Space Rocks

THE MONOLITH MONSTERS-1957-Space rocks fall on a small town and become giant sized when exposed to water. Geologist Dave Miller (Grant Williams; he starred in THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN the same year) tries to figure out why townsfolk are turning into carbon. Naturally Miller's girlfriend Cathy (Lola Albright; mainly a TV actress who died in 2017) takes kids on a rock hunt with disastrous results. Miller and the sheriff (William Flaherty) team up to find a solution and a frustrated newspaper publisher Cochrane (busy radio and character actor Les Tremayne) tries to assist them. They bring in Prof. Flanders (Trevor Bardette). A little girl in shock (Linda Scheley) helps them find a cure for the carbon crisis but the monoliths still threaten the town.

 John Sherwood directed this unusual low budget '50's sci-fi film (a year after making THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US) which features no “bug eyed monsters” and a lot of talk about silica. Paul Frees narrates, William Schallert (as a weatherman) and Troy Donahue have un-billed roles.. Co-screenwriter Robert M. Freaco penned TARANTULA in 1955. Jack Arnold has a story credit.

Thanks for reading!

Universal Classic

THE INVISIBLE RAY-1936-This was the third teaming of Karloff & Lugosi. It's more science fiction than their previous two outings (THE BLACK CAT and THE RAVEN) which emphasized horror.

Karloff (in his last role when he was billed just by his last name) is Janos Rukh, a scientist who's a bit loony because he blames himself for his mother's blindness. At special meeting he uses a kind of "magnetic ray" to show that a meteorite landed in Africa a million years ago. Lugosi is the skeptical Dr. Benet who invites Rukh to join him on an African expedition funded by Sir Francis (Walter Kingsford) and his dowager wife (Beulah Bondi) so he can find the meteorite and extracted the mysterious "Radium X".  Unfortunately he becomes radioactive, glows in the dark and his touch kills (his first victim is his dog). Seeking help he goes to Benet who concocts a serum that works temporarily. Rukh returns to his research and "harnesses" the radium in a ray gun that can destroy anything. He gets crazier when Benet says he will reveal Rukh's discovery when he returns to France.

Things don't get any better when Rukh learns Diane has left with Ronald. Later Rukh returns to France and cures mom's blindness. And then another shock! Although Benet promised Rukh would be credited with the discovery of Radium X a newspaper article makes it sound like it's Benet's find. Rukh decides on an evil plan then fakes his death. Diana marries Ronald and Rukh plots his revenge. He imagines some stone statues are his intended victims. After killing Sir Francis, he destroys a statue. Benet suspects Rukh immediately and sets up a scientific gathering to trap him (just before he's killed). The trap doesn't work but Mrs. Rukh (Violet Kemble Cooper) shows up at the climax to do her son in. Frank Reicher has one short scene as a victim.

TIR is a pretty cool ahead of it's time story. The sequence where Rukh explains about the meteorite crashing on Earth is very well done.  Although director Lambert Hillyer made the stylish cult film DRACULA'S DAUGHTER the same year and would make the first serial version of BATMAN in 1943 he would become better known for the many westerns he did from the early forties till the earlier fifties when he went into TV.

Screenwriter John Colton (who died in 1946) was also a playwright (RAIN, UNDER CAPRICORN) wrote THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON  the same year.

PS: The scene where Karloff (with a helmet and visor on) is lowered into a crater to retrieve the Radium X was later used in a chapter of the Lugosi serial THE PHANTOM CREEPS!

Thanks for reading!

Un-Something

UNDEAD-2003-This gore horror-comedy from Australia reminded a lot of Peter Jackson's BAD TASTE (and SHAUN OF THE DEAD) with it's extreme violent SFX but I didn't care for it. 

In Queensland, a meteorite shower turns residents into human eating zombies. A woman named Rene (Felicity Mason) takes shelter in the cabin of the local weirdo (Mungo McKay) who seems to know a lot about the zombies. They are joined by a few other people (including a pregnant woman) who yell, curse, cry and act like morons.

This was made by twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig who really think their unoriginal plot, bad acting and dumb comic situations are very clever. They do thrown in a twist ending involving some aliens but by then it's too late. The 90 mins of your life that you wasted watching this crap is gone forever! 

After this The Spierigs made DAYBREAKERS which featured vampires. 

Thanks for reading!

PS: Wkipedia list of still living silent screen stars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_silent_film_actors