Category: Movie Discussions
-
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
October 16, 1987 During the Countdown to Halloween, there’s usually one movie that catches me by surprise. This year, it’s one I would never have imagined, one I can hardly believe I enjoyed so much: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. No, it’s not really a sequel to Prom Night (1980.) In fact, I think…
-
Dead of Night (1945)
October 15, 1945 There weren’t many horror films produced in Great Britain during World War II; however, Ealing Studios went horror-adjacent with one of the earliest anthology films, Dead of Night (1945.) It’s the type of anthology that uses a “wraparound” or “framing sequence” to contain its stories. Here, Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at…
-
The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)
October 14, 1964 What a great title! However, screenwriter Harry Spalding supposedly never liked it. In a 2003 interview with Tom Weaver, he claimed that someone said the title as a joke and “somehow it kind of stuck.” As I said, it’s a great title, but not necessarily for this movie. In fact, it’s ironic…
-
Color Me Blood Red (1965)
October 13, 1965 If we judge Herschell Gordon Lewis movies based on the amount of over-the-top gore, then Color Me Blood Red is the mildest one I’ve seen. With its story of a creatively stalled painter who can’t get his colors right until he discovers blood is the perfect shade of red, you’d think it…
-
The Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)
October 12, 1971 Joseph Langdon (John Ashley) is the Barnabas Collins of the Philippines. He’s reluctant as The Beast of the Yellow Night (1971), regretting the deal he made with the devil many years ago. In “small town in Southeast Asia” in 1946, the murderer, rapist, and thief who’s on the run in the hills…
-
The Black Scorpion (1957)
October 11, 1957 For centuries, the prayers of Mexico’s peasants have been their only shield against the devastating furies that have wrecked their homes and destroyed their lives. And so today, again they kneel, terrified and helpless, as a new volcano is created by the mysterious and rebellious forces of nature. The Earth has split…
-
Captive Women (1952)
October 10, 1952 If you can withstand dialogue that sounds like is pulled directly from famous people and the Holy Bible, Captive Women (1952) is an early (maybe even the first) attempt to depict post-apocalyptic life after all-out nuclear war. As dark as this kind of movie can be, it’s comforting to know that as…
-
The Brain (1962)
October 9, 1962 For some reason, I’ve never been fond of Donovan’s Brain… or any of its versions. When I watched three of them for discussion on the podcast, I rated Donovan’s Brain (1953) average, The Lady & the Monster (1944) slightly below average, and The Brain (1962) slightly above average… so it was my…
-
Scream of the Demon Lover (1970)
October 8, 1970 This discussion is updated from one first published on May 22, 2023 Dr. Ivanna Rakowsky (Erna Schurer) is an assertive woman who, in Scream of the Demon Lover (1970), regularly exercises her agency. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of her ability to make rational decisions. Not only does she completely misinterpret what’s…
-
Destiny (1921)
October 6, 1921 There are at least a dozen films named, “Destiny,” over a third of them silent. Not that you’d have any trouble finding the “right” one, but just be sure you’re getting the one from 1921, directed in Germany by Fritz Lang. None of the subsequent films are remakes of this one; it’s…
Classic Horrors Club 