Let’s get this straight: The original Invaders from Mars (1953) was not a great movie. William Cameron Menzies made it on a tiny budget and it shows. But it does something that Tobe Hooper and a big budget couldn’t do. It seems hard to imagine now, but Tobe Hooper was once considered a promising young director. His […]
Read more "Invaders from Mars (1986)"This one, of course, was made to cash in on the wave of over the top shark movies started by Sharknado. Yeah, yeah, these are spiders (mostly) but the idea of the super-competent hero taking on the menace that is terrorizing an entire city is pretty much the same. Oh, and it was also made […]
Read more "Lavalantula (2015)"It seems that those Mill Valley Fifty movie sets always feel the need to throw at least a few half-way decent films in with all the trash. That includes such interesting efforts as Primal Impulse (although in a horribly cropped print!); Peter Jackson’s splatter comedy debut, Bad Taste; the Indie classic, The Brother from Another Planet; Prey; The Manster; […]
Read more "Top Line [Alien Terminator] (1988)"Connections, connections… I’d stumbled across a reference to the Hong Kong action film, The Legend of Wisely (Wai Si-Lei chuen kei) because someone said it had the same basic plot as Franco Nero’s Top Line — but had been done better. However, when I looked it up, I learned it was one of a number of movies […]
Read more "The Cat [Lao mao] (1992)"As close as I can figure out, the original German title for this film translates as “The Nude and Satan.” Which you have to admit is a pretty solid exploitation film title, except for the minor fact that there aren’t any nudes in this film. Okay, there is a stripper, but we only see her […]
Read more "The Head [Die Nackte und der Satan] (1959)"If you’d asked me which Toho monster movie I thought I would never see, I would probably have replied Jû jin yuki otoko (or, more probably, Half Human, as the original Japanese name is much harder to remember!). That might seem strange when we’re talking about one of Ishirô Honda’s monster epics — even if the monsters […]
Read more "Jû jin yuki otoko [Half Human] (1955)"Here we have one of those great Fifties stereotypes: the world famous genius scientist and doctor, immensely respected in his profession, acclaimed as one of the greatest experts of his age; a sober, dedicated man trying to find new ways to save the lives of his patients; a deeply ethical and responsible researcher who puts […]
Read more "The Man Without a Body (1957)"I was somewhat amused to note that IMDB lists this one as a “romance” (as well as Horror and SF): After all, we’re talking about a comatose patient who has developed impressive telekinetic powers, thanks to his current state, and is using them to harass anyone who gets too close to the nurse he has […]
Read more "Patrick (1978)"aka, First Time Caller Okay, I like this one. Dale Sweeney is about to lose his dream. His radio show isn’t attracting enough listeners and is about to be taken off the air. And, even worse, he’s probably going to have to get a real job from his brother at “Hose World” So he tries […]
Read more "I’ll Believe You (2006)"A mysterious amnesiac tries to commit suicide in a spectacular – if not particularly effective – way. When he’s taken to a mental hospital for treatment, his doctor starts experiencing a series of strange events which she soon suspects her John Doe #83 caused. Telepathy keeps showing up in the movies for better or worse, […]
Read more "The Sender (1982)"
rivets on the poster 