8-ka de shinda kaijû no 12-nichi no monogatari [The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8] (2020)

Wikizilla described this one as the first black and white Kaiju film since the original Gamera in 1965. Well…I guess. Maybe. You might call it that. If you absolutely had to. Now the reality is that this is instead a strange found footage film made during the height of the pandemic which just happens to […]

A Repartição do Tempo [Punch the Clock] (2016)

(Literal Translation: The Time Breakdown) I haven’t seen too many Brazilian Science Fiction films. There have been more than you’d think, although the one which might have come to your attention was the excellent Indie comedy, The Man from the Future (2011), which got a little play here in the United States. Somehow or other, […]

Back to the Moon (2018)

(aka, 360 Google Doodles/Spotlight Stories: Back to the Moon) Honorable Mention George Melies holds a special place in the history of Science Fiction film, as his legendary short film, A Trip to the Moon is generally held to be the first Space flight movie. It is often called the oldest science fiction film as well, […]

Yeong-geon tam-jeong-sa-mu-so [Young Gun in the Time] (2012)

The most remarkable thing about this film is that it only cost $30,000. And what makes it even harder to believe that this polished time traveling small time private detective comedy got made for such a pitiful sum is the source of Korean writer and director Young-doo Oh’s funding for this film: the $25,000 cash […]

Hyperspace [Gremloids] (1984)

I’m not sure why this film is so hard to find. Yeah, it’s true that it is one of the long, long succession of low budget films Earl Owensby turned out at his North Carolina studios. You probably aren’t familiar with any of them as they never got much play and most of them sank […]

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

[Mild Spoilers] To start in a less than obvious place: This happened back in 1986, when CBS announced their latest TV movie, a version of Edgar Allen Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue starring, of all people, George C. Scott. Yes, the same George C. Scott who seems to be playing the same stolid and […]

Du xing yue qiu [Moon Man] (2022)

I’ve seen quite a few Chinese Science Fiction films lately, but most of them left me rather unsatisfied. So it seems a bit of a shock to find a beautiful, comedy about a man who is stranded on the moon and forced to find some way to survive there. Now, I’ll admit that most of […]

The Hidan of Maukbeiangjow [The Invasion of the Girl Snatchers] (1973)

“If you can’t say it, go see it!” Let’s face it: the idea of watching a film with a title like The Hidan of Maukbeiangjow is somewhat daunting. Even if it did get retitled The Invasion of the Girl Snatchers. So daunting, in fact, that they had to address it in the original trailer: In […]

Les astronautes (1959)

Sometimes you have to relax for a few minutes and just have fun. Consider today’s film, an animated short film by Walerian Borowczyk. Yes, it was made in France, and has been labeled “experimental” or “arty.” But that doesn’t change the fact that it is an amusing little bit of comic storytelling with no greater […]

The Elp; A Creature of Legend (2022)

What is an Elp, you ask? Apparently, it’s some sort of local variant on the bigfoot, notable for its long claws, ferocious disposition and big feet. What’s worse, a recent series of murders in Farcical County looks suspiciously like the work of their local cryptid, and the new mayor calls in a small team of […]

rivets on the poster

“The difference between science fiction and fantasy … is simply this: science fiction has rivets and fantasy has trees.” — Orson Scott Card

comedy