They're Dead. They're...All Messed Up

 

 (themoviedb.org)

THE DEAD-(2010)-Lt. Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman), an America air force engineer, is the last survivor of a plane crash in West Africa during a zombie apocalypse. He fixes up an old car and journeys across the plains. He meets AWOL army officer Daniel (Prince David Osei) who's looking for his son and doesn't understand white men. Meanwhile, the army is killing all those infected. 

I liked this because the zombies were the slow-moving traditional kind. It's very gory. The end could have been better. Directors Howard J. and Jonathan Ford made THE DEAD 2: INDIA in 2013.

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Giant Mollusk

 

 (imdb)

THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD-1957-At an Air Force facility near The Salton Sea, 3 men are mysteriously killed. Lt. Commander Twillinger (Tim Holt) investigates with the help of a local sheriff (Gordon Jones) and an atomic scientist (Hans Conried!). After several more deaths, it's discovered giant mollusks are breeding underwater. Twillinger also has time to sort of romance a secretary (Audrey Dalton), a widow with a young daughter (Mimi Gibson) who causes a lot of trouble! 

This is a pretty good low budget horror/sci-fi story with a weird monster and a good climax. Director Arthur Laven spent most of his career in TV, only occasionally stepping out to make a feature length film (THE RACK (1956), GERONIMO (1962)). Too bad he didn't do more movies with monsters in them.

 For years MONSTER was always listed as star Tim Holt's final movie but he made the regional film THE YESTERDAY MACHINE in 1965 and HG Lewis' THIS STUFF'LL KILL YA! (1971). Audrey Dalton was later in William Castle's MR. SARDONICUS and lots of TV. Hans Conreid, usually an over-the-top comedian (THE TWONKY; THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T.; both 1953) isvery sedate and serious here. Gordon Jones of course had been Mike the Cop on The Abbott & Costello Show in the early '50's. There are also several character actors squeezed in: Milton Parsons, Ralph Moody, Dale Van Sickel.

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Brains!

 

 (The Criterion Collection)

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE-1958-Strange murders occur on and around a US Air Force Base in Canada. Victims have their brains and spinal cords "sucked out". Locals think the cause is the base's radar experiments with atomic energy. Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson) must find the real reason which leads to Prof. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves) and his strange mind experiments. Cummings shows interest in Walgate's assistant Barbara (Kim Parker) but she blames him for everything. In a flashback the professor explains how he created an invisible "thing", a mental vampire. When the power plant is accidentally turned up the creatures become visible brains with long spinal cords. This has an excellent climax and good SFX (some of them rather gruesome for the time). 

Director Arthur Crabtree later made HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM. Screenwriter Herbert J. Leder later made THE FROZEN DEAD. According to star Thompson, he finished directing the film when Crabtree left the production before it was finished. It's based on the short story “The Thought Monster” by Amelia Reynolds Long.

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The Claw

 

THE GIANT CLAW-1957-Test pilot Mitch Macafee (Jeff Morrow; THE ISLAND EARTH) sees a UFO but no radar picks it up. Major Bergen(Clark Howatt) accuses him of a practical joke but when a commercial airliner goes missing the major has to eat his words. When Mitch and mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday; TARANTULA) are on their way back to NY when the sighting of another UFO causes Pete the pilot (Frank Griffin) to crash his plane. Mitch and Sally are ok and are rescued by Pierre (Louis Merrill), a woodsman who later says the “UFO” is Carcagne, a mythological Canadian monster. They all manage not to see a giant claw print. 

It's later revealed the “UFO” is a giant prehistoric bird (a bad marionette) which shows up on some weather balloon film. General Buskirk (Robert Shayne) takes Mitch and Sally to Washington DC to meet General Considine (Morris Ankrum). After a missile attack fails, a Dr. Noymann (Edgar Barrier) figures out that the bird is made up of anti-matter from outer space. Sally proposes that the bird is here to nest and lay eggs. And she's right! 

This Sam Katzman production features one of the most comical giant monsters of all time and it was one of the last movies directed by the indefatigable Fred Sears who unfortunately died in 1957 of a heart attack at age 45.

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Air Farce

 

THE STARFIGHTERS-1964-In this cold war documentary like yawn inducer, seasoned Air Force major Stevens trains three newbies on refueling planes in the mid-air including Lt. John Witkowski (Robert Dornan), a senator's son. This movie is excruciating in it's boredom. The lead actor later became a controversial racist senator. Director Will Zens made a handful of other movies like CAPTURE THAT CAPSULE and HOT SUMMER IN BAREFOOT COUNTY. Even MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000's version couldn't save this thing!

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