Category: Movie Discussions
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The House That Screamed (1969)
Interested in clearing something off my DVR, The House That Screamed (1969) piqued my interest one night last week, probably because I was aware that its director, Narciso Ibanez Serrador, had recently died. I happened to record it from Comet TV and figured its dark, muddy presentation was the best I could expect to see.…
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Varan (1958)
aka Daikaiju Baran There may be a reason that Varan doesn’t guest star in a Godzilla movie until 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, and even then, it’s via stock footage. The movie in which he stars, Daikaiju Baran (1958), is definitely a weak link in Toho’s chain of giant monster classics. Arriving fifth (after Gojira, 1954;…
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The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
You can’t blame Hammer for trying. First, it attempted to modernize its gothic Dracula saga by jumping 100 years into the future with Dracula A.D. 1972. Then, it committed to the conceit by making a direct sequel a year later, The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Both are incredibly fun films, yet they couldn’t be more…
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What Became of Jack & Jill (1972)
Before we get to Milton Subotsky’s obligatory excuses for why What Became of Jack & Jill (1972) failed, I have to say that I kind of liked it. I watched it on a bootleg DVD because I wanted to be an Amicus Productions completist and it’s a movie of which I’d never heard, much less…
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The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)
It seems that Milton Subotsky had an explanation for every Amicus Productions film that wasn’t a hit. In “Amicus: The Friendly Face of Fear,” author Allan Bryce quotes Subotsky regarding The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970): This could have been one of the great science-fantasy films of all time. The trouble was that we never…
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Devil’s Nightmare (1971)
Although Devil’s Nightmare (1971) includes beheadings and impalements, it’s hard to top the shock of the movie’s opening sequence. Other films have shown the death of a baby, but I can’t think of one that graphically represents a long dagger piercing a baby’s swaddled body and the resulting pool of blood soaking into its blanket.…
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The Deadly Bees (1966)
The way author Allan Bryce depicts the production of The Deadly Bees (1966) in his book “Amicus: The Friendly Face of Fear,” it’s amazing that the movie is as good as it is… which is to say, not that good. It proves how important the editing process can be. Producer Milton Subotsky explains it like…
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They Came from Beyond Space (1967)
Revered for its portmanteau films, Amicus Productions seemed just as interested in science fiction during its early years in the mid-1960s… with mixed to mostly negative success. Dr. Who & the Daleks (1965) was a big hit in the UK, but not in the United States where the popular British character and series were unknown.…
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Valley of the Dragons (1961)
Written by Edward Bernds Based on the novel, Career of a Comet by Jules Verne Directed by Edward Bernds Starring Cesare Danova, Sean McClory, Joan Staley, Danielle De Metz Released November, 1961 RT 82 min. Classic Horrors rating = 4 (out of 10) Derek M. Koch from Monster Kid Radio and Svengoolie must be in cahoots. Two days following…
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The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951)
Written by Mortimer Braus and Jack Pollexfen Directed by Seymour Friedman Starring Louis Hayward, Jody Lawrance, Alexander Knox Released October 31, 1951 RT 78 min. Classic Horrors rating = 5 (out of 10) For everything I liked about The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951), there was something I didn’t like. Being literal, or keeping a list of…
Classic Horrors Club 