The Final Four

THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS-An American writer Kenneth McGee (Desi Arnaz Jr.) in England makes a bet with his agent (Richard Todd) that he can write a novel in 24 hrs. while staying at an old Welsh manor. The place is suppose to be deserted but almost immediately he meets the caretakers (John Carradine and Sheila Keith). Then Mary (Julie Peasgood) a blond girl he met earlier at a restaurant shows up. He believes she's a plant by his agent to distract him. Later the mysterious Mr. Rand (Peter Cushing) shows up seeking shelter. Enter Lionel Grisbane (Vincent Price) who announces “I have returned” and says he once lived in the manor. Then Corrigan (Christopher Lee) shows up claiming he's going to buy the property. It turns out the male caretaker is Lord Grisbane, the head of a fallen clan and Grisbane and Corrigan are actually his sons! And the thought to be dead son Roderick has been held prisoner in a locked room on the manor for 40 years! A bickering couple who also show up just seem to be there to get killed. Of course it turns out Corrigan is the insane Roderick and wants revenge on Lionel who committed a murder Roderick got the blame for. He hacks his brother to death (the best scene). If this all sounds familiar it's based on the famous Gothic story “Seven Keys To Baldpate” by Earl Derr Biggers which has been filmed many times over the years (including THE OLD DARK HOUSE by James Whale in 1932). 

It's great to finally have these 4 horror icons in a movie together but it could have been better. Too much time is focused on Lucy and Ricky's son. 

Director Pete Walker started out making porno movies and later made unconventional horror stuff likeTHE CONFESSIONAL and HOUSE OF WHIPCORD. He from making films after LONG SHADOWS. Screenwriter Michael Armstrong wrote and directed the infamous MARK OF THE DEVIL and the not so infamous HORROR HOUSE with Frankie Avalon. 

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UK Satellite

SATELLITE IN THE SKY-1956-Great Britain is getting ready to send some kind of manned rocket into space (Project Stardust). Commander Hayden (Kieron Moore) is in charge. The war office wants the ship to take along a “J-Bomb”, more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. Larry Noble (Jimmy Hanley) is another astronaut. A woman reporter (Lois Maxwell) stows away on the ship. A pompous military scientist (Donald Wolfit)) is in charge of releasing the bomb into space but there's a screw up and the bomb attaches itself to the ship. Hayden takes a space walk but to no avail. They seem to have no choice but to stay up in space and die when the bomb explodes. The army scientist (Donald Grey) and Lefty (Barry Keegan), the ship's engineer sacrifice themselves to save everyone. Very talky and unexciting. 

The cheesy effects were provided by Wally Veevers who later worked with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Director Paul Dickson had done documentaries and short films and later went into TV.

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The Original Blob

THE BLOB-1958-Teenagers (?) Steve (Steve McQueen) & Jane (Aneta Corsaut) try to convince the local authorities that a killer blob from outer space is on the prowl and devouring the citizens of their sleepy town. Some other hot rodders try to help out. They meet resistance from a school principal, also Jane's father. Police lieutenant Dave (Earl Rowe) is sympathetic to the teens' plight but his hot headed Sargent (John Benson) wants to run them all in because he thinks they are jealous of his war record. Eventually adults and teens get together to try and stop the red gelatinous rolling terror when it invades a movie theater showing a double bill "spook show" of "Daughter of Horror" and "Bride of the Monster"! Taking refugee in a diner, Steve, Jane, her baby brother, the cook and the waitress become trapped when the blob covers the whole building. After electricity fails to kill it, Steve accidentally learns it doesn't like cold. Earlier in the film, when being chased, Steve and Jane hid out in a meat locker and the blob retreated. So the principal leads the teens in a school break in to retrieve CO2 fire extinguishers. Somehow they manage to freeze the gooky invader and the air force drops it in the Arctic circle. It's not dead, only frozen and after "the end" appears on the screen it's followed by a question mark.

This Technicolor low budget classic  was directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth and produced by Jack Harris who later teamed to make THE 4-D MAN and DINOSAURUS, both disappointing letdowns compared to this. It marked McQueen's first starring role and the final film for veteran character actor Olin Howland who plays the blob's first victim. Lead actress Anet Corsaut later played Sherriff Andy Taylor's main squeeze on TV's long running "The Andy Griffith Show". 

There was actually a comedy like sequel made 14 years later called BEWARE! THE BLOB, directed by actor Larry Hagman and featuring appearances by such notables as Godfrey Cambridge, Shelly Berman, Robert Walker, Jr. and others.

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Hammer Time

HAMMER-1972-B.J. Hammer (Fred Williamson) is fired from his longshoreman job and becomes a boxer for mobster Big Sid (Charles Lampkin). He knows Sid is no good but he only cares about success. He falls in love with Lois (Vonetta McKee), Sid's secretary. Meanwhile a philosophical cop (Bernie Hamilton) dogs his trail. At a party Hammer is called a “bourgeois negro” and is ridiculed by his friends at a pool hall. Sid's out of control bodyguard Brenner (William Smith) stupidly kills anyone who gets in Sid's way. Of course Sid is really working for a white guy boss. Lois is kidnapped by Brenner so Hammer will take a fall but in the end Hammer beats his opponent when he learns Lois is safe. In the finale the evil whiteys are beat up by the soul brothers and Hammer clobbers Brenner. The acting, direction, fight scenes and make-up are sub-par. Also featured are D'Urville Martin, Stark Pierce and Johnny Silver. Australian born Bruce D. Clark later made GALAXY OF TERROR. 

This was a big hit and establish former NFL football player Williamson as a “blaxploitation” star.

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Jackie Chan is Back

THE ACCIDENTAL SPY-2001-A fitness equipment salesman in China named Buck (Jackie Chan) inherits a fortune from his biological Korean father but becomes involved with the search for a powerful new drug and a war between Turkish and Chinese drug lords. This has the usual great semi-comic fights but is a lot more serious and violent than most of Chan's earlier US releases. A real crazy but kind of typical scene (at least for a Jackie Chan movie) has him fighting nude in a mall! The superb climactic ending features a flaming gas truck. Director Teddy Chan (no relation to the star) had been an actor, production assistant and wrote BLACK MASK with Jet Li.

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Goodbye Star

THE EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE-1964/1957-58-The Brain of Balazar from an alien planet plans to take over the Earth. Once again the strange inhabitants of The Emerald Planet decided that if Earth is destroyed it might have an adverse effect on them so they send Starman (Ken Utsui, of course) into the fray. It begins when a evil scientist in a wheelchair with a bird on his shoulder who's in league with the brain. He has a sinister one legged henchman. His assistant Kawada steals the brain intent on destroying it. Unfortunately the police think he's a bank robber and in the scuffle to arrest him, a briefcase containing the brain is thrown into the river. He has a hard time convincing police detective Okamoto this is true but is later released and goes to a famous doctor for help. After Starman intervenes and vows to stop the aliens, Kawada returns to his former employer's house to try and find the brain (the evil doctor regained it but I'm not sure how Tawada found out). The detective follows him and after Kawada is knocked out by the henchman he sees the doc (who can actually walk) and one leg escape underground. The aliens send a weird monster with long claws to kill the famous doctor who's working on a formula to destroy the brain. Star saves him. Meanwhile the invaders commit many robberies to get money to pay for their food and clothes (?) and stab a woman in the neck to get some diamonds. 

Despite aliens running rampant, a scientist takes some important papers home to study and walks down a dark alley unescorted while two children return home from a party at night also unaccompanied! The scientist is killed but the children hide when confronted by a insidious alien woman. Star vows to save the Earth and then disguises himself as a “political dignitary” and stops and assassination attempt by the evil doc and his gang. Later the doc's scar faced brother releases a bunch of mutants to destroy mankind. They are weird guys in sunglasses and trench coats. Fortunately Starman invades their headquarters throws the aliens around, kills two mutants and finds the evil brain which is destroyed by the famous doctor's formula! Starman waves goodbye forever....

This was the fourth of the US edited series taken and combined from 7^th and 8^th episodes of Super Giant. A ninth film was made but that was in color and couldn't be used with the black and white footage. Both of these film had 2 separate plots (for instance the scarred brother in the original story was disfigured by the H-bomb) and editing it all together makes it a fast paced confused jumble of fighting, talking, scientific explanations and kids getting into trouble! A classic!

Thanks for reading and much thanks to Shintoho, the studio (a branch of Toho) who made the movies and to Ken Utsui who portrayed the superhero!

Starman To The Rescue

ATTACK FROM SPACE-1957/1964-Once again the unique inhabitants of The Emerald Planet detects an alien threat to planet Earth which in turn could threaten them and the whole solar system, so they send Starman (once again Ken Utsui) to investigate. The Superians are out to conquer Earth and want a special motor Dr. Yama (Hiroshi Hayashi who had small roles in GODZILLA and SEVEN SAMURAI) and his colleagues are working on. The bad guys kidnap his kids so he'll cooperate. He refuses so they turn him and his kids into mindless slaves. Starman invades their supreme headquarters. Later after the aliens attack Earth several times, the professor's kids and his assistant (their mind control wears off) do some sabotage and Star shows up to shoot and thrown around the dumb aliens in a long fight scene. After beating up the leader he reunites the daughter with the others and they blow up the sinister satellite.

Third in the US edited series this is a mash up of the 5^th and 6^th Super Giant movies.

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Starman Returns

INVADERS FROM SPACE-1957/1964-Starman (Ken Utsui) returns to Earth from his home on the Emerald Planet to find alien salamander men from the planet Kulimon have released a deadly flu like virus on the unsuspecting citizens of Japan while disguised as an avant garde dance troupe! The aliens laugh a lot and try to make several scientists hypnotized slaves with gas emitted through their mouths! They also like to terrorize 3 kids. A scientist's daughter is hung over a sea of acid and later she and her cousins, two brothers are attack by an ugly salamander lady but they destroy her when they accidentally discover a chemical that can kill the invaders. These scenes go on too long though. Starman has a few funny battles with them and they are all destroyed when the police get guns filled with the chemical and kill them.

Second in the US edited series, it's a combo of the 3rd and 4th Super Giant movies.

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Starman Rules!

ATOMIC RULERS-1957/1965-Out in space the unusual inhabitants of “The Emerald Planet” are concerned about the Earth's atomic energy contaminating space. They invent STARMAN (Ken Utsui) out of steel and sent him to Earth. He wears a white jumpsuit with glider wings, has an antenna on his head and an accentuated crotch. He has three special powers: 1) he can fly through space 2) He can detect radiation 3) He can speak and understand any language. He's strong but not Superman strong and is impervious to bullets. He can also disguise himself as an ordinary Japanese human in a suit and tie. He's sent specifically to Japan for two reasons. One, Mongolia plans to use atomic power to rule the world and want to use Japan as an example to the rest of the world and two, this is a Japanese production culled from two movies. Two enemy agents are delivering a detonator but Starman intervenes. During their fight some kids from an orphanage grab the bag containing the detonator and run away but one kid is captured and threatened by one of the spies  (he seems like a child molester to me). Starman goes to the orphanage to retrieve the bag and meets the kids and the nun who runs the place who informs Star that one kid is missing. Also visiting is a police detective and his sister. Star rescues the kid but the bad guys steal the detonator back and take the sister hostage. Eventually all is revealed at a Mongolian embassy banquet and their leader announces his evil plan. Although Starman get the detonator back and seems to thwart their conquest plan he is force to turn it over to the leader when he vows to kill the sister who’s still his prisoner. Later Star invades their headquarters and saves the sister, although they are almost blown up. He beats up everyone else and saves the world.

Called "Super Giant" in Japan, this adventure is culled from the first two movies in the series. The fights are hysterical and the dubbed dialogue is also funny. All of them were directed by Teruo Ishii.

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Phil Tucker Returns!

CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS-1960-After a car wreck kills a man and woman, balls of light enter each body and they are reanimated as the male Hauron (TV actor Jason Johnson) and the female Nadja (Katherine Victor from Jerry Warren movies), aliens who set up base in cave and destroy rockets the U.S. is launching into space. The bodies they occupy are worst for wear. Nadja's face is scarred and Hauron is missing an arm. Nadja finds the severed limb (“I'll sew it back on when we get to the base”). Later while Hauron is prowling around the test site guard dogs rip his arm off again! (Ever have one of those days?) At Cape Canaveral a grumpy German scientist wonders what's gone wrong and berates his scientist/niece Sally (Linda Connell) and her scientist/boyfriend Tom (Scott Peters; later in THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN) for suggesting aliens are to blame. While the young duo is out with another couple Tom picks up static on his portable radio which is caused by a generator used by the aliens. He tells his colleagues back at the lab but they couldn't care less. Meanwhile the alien duo shoot down a few more rockets. Later Sally and Tom go on picnic with their two friends. They decide to follow the static again and their friends are soon kidnapped and drugged. Hauron gets a new arm and chin from his captive. Later Sally and Tom are captured but Tom gets away (leaving Sally behind). He gets help from 2 local police detectives who organize a small posse of scientists (including the German) to invade the cave and save Sally. Somehow they are all captured and the aliens head for their planet via some kind of transport machine. After legit science babble the group causes an explosion that frees them and destroys the invaders….or does it? 

This cheap science fiction junk was written and directed by Phil Tucker, the man behind the “classic” ROBOT MONSTER! Though the real Cape Canaveral is in Florida this was shot in California. Some scenes were filmed at the famous Bronson Canyon where years before Tucker had shot RM! There is some debate on whether it ever played theatrically.

Bava

KILL BABY... KILL-1966-Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart; in WAR OF THE PLANETS the same year) goes to a small village to perform an autopsy after being called in by Karl, the burgomaster (Max Lawrence). The place seems to be under a curse after a young girl died. Her ghost comes back periodically and anyone who sees her dies by bleeding to death. Eswai and a local woman (Erika Blanc) investigate. 

Wonderfully crazy Gothic horror from the master Mario Bava, WHO MADE DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS the same year. Great sets, lighting and suspense. Lead actress Erika Blanc was later in the horror films THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE and THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE. 

Nice movie... terrible title…

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Milligan Meltdown

THE BODY BENEATH-1970-Ok, I admit this is the first Andy Milligan movie I've ever seen. It was filmed in England where writer/director Milligan lived for a time and though the title sounds like it's porno it's really about some decadent vampires who dwell in a graveyard and their leader who pretends to be a minister and lives with his very quiet wife next door in Carfax Abbey! 

He's worried the bloodline is dying out so he has his mistreated hunchback servant Spool (Berwick Kaler) and three ghoul faced female vampires kidnap some local women. But later he decides they should all move to America. It's mainly a lot of talk with one quick scene of a maid being stabbed in the eyes. The acting is like something out of a movie from the early '30's.

 Somehow Milligan made 4 other movies in 1970 including GURU-THE MAD MONK and BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS. One actor Colin Gordon was a very busy character actor in England at the time this was filmed. Earlier he had played No. 2 in two episodes of THE PRISONER!

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