Last One For 2024

 

 (imdb)

THE CREMATORS-1972-A narrator tells us about a meteor that hit Earth many many years ago and a young Indian and a shark. In the present, bug expert Ian Thorne (Marvin Howard) finds a strange stone. When he sends it away to be analyzed it seems to be responsible for the mailman's death when he's burned alive by a ball of fire. Later Thorne gives a second stone to the weird looking Jeannie (Maria de Aragon). Then a pipe smoking local is burned by another fireball. After a lot of talk, a scientist tries to stop the fireball with a shotgun. 

The sfx, acting and direction are sub-par in this low budget sci-fi film directed and co-written by Harry Essex (OCTA-MAN (1971)) who in better times wrote the screenplay for THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). The Cremators also features the second to last film score by Albert Glasser and the debut of SFX creator Doug Beswick (THE TERMINATOR, BEETLEJUICE).

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Karloff in The Wild West

 

 (imdb)

THE WILD WILD WEST-"The Night of the Golden Cobra"-1966-Intrepid government agent Jim West (Robert Conrad) and his equally intrepid partner Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) meet Mr. Singh (Boris Karloff), maharajah head of "The Golden Cobra", who wants West to teach his sons to kill. He also has a daughter, Veda (Audrey Dalton). West's assignment was to rescue a Col. Mayo (Simon Scott). Of course, Singh has an ulterior motive...

 Karloff is good in the lead, older but still Boris. Audrey Dalton a few years earlier was in three TV episodes of Thriller (One acting alongside Karloff). She also co-starred in the horror movies THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD (1957) and MR. SARDONICUS (1961). One of Singh's sons is played by James Westmoreland who under another name was in THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS, also in 1966. Years later he was one of the asshole cops in DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE (1980). It's all over the internet that English actor Michael York plays another son but it's some other actor with the same name. 

One of 26 “Wild West” episodes directed by Irving J. Moore. Karloff was very active and memorable in the year of 1966, voicing the lead role in the classic “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, also playing Mother Muffin on TV's “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” and appearing 3 movies (including THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI)!

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Atlas

 

 (imdb)

ATLAS-1961-In Greece, Proximates the Tyrant (Frank Wolff) wants strongman Atlas (Michael Forrest) to help him end a war. He has Candia (Barboura Morris) entice Atlas and he agrees. When Atlas later discovers Proximates is a ruthless nut and before he runs away with Candia, he helps rebels overthrow the tyrant. 

Director Roger Corman does a good job with the battle scenes considering he'd ordered 500 extras and only got 50! Charles Griffith wrote the screenplay. Corman directed CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA (also written by Griffith) and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM the same year. 

Mostly filmed in Athens, Greece, it was Corman's attempt to break into Italy's “Sword and Sandal” genre but it was plagued by money delays and production problems. Apparently, it did turn a profit but was not the success Corman wanted it to be.

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Jamboree

 

 (the movie data base)

JAMBOREE-1957-A divorce couple Grace (Kay Medford) and Lew (Robert Pastene) each manage a singer. Grace manages Pete (Paul Carr) and Lew manages Honey (Freda Holliday). They decide to pair the young singers in a duo and they become an overnight sensation with their innocuous love song “What is There To Say”. The managers manipulate both singers until they break up and everyone becomes are miserable. There are performances by Fat Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Bowen, Buddy Knox, the Count Basie Orchestra, Joe Williams, Frankie Avalon, The Teenchords (featuring Louie Lymon), Carl Perkins, Slim Whitman, Connie Francis and others. 

Many real-life disc jockeys appear as themselves including Dick Clark, Jocko Henderson and Dick Whittinghill. Produced in the US by Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky before they formed the British based film company Amicus. One of only 3 full length movies directed by (British born) Roy Lockwood who later work in radio.

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Hammer History

 

 (imdb)

FLESH AND BLOOD-THE HAMMER HERITAGE OF HORROR-1994-In this entertaining documentary, two long segments cover all the Frankenstein and Dracula series (except Dracula AD 1972). There are many interviews: Michael Carreras, Jimmy Sangster, Roy Ward Baker, Anthony Hinds, Anthony Nelson Keyes, Hazel Court, Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick, Veronica Carlson, Freddie Francis and Christopher Lee who narrates along with Peter Cushing. Soundtracks, Director of Photography, makeup and other aspects are covered. Also how the studio picked its leading ladies. Other movies covered include The PHANTOM OF THE OPERA remake, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE. It also tells how American Robert Lippert helped distribute their films in the US and lent stock footage and how CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was planned as a black & white film with Karloff! Stupidly they criticize ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (Joe Dante helps them) to make their CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN look like they were saving the horror genre. Apparently, the only American they could get to run down Universal horror movies and overly praise Hammer was Dante. Director Ted Newsom made many other documentaries and some horror movies like EVIL SPAWN (1987).

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Kudzu To You

 

 (imdb)

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ATTACK OF THE SOUTHERN FRIED ZOMBIES-2017-Scientists working on a way to control the ever-present kudzu plant in Mississippi turn locals into zombies in this horror gore comedy. The pilot of a crop duster tries to get dumb locals to help destroy the zombies. Director Mark Newton has made other movies featuring zombies.

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Short Things

 

 (mubi.com)

BARBEQUE DEATH SQUAD FROM HELL-1986-Penn & Teller star in this short advertising their company that turn boring family home movies into horror films. Lydia Lunch is their secretary. Crude, clever, deranged and funny. Directed by the wool hat wearing guitarist of “The Monkees”, Michael Nesmith.

 (imdb)

THE ADVENTURES OF RED ROOSTER-1984-So it seems around 1984, no budget sleaze master Andy Milligan decided to tackle the TV sit-com! He and screenwriter Donald Tobey made 5 episodes of the title show. This is sometimes called the pilot but it really seems like some kind of highlight reel with scenes edited together from the episodes. The plot concerns a young country girl (Leslie Den Dooven) who comes to NYC to work for the company Red Rooster, that manufactures a Viagra type pill. It reminded me more of a Hershell Gordon Lewis hillbilly movie. It's pretty bad. Star Den Dooven was also in Milligan's CARNAGE the same year.

 (archive.org)

INSTANT ADORING BOYFRIEND-A British guy (Brodie Bass) speaks into the camera. He seems to be talking to a woman he loves and worships, throwing out compliment over compliment while he works out, irons, etc. It's left to the viewer to figure out what's going on. Strange.

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I See Nothing...

 

 (imdb)

I SEE YOU-2019-Weird things happen in the house of a family of a detective (Jon Tenney) investigating the disappearance of a local boy that seems to be related to a series of murders committed 15 years prior by a guy who's in jail. Added to this is the detective's wife (Helen Hunt) who recently had an affair and their resentful son (Judah Lewis). Another cop Spitz (Gregory Alan Williams) who worked on the original case helps out. When the wife's lover turns up dead in their house and the son is attacked, it seems someone else is in their house. Flashbacks reveal what's really going. 

Clever plot but slow going. Directed by Adam Randall.

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Weird Anthology

 

 (themoviedb)

WILD TALES-2014-This is a bizarre black comedy anthology Argentine-Spanish co-production with a ensemble vast. A pre-credits story (“Pasternak”) deals with a plane load of passengers all connected by knowing the same man named Pasternak. In the second, “The Rats”, a waitress meets a customer, a loan shark, who drove her father to suicide. She doesn't know what to do but the cook has an idea. In the third “The Strongest”, a man with a flat tire is terrorized by a driver he insulted earlier. Their fight results in a sardonic ending.

 In “Little Bomb”, a demolition expert runs into problems when his car is towed. His wife wants a divorce, he's arrested then fired from his job. When he uses his expertise to get revenge, well things change. The next and most serious one, “The Proposal”, involves a prominent man who wants to pay his gardener to take the blame for his son's hit and run murder. Everything snowballs but this has too much of an abrupt ending. It ends with “Till Death Do Us Part”. At her wedding a bride finds out that her husband had an affair with one of the guests. It turns into a wedding no one will ever forget.

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In Like Flynn

 

 (imdb)

CRY WOLF-1947-After the death of Jim Demarest, his widow Sandra (Barbara Stanwyck) shows up to claim his estate. His brother Mark (Errol Flynn) doesn't seem to know anything about the marriage or so he says. He keeps a tight rein on his niece Julie (Geraldine Brooks) who hears strange noises and screaming that seem to come from Mark's mysterious and forbidden lab.

Interesting film noir with a twist ending directed by Peter Godfrey who made THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS with Humprey Bogart the same year. Also with Richard Basehart & Jerome Cowan. It's based on a novel by mystery writer Marjorie Carleton.

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Anna May Wong

 (imdb)

 

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON-1931-We learn that the evil Fu Manchu went crazy after the accidental deaths of his wife and son during the Boxer Rebellion. He wrongfully blamed Gen. Petrie (Holmes Herbert). Scotland Yard defeated him and he is dead. Now his daughter Ling Moy (Anna May Wong) is an “Oriental dancer”, not knowing who her father is. But it turns out Fu (Warner Oland) is not dead and in fact he kills Petrie with poison tobacco in front of his wife (Nella Walker) and son Ron (Bramwell Fletcher), Sir Basil (Lawrence Grant) and Ah Kee (Sessue Hayakawa). 

Kee shoots Fu but he gets away with help of the butler. He dies but when Ling learns that Fu is her father, she vows to kill Ron, the last Petrie. “I will be your son!”, she declares. Fu makes it seem like Sir Basil and the police kill him while he's in the act of killing Ling so Ling can get close to Ron, whose girlfriend Joan (Francis Dade) doesn't like the fact that Ron is sweet on Ling but Kee also professes his love for Ling. When Ling has a chance to kill Ron, she hesitates having now fallen in love with him but later shows her true self, holding Joan captive and threatening to pour acid on her. 

Sometimes clumsy but well-done mystery drama with a great finale. It's based on the novel “The Daughter of Fu Manchu” by Sax Rohmer. One of 13 films directed by actor Lloyd Corrigan between 1930 & 1937. His penultimate film was NIGHT KEY (1937) with Boris Karloff.

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Not Really Horror

 

 (imdb)

THE EYES OF THE MUMMY-1918-A man, Albert Wendland (Harry Liedtke) becomes obsessed with visiting the tomb of Queen Ma, whose other visitors have had “terrible misfortune” after going there. Wendland can't get anyone to go with him so he goes alone. He meets local Radu (Emil Jannings), who leads him into the tomb and attacks him. Wendland knocks Radu out and investigates, finding a room where he meets a woman also named Ma (Pola Negri) who says she is Radu's prisoner. Wendland whisks her away to Europe and tries to teach her how to act like a European but Radu also goes (with the help of a professor who saved him in the desert) to find her. Wendland gives a party and the male guests are mesmerized by Ma's exotic dance. A variety show agent wants Ma in his show. 2 months later, Ma is a dancing sensation and the professor goes to see her. He brings Radu, now his servant. When Radu sees Ma, the trouble begins. 

 (imdb)

There is no mummy in this silent film production which is good on its own but not really a horror movie. This silent German production was directed by Ernst Lubitsch who later went to Hollywood and directed many famous comedies like NINOTCHKA (1939) and TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942). 

Star Pola Negri (from Poland) made 3 more movies with Lubitsch, after which she came to Hollywood where she was quite popular and successful in silent films for Paramount for a while. Co-star Jannings would go on to work for FW Murnau, eventually coming to the US and winning the first best actor Academy Award in 1929. His film work for Nazi propaganda films during WW 2 finished his career as an actor after Germany's defeat. Actor Harry Liedtke was killed by The Red Army in 1945.

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A Val Lewton Production

 

 (imdb)

THE LEOPARD MAN-1943-In New Mexico, PR man Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) gets a small leopard for his client Kiki (Jean Brooks) to go to a nightclub with to attract attention. A castanet performer Col-Col (Margo) scares the animal and it runs away. Police search but can't find it. It kills a young girl named Theresa (Margaret Landry). After a woman is killed in a cemetery, Manning and the leopard's owner Charlie How-Come (future director Abner Biberman) believe a man, not the leopard, did the killing. A museum curator Galbraith (James Bell) suspects Charlie. Every time a fortune teller (Isabel Jewell) reads Col-Col's cards, an ace of spades comes up. Sure enough, Col-Col is victim #3. Manning and Kiki decide to catch the killer. 

Small but to the point thriller directed by Jacques Tourneur, one of three classic horror type films he made for producer Val Lewton in 1943. The other two were THE CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE! Jean Brooks was also in another Lewton production the same year, THE SEVENTH VICTIM.

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Lee & Cushing

 

 (imdb)

THE CREEPING FLESH-1973-Overzealous scientist Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) finds an unusual skeleton in Asia and brings it back to London. The doctor has been keeping a secret from his daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron) who believes her mother dead. However, Hildern receives a letter from his brother James (Christopher Lee), head of an insane asylum where his wife has been kept for many years and has just died. James is envious and resentful of his brother and tells him so. Later while examining the skeleton, a bony finger seems to grow flesh. Meanwhile James seems to be doing experiments of his own when one of his patients escapes. When Penelope finds out mom's secret, dad goes a little crazy and injects her with the blood from the skeleton finger. She starts to pick up mom's bad habits and winds up killing a sailor. While escaping from an angry mob she hooks up with the escaped lunatic who she later pushes to his death. She's captured and carted off to uncle's asylum. After snooping, James discovers what has happened to Penelope. Then he has the skeleton stolen. A rainstorm wrecks this endeavor and the reanimated skeleton comes looking for its finger. 

 (imdb)

A weird twist ending highlights this story. Michael Ripper has a small role. Often mislabeled a Hammer film, this independent English production shows promise but kind of never really gets going. Cinematographer Freddie Francis replaced Don Sharp as director right before filming started. Francis had directed several Hammer and non-Hammer films including THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964), DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965), TORTURE GARDEN (1967) and DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968).

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Southern Wolf

 

 (imdb)

WOLFMAN-1979-A son, Colin Glasgow (co-producer Earl Owensby), is summoned to his father's death bed by his cousins (the father is actually stabbed to death). It seems Colin has inherited a curse and he turns into a werewolf when the moon is full. The curse was put on his family by an evil reverend. After a nightly rampage Colin is thrown in jail. The reverend plans on killing Colin's girlfriend but somehow Colin escapes, turns into a wolf and kills the the evil clergyman, unfortunately dying in the process. 

This low budget period piece, very reminiscent of an Andy Mulligan movie, has bad acting & sfx. Star Owensby in the '70's, seemed to have a reputation as a "redneck Roger Corman" based in North Carolina but most of his output didn't get passed the Mason-Dixon line. Director/writer Worth Keeter later worked on the American versions of TV's "Power Rangers" shows.

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Satan Strikes

 

 (imdb)

NIGHT VISITOR-1989-Billy Colton (Derek Rydall), a moronic high school student who's always late for class spies on his new single hot neighbor Lisa (Shannon Tweed). He has a dopey friend Sam (Scott Fults) and a kind of girlfriend Kelly (Teresa Van der Woude). When Billy decides to climb to a window of Lisa's house to get some pics, he sees her ritualistically killed by a masked Satanist who turns out to be his teacher Mr. Willard (Allen Garfield) who lives with his weird brother Stanley (Michael J. Pollard) and have a kidnapped hooker in their basement. Unfortunately, the police (lead by Richard Roundtree) don't believe Billy because he's known to be a liar. Billy goes to an ex-cop Devereaux (Elliot Gould) for help. Meanwhile Willard and Stanley sacrifice the hooker to Satan. The police consult an authority on Satanism (Henry Gibson!). Later, when Kelly is kidnapped, Billy and Devereaux invade Willard's house. 

The out-of-control finale saves this from time wasting boredom and the annoying Billy character! Brooke Bundy plays Billy's mom. Director Rupert Hitzig earlier had produced WOLFEN (1981) and JAWS 3-D (1983).

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Found

 

 (imdb)

VHS 99-2022-Another in the found footage anthology series. First: “Shredding” directed by Maggie Levin. Some punk band pranksters go to an abandoned rock club now destroyed by fire where a band called "Bitch Cat" were in an audience stampede. The dead band members come back to life, take over filming and kill the living band members, then reanimate the band and make them play. 

2: “Suicide Bid” by Johannes Roberts. As a sorority initiation, a girl agrees to spend some time buried in a coffin recreating the urban legend of Guiltine, another girl who was buried underground 20 years before and was never seen again. 

3: “Ozzy Dungeon” by Flying Lotus. A demented kids show Ozzy's Dungeon, is hosted by an obnoxious, self-serving host. When a contestant named Donna is injured, her fat equally obnoxious mother kidnaps the host. Eventually they are all killed by a strange demon that emerges from the mysterious Ozzy in a cave. 

4: “The Gawkers” by Tyler MacIntyre. Some asshole teenagers spy on a woman across the street who turns out to be Medusa. 

5: “Two Hell and Back” by Vanessa & Joseph Winter. Two guys are filming a witch's coven while they summon a demon. The dudes are sucked into hell and run around with a woman named Mabel trying to find an exit portal. This is by far the most imaginative segment but it's once again marred by characters arguing and screaming.

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Chuck Power

 

 (imdb)

AN EYE FOR AN EYE-1981-After his partner Pierce (Terry Kiser) is killed in a shootout, undercover cop Sean Kane (Chuck Norris) resigns under pressure from his boss (Richard Roundtree). Pierce's widow Linda (Rosalind Chao) is a reporter who discovers a secret operation. Unfortunately, she's killed by a club foot Asian strongman (Prof. Toru Tanaka). Morgan Canfield (Christopher Lee), the head of a TV station seems helpful but acts suspiciously. Another reporter Heather (Maggie Cooper) helps Kane track down suspect Montoya (Mel Novak). Later Kane teams with Linda's father James (Mako). After he and Heather have sex, it's revealed that the whole drug shebang is headed by Canfield, helped out by Kane's corrupt cop friend McCoy (Matt Clark).

 Director Steve Carver (BIG BAD MAMA (1974), DRUM (1976)) worked with Norris again on probably his best movie LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983). EYE isn't bad but what it needs more emotion from Norris.

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Long Day's Journey Into Space

 

 

 (themoviedb.org)

JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET1962-In the year 2001 when the world is run by The United Nations, an international manned rocket ship is heading for Uranus. On the way their minds are taken over by an alien presence that learns their innermost feelings. Exploring the big U, they encounter a one-eyed creature (Terrible stop motion). They meet a village girl Ingrid (Greta Thyssen) and 2 other women. Ladies man Capt. Don Graham (John Agar; in HAND OF DEATH the same year) sees illusions of her. There's a giant spider and a one-eyed spongy monster wants to take over Earth. 

Techno-color Sci-Fi cheapie filmed in Denmark, directed and co-written by Sidney Pink (the English language version of REPTILICUS (1961)) and Ib Melchoir who had already teamed with Pink for THE ANGRY RED PLANET in 1959. 

Lead actress Thyssen was once groomed as a new Marilyn Monroe but now might be more well known to some of us from the trio of Joe Besser 3 Stooges shorts she co-starred in.

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That's A Fact!

 

 

 (imdb)

THE ALIEN FACTOR-1978-3 aliens escape from "their zoo" when a spaceship crashes on Earth. They terrorize a small town in Maryland. The mayor worries this might spoil his construction project. A Ufologist invents some weapons to destroy the monsters. The acting is laughable. 

The script and direction by Don Dohler (1946-2006), who went on to make several more low budget horror movies in Maryland, is pretty amateurish. 23 years later, he made ALIEN FACTOR-2: THE ALIEN RAMPAGE.

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Trailer Trash

 

 (imdb)

VAMPIRE TRAILER PARK-1991-A private investigator and a psychic look into stories about missing old people and vampires. Sometimes the psychic's dead grandma talks through her. A pasty-faced vampire (the screenwriter/co-producer Patrick Moran) shrieks annoyingly and vomits blood. 

Terrible shot on video junk with bad acting, direction and sfx. Director Steve Latshaw later made JACK-O (1995) and THE RETURN OF THE KILLER SHREWS (2012).

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Pre-Code Murder Mystery

 

 (imdb)

THE PHANTOM-1931-A mysterious killer, The Phantom escapes his death row prisoner cell by train and plane. He menaces a house full of people, with a DA (Wilfred Lucas) and his daughter Ruth (Allene Ray),he swore vengeance on. Some cliché police detectives search and there's a frightened pair of servants, a love triangle and the killer creeping around in a cape and top hat. Toward the end the scene changes to an insane asylum where a mad scientist wants to do an operation on Ruth. 

Very campy and crude, kind of hard to sit through. It stars cowboy actor Guinn “Big Boy” Williams. Director Allen James made many western serials and non-westerns like the original DICK TRACY (1937) and SOS COAST GUARD (1937) with Bela Lugosi.

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If You Could Read My Mind...

 (imdb)

THE MIND READER-1933-A carnival huckster (Warren William) becomes “The Great Chandra”, a phony fortune teller. He's assisted by Frank (Allen Jenkins) and Sam (Clarence Muse). He meets pretty unemployed stenographer Sylvia (Constance Cummings) and hires her as his secretary. They start to fall in love, even after she discovers his mind reading act is phony. In a town where fortune telling is illegal, he helps the local sheriff by predicting a jewel robbery (he sent it up!). Later a woman (Mayo Methot) accuses Chandra of ruining her life with his “predictions”. When she commits suicide, Sylvia decides to leave him. He gives up the racket for her and becomes a brush salesman in NYC. 

Frank, now a chauffeur, gets Chandra involved in a new scheme exposing cheating husbands with his “power”. He's very successful behind Sylvia's back but he accidentally kills a disgruntled husband with Sylvia right outside his office. Somehow, she's arrested and put on trial for the killing. Chandra hides out in Mexico, drunk and guilt ridden. He exposes his whole act in front of an audience. Then he goes back to NY, confesses, exonerates Sylvia and tries to divorce her but she sticks by him. Final line: “It sure is tough to be going away just when beer is coming back”. 

The Mind Reader was directed by Roy Del Ruth (PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE (1954)) who made the original version of THE MALTESE FALCON in 1931. His last feature film was THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE in 1959.

Murder Tape

 

 (wikipedia)

BENNY'S VIDEO-1992-In Vienna, teenage Benny (Arno Firsch) spends too much time watching violent videos (including one of a pig being shot in the head). One day he meets a young girl around his age and they go to his home where while his parents are away. They hang out for while until he kills her and has taped it. He goes about with the rest of his day, going to a club, staying at a friend's home. Eventually he shows the tape to his ineffectual parents who debate what to do. 

This psychological modern horror film was directed by Michael Haneke who later made an excellent version of Franz Kafka's THE CASTLE (1997).

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Going Mad

 

 (goodreads.com)

SOFI-1968-This is a one man filmed version of the Gogol story “Diary Of a Madman”. From his dingy cellar living quarters, a nameless clerk (Tom Troupe) writes in his diary (with overdubbed thoughts) and speaks directly to the camera, ranting about his menial job, the disrespect he must endure and his infatuation for his boss’ daughter. Occasionally he talks to a puppet. He goes madder with each scene and imagines he’s the son of the king of Spain. Later he's put in an asylum and believes all human noses are on the moon. Nice tour de force acting. 

 (themoviedb)

The director Robert Carlisle was the sfx editor on IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)!

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To The Moon

 

 (themoviedatabase)

FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON-1958-Florida 1868: The International Armament Club, a group whose members profited by making weapons for both sides during the Civil War are about listen to Victor Barbicane (Joseph Cotton) explain that he's invented Power X, an explosive so devastating it's too powerful to detonate on Earth! He plans to shoot a projectile to the moon and test it. Meanwhile industrialist and southern sympathizer Nicholl (George Sanders) wants to stop Barbicane from destroying the world. He has created a metal that could be used to send the explosive to the moon. He agrees to build a casing only because he thinks it will fail. President Grant (Morris Ankrum) tells Barbicane he must not send a charge to the moon because 22 nations see it as an act of war. He gives up Power X and everyone hates him. He breaks with his colleagues (Henry Daniel, Patrick Knowles and Ludwig Stossel) but his assistants (Carl Esmond and Don Dubbins) stand by him. With Nicholl's help, Barbicane wants to go to the moon and back. To slow things down, Ben (Don Dubbins) romances Nicholl's daughter, Virginia (Debra Paget). With Nicholl's help, he, Barbicane and Ben man a rocket into space with Virginia as a stowaway but the flight seems doomed as Nicholl's has sabotaged it. 

Melville Cooper is also in it as well as the voices of Robert Clarke (same year as THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) and Les Tremayne. This Technicolor science fiction is based on a novel by Jules Verne. It was originally produced by RKO but they went out of business and it was picked up and released by Warner Brothers. It's a farfetched but enjoyable tale with the two leads great when they butt heads. Byron Haskin (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)) directed. This would be his last S.F. movie until 1964's ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

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Cold

 

COLD STORAGE-1988-In this black & white overly arty “Eraserhead” influenced horror movie, a deformed young man (Glenn Pearce) lives in some kind of apartment building that's almost like a prison. He doesn't even know what it's like outside. He has sick dreams and kills a woman washing her clothes (he's not the only one there). The camera lingers on different objects and there's a lot of talk but it never goes anywhere.

 It has a good soundtrack though.

 Writer/director Paul M. Rinehard may have done more after this....

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Dark Bogart

 

 imdb)

DARK PASSAGE-1947-Escape convict Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) is helped by painter Irene Janson (Lauren Bacall). It's all a mystery to him. She says she thinks he got a raw deal at his trial. Parry plans to have plastic surgery. He discovers that a woman (Anges Moorehead) who testified against him knows Irene and also a guy named Bob (Bruce Bennett). There are a few twists and turns and a nightmare sequence, but the strange part is the Parry character. The first part is shown from a POV shot, then he's seen with bandages. Finally, Bogart is seen and everything is revealed. Wonder how many name stars would have accepted this kind of role? 

Different type of film noir from co-writer- director Delmar Daves who made the equally mysterious THE RED HOUSE with Edward G. Robinson the same year. Co-writer David Goodis wrote the novel the film is based on. Years later when the ABC series “The Fugitive” debuted, Goodis sued the production company saying the TV show was based on his novel “Dark Passage”. The suit dragged on long after Goodis' death in 1967 and was finally settled in 1972. French new wave director Francois Truffaut based his film SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER on the Goodis novel “Down There”.

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Silent Tong

 

 (imdb)

THE TONG MAN-1919-Louie Toy (Toyo Fujita), antiques and opium dealer is assisted by his daughter Sen Chee (non-Asian actress Helen Jerome Eddy). Sen Chee is in love with Luk Chen (co-producer Sessue Hayakawa), Tong leader Bo Sing's most feared hatchet man. Chee convinces dad to hide sailor Lucero (Yutaka Abe), who murdered a man. Chen plans to return to China as a wealthy man but rival Tong leader Ming Tai (Marc Robbins) decides Toy must die for not paying him tribute. The assassins draw lots. Guess who gets to eliminate Toy? Chen of course. He sets up Toy for the kill but his love for Chee stops him. Later, Taj tells Toy he will have Chen killed if Toy agrees to let him marry Chee. Chee tries to kill herself and Lucero warns Chan he's marked for death. He rescues Chee and fights Toy who has a change of heart about the marriage. After Tai kills Toy himself and has Chee kidnapped, Chan and Lucero go for revenge. With a rooftop shootout/chase, an ax in the face and an unexpected happy ending. 

THE TONG MAN was a big hit when first released help by the free publicity that came from lawsuits brought on by many Chinese American communities aiming to ban the film from playing. Star Hayakawa was the US's first Asian film star. He and director William Worthington also made THE DRAGON PAINTER the same year.

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Super Not!

 

 (imdb)

THE SUPER-2017-After a woman is terrorized and killed in her apartment, Phil Lodge (Patrick John Flueger), an ex-police widower takes a job as a super in the same place. Another super, Walter (Val Kilmer) is into “Ukrainian psycho voodoo”. Lodge has two weird daughters. Rose (Mattea Conforti), the younger, seems to sense some kind of danger, the other, Violet (Taylor Richardson), is useless. Another super is Julio (Yul Vazquez). Tenants disappear but there's several twists to this story which are OK but the characters talk a little too much and German born director Stephen Rick blows the ending.

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Moon Over Amityville

 

 

 (imdb)

THE AMITYVILLE MOON-2021-In some kind of Catholic halfway house for girls, a furry humanoid creature is killing people. Everybody stands or sits around and talks. Detective Kimball (Trey McCurley) investigates and beats up guys at a bar. It seems to be related to the infamous house 40 miles from my home. 

Crappy shit where you are supposed to care about characters who shouldn't even be alive. Director Thomas J. Churchill made a few other movies with Amityville in the title and a documentary about Rowan Bolan.

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Hunter

 

 (imdb)

THE GOLDEN ARROW-1962-Hassan (Tab Hunter with a dubbed in voice) leads a band that kidnaps Jamila (Rossana Podesta; in HORROR CASTLE by the same director the next year), a princess and holds her for ransom. At night, he takes the ransom and the princess and makes his getaway. He abandons her in a market and is promptly arrested. 3 genies help him escape because he is actually the real sultan of Damascus. 

With a flying carpet, fire monsters and a serious story that switches to comedy whenever the genies show up. Low budget Italian “sword & sandal” production directed by Antonio Margheriti.

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Comedy Comp

 

 (imdb)

MGM's BIG PARADE OF COMEDY-1964-Compilation of comedy scenes from the studio starting in the silent era then talkies with parts featuring Marie Dressler, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and others. It's also the only time you'll see Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, The Marx Bros, The 3 Stooges (with Ted Healy) & WC Fields in one film! One of 8 comedy compilation films director Robert Youngson made between 1957 and 1970.

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Eddie Ruined Her

 

 (etsy)

YOU RUINED ME, EDDIE-1960-In Florida, spoiled rich girl Joan Denton (Jeanne Rainer) and laundry mechanic Eddie have been rollicking in the woods all summer and Joan is pregnant. Eddie is kind of a loser who won't take Joan for an abortion because he loves her, wants to marry her and wants a child. But she's too much of a snob. “I hate you! You're a hick!”. She tells her father but he thinks he can buy off Eddie who everyone thinks is crazy because he wants the baby. He's arrested on a phony robbery charge. Dad is devastated but Joan can only think of herself. He's also upset when Eddie is beaten in jail. Later Eddie escapes and Joanie, obviously nutty, goes after him with a gun. She wounds him and chases him through the forest in her robe and underwear. Copyright 1958. 

Also known as THE TOUCH OF HER FLESH, it was produced and directed by R. John Hugh made some other Florida based movies like NAKED IN THE SUN (1957) and FALL GIRL (1961).

 (themoviedb.org)

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