Doll M For Murder

 

 (themoviedatabase)

ANNABELLE-2014-A cutesy couple Mia (Annabelle Wallis) and John (Ward Horton) are attacked in their house by their neighbor's deranged daughter and her boyfriend. The pregnant wife is stabbed, endangering her unborn baby. After the crazy couple are killed by the police, some of the crazy woman's blood drips into the eye of a creepy doll the husband bought his wife as a gift. 

Coming home after the attack, things seem normal but weird noises occur. The husband eventually throws the doll away. After a fire in their house, the wife gives birth to a daughter. Then after the baby is christened, the creepy doll shows up again. A strange apparition seems to haunt the house and they go see a priest. A detective tells them the dead daughter belonged to a Satanic cult who were trying to “conjure something”. Evelyn (Alfe Woodard), a bookstore owner, clues the wife in on some stuff. The priest (Tony Amendola) believes the creepy doll is some kind of conduit the devil worshipers are using to get the couple's baby's soul. Then weird things happen at the house to terrorize Mia and Evelyn, who sacrifices herself to save them. Six months later, someone else gets the doll. 

Long, drawn out false scares obviously inspired by BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL (1984). It's sequel/prequel to THE CONJURING (2013). Directed by John R. Leonetti (MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION (1997), it was a huge hit despite a lot of bad reviews

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RIP Sandy Frank

https://deadline.com/2026/11/sandy-frank-dead-name-that-tune-producer-1237211476/?fbclid=IwY2xjawVXGrtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABH_7jQ-rkfW8Gy8exgIyVD8KGs_XAxGQMu2YA2GgfnnyINlbTpY0D74D2_jPq_aem_klI6IZ40KmzLIA7fr-0Frw 

Pal's Puppets

 

 (imdb)

THE PUPPETOON MOVIE-1987-This is a compilation of George Pal's 10 Puppetoons shorts plus a short history of its inception. It's hosted by Arnie the Dinosaur who tells the tale to clay animation icons, Gumby and his pal Pokey! Originally there were 11 shorts but there have been several revised versions that added more with each volume. Pal received an honorary Academy Award in 1944 for his work on them. It was written, produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit who also made the bio-pic THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL (1985). 

THE PUPPETOON MOVIE also features the last work of the great voice actor Paul Frees. 

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He Knows

 

 (imdb)

HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE-1980-After a girl finds her boyfriend hanging dead from a tree, we learn it's all in a movie being watched by 2 young women in a theater. One of them thinks she's being followed when she goes to the bathroom. When she returns to her seat, a mysterious figure sits down beside her. While everyone is screaming, he kills her. 

Police Lt. Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt) thinks the murderer is the same person who killed his fiancé on their wedding day. Meanwhile 3 women (whose men go away for a bachelor party) are stalked by the killer. One almost married woman, Amy (Caitlin O'Heaney) is still friends with her ex-boyfriend Marvin (Don Scardino; SQUIRM (1976)). For some reason, the killer (Tom Rolfing) stabs Amy's tailor to death. Back at her house, Amy is given a surprise shower by her annoying friends, while one friend is having an affair with her professor. Both are done in by the killer. Later, Amy finds her friend's head in a fish tank and then is pursued by the killer. He attacks her while she's driving, then chases her around. She takes refuge in the local mortuary where Marvin works. Just when Amy is trapped Gamble shoots the killer...but he's not dead and he kills Gamble. Now he can chase both Amy and Marvin but they seem to trap him for the police. In the end, Amy and Marvin decide to get married but on their wedding day Amy has a visitor. It's Paul, her ex-fiancé...

Steve James appears in one scene as a witness but this is really known for then unknown Tom Hanks' appearance in a red herring role (his film debut). Some parts are ok with the killer very demented at times but there's too much talk and not many likable characters. 

This was the debut film of director Armand Mastroianni who went on to make CAMERON'S CLOSET (1988) and lots of TV episodes and movies.

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Grave Vampire

 

 (imdb)

GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE-1972-A young couple are making out in their car in a graveyard, when they are attacked by undead lunatic Caleb Croft (Michael Pataki). Croft kills the guy and drinks his blood and drags the girl into a grave and rapes her. She survives the attack but is impregnated by the vampire. After Croft kills the cop investigating the crime, the woman, Leslie (Kitty Vallacher), eventually gives birth to a boy (ignoring her doctor's advice to have an abortion). When the baby won't drink milk, Leslie accidentally gives it blood which he drinks. Years later the baby is a grown man James (William Smith), looking to kill his dad who pretends to be a college professor. At s séance, Croft kills some students and he and son have a showdown. James kills him but becomes a vampire with ill fitting teeth. 

The final credit for “the end” was in French. “FIN du peut 'entre pas?” (maybe not). Terrible acting and dialogue. Co-writer/director John Hayes made the kind of whacky GARDEN OF THE DEAD the same year and later END OF THE WORLD (1977) with Christopher Lee.

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To God There Is No Zero

 

 (themoviedatabase)

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN-1957-While Scott Carey (Grant Williams) is out on his boat with his wife Lou (Randy Stuart), a strange mist passes over him. 6 months later, his shirt and pants are too big. His doctor (William Schallert) doesn't seem concerned that he's lost height and weight. When his wife doesn't have to stand on tip toe to kiss him, he deduces he's shrinking. He has a lot of tests (conducted by Raymond Bailey) and it's discovered his “molecular structure” has been reconstructed through radioactivity and DDT. He loses his job and to pay his debts, he sells his story to a reporter and becomes famous. He's trapped in his house by reporters and onlookers but takes it out on his devoted wife. After a special toxin doesn't work, he walks around and meets little person Clarice (April Kent) who gives him some pointers but that fizzles when he starts to shrink again. He takes up residence in a doll house. He's menaced by the family cat.

Seeking shelter, he winds up in the basement and Lou thinks the cat ate him. In the basement he gets water from a dripping water heater, a house from a matchbox and tries to steal cheese from a mouse trap, He also encounters a spider. Lou has one last look in the basement but the boiler floods and Scott's cries for help go unnoticed. After Lou and Scott's brother Charlie (Paul Langton) leave, Scott has a showdown with “the enemy” spider which he kills after a first failed attempt. In the end, he accepts his fate and looks forward to a new adventure, knowing his existence will not end. Also with Frank Scannell, Billy Curtis and Lock Martin. 

Good sfx and direction from Jack Arnold make this one of the best science fiction films of the 1950's. Author Richard Matheson adapted his own novel. Grant Williams starred in THE MONOLITH MONSTERS, also directed by Jack Arnold the same year. Paul Langton co-starred in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE the next year. Producer Albert Zugsmith made MAN IN THE SHADOW the same year, also directed by Arnold.

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Rat In The House

 

 (imdb)

OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN-1983-Peter Weller stars as a yuppie who spends the better part of two hours trying to kill an over-sized rat in his apartment while his wife (Shannon Tweed in her film debut) is away. This film won several international awards. I'm not sure why. Also with Lawrence Dane and Maury Chaykin. 

This Canada-US co-production was directed by George P. Cosmatos who later went on to direct Slyvester Stallone in RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2 (1985) and COBRA (1986) and the western TOMBSTONE in 1993. Peter Weller starred in the cult film THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION in 1984 and full stardom with ROBO-COP in 1987.

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