Not Andy Milligan

 

 (imdb)

LEGACY OF BLOOD-1971-Relatives gather at the home of the recently deceased but still rich Preston Dean (John Carradine) for the reading of his will. They will all get a share of his estate, but they have to immediately stay overnight at his old house.

 They are all a bunch of neurotics with various hangups including Gregory Dean (Jeff Morrow) and wife Laura (Merry Anders; in her last film role), Veronica Dean (Faith Domgerue) and Frank Mantee (John Russell). The sheriff (Rodolfo Acosta; also in his last movie) is called when a dog is killed but he's the first victim when his bloody severed head winds up on a plate in the fridge. "This is getting to be like some kind of horror film" says one of them. All their problems seem to stem from Dean's verbal and physical abuse of his family. After death by electrocution, the weird masochistic butler/ handyman Igor (Buck Kartalian) seems a likely suspect. There's more deaths and it ends on a comical note. 

Andy Mulligan made a horror movie with the same title the same year. This LEGACY OF BLOOD resembles a Milligan production but less sleazy and shoddy. Also known as WILL TO DIE. Morrow and Domgerue, of course in better days had co-starred together in THIS ISLAND EARTH.

Director Carl Monson later made PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER! (1973), a soft-core porn version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which Kartalian starred in. 

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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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The Third and Final

THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US-1956-A new expedition is put together by hot headed Dr. Barton (Jeff Morrow) to go to The Amazon and capture “The Gill Man” in this second sequel to the classic THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (after REVENGE OF THE CREATURE). For some reason Barton wants to change the creature into a new species and has something to do with man living in outer space! Level headed Dr. Thomas Morgan (Rex Reason) just wants to make the world “a happier place”. Barton's spoiled rich wife (Leigh Snowden) gets in the way. When the gill man attacks the small group drug him and accidentally set him on fire. Unconscious they take the poor water breather back to their lab and perform several operations to save him. It seems the fire has burned away his scales and he (?) now has the metabolism of a normal man. They also do an operation that removes his need to breath under water so when he escapes he nearly drowns. Eventually they take the now rather docile creature back to San Francisco and put him in an outdoor cage with some sheep. In a jealous rage Barton kills his deck hand (Greg Palmer) and tries to blame it on the creature who goes bonkers, breaks out of his cage and kills Barton. Shot up and breathing heavy the now “gill-less” man leaves the compound and heads toward the sea (and his apparent death). Whether intentional or not the story really shows “man's inhumanity to monsters”.

 The Gill Man underwater was played by Ricou Browning while on land Don Megowan portrayed him. Usual second unit director John Sherwood makes the best of what he's got to work with in this senseless sequel. He made the more interesting THE MONOLITH MONSTERS the next year. Lead actress Leigh Snowden married singer Dick Contino the year this was released and following the birth of their first child retired from acting.

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Metaluna

THIS ISLAND EARTH-1955-In this Technicolor science fiction classic Dr. Cal Beacham (Rex Reason; in THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US the next year) is saved from a jet crash by a mysterious beam. Later after receiving some weird directions he and his assistant Joe (Robert Nicols) build a communications device which puts them in touch with the high forehead alien Exeter (Jeff Morrow; also in THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US the next year) who wants Beacham for his “special group”. The doc takes a pilot-less plane to a meeting Exeter has set up. He meets the alien who explains that his home planet of Metaluna needs uranium in their war against their enemies called The Zagons. 

Exeter has gathered scientists from over the world to help solve the problem but it's obvious he has an ulterior motive. Beacham meets Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue; in CULT OF THE COBRA the same year) who he has met before but she doesn't seem to remember him. He also meets Dr. Carlson (Russell Johnson) and Exeter's sinister assistant Brak (Lance Fuller) who wants to put the trio under a “transformer” to control them. They try to escape but are attacked by a death ray and Carlson is killed. Beacham and Ruth almost get away by plane but a beam brings them back. They go to Metaluna which is under attack by The Zagons. There they meet Exeter's boss The Monitor (Douglas Spencer; Scotty in THE THING) and encounter the famed Metaluna mutants. Metaluna's real mission is also revealed. They want to relocate to Earth and subjugate the human race but when The Monitor tries to put Beacham and Ruth in the Thought Transference Chamber to make them mindless slaves Exeter rebels and helps them escape being wounded in the process by a mutant. Metaluna is destroyed and after a quick appearance by another mutant who stowed away on their ship, Beacham and Ruth are returned to Earth. Exeter stays on board as the damaged ship crashes into the ocean. 

The same year as THIS ISLAND EARTH was made producer William Alland (the reporter trying to figure what “Rosebud” meant in CITIZEN KANE) also served the same capacity on THE REVENGE OF THE CREATURE and TARANTULA. ISLAND seems a bigger type of production with a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo, nice SFX and of course the famed Metaluna Mutant (made somewhat more well known than it should have been in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND). For me it was always a little disappointing. 

The acting is ok but the story isn't that engaging. It's based on three short novels by Raymond F. Jones, a prolific science fiction short story writer at the time. Director Joseph Newman started out doing short subjects and eventually feature films like 711 OCEAN DRIVE and THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLATS. Science fiction was not a subject he was familiar with and Universal was unhappy with some of his scenes. They brought in Jack Arnold (who worked with producer Alland frequently) to re-shoot the Metaluna scenes. A sequel was planned but never made. ISLAND also features Richard Deacon, Olan Soule and Coleman Francis in uncredited roles. 

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Octaman! Auch de Lieben!

OCTAMAN-1971-In Mexico a group of scientists investigate the legend of a half man/half octopus. Dr. Torres (Kerwin Matthews, THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD) leads the group. Pier Angeli (who died of a drug overdose soon after filming ended) is his assistant. Also along are an American promoter (Buck Kartalian) who wants to bring Octa back alive, a college professor and some weird looking locals who become victims. The monster itself is a shambling octopus looking thing with floppy tentacles and mouth and eyes that never move. The costume was created by Rick Baker and Doug Beswick who both went on to bigger and better things. He kills by swatting victims with his tentacles but one guy gets a tentacle in his chest. When the group find an "octa-baby" the monster kills a scientist and takes it back leading me to believe that perhaps this is actually an "Octawoman"!

Jeff Morrow (THIS ISLAND EARTH) has one scene as a skeptical scientist. At one point they capture Octy but he escapes with Angeli in tow. If this kind of sounds like the plot was lifted from THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON keep in mind that OCTAMAN was written and directed by Harry Essex who wrote the screenplay for that 1954 classic!

Still OCTAMAN is fun low budget nonsense that doesn't drag and would make a great double bill with the monster catfish man "classic" ZAAT!

http://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2010/01/z-marks-spot.html

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