Get ready for hot fun in the summertime (but it’s a dry heat!) at DESERT DISASTERS Month at Mondo Mondays, featuring cheesy, sun-baked B-movies set in the deserts of your dreams … and nightmares!

Inspired by the Matamoras cult murders and shot entirely on Super 8, The Black Crystal is an insane action-horror hallucination that was filmed right here in the dusty backwoods of Tucson, Arizona! The story follows Will (writer-director-producer-editor-composer Mike Conway) as he and his rocking yellow ’78 Trans Am encounter a gang of Satanic cultists led by the evil Daniel. Surviving the ordeal, Will meets up with Daphne, a goth witch with a “power channeler” called the Black Crystal that might hold the key to the underworld. Awash with kickboxing dads, dollar store bloodshed, and a killer synthesizer score, this is an imaginative and ambitious homemade fun-bomb from deep in the twisted heart of the Old Pueblo that has been missing in action since its original VHS release. (Dir. by Mike Conway, 1991, USA, 70 mins., Not Rated)