Don't Look A Zombie In The Mouth If He Has A Gift For You

 

 (themoviedb.org)

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS-2016-Some whacko who didn't like children must have come up with the premise for this UK production. A fungus has turned the human race into noisy cannibalistic zombies. Some mad scientists, led by Dr. Caldwell (Glen Close) experiment on children trying to find a cure. Later, some of them escape with a young girl, Melanie (Sennia Nanua), a 10-year-old cannibal child with a high IQ. It seems she may be heralding a new kind of human.

Screenplay writer Mike Carey adapted his own book. Director Colm Mc-Carthy worked mostly on TV in England before this.

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There's Something Wrong With This Movie

 

 (imdb)

THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN-2023-This terrible talk fest is typical of modern horror, either you get hit over the head with extreme gore or we are subjected to over wrought psychological pretentious direction that goes nowhere. Some kids disappear in the woods but come back the next day and behave strangely. 

Awful supernatural nonsense. The director Roxanne Benjamin produced the first 3 V/H/S movies.

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Huh?

 

 (indb)

BLACK MOON-1975-In the future Lily (Cathryn Harrison), a young woman, travels around the countryside in a land ravaged by a war between men and women. After seeing a unicorn, she follows a woman riding a horse and encounters some naked children playing with a pig. She enters a house where a piglet is in a highchair. After drinking a glass of milk, she's almost strangled by a bed ridden woman (Therese Giehse) who afterwards gives a description of Lily in a radio transmission (“She has a punk nose”). Later the woman seems to strangle herself to death and Lily meets the opera singing gardener (Joe Dallesandro) named Brother Lily. He and Sister Lily (Alexandra Stuart) seem to be in charge of the children. It ends with Lily getting ready to breast feed the unicorn. 

If you like movies that seem to make no sense but might be some kind of allegorical puzzle with fantasy and horror aspects, you might enjoy it. 

French director/writer Louis Malle filmed much of it on his own estate with Sven Nykrist as the cinematographer (he shot most of Igamar Bergman's films). Star Harrison (1959-2018) was the daughter of Noel Harrison and granddaughter of Rex Harrison.

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Damned Kids!

 

 (Alamy.com)

VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED-1960-The English village of Midwich suffers a strange phenomena when the entire populace seem to faint away. Everyone recovers but a while later all the women in town become pregnant including virgin teens and a wife whose husband has been away for a year. When they are born, the kids all look alike with blond hair, weird eyes and are extremely intelligent. They are rather evil too and make 2 villagers commit suicide. 

Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders) & wife Anthea (Barbara Shelley) are proud parents for a while until they learn this is not an occurrence particular only to Midwich. Other groups of cold calculating children have been born in other parts of the world. After the rest have died or are destroyed it's up to Zellaby to come up with a plan to stop the sinister kids. 

This MGM-British co-produced science fiction film went through many stops and starts before it came to the screen. Originally proposed as an US production the screenplay was written by American Stirling Silliphant. When director Wolf Rilla was hired he helped make the script more “English”. 

It's a great black and white weird and suspenseful film based on the novel “The Midwich Cukoos” by John Wyndam (who also wrote the novel “The Day of The Triffids”).

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Lady Bug

LADYBUG LADY BUG-1963-A panic arises at a small elementary school when it appears they get a warning of a nuclear attack. The principal (William Daniels) sends all the kids home and along the way their fear and paranoia grows. It seems to end tragically with one girl hiding in an abandoned refrigerator and a boy losing his mind when he hears a plane flying over head. Though it might seem tame today I'd bet it scared a few moviegoers back in the turbulence of the early '60's. 

The husband-wife team of Frank Perry (director) and Eleanor Perry (screenwriter) made other offbeat, unusual films including THE SWIMMER and DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE. Frank later directed MOMMIE DEAREST.

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Super Dog

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER PUP-1958-Whoa! Whitney Ellsworth really hit the bottom of the barrel with this TV pilot where dogs (little people in costumes) play all the characters. At the Daily Bugle, Bark Bent (Billy Curtis, also in SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN) is really Super Pup, canine crime fighter. He works for editor in chief Terry Bite (Angelo Rossitto) and his female rival on the paper is Pamela Poodle. Sergeant Beagle is an incompetent bungler dressed like a Keystone Kop. Because of his stupidity arch villain Prof. Sheepdip escapes from jail. He has his dumb henchman Wolfingham disguise himself as a clock so he can set a bomb in the newspaper offices. Bark also has an annoying mouse friend who narrates parts of the story. Later Sheepdip kidnaps Pamela and ties her ro a rocket but of course Super Pup saves her.

The costumes are really something to see. It's hard to imagine anyone over the age of 3 enjoying this, although it does have a certain “must be seen to be believed” quality. It uses the same Daily Planet set from the original human version and I think Sheepdip's hideout was used in some episodes. 

Amazingly this was done three years before the Superboy pilot!

Director Cal Howard was an animator and script writer who's worked previously for Walter Lantz, Walt Disney and Leon Schlesinger.  

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Not a Newton Room....

 

THE MAD ROOM-1969-In 1957 two children murder their parents and are placed in a mental institution. Their older sister a witness to the crime is now Ellen Hardy (Stella Stevens) a kind of live-in personal assistant to rich widow Gladys Armstrong (Shelly Winters) who's son () Ellen is engaged to. Things seem to be ok until Ellen gets a letter saying her to siblings are being released into her care. With no other choice Ellen brings them to stay in the Armstrong house where they get almost immediately into trouble for using Gladys private study as their “mad room”, a place to go when they are upset. Gladys winds up hacked to death after she learns the history of the two and her dog carries her severed hand around.

 

The pretty predictable story also features Severn Darden as a builder and Beverly Garland as Mrs. Racine, a drunken floozy who's husband/masseur is having an affair with Gladys. Her death scene is the highlight of the whole film when she commits suicide in a bathroom after making a bitter speech using the word “man-whore”. Another housewife is played by Jennifer Bishop who was later in several Al Adamson films (HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS, THE FEMALE BUNCH).

THE MAD ROOM is a remake of the 1941 film LADIES IN RETIREMENT, an adaptation of a hit Broadway play. Director Bernard Girard also made the seldom seen THE HAPPINESS CAGE.

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50's British Horror

THE GAMMA PEOPLE-1956-When their private car gets detached from the rest of their train 2 music critics wind up in Gadavia, a strange German like town that's not on their map. Mike is the American played by Paul Douglas and Howard (Leslie Phillips) is British. They meet a pompous police inspector who promptly puts them in jail. After they are released the pair find a lot of weird things going on. For instance the telegram office has no telegraph. "Something very odd's going on here" says Mike. They watch a young girl play classical piano but she's interrupted by Hugo (Michael Caridia), a young boy who looks straight out of the Hitler youth who criticizes her. "What a little stinker" says Howard. Then a maid slips them a note about "saving the children". Later Howard is accosted by some zombie looking residents ("Must be a pack of local teddy boys"). They meet the mysterious Dr. Boronski (Walter Rilla) who is actually a missing scientist named Mirsch who says he's interested in educating the local kids but his "work" is far more sinister. After poor Howard is beaten up by a pack of young boys Mike discovers Boronski is using gamma rays to create geniuses and imbeciles and the children are his guinea pigs. Fortunately the doctor's assistant Paula (Eva Bartok) and little Hugo turn against their mentor and help save the village. 

Douglas is very good in the tough guy role (he was in THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC the same year) and despite some lapses into comedy this is a good little thriller, more mystery than science fiction. Co-star Leslie Phillips went on to have roles in many English TV shows and films (and is still alive at the time of this writing!). Director John Gilling later made films for Hammer including THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.

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Black & White Hammer

THESE ARE THE DAMNED-1963-American vacationing in London Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey, a little too old for his role) is beat up by a gang of Teddy Boys. Although they all dress in leather jackets their leader King (Oliver Reed) wears a suit jacket. Somehow Simon winds up falling in love with King's sister Joan (Shirley Anne Field). While hiding from King on an island they come upon a group of children who are being used in a government experiment involving radioactivity.

This black and white thriller directed by ex-patriot American Joseph Losey (he'd gone to England after being blacklisted in the '50's) takes a little time to get started but is very effective and has an eerie climax. Also with Viveca Lindflors, Alexander Knox and James Villiers.

The above poster makes it seem like a horror film when it's actually a science fiction drama with some social commentary, This was a Hammer-Seven Arts co-production and the executive producer was Michael Carreras.

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