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aka Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el Hombre Lobo. Blue Demon vs. Dracula and El Hombre Lobo. Santo and Blue.
This time the two wrestling friends have to take on Dracula and the Wolf Man who are out for revenge on the descendants of the man who killed them. As the police refuse to get involved, Santo and to a lesser extent Blue Demon must defend the women.
This is a nice looking film, they have a great look, but neither Dracula nor the Wolfman light up the screen and there is as usual far too much exposition. Endless walk and talk, interrupted by a couple of wrestling bouts to remind you what Santo and Blue Demon do for a day job, but it does liven up in when Dracula's brides turn up and Santo finally gets to meet him and his hersute henchmen.
An American is invited to stay at a family estate in the country, and meets up with the most bizarre family in accepting. Each of the family is required to return and stay at the house each night or forfeit their share of the family fortune. Unfortunately during the night someone starts murdering them one by one.
A match up between William Castle and Hammer should have been a match made in heaven. Instead we get a watered down version of both. Instead of thrills and chills we have only mild and slapstick humour. Robert Morley dominates the screen stuffed full with the cream of comedy actors of the time, including Joyce Grenfell and Fenella Fielding, but to no avail. A diverting little film but in truth a horror-comedy, with little of either.
aka Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
Professor Challenger, an anthropologist, claims to have found living dinosaurs in the Amazon and challenges the London Zoological Society to mount an expedition. A motley selection step forward to undertake the journey, a socialite, a professor, an explorer, a reporter and the daughter of the newspaper magnet who is funding the exhibition. Along with a local guide they travel to a plateau and soon discover Challenger was indeed right. But they also find more than they bargained for...
A rip-roaring adventure from start to finish, made more so by the obvious lizards dressed as dinosaurs, rather than the stop motion that one might expect. One for a saturday afternoon matinee.
aka Gojira vs. Kingu Gidorâ.
Time travellers go back in time to 1992 to warn that Godzilla will destroy Japan if not stopped. Godzilla's origin as a dinosaur that has been mutated by radiation is explained, and they reveal a plan to stop the monster. Using their time machine they will pop further back in time and prevent Godzilla from coming in contact with the radiation. However, things things go wrong and King Ghidrah is created. Who will save Japan now...I think we all know the answer to that one don't we.
The 18th outing for Godzilla is enjoyable, if you like watching monster wrestling matches, with great special effects and some intreging ideas. Otherwise this isn't for you.
aka Gojira.
Ships are being mysteriously sunk at sea, then buildings crushed. The government send in a research team to investigate what is actually happening and soon discover Godzilla. But what made Godzilla appear now, what is the monster going to do next and can it be destroyed?
The original monster movie that spawned an entire genre. It's a much more serious film than it's offspring, being an anti-nuclear diatribe, where the monster is disturbed and made more dangerous due to American nuclear tests. A gritty and realistic drama from a time before Godzilla became the protector of Tokyo and all rubber suit cuddliness! This monster is a real radiation breathing, nuclear menace and we see the human tragedy that his actions have on the population. The original and best.
1918 and three ex British soldiers are enjoying their freedom in Palestine. One, Leo meets with a mysterious and beautiful woman who sets him and his friends on a search for the lost city of Kuma.
A rip roaring boys own adventure from H Rider Haggard, starring 'the worlds most beautiful woman' Ursula Andress, and who am I to argue. Hammer had more money that previously, and it shows in the lavish sets and big budget star. The film romps along at a nice pace, providing good entertainment, but it's never going to top anyone's list of favourite films. Never the less it will fill that 90 minute gap in your life adiquiately.
A wax sculptor is horrified when his partner sets fire to their wax museum and it goes up in flames. Everyone believes he dies in the fire, but he resurfaces years later launching another museum. At the same time some dead bodies from the city morgue disappear. Then people start to go missing...
The first colour 3D film is a fantastic example of what the technology was able to achieve and a great horror, featuring Vincent Price in one of his many 3D appearances, but probably the best one.
aka Frankenstein Made Woman .
Baron Frankenstein is back and this time he tries reviving a woman. He comes into possession of the body of a young woman with a deformed face. To revive it he needs a soul. And what do you know a young man has just been executed, for crimes he didn't commit. Bobs your uncle and the Baron has revived her. Only this being a Hammer film you know it's going to go wrong.
Cushing manages to carry yet another Hammer, with a great performance. The plot moves away from the usual monster script and provides an interesting twist with the addition of a metaphysical angle. A fine Gothic horror, just the right side of cartoonish.
aka Amityville III: The Demon. Amityville: The Demon.
A skeptical investigative journalist buys the infamous Amityville House, then finds that being an unbeliever doesn't stop the household problems.
The film slowly unveils the demons within the house, in an entertaining way. Managing to just about hold my attention. The 3D effects are ok, sometimes enhancing the look and feel, other times intruding. All in all nothing exceptional, but like most 3D films worth seeing once for the novelty value.
aka International Stewardesses. Special Edition: The Stewardesses. Supersonic Supergirls.
A day in the lives of a number of stewardesses, with all the ups and downs.
Reputed to be the most profitable 3D film in history and was supposedly updated and re-edited as it proved popular, turning it from a straight skin flick into a slightly more complex exploration into the lives of the stewardesses beyond the bed. Great 3D, and to be fair the plot has its surprising moments. Worth a curious look.
PUT YOUR 3D GLASSES ON NOW!
aka Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens. Nosferatu the Vampire. Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror. Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror. Terror of Dracula.
Estate agent Thomas Hutter travels to see Count Orlok who wants to buy a house in Bremen. There he realises the Count is a vampire, a threat to his wife and is powerless to stop his pursuit of her. Will Ellen survive the Count's attentions and the subsequent plague that follows him?
In essence an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and a masterful one at that. Murnau rattles through the elements of the plot whilst maintaining the suspense. A true classic.
aka Alien Prey.
An alien kills a young man, takes on his appearance and worms his way into the lives of a lesbian couple, getting in the middle of their domestic disputes. But why is the alien here?
A low budget sci-fi horror that tries to weave a domestic melodrama into the storyline, but fails. A valiant attempt but one that cant quite hold my attention. It livens up towards the end, but by this point I really didn't care.
aka La bête. Death's Ecstacy. The Beast in Heat.
A down at heel aristocratic French family thinks their luck is in when the girl from a rich family agrees to marry their son. She journeys to meet with his family, unaware of the curse upon her fiance. A curse that is revealed in a series of flashbacks.
From the off you know this is going to be a different film, when there is a graphic depiction of two horses mating. You can't help thinking if this is how it starts, how's it going to end? A truly warped version of beauty and the beast, that turned out to be very light on plot and long on duration, or so it seems! A curio nothing more.
Mrs. Pringle runs a very special wig shop, stocked by her son who scalps collage students. One student, Kathy is determined to find who is killing her friends.
The usual Lewis filming here, ludicrous plot and bad acting, but these only add to the flavour of the piece. For you don't watch the Godfather of Gore for plots and acting, that's right, you're watching to see the over the top killings. In this case the scalping of the girls, seen in full glorious bright red! You don't rate Lewis in terms of good or bad, as they are really bad on all levels. But they are irresistably to watch because if it!
aka The Thing.
Scientist at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft and alien passenger, buried in the ice. Excited, they take the alien back to the base for further tests. Unfortunately they little realise that they have brought a hideous monster into their midst. A monster hell bent of killing them all.
A fantastic sci-fi horror that perhaps helped launch the creature feature boom of the 5os. Where John Carpenter's version is every man for himself paranoia, this is much more a team effort as the personnel band together to defeat the common enemy. A fine example of 50's anti-communist propaganda or just a ripping good yarn? You decide.
aka John Carpenter's The Thing.
The Antarctic and a number of Norwegian scientists in a helicopter are pursuing and shooting at a husky, crashing outside an American base. The Americans take in the dog and investigate the Norwegian's base. Finding death, destruction and a hideously mutated and burnt corpse. Only when the dog mutates do they realise that there is an alien parasite in their midst, and worst of all, any one of the camps inhabitants could already be infected.
This adaption of the 1950s Thing From Another World, a masterpiece of cold war horror, is updated with modern special effects, ramping up the gore, as well as the paranoia. A classic example of how to re-make something and get it right by John Carpenter. Who was on top of his game at this point.
aka Scream Of Fear.
Penny (Susan Strasberg) is a young woman paralysed following an accident. She returns home to recuperate, after many years away. In doing so she gets to meet her fathers second wife (Ann Todd) for the first time. Unfortunately her father has been called away on business, but that does not stop her seeing him, or rather seeing visions of his dead body! Is Penny having hallucinations or is someone trying to drive her insane?
A psychological thriller where no one is who they seem. With the obligatory twist in the tale, in this often overlooked and entertaining shocker. Also includes Christopher Lee popping up as the family doctor.
A couple of animal rights activists unwittingly release a genetically mutated sheep upon the world and soon everyone is fighting for their lives as it infects a whole herd. Can the fate of the world really rest in the hands of Henry, who pathologically hates sheep and Experience, an animal rights activist and new age hippy.
This is a well made, extremely gory and comic tale, an irresistible mix for me at least. I guarantee next time you look a sheep in the eye, you'll see a hint of malevolence there.
aka Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. House of Fright. Jekyll's Inferno.
Paul Massie plays the two characters more as tortured soul than the malevolent monster that is the usual. With Hyde a handsome and charismatic man toying with the affections of women, as he plots the downfall of a friend who is having an affair with Dr. Jekyll's wife.
The screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz develops a subtle psychological tale with little of the usual Mr Hyde characteristics. You'll not be seeing transformation scenes of man into beast in this film. Though Dr. Jekyll does change, he mearly looses his beard! A lesser known Hammer horror, with little of the Gothicness that usually pervades the screen, but an intriguing, entertaining and well made adaption never the less.
aka Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el Hombre Lobo. Blue Demon vs. Dracula and El Hombre Lobo. Santo and Blue.
