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Any science-fiction fan is undoubtedly aware of author Robert A. Heinlein (The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land.) His third novel, Space Cadet, was published in 1948 and (depending on your source) inspired another author, Joseph Greene, to create a character named Tom Ranger. Other sources say that Greene was first with…
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Prior to watching Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951), I had never seen an entire serial. To be fully transparent, I still haven’t. I watched one-half of it, which is 10 chapters and a nearly three-hour running time. (One, 26-minute introductory episode and nine 16-minute episodes.) I didn’t dislike it. It’s just a big…
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Crucible of Horror… Crucible of Terror… two 1971 horror films that have caused me perpetual confusion. Even when I popped in the new Severin Films Blu-ray for the latter, I thought I was going to be watching the former. I don’t know the difference because I’ve never seen Horror. The most confounding thing about Terror…
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The knowledge we have about Captain Video & His Video Rangers (1949-1955) hasn’t come from watching its estimated 1,537 episodes; most of the original broadcasts have been destroyed. However, we have a surprising amount of knowledge about it. The low budget show first aired on June 27, 1949, and was televised live five to six…
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Penny Gold (1973) opens like a poor man’s giallo. As a woman takes a shower, a man dressed in black and wearing black leather gloves breaks into her apartment and throws the breaker. When she investigates, he attacks her. It’s not gory at all, but when the crime scene is later investigated, there’s blood everywhere.…
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For the foreseeable future, #TVTerrorGuide is becoming #SciFiSaturday. Every Saturday (beginning November 16) we’ll discuss some of the earliest science-fiction television shows, from Captain Video & His Video Rangers to Tales of Tomorrow… and beyond? (This could be a longer series than even the 1970s TV Movies series that ran for -gulp- over four years!)…
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In Craze (1974), Neal Mottram (Jack Palance) never forsakes his god, the African idol, Chuku. When a woman dances naked and slices her stomach in front of it, he says, “I pray that the bloodletting pleased you.” When he discovers gold coins in his desk, he tells it, “We shall always serve you.” And when…
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Since I’m not a Rob Zombie aficionado, I can’t compare 31 (2016) to House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), or The Lords of Salem (2012.) However, having seen his versions of Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009), I can tell you that it is not as brutal as those two. Don’t get…
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As is sometimes reported, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) was not Lou Costello’s only movie without longtime comic partner, Bud Abbott. (He started his film career solo with several extra or uncredited roles.) It was, however, his final movie, and although I’ve seen only a few of them, it’s got to be…
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Researching Track 29 (1988), I learned a new subcategory of film: “Oedipal drama.” The meaning is what you’d think. It’s related to the “Oedipus complex” which, according to brittanica.com, is a “a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex.” Many movies have…
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Classic Horrors Club 