The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Very cool Hammer film from the great Terence Fisher with Christopher Lee playing the good guy for a change. Lee plays the Duc de Richleau who, along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), rescues a late friend’s son…
The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
A great title, but THE DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES is not one of Hammer’s best films – or, indeed, one of its best swashbuckler films. It’s a singularly slow paced production that feels slightly lethargic, despite lots of incident in the plot…
Prehistoric Women (1967)
In 1966, Hammer studios gave the world its cave-girl classic One Million Years B.C., which featured a bevy of fur bikini-clad beauties, including the pneumatic Raquel Welch and the lissom Martine Beswick. The next year, obviously unwilling to consign a…
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Andre Morell’s character, Dr. Forbes, makes a very unusual house call at the opening of “The Plague of the Zombies.” His old student, now practicing in a small (Victorian era) Cornish village, is mystified by the recent outbreak of deaths…
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
This film is not your usual sci-fi monster from the deep or outer space but a story based on comprehensible logic – the suggestion that the human mind and it’s psychic and sixth sense qualities was the result of alien…
Message from Space (1978)
Reminded me a lot of Battle Beyond the Stars. Same Seven Samuraiish structure, where valiant warriors from all walks of life are thrown together by fate to defend the peaceful townsfolk from the marauding intruders. (‘Liabe Gods pick robots too’)….
Shifting Sands: A Hollywood Titan Retreats
One of the dangers this industry has is that it has a tendency to forget about the realities it is facing when a blockbuster like The Avengers hits. For two or three weeks, after a release of a comic book…
Tales of Frankenstein
Synopsis: Based upon four of writer-director Donald F. Glut’s short stories published in his book TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN: “My Creation, My Beloved” (a deformed descendant of Victor Frankenstein creates the perfect man and woman), “Crawler from the Grave” (another Frankenstein…
Naked Paradise (1957)
Gangster Zac Cotton and his two henchmen, Mitch and Sonny, try to get a boat to get off a tropical island after a botched robbery heist.Duke Bradley’s boat is hired to sail a group to the Hawaiian Islands. His passengers…
The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957)
Roger Corman has been in the movie industry for years. This movie was made in the 1950’s and he is still making movies today! Typically, he does movies of lower quality and low budgets, I think his best time came…
Atlas (1961)
In the early to mid-1960s, there was, believe it or not, a major craze for films set in the classical period starring such heroes as Hercules and Maciste. They were churned out by the dozen by the Italians and they…
Sorority Girl (1957)
Stunning Susan Cabot is Sabra, a troubled young woman indeed. Despised by her mother and hated by her sorority sisters, Sabra has plenty of dough but no friends and nothing but hatred for the world and everybody in it, including…
Apache Woman (1955)
The movie starts with a street fight between a cowboy and Anne LeBeau (Joan Taylor) who is half Apache, half white. The fight is about the white town people blaming the Apache for the various crimes in the area. By…
The Secret Invasion (1964)
Although producer/director Roger Corman is known for his “economical” pictures, this World War II actioner belies its $600,000 budget (small by conventional Hollywood standards, but an epic for Corman) and is a well-acted, tightly directed, enjoyable not-quite-so-little picture. The story…
The Wild Angels (1966)
Roger Corman’s modestly-budgeted biker flick for American International opens brilliantly, with evocative shots by cinematographer Richard Moore that promise a lot more than what Corman, screenwriter Charles Griffith, or the cast members can eventually deliver. Plot has Southern California biker…
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
If there is ONE movie that made Roger Corman THE king of low-budget quickies, it’s The Little Shop of Horrors!! Practically no budget and shot in two days this movie still looks very decent now, almost 57 years later. That’s…
The Cry Baby Killer (1958)
So after watching this movie, another curiosity was sated: I got to see Jack Nicholson’s first film and find out if it was any good. Well, it’s not too bad and since it’s only an hour, not too much time…
She Gods of Shark Reef (1958)
A simple, one-lined description of this movie would sound a little like: two guys wash ashore a tropical island exclusively inhabited by women that dive for pearls all day and worship ocean GodsÂ… Terrific! Sounds like a movie many (male)…
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Attack Of The Giant Leeches (also widely known as just “The Giant Leeches”) concerns the horrors that are going on in a swamp community. A game warden (Ken Clark) has conflicts with his girlfriend (Jan Shepard) and her father (Tyler…
Five Guns West (1955)
This was Roger Corman’s directorial debut and was a good indication of his ability to produce a brisk formula movie although it is also clear that the Western was not his real forte and that it was not until he…