Gigantis - The Fire Monster (1955)

Godzilla Raids Again (ゴジラの逆襲 Gojira no Gyakushū?, lit. "Godzilla's Counterattack"), is a 1955 Japanese Science fiction Kaiju film produced by Toho. Directed byMotoyoshi Oda, and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, and Minoru Chiaki. The second film in theGodzilla series, this was a direct sequel quickly put into production to capitalize on the box office success of Godzilla the previous year. This was the first film in the series to feature a "monster vs. monster" scenario, as it introduced Godzilla's first foe, the quadruped monster Anguirus. This scenario of Godzilla battling other giant monsters would become a staple for the rest of the series.

The film was released theatrically in the United States in the Summer of 1959 by Warner Brothers as Gigantis, the Fire Monster. This American version of the film was heavily edited as it not only gives Godzilla a modified roar and a new origin, but also changes his name from "Godzilla" to "Gigantis", trying to pass the monster off as a completely new character. This move was considered a failure, and all subsequent American cuts of Godzilla films would use the character's proper name.

The Plot
Two pilots named Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi are hunting for schools of fish for a tuna cannery company in Osaka. Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and is forced to land near Iwato Island, an uninhabited strip of rocks formed by volcanic eruptions. Tsukioka then looks for Kobayashi and finds him safe, with only a wrist sprain. While talking, the two men hear some strange sounds and find two monsters fighting. Tsukioka immediately recognizes one of the monsters to be Godzilla. The two monsters then fall off a cliff, into the ocean. Tsukioka and Kobayashi report to the authorities in Osaka, and find out that the other monster Godzilla was fighting is Anguirus. A group of scientists with the two pilots research Anguirus in a book written by a Polish scientist. Godzilla and Anguirus lived around the same time millions of years ago, and there was an intense rivalry between the two monsters.
Archaeologist Kyohei Yamane, who experienced Godzilla's attack in 1954, is also present at the meeting, and shows a film (composed of clips from the 1954 film) of the original Godzilla attacking Tokyo. He confirms that this Godzilla is a second member of the same species, and that it and Anguirus were probably brought back to life by the same hydrogen bomb tests that awoke the original Godzilla. Yamane states that there is no way to kill Godzilla, and that Daisuke Serizawa, the inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer, had died and burned the formula. Yamane, though, suggests that the military should use flares on Godzilla to attract the monster away from the shore. Godzilla becomes angry when he sees lights because the hydrogen bomb's bright explosion had awakened and mutated him. Godzilla arrives on the shore of Osaka. While a blackout of all city lights is enforced, jets are sent to shoot flares from their planes to lead Godzilla away from the shore. Godzilla sees the flames, and, as Yamane predicted, starts to leave.

Meanwhile, a prison truck transports dangerous criminals to another part of the country. All of the criminals, using body language, convey to each other that the cover of darkness caused by the city's blackout provides a great opportunity to escape from prison. The prisoners beat up the two policemen guarding them inside the truck, and run away. A few of them find a gasoline truck, and use it to escape. The truck crashes into an industrial building and starts a massive fire.

The fire, much brighter than the planes' flares, attracts Godzilla back to the shore of Osaka. A few minutes later, Anguirus swims to shore and attacks Godzilla. The two creatures fight an intense battle, while destroying several buildings, including the tuna cannery that Tsukioka and Kobayashi work for. In the course of the battle, the criminals are drowned in the subway when it is flooded by the thrashing of the two monsters. Godzilla finally bites Anguirus's neck, and throws him upside down into a moat near Osaka Castle. Godzilla then fires his atomic ray at Anguirus, burning him to death in the ruins of the famed castle.

Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to a Hokkaido plant. During a company party, Tsukioka and Kobayashi are notified that Godzilla destroyed one of the company fishing boats. The military and Tsukioka begin a massive search for Godzilla. Tsukioka spots Godzilla swimming to the shore of a small, icy island. He notifies the cannery, and Kobayashi takes off in his plane to switch shifts with Tsukioka. Kobayashi dives his plane towards Godzilla to distract him from walking back into the ocean. Tsukioka, who has transferred to the air force,travels on a jet with an old college friend. They drop bombs on Godzilla but are unsuccessful. Godzilla then wades towards shore. Kobayashi dives towards Godzilla again but Godzilla fires his atomic ray on Kobayashi's plane. The plane then crashes on an icy mountain, killing Kobayashi. Tsukioka is devastated but realizes that the military can shoot missiles at the mountain, and bury Godzilla in an avalanche, thereby freezing him to death. The jets fire their missiles, and bury Godzilla in snow and ice up to his waist.

The jets return to base to reload, and Tsukioka is authorized to fly in his own jet. The jets return to the icy island, only to find that Godzilla is digging his way out of the previous avalanche. They fire a fresh round of missiles at the mountain, triggering a new avalanche, burying Godzilla up to his neck. Tsukioka then fires his own missiles, burying Godzilla completely, thereby finishing the job. The men return home and receive the homage of a grateful nation, and Tsukioka and the woman he loves are at last able to go forward with their lives in peace.



US VERSION
Instead of merely re-dubbing the film, Henry Rybnick and Edward Barrison planned on a radically altered Americanized version called The Volcano Monsters which was planned for a 1957 release. All scenes with Japanese actors would be cut, saving just special effects scenes, and these would be altered to reduce the apparent size of the monsters to a more dinosaur like scale. In addition, all scenes with Godzilla breathing fire were to be cut. A totally new script was written by SF screenwriter Ib Melchior, and Ed Watson to be shot with American actors. New special effects footage was to be shot as well, and to that end Toho sent the suits for Godzilla and Anguirus to the United States.

The Volcano Monsters never went into production because the studio that was supposed to produce it, AB-PT Productions, closed its doors in 1957. In 1958, producers Paul Schreibman, Edmund Goldman and Newton P. Jacobs bought the rights to Godzilla Raids Again and planned to dub the film since The Volcano Monsters fell through. While the finished product was much closer to the Japanese original thanThe Volcano Monsters would have been, it still differed greatly from Toho's original movie. Instead of marketing the film as a sequel to the original Godzilla movie, Schriebman decided to rename the monster "Gigantis" and change his trademark roar to Anguirus' roar to convince the audience that they were seeing an entirely new monster. This act of changing Godzilla's name and roar was greatly criticized by fans and critics, but contemporary publications and articles made in the following years did not acknowledge its existence as a sequel.

Schreibman, Goldman and Jacobs hired Hugo Grimaldi to dub and edit the film. George Takei, who would later play as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series, was among the voice-actor cast, in addition to Keye Luke, Paul Frees, Marvin Miller, and James Yagi (who would later appear as Yutaka Omura in the U.S. version of King Kong vs. Godzilla). The film was dubbed at Ryder Sound Services in New York. ~ From Wikipedia

GIGANTIS - THE FIRE MONSTER

MOTOYUKI ODA  (1955)

TOHO STUDIOS

JAPAN

82 MIN

It Conquered the World (1956)

It Conquered the World is a 1956 American science fiction film about an alien from Venus trying to take over the world with the help of a disillusioned human scientist. It was directed by Roger Corman, written by Lou Rusoff (with uncredited contributions by Charles B. Griffith who didn't wish his name on the film), and starred Peter Graves,Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally Fraser.
Dr. Tom Anderson (Van Cleef), an embittered scientist, has made contact with a Venusian alien with his radio transmitter. The alien wants to take over the world using mind control devices, but claims it only wants to bring peace to the world by eliminating emotions. Anderson agrees to help the creature and even intends to allow it to assimilate his wife (Garland) and friend Dr. Nelson (Graves). The alien then disrupts all electric power on Earth, including motor vehicles, leaving Dr. Nelson to resort to riding around on a bicycle.

After killing a flying bat-like creature which carries the mind control device, Nelson returns home to find his wife assimilated. She attempts to force assimilation on him with another bat, and he ends up killing her. By then the only people who are free of control are Nelson, Anderson, Anderson's wife and a group of soldiers camping in the woods. Dr. Nelson finally persuades the paranoid Anderson that he made a horrible mistake about the alien's motives, allying himself with a creature bent on world domination. When they discover Tom's wife took a rifle to the alien's cave to kill it, they hurriedly follow her. The monster kills Mrs. Anderson before the two doctors can rescue her. Finally seeing the loss of everything he holds dear, Dr. Anderson kills the monster himself, dying in the process.

Production:
The script was originally written by Lou Rusoff, but before it was finished his brother died and he had to leave for Canada. Roger Corman called in Charles Griffith to rewrite it two days before filming commenced. The creature design was an idea of Corman's. He thought that since the creature came from a big planet, it would have been designed to deal with heavy gravity and would be built low to the ground. Corman later admitted this was a mistake, saying the creature would have been more frightening if it was bigger or taller. When Beverly Garland first saw the creature she commented "That conquered the world?" and kicked it over.
From Wikipedia

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
ROGER CORMAN (1956)
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
69 MIN
USA

The Flesh Eaters (1964)

The Flesh Eaters is a 1964 American horror/science fiction thriller, directed on a low budget by Jack Curtis and edited by future filmmaker Radley Metzger. The film contains moments of violence much more graphic and extreme than many other movies of its time, making it one of the first ever gore films.

A wealthy, over-the-hill actress named Laura Winters (Rita Morely) hires pilot Grant Murdoch (Byron Sanders) to fly her and her assistant Jan Letterman (Barbara Wilkin) to Provincetown, but a storm forces them to land on a small island. They soon meet Prof. Peter Bartell (Martin Kosleck) a marine biologist with a German accent who is living in seclusion on the isle. After a series of strange skeletons wash ashore (human, then fish) it turns out the water has become inhabited by some sort of glowing microbe which apparently devours flesh rapaciously. Bartell is a former US Government agent who was sent to Nazi Germany to recover as much of their scientific data as possible. He was chosen for the job for his scientific skills and knowledge of the German language. Using the methods learned there he hopes to cultivate a group of monstrous "flesh eaters" that can devour the skin off a screaming victim in mere seconds. A beatnik named Omar (Ray Tudor) joins the group after becoming shipwrecked on their shore. Tensions mount after the plane drifts off into the ocean, leaving the castaways and Bartell as potential meals for the ravenous monsters.


High-voltage electrification (from a battery system devised by Bartell) is utilized in an attempt to slay the monsters. Bartell explains that he has been tracking these creatures and attempting to cultivate them to sell as biological weapons. Soon after it is discovered that the electrical shock instead increases their powers. The high voltage causes the numerous smaller creatures to join into a larger version. By accident, the survivors stumble upon the solution. The creatures devour flesh but not blood, as in each case that remains have been found blood has been present. Bartell surmises that the creatures have a negative reaction to hemoglobin and when directly injected with it the creatures are indeed slain. Following a struggle Bartell is killed just before Murdoch destroys the last of the creatures. The film has developed a cult following due to its gruesome, if primitive, special effects, including some memorably bloody death scenes. One character is eaten from the inside out by the titular monsters, resulting in a gushing fountain of intestinal matter. Another victim is stabbed with a wooden stake, then shot twice in the face, with resultant gaping bullet holes. These scenes, as well as some occasional unintentionally campy moments, have helped to make the film a favorite for late night TV fanatics for decades.

The deep focus cinematography was the work of director Jack Curtis (working under a pseudonym, Carson Davidson), who shot every scene outdoors under the sun of Long Island. The film was scripted by comic book writer Arnold Drake (The Doom Patrol, Marvel's Captain Marvel, et al.). Drake storyboarded the film, so every shot has the careful, formalized composition of a well-drawn comic strip. One shot, for example is a shot in deep focus: the right profile of the hero dominates the left-side foreground of the frame; in a moment, two or three tiny figures at the far-removed shoreline move left to right, from behind the actor's head, and in focus. ~ From Wikipedia

THE FLESH EATERS
JACK CURTIS  (1964)
CINE DISTRIBUTORS OF AMERICA 
USA
87 MIN

Meteor (1979)

Meteor is a 1979 science fiction Technicolor disaster film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, cold war politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. The movie starred Sean Connery and Natalie Wood. It was directed by Ronald Neame and with a screenplay by Edmund H. North and Stanley Mann, "inspired" by a 1967 MIT report Project Icarus. The movie co-starred Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Joseph Campanella, Richard Dysart and Henry Fonda.


After a collision between a comet and an asteroid named Orpheus, a five-mile-wide chunk of Orpheus is set on a collision course with Earth, with devastating results expected on impact. While the United States government and military engage in political maneuvering, other smaller and faster moving fragments rain down on Earth. The United States has a secret orbiting nuclear missile platform satellite named Hercules, which was thought of by Dr. Paul Bradley (Sean Connery) of the U.S. It was intended for defense against a massive space rock, but instead, it was demoted to an orbiting super weapon, its missiles now aimed at Russia. However, its fourteen nuclear missile armament is not enough to stop the meteor. The U.S. government discovers the existence of another weapon satellite constructed by the Soviet Union. The President (Henry Fonda) goes on national television and reveals the existence of Hercules, explaining it as a foresighted project to meet the threat that Orpheus represents. He also offers the Soviets a chance to save face and join in by saying they had the same foresight and have their own satellite weapon. Bradley requests a scientist named Dr. Alexei Dubov (Brian Keith) to help him plan a counter-effort against Orpheus.

Bradley and Harry Sherwood (Karl Malden) from NASA have already arrived at the control center for Hercules, which is located beneath the AT&T Building (now known as 195 Broadway) in Lower Manhattan. Major-General Adlon (Martin Landau) is the commander of the facility. Dubov and his assistant and interpreter Tatiana Donskaya (Natalie Wood) arrive and Bradley works at breaking the ice of distrust held by Hercules commander Adlon. Since Dubov cannot admit the existence of the Soviet device, he agrees to Bradley's proposal that they work on the "theoretical" application of how a "theoretical" Soviet space platform's weapons would be coordinated with the American ones. Meanwhile, further fragments of the meteor affect Earth, and the Soviets finally admit that they have the device and are willing to join in the effort. It appears that the satellite has a lot in common with Hercules, it was built with sixteen nuclear missiles for defense against a massive space rock, but it too was demoted to an orbiting super weapon, its missiles now aimed at the United States. The satellite is christened Peter the Great by the joint US-Soviet team working at Hercules control, and both satellites are turned around to aim into space. Unfortunately, smaller fragments and "splinters" still continue to strike many places on Earth, some causing great damage, including in Hong Kong, where a fragment hits the ocean and causes a Tidal wave that devastates the city. On Sunday morning, Peter the Great's missiles are fired off because of its position along the orbit, Hercules's missiles are fired 40 minutes later.

Just after Hercules's missiles are fired off, New York is struck by a large fragment of the meteor, destroying most of the city. Several workers inside the control center are killed when the facility is partially destroyed and the survivors slowly work their way out of the control center by going through the New York subway system, which has become somewhat of a trap due to the East River breaking into the tunnels. Meanwhile, the two sets of guided missiles link up into three waves of mixed nationality, each wave bigger than the last. The Hercules crew reach a subway station filled with other people and wait while others try to dig out. Back in space, the missiles reach the meteor. Two Russian missiles and one U.S. missile have been lost in the journey. The first wave of missiles strikes the space rock, making an explosion. The second wave follows with a bigger explosion. Finally, the third wave hits the meteor making an explosion that fills the screen. When the dust settles, the space rock is nowhere to be seen. Back at New York, the radio stations broadcast news of the result: Orpheus has been either obliterated or shifted to a harmless trajectory. Just then, the subway station occupants are rescued.

The scene then switches to an airport some time later, with a Soviet flag and an American flag on an open hangar door. From here, Dubov and Tatiana say goodbye to Bradley and others, then they board a plane with the Soviet star and it takes off for Russia - From Wikipedia


METEOR
RONALD NEAME  (1979)
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
107 MIN
USA

The Blob (1958)

The Blob is an independently made 1958 American horror/science-fiction film that depicts a giant amoeba-like alien that came from outer space and terrorizes the small community of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. In the style of American International Pictures, Paramount Pictures released the film as a double feature with I Married a Monster from Outer Space.


The film was Steve McQueen's debut leading role, and also starred Aneta Corsaut. The film's tongue-in-cheek theme song, "Beware of the Blob", was written by Burt Bacharach and Mack David and became a nationwide hit in the U.S. It was recorded by studio group the Five Blobs—actually singer Bernie Knee overdubbing himself. The film takes place during one long night in a small rural Pennsylvania town in July 1957. Teenager Steve Andrews (Steve McQueen) and his girlfriend Jane Martin (Aneta Corsaut) are making out at a lovers' lane when they see a meteorite crash beyond the next hill. Steve decides to look for it. An old man (Olin Howland) living nearby finds it first. When he pokes the meteorite with a stick, it breaks open, revealing a small jelly-like blob inside. The man picks it up with the stick, but then it suddenly attaches itself to his hand. In pain and unable to scrape or shake it loose, the old man runs comically onto the road, where he is nearly struck by Steve's car. Steve and Jane take him to Doctor Hallen (Stephen Chase). Doctor Hallen is about to leave for a medical conference, but anesthetizes the man and sends Steve and Jane back to the impact site to gather information. Hallen decides he must amputate the man's arm since it is being consumed by the growing Blob. Before he can, however, the Blob completely consumes the old man, then Hallen's nurse Kate, and finally the doctor himself, all the while increasing in size. Steve and Jane return to the office in time for Steve to witness the doctor's death. They go to the police station and return to the house with Lieutenant Dave (Earl Rowe) and Sergeant Bert (John Benson). However, there is no sign of the creature or its victims, and Bert dismisses Steve's story as a teenage prank. Steve and Jane are taken home by their parents, but they later sneak out.

In the meantime, the Blob consumes a mechanic at a repair store. The Blob grows in size every time it consumes something. At the Colonial Theater, which is showing a midnight screening of Daughter of Horror, Tony (Robert Fields) is asked by Steve to chat about the Blob. Tony brings some friends only to warn people from a 1950's party, a couple making out and the bartender at a bar full of late-night drinkers. When Steve notices that his father's grocery store is unlocked, he and Jane go inside. The janitor is nowhere to be seen. Then the couple are cornered by the Blob; they seek refuge in the walk-in icebox. The Blob oozes in under the door but retreats. Steve and Jane gather their friends and set off the town's fire and air-raid alarms. The townspeople and police still refuse to believe Steve. Meanwhile, the Blob enters the Colonial Theater and engulfs the projectionist before oozing into the auditorium consuming an unknown number of people. Steve is finally vindicated when screaming people flee from the theater. Jane's young brother Danny (Keith Almoney) fires at the Blob with his cap gun before running into the nearby diner. When Jane and Steve go after him, they become trapped along with the manager and a waitress when the Blob – now an enormous red mass from the people it consumed– engulfs the diner. Dave has a connection made from his police radio to the diner's phone, telling those in the diner to get into the cellar before they try to bring a live power line down onto the Blob.

When it sounds quiet over the phone line, Bert shoots the wire, it falls onto the Blob, but the Blob is unaffected and the diner is set ablaze. Dave suggests to put the fire out but the fire chief asks how. Steve notices the Blob crawling down the stairs and blocking the windows. Steve picks up Jane's brother, then Jane tells him to lay his head down, kissing him and he is fast asleep. Steve, Jane and Danny join in a group hug. Later, the manager uses a CO2 fire extinguisher on the fire. Steve notices that it also causes the Blob to recoil. Then he remembers that the creature also retreated from the icebox. Shouting in hopes of being picked on the open phone line, Steve manages to tell Dave about the Blob's vulnerability to cold ("Hey, Dave! Hey, Dave, CO2 fire extinguishers! Dave, can you hear me? CO2!"). The message is finally heard on the police radio and passed to Dave. At first, there are few or no such extinguishers at the scene. Jane's father, Mr. Martin (Elbert Smith), knows there are twenty such extinguishers at the school, and leads Steve's friends to the high school to retrieve them. Returning, the brigade of extinguisher-armed students and police first drive the Blob away from the diner, then freeze it, as Steve, Jane and the others emerge from the burned-out diner.  - From Wikipedia

Dave requests an Air Force jet to transport the Blob to the Arctic, where it is parachuted to the ice. The film ends with the words "The End", which end up morphing into a question mark—suggesting that the Blob may return, ending the film with a cliffhanger.


THE BLOB
IRVIN YEAWORTH (1958)
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
82 MIN
USA

The Strange World of Planet X (1958)

The Strange World of Planet X (1958) is a British science fiction horror film, and a cautionary tale about science. It was also known as Cosmic Monsters, The Crawling Terror, The Cosmic Monster, and The Crawling Horror. The film was adapted by Paul Ryder from the 1957 Rene Ray novel of the same name; a TV serial adapted by Ray aired in Britain in 1956.

A monomaniacal scientist, Dr. Laird (played by Alec Mongo), has invented ultra-sensitive magnetic fields, which begin to attract objects from space. Strange things begin happening, including a freak storm, and insects and spiders begin to mutate into giant monsters. An alien spaceship has appeared over London and begins to warn mankind against the dangers of this scientific experiment.



THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X
GILBERT GUNN  (1958)
EROS FILMS LTD.
75 MIN
USA

The Sentinal (1977)

The Sentinel is a 1977 American horror film directed by Michael Winner and starring Cristina Raines, Chris Sarandon, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, and Eli Wallach. Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, John Carradine, and Beverly D'Angelo also appear in the film. It is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz who also co-wrote the screenplay with director Michael Winner. The plot focuses on a young model who moves into a historic Brooklyn brownstone that has been sectioned into apartments, only to find that its proprietors are excommunicated Catholic priests, and the building is a gateway to hell.


Alison Parker, a beautiful but severely neurotic fashion model (Raines) moves into a gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone house that has been divided into apartments. The house is inhabited on the top floor by Father Halloran (John Carradine), a reclusive blind priest who spends all of his time sitting at his open window. Alison begins having strange physical problems, including insomnia, and has some terrifying flashbacks of her attempted suicide. She complains to the real estate agent of the noise caused by her strange neighbors, only to be told that the house is occupied only by the priest and herself. The behavior of her "non-existent" neighbors becomes increasingly surreal and disturbing. It turns out that the building is owned by a secret society of excommunicated Catholic priests, and is a gateway to Hell. The blind priest is the guardian who ensures that the demons do not escape. The priest is nearing the end of his life, and a new guardian is needed. The society has chosen Alison because her two suicide attempts qualify her as the perfect candidate. She is told that she must pay for her sins by becoming the next Sentinel, and only by doing so she will be allowed into Heaven.

In the climax of the film, Alison is confronted by her neighbor Charles Chazen and all of the minions of Hell. Among them is her boyfriend, Michael, who was secretly killed earlier and is damned for killing his wife. Alison is chased through the building by grotesque and deformed creatures. She runs to the top floor and into Father Halloran's room where the demons corner her. Chazen hands her a knife and convinces her to commit suicide to avoid this torment. Father Halloran and another priest, Monsignor Franchino, enter the room. Franchino supports the infirm Halloran as he wields a large crucifix. They work their way through the hordes of demons and reach Alison, where they prevent her suicide. She takes the crucifix from Monsignor Franchino, and sits down in Father Halloran's chair. Shortly after, the brownstone is demolished and replaced with a new, more modern apartment complex. Mrs. Logan, the realtor, attempts to persuade a young couple to move into one of the apartments. The couple asks about the neighbors, and Mrs. Logan explains to them that there are only two: a violin player and an old, blind nun. The nun is Alison, now blinded like Father Halloran, who sits at the open window in the top floor apartment.  From Wikipedia


THE SENTINAL
MICHAEL WINNER  (1977)
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
92 MIN
USA

The Wolfman (1941)

The Wolf Man is a 1941 American Werewolf Horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man, featuring Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Béla Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood's depictions of the legend of the werewolf.[2] The film is the second Universal Pictures werewolf movie, preceded six years earlier by the less commercially successful Werewolf of London. Chaney. Jr's portrayal of The Wolf Man is considered to be one of the main Universal Monsters and is often listed with the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera and Gill Man.



After learning of the death of his brother, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral home in Llanwelly, Wales to reconcile with his estranged father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). While there, Larry becomes romantically interested in a local girl named Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), who runs an antique shop. As a pretext to converse with her, he purchases a silver-headed walking stick decorated with a wolf. Gwen tells him that it represents a werewolf (which she defines as a man who changes into a wolf "at certain times of the year.")


Throughout the film, various villagers recite a poem, whenever the subject of werewolves comes up:
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

That night, Larry attempts to rescue Gwen's friend Jenny from what he believes to be a sudden wolf attack. He kills the beast with his new walking stick, but is bitten on the chest in the process. A gypsy fortuneteller named Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) reveals to Larry that the animal which bit him was actually her son Bela (Béla Lugosi) in the form of a wolf. Bela had been a werewolf for years and now Larry will be transformed into one as well. Talbot transforms into a wolf-like creature and stalks the village, first killing the local gravedigger. Talbot retains vague memories of being a werewolf and wanting to kill, and continually struggles to overcome his condition. He is finally bludgeoned to death by his father with his own silver walking stick after attacking Gwen. Sir John Talbot watches in horror as the werewolf transforms into his son's human form as the local police arrive on the scene.

Production:
The poem, contrary to popular belief, was not an ancient legend, but was in fact an invention of screenwriter Siodmak. The poem is repeated in every subsequent film in which Talbot/The Wolf Man appears, with the exception of House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and is also quoted in the later film Van Helsing, although many later films change the last line of the poem to "And the moon is full and bright".


The original Wolf Man film does not make use of the idea that a werewolf is transformed under a full moon. Gwen's description and the poem imply that it happens when the wolfbane blooms in autumn. The first sequel, though, made explicit use of the full moon both visually and in the dialog, and also changed the poem to specify when the moon is full and bright. Presumably this is what popularized the full-moon connection in the 20th century. The sequel visually implies that the transformation occurs as a result of direct exposure to light from the full moon. Other fiction has assumed the transformation is an inescapable monthly occurrence and does not examine whether it is caused by light, tidal effects, or some cycle that happens to coincide with the moon's phases.

From Wikipedia



THE WOLF MAN
GEORGE WAGNER  (1941)
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
71 MIN
USA

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) is a British film based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore. The film was made by the British film studio Hammer Film Productions and was shot at Bray Studios.


The story is set in 18th Century Spain. A beggar is imprisoned by a cruel marques after making inappropriate comments at the nobleman's wedding. The beggar is forgotten but manages to survive another fifteen years. His only human contact is with the jailer and his beautiful mute daughter (Yvonne Romain). The aging, decrepit Marques makes advances on the jailer's daughter when she is cleaning his room. When she refuses him, the Marques has her thrown into the dungeon with the beggar. The beggar, driven mad by his long confinement, rapes her and then dies. The girl is released the next day and sent back up to "entertain" the Marques. Instead she kills the old man and flees. She is found in the forest by the kindly gentleman-scholar Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans) who lives alone with his housekeeper, Teresa (Hira Talfrey). The warm and motherly Teresa soon nurses the girl back to health, but she dies after giving birth to a baby on Christmas Day (a fact that Teresa considers "unlucky." since the child was born out of wedlock)

Alfredo and Teresa raise the young boy, whom they name Leon. Leon is cursed both by the evil circumstances of his birth and by being born on Christmas Day. An early hunting incident gives him a taste for blood which he must struggle to overcome. Leon grows into a young man (Oliver Reed) and leaves home to seek work at the Gomez vineyard. Don Fernando Gomez (Ewen Solon) sets Leon to work in the wine cellar with Jose Amadayo (Martin Matthews) with whom he quickly forms a friendship. Leon soon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina (Catherine Feller), but when he is arrested and jailed on suspicion of murdering Jose, he grows increasingly violent. His wolf nature rising to the surface, he snarls and drools his way through the village by the light of the full moon. Shocked and disgusted by his appearance, the local people summon his scholarly step-father, who has been preparing himself for years to face this moment. Though torn with grief, the wise Alfredo shoots Leon dead and covers his body with a cloak.

-From Wikipedia


CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF
TERENCE FISHER  (1961)
HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS
91 MIN
UK

The Land Unknown (1957)

The Land Unknown (1957) is a sci-fi, CinemaScope adventure film about a naval expedition trapped in an Antarctic jungle. The story was allegedly inspired by the discovery of unusually warm water in Antarctica in 1947. It starred Jock Mahoney and Shirley Patterson and was directed by Virgil W. Vogel. The film is notable for its low-budget special effects, which include men in dinosaur suits, puppets and monitor lizards standing in for dinosaurs. William Reynolds recalled the studio spent so much money on their mechanical dinosaur that they couldn't afford to shoot the film in colour as they first planned


A small crew led by Commander Harold Roberts and woman reporter Maggie Hathaway are on an expedition into Antarctica for the United States Navy. During a helicopter flight they are called back to their ship because of an unexpected storm. At first they try to fly around the storm, but low on fuel, they make a dash through the storm, where they rotor is damaged by a collision with a pterodactyl. Unable to stay in the air they start to descend, and are surprised when they end up landing well below sea-level in a warm volcanic crater. Inside, they discover a steamy tropical jungle, dinosaurs, giant carnivorous plants, and human footprints. The crew encounter many dangers and perils in the jungle in a fight for survival. The crew meet Hunter, the lone survivor of a plane crash from the 1947 expedition. He has learned to survive in this land with the aid of a sound machine that frightens these creatures off and by raiding dinosaur nests. He offers the remains of his plane to repair the helicopter, but only if the crew agree to leave Maggie with him. The crew refuses, but they also know that after 25 days their ship will have to leave before the Antarctic winter sets in. Unsuccessful in finding the remains of the plane, hidden by Hunter, the crew debate leaving Maggie, or forcing the information out of Hunter by torture. Commander Roberts refuses to sink to either low. When Maggie is attacked by an Elasmosaurus Hunter rescues her. After a fight and learning that the crew refuse to torture him for the location of the plane, Hunter gives them the map to its location.

After repairing the helicopter the crew have to take off in a hurry thanks to the attack of a Tyrannosaurus. They fly to pick up Maggie, who is with Hunter at the time. Hunter is ambushed by the same Elasmosaurus, and the crew come to his rescue. They fly out of the land with Hunter. Once clear of the crater they are able to radio their ship and are guided in. Their fuel exhausted, they crash into the water just before getting to the ship. They are rescued, and once safely on the ship Harold and Maggie fall in love.

The animals featured in this film include a Tyrannosaurus, Elasmosaurus, Stegosaurus (live-acted by Monitor Lizards), Pterodactyls, and a Man-Eating Plant. The mammal found by the crew then later eaten by the carnivorous plant is referred to as a tarsier but is actually a potto. - From Wikipedia


THE LAND UNKNOWN
VIRGIL W. VOGEL  (1957)
UNIVERSIAL INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
78MIN
USA

The Devil Bat :Special Colorized Version (1940)

The Devil Bat (1940) is a black-and-white comedy-horror movie produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by Jean Yarbrough. The film stars iconic horror actor Bela Lugosi, along with Suzanne Kaaren, Guy Usher, Yolande Mallott, and the comic team of Dave O'Brien and Donald Kerr as the protagonists. The film later had a 1946 sequel titled Devil Bat's Daughter.


The story involves a small town cosmetic company chemist (Lugosi) who is upset at his wealthy employers, because he feels they have denied him his due share of company success. To get revenge, he breeds giant bats. He then conditions them to kill those wearing a special after-shave lotion he has concocted. He cleverly distributes the lotion to his enemies as a "test" product. Once they have applied the lotion, the chemist then releases his Devil Bats in the night, which kill his two former partners and three members of their families. A hot shot big city reporter gets assigned by his editor to cover and help solve the murders. He (O'Brien) and his bumbling photographer (Kerr) begin to unwind the mystery with some comic sidelights. The mad chemist is, predictably, done in by his own shaving lotion, and by his own creation—the dreaded Devil Bat.

PRC was a young studio when it planned to enter the horror film genre, which had been neglected by the major studios during 1937 and 1938. Lugosi was beginning a come-back when he signed a contract on October 19, 1940, with PRC's Sigmund Neufeld to star in the poverty row studio's first horror film. The shooting of the film began a little more than one week later. PRC was known for shooting its films quickly and cheaply, but for endowing them with a plentiful amount of horror, and The Devil Bat established this modus operandi - From Wikipedia

THIS IS THE SPECIAL COLORIZED VERSION OF THIS FILM
Say what you may about colorization I think when used on certain types of films it adds an element of surealism.


THE DEVIL BAT
JEAN YARBROUGH  (1940)
PRODUCERS RELEASING CORP. (PRC)
68 MIN
USA

Giant Gila Monster : Special Colorized Version (1959)

The Giant Gila Monster is a 1959 hot rod monster science fiction film directed by Ray Kellogg, and produced by Ken Curtis. It stars Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low budget monster and zombie films, Lisa Simone, the French contestant for Miss Universe of 1957, as well as Fred Graham, comedy relief Shug Fisher, KLIF disc jockey Ken Knox and Bob Thompson. This low-budget B-Movie featured a cast of unknown actors, and the effects included a live gila monster filmed on a scaled-down model landscape.

The movie opens with a young couple parked in a bleak, rural locale overlooking a ravine. A giant gila monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing the couple. Later, some friends of the couple decide to assist the local sheriff (Fred Graham) in his search for the missing teens. Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan), a young mechanic and hot rod racer, locates the crashed car in the ravine and finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile attacks a train (a model train set substituted as a low-budget effect) that the authorities realize they are dealing with a (roughly) 70-foot poisonous lizard. By this time, emboldened by its attacks and hungry for prey, the creature attacks the town. It makes straight for the local dance hall where all the teenagers had gathered for a sock hop. However, Chase packs his prized hot rod with nitroglycerin and rigs it to speed straight into the monster, terminating the lizard in a fiery explosion and heroically saving the town.

Filmed near Dallas, the film was budgeted at $175,000 and was produced by Dallas drive in theater chain owner Gordon McLendon who wished co-features for his main attractions. McLendon shot the film back to back with The Killer Shrews. Both films were feted as the first feature films shot in and produced in Dallas and the first movies to premiere as double features. In exchange for doing the special effects, Ray Kellogg was allowed to direct the film. Ken Curtis allowed Sullivan to pick his songs that gave the film popularity with the teenage market

From Wikipedia

This is the special colorized version of this film - I really feel that the look of the colorization really adds something to this type of film.



GIANT GILA MONSTER
RAY KELLOGG  (1959)
74 MIN
USA

The Colossus of New York (1958)

The Colossus of New York (1958) is a science fiction film produced by William Alland, and directed by Eugène Lourié. It starred Ross Martin, Otto Kruger, John Baragrey, Mala Powers and Charles Herbert

Jeremy Spensser (Martin), the brilliant young scion of a family of scientists and humanitarians, is killed in an automobile accident. His death occurs on the eve of his winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and he leaves behind a wife (Powers) and young son (Herbert). Jeremy's father, noted brain surgeon William Spensser (Kruger), is distressed that his son's gifts will be denied to Mankind. He conceives a plan to give Jeremy's excellent mind another chance to benefit humanity by transplanting the brain (which he has revived and kept on life support) into an artificial, robotic body. William convinces Jeremy's brother, Henry, to assist with the process in secret, but there are unforeseen complications and the huge cyborg they've created is kept in seclusion for nearly a year. The massive metallic creation is superhumanly strong and damage-resistant, a possibly dangerous combination under the control of anything but the gentle Jeremy. However, lacking reliable sensory apparatus and deprived of normal human contact, Jeremy's mind begins to lose its humanity, and his focus changes from simply being a secret laboratory assistant to finding his wife and son at any cost. As Jeremy loses control, the machine develops other powers including the ability to conduct and transform energy, and Jeremy's mental confusion leads to the cyborg conducting a rampage through New York City. Only the presence of Jeremy's son is able to focus Jeremy's self-control, long enough for the cyborg to teach the boy how to destroy the "colossus".

From Wikipedia

The film is noted for its haunting minimalistic piano score composed by Van Cleave.




THE COLLOSSUS OF NEWYORK
EUGENE LORIE (1958)
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
70 MIN
USA

Abby (1974)

Abby is a 1974 blaxploitation horror film about a woman who is possessed by an African sex spirit. The film starred William H. Marshall, best known for portraying the lead role in Blacula, Terry Carter, and Carol Speed as the title character. It was directed by William Girdler, who co-wrote the film's story with screenwriter Gordon Cornell Layne. The film was a financial success, but was pulled from theaters after the film's distributor, American International Pictures, was accused of copyright violation by Warner Bros., which saw the film as being derivative of The Exorcist and filed a lawsuit against AIP. Abby was written and produced by William Girdler, a filmmaker who specialized in exploitation pictures that were often in the horror genre. Films such as Grizzly and The Manitou are some of Girdler's more notable productions, while Abby achieved a more infamous reputation because it was accused of copyright violation by Warner Bros., who felt it was a direct copy of The Exorcist. Warner Bros. won their court case, and Abby was eventually pulled from theaters, but not before it was able to take in almost $4 million. Abby was filmed in 1974 in Louisville, Kentucky.Carol Speed landed the part of Abby after the original actress demanded a masseuse, for which the film's low budget had no provisions. Speed's agent recommended her to Girdler, and she flew to Louisville, meeting her director for the first time on the set. In one scene, Speed's character was required to sing a song in church, and the song was one that Speed herself composed, "Is Your Soul A Witness?" The production of the film was met with an unusual threat when Louisville experienced a series of tornadoes that tore through the area around the set of Abby. Speed recalled spending time with co-star Juanita Moore huddled in the lobby of their hotel, wrapped in blankets for protection. "Juanita and I immediately left the set when the daytime sky turned pitch black. We ended up rolled in some blankets on the lobby floor. Ramada had built this nice hotel, but no basement or tornado shelter. Just glass windows... everywhere." William Marshall was vocal about his unhappiness with the production of Abby, mostly because he'd been promised certain script revisions that never materialized. Marshall did add certain elements to the film regarding the Yoruba religion The film's use of the Yoruba religion distinguishes it from being simply a copy of the Exorcist with a black cast. In the story, Abby is apparently possessed by Eshu, a West African orisha of chaos and whirlwinds. He is also a trickster and the guardian of roads, particularly crossroads.


In the opening scene of the film, Dr. Garrett Williams (William Marshall) explains to his students, "Eshu is the most powerful of all earthly deities. Eshu is a trickster, creator of whirlwinds... chaos." While on an archaeological dig in a cave in Nigeria, Dr. Williams finds a small, ebony puzzle box, carved with the symbols of Eshu: the whirlwind, the cock's comb, and the erect phallus. When Dr. Williams discovers the mechanism to open the box and unlatches it, a tremendous wind blasts out, knocking Dr. Williams and his men against the cave walls and floor. The spirit released by Dr. Williams crosses the Atlantic to Louisville, Kentucky to the new home of Dr. Williams's son, Emmett Williams (Terry Carter) and Abby Williams (Carol Speed). Why and how the spirit travels the globe is not explained. After Abby becomes possessed, her behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and dangerous. In the movie, the dialogue is ambiguous as to whether the spirit inside Abby is actually the powerful orisha, Eshu. The plot's final resolution leaves the point unclear. In And You Call Yourself A Scientist, Elizabeth A. Kingsley wrote "from a theological point of view, the final section of Abby is quite fascinating. Towards the end of the film, having spent some time taking the demon's measure, Garret decides that it is not in fact Eshu, but a rather pathetic Eshu wannabe... who presumably was imprisoned by Eshu - From Wikipedia 

Scarcity of prints Abby was out of circulation for many years, partially due to the lawsuit instigated by Warner Bros., and also because of the uncertain propriety of distribution rights. The ownership of the original film elements of Abby is still in question. The film was finally released on DVD on three different occasions, all within a year's period of each other. It was first released October 2006 as a Collector's Edition, released by CineFear. It appears to have been transferred from a visually flawed 16 mm print of the film, which is possibly the only format in which celluloid prints of Abby are still found.The Black Exorcist Edition was then released June 2007. Its third DVD release appeared as part of a Demonic Double Feature set in September 2007, packaged with the German Exorcist film - Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen.



ABBY
WILLIAM GIRDLER  (1974)
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
89 MIN
USA

Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)

Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (originally Flesh for Frankenstein) is a 1973 American-Italian horror film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, Louis Peraino, and Carlo Ponti. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren, and Arno Juerging. It was filmed in Cinecittà by a crew of Italian filmmakers.


In the United States, the film was marketed as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, and was presented in the Space-Vision 3D process in premiere engagements. It was rated X by the MPAA, due to its explicit sexuality and violence. A 3-D version also played in Australia in 1986, along with Blood for Dracula, its obvious pairing. In the '70s, a 3-D version played in Stockholm, Sweden. In subsequent US DVD releases, the film was retitled Flesh for Frankenstein, while the original title was used in other regions. The gruesomeness of the action was intensified in the original release by the use of 3-D, with several dismbowelments being shot from a perspective such that the internal organs are thrust towards the camera.

Baron von Frankenstein neglects his duties towards his wife/sister Katrin, as he is obsessed with creating a perfect Serbian race to obey his commands, beginning by assembling a perfect male and female from parts of corpses. The doctor's sublimation of his sexual urges by his powerful urge for domination is shown when he utilizes the surgical wounds of his female creation to satisfy his lust. He is dissatisfied with the inadequate reproductive urges of his current male creation, and seeks a head donor with a greater libido; he also repeatedly exhibits an intense interest that the creature's "nasum" (nose) have a correctly Serbian shape. As it happens, a suitably randy farmhand, Nicholas, leaving a local brothel along with his sexually repressed friend, brought there in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade him from entering a monastery, are spotted and waylaid by the doctor and his henchman, Otto; mistakenly assuming that the prospective monk is also suitable for stud duty, they take his head for use on the male creature. Not knowing these behind-the-scene details, Nicholas survives and finds his way to the castle, where he is befriended by Katrin; they form an agreement for him to gratify her unsatisfied carnal appetites. Under the control of the doctor, the male and female creatures are seated for dinner with the castle's residents, but the male creature shows no signs of recognition of his friend as he serves the Baron and his family. Nicholas realizes at this point that something is awry, but himself pretends not to recognize his friend's face until he can investigate further. After a falling-out with Katrin, who is merely concerned with her own needs, Nicholas is captured by the doctor while snooping in the laboratory; the doctor muses about using his new acquisition to replace the head of his creature, who is still showing no signs of libido. Nevertheless, Katrin is rewarded for betraying Nicholas by being granted use of the creature for erotic purposes, but is killed during a bout of overly vigorous copulation. Meanwhile, Otto repeats the doctor's sexual exploits with the female creature, resulting in her graphic disembowelment. The Baron returns and, enraged, does away with Otto; when he attempts to have the male creature eliminate Nicholas, however, the remnants of his friend's personality rebel and the doctor is killed instead in gruesome fashion. The creature, believing he is better off dead, then disembowels himself. The doctor's children, Erik and Monica, then enter the laboratory, pick up a pair of scalpels, and proceed to turn the wheel of the crane that is holding the farmhand in mid-air. It is not clear if the scalpels are there in order to release him, or take over where their father left off

- From Wikipedia

FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN
PAUL MORRISSEY  (1973)
BRYANSTON DISTRIBUTING
104 MIN
ITALY/USA

Blood for Dracula (1974)

Blood for Dracula (also known as Andy Warhol's Dracula) is a 1974 film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsberg. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, and Arno Juerging. Roman Polański and Vittorio de Sica appear in cameo roles. A sickly and dying Count Dracula (Udo Kier), who must drink virgin blood to survive, travels from Transylvania to Italy, thinking he will be more likely to find a virgin in a Catholic country. Dracula befriends Marchese di Fiori (de Sica), an impecunious Italian landowner who, with a lavish estate falling into decline, is willing to marry off one of his four daughters to the wealthy aristocrat.


Of di Fiori's four daughters, two regularly enjoy the sexual services of Mario, the estate handyman (Dallesandro), a Marxist with a hammer and sickle painted on his bedroom wall. The youngest and eldest daughters are virgins, but the latter is thought too plain to be offered for marriage, and is past her prime, and the youngest is only 14 years old (portrayed by 23-year-old Silvia Dionisio). Dracula obtains assurances that all the daughters are virgins and drinks the blood of the two who are considered marriageable. However, both are non-virgins and their tainted blood makes Dracula ill, but still turning the two girls into mental slaves. Mario realizes the danger to the youngest daughter in time and rapes her ostensibly for her own protection. In the meantime Dracula has drunk the blood of the eldest daughter, turning her into a vampire. After the mother (McKendry) is stabbed by Dracula's servant (Juerging) (whom she then shoots) and Mario kills Dracula, the peasant Mario commands the estate.

The film was shot on locations in Italy and was partly improvised as the filming of Flesh for Frankenstein by the same team had been quicker and less costly than expected. While some Italian prints reportedly give second unit director Antonio Margheriti credit as director of the film, Udo Kier has stated that Margheriti had nothing to do with directing the film. Kier stated that he and the other cast members received direction only from Morrissey, and noted that he never saw Margheriti on the set. As a favor for producer Carlo Ponti, Antonio Margheriti agreed to take credits for free as director for the Italian release in order to help the film get funds from the government. Unfortunately, it ended up as a trial for producer and alleged director who both lost. Unlike the controversy over Flesh for Frankenstein the film suffered very minor cuts for its initial UK cinema release and was never listed as a video nasty. It was passed fully uncut for video in 1995 on the First Independent label. Because Roman Polański was shooting What? in Italy on a set nearby, he was asked to do a cameo in this film. One can notice he wears the same mustache in both films.

- From Wikipedia

BLOOD FOR DRACULA
PAUL MORRISSEY  (1974)
BRYANSTON DISTRIBUTIONS
104 MIN
ITALY / USA

I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)

I Was a Teenage Frankenstein is a film starring Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates and Gary Conway released by American International Pictures (AIP) in November 1957. It is the follow-up to AIP's box-office hit I Was a Teenage Werewolf released less than five months earlier. Both films were later sequelled in AIP's How to Make a Monster, released in July 1958. I Was a Teenage Frankenstein was filmed in black and white, with the ending in color for a vivid effect.

Professor Frankenstein, a guest lecturer from England, talks Dr. Karlton into becoming an unwilling accomplice in his secret plan to actually assemble a human being from the parts of different cadavers. After the recovery of a body from a dreadful automobile wreck, Professor Frankenstein takes the body to his laboratory-morgue, where in various drawers he keeps spare parts of human beings. The Professor also enlists the aid of Margaret, as his secretary to keep all callers away from the laboratory. Margaret, becoming suspicious of what is going on, decides to investigate and goes down to the morgue. She is panic-stricken by the monster who has been activated by electricity following the grafting of a new leg and arm. She dares not tell the Professor about her feelings, and keeps silent for the present. On a couple of occasions, the professor takes discarded human body parts and feeds them to an alligator locked in limited-access chamber. One night the Monster steals out of the laboratory and goes on a rampage when frightened by the sounds of street noises. He peers into a girl's room, the girl becomes hysterical and starts screaming upon sighting him, and in his attempt to silence her, he kills her in panic and flees. The next morning the hunt for the murderer is on. Margaret, angry at the Professor, tells him that she knows about the Monster is responsible for the murder. The Professor, taking no chances, has the Monster kill her and feeds her remains to a crocodile. Dr. Karlton, sent out of town, knows none of this. The Professor sends the Monster to a Lover's Lane, where he kills a teenager. The head of the teenager is successfully transplanted to the Monster. Professor Frankenstein tells Dr. Karlton of his plans to dismember his creation and ship him in various boxes to England—there to put him together again. When they strap the Monster down again, he becomes suspicious and tears loose to throw Dr. Frankenstein into the alligator pit, while Dr. Karlton runs for help. When Dr. Karlton arrives with the police, the Monster, who is maddened with fright, backs into the electrical dial board. Contact with the iron wrist bands electrocutes him, and he falls to the ground dead. Karlton tells the police that he'll never forget the way the monster's face looked after the accident, and that shot dissolves into a close up of the original mangled face.


The New York Times review said, "If you discount any immediate connection between the mass media and the temper of the culture, then the film warrants little attention ... the automaton, enacted by Gary Conway, is a teen-ager assemble[d] from the limbs of other teenagers. This is, in one sense, abhorrent. It forces one to acknowledge the impression that such films may aggravate the mass social sickness euphemistically termed "juvenile delinquency." ...In this particular film, there are graphic displays of human dismemberment. Before one such act of surgical perversion, the mad doctor'[s] assistant says, "I have no stomach for it." That would be a plausible reaction for any adult who had read the day's headlines about teen-age crime.

 

I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN
HERBER L. STROCK
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
74 MIN
USA

Island of Terror (1966)

Island of Terror is a 1966 British horror filmreleased by Planet Film Productions. The film was released in the US by Universal Studios on a double bill with The Projected Man (1967). The idea for the film came when Richard Gordon read the screenplay The Night the Silicates Came from Gerry Fernback. He partnered with Tom Blakey of Planet Films to produce this movie. It was shot in rural England using naturalistic colors. This film is one of the last significant examples of a common 1950s plot style in which a horrific threat introduced by a scientist is resolved by others using "responsible" scientific measures

On the remote Petrie's Island, farmer Ian Bellows goes missing and his wife contacts the local constabulary. Constable John Harris goes looking for him and finds him dead in a cave without a single bone in his body. Horrified, Harris swiftly fetches the town physician Dr. Reginald Landers, but Dr. Landers is unable to determine what happened to the dead man's skeleton. Landers journeys to the mainland to seek the help of a noted pathologist, Dr. Brian Stanley in London. Like Landers, Stanley is unable to even hypothesize what could have happened to Ian Bellows, so both men seek out Dr. David West, an expert on bones and bone diseases. Although Stanley and Landers interrupt West's dinner date with the wealthy jetsetter Toni Merrill, West is intrigued by the problem and so agrees to accompany the two doctors back to Petrie's Island to examine the corpse. In order for them to reach the island that much faster, Toni offers the use of her father's private helicopter in exchange for the three men allowing her to come along on the adventure. Once back at Petrie's Island, Toni's father's helicopter is forced to return to the mainland so he can use it, leaving the foursome effectively stranded on Petrie until the helicopter can return. West and Stanley learn that a group of oncology researchers led by Dr. Lawrence Phillips, seeking a cure for cancer, have a secluded castle laboratory on the island. Paying a visit to Phillips' lab however reveals that he and his colleagues are just as dead (and boneless) as Ian Bellows. Reasoning that whatever it is must have begun in that lab, West, Stanley and Landers gather up Phillips' notes and take them to study them. From them they learn than in his quest to cure cancer, Phillips may have accidentally created a new lifeform from the silicon atom.


Thinking the doctors are at the castle, Constable Harris bikes up there looking for them to tell them about the discovery of a dead, boneless horse, only to wander into the laboratory's "test animals" room and be attacked and killed by an offscreen tentacled creature, the result of Dr. Phillips' experiments. The creatures are eventually dubbed "silicates" by West and Stanley, and kill their victims by injecting a bone-dissolving enzyme into their bodies. The silicates are also incredibly difficult to kill, as Landers learns when he tries and fails to kill one at the castle with an axe when they first encounter them. After learning all they can from the late Dr. Phillips' notes, West and Stanley recruit the islanders, led by "boss" Roger Campbell and store owner Peter Argyle (who seems to serve as Campbell's second-in-command in an unofficial capacity), to attack the silicates with anything they've got: bullets, petrol bombs, and dynamite all fail to even harm the silicates. But when one is found dead, apparently having ingested a rare isotope called Strontium-90 from Phillips' lab, West and Stanley realize they must find more of the isotope at the castle and figure out how to contaminate the remaining silicates with it before it is too late. They obtain enough isotope to contaminate a herd of cattle - at the cost of Stanley's right hand, when he's grabbed by a silicate - and the silicates feed on these and begin to die.

The story ends with evacuation and medical teams inbound from the mainland and West commenting on how fortunate they were that this outbreak was confined to an island. Had it happened on the mainland, he notes, they might never have stopped them in time. This sets up an epilogue and a visit to the satellite program where the techs are duplicating Phillips' work - with the inevitable result. A technician walks down a corridor, hears a strange noise and investigates before screaming.

ISLAND OF TERROR
TERENCE FISHER  (1966)
PLANET FILMS
89 MIN
UK

Kiss of the Vampire (1962)

The Kiss of the Vampire also known as Kiss of Evil, is a 1963 British vampire film made by the film studio Hammer Film Productions. The film was directed by Don Sharp and was written by producer Anthony Hinds credited under his writing pseudonym John Elder. Gerald (Edward de Souza) and Marianne Harcourt (Jennifer Daniel), are a honeymooning couple in early 20th-century Bavaria who become caught up in a vampire cult led by Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman) and his two children Carl (Barry Warren) and Sabena (Jacquie Wallis). The cult abducts Marianne, and contrive to make it appear that Harcourt was traveling alone and that his wife never existed. Harcourt gets help from hard-drinking savant Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans), who lost his daughter to the cult and who finally destroys the vampires through an arcane ritual that releases a swarm of bats from hell.



Originally intended to be the third movie in Hammer's Dracula series (which began with Dracula and was followed by The Brides of Dracula); it was another attempt by Hammer to make a Dracula sequel without Christopher Lee. The final script, by Anthony Hinds makes no reference to Dracula, and expands further on the directions taken in Brides by portraying vampirism as a social disease afflicting those who choose a decadent lifestyle. The film went into production on 7 September 1962 at Bray Studios. This is the only credited feature film screen role of Jacquie Wallis who plays Sabena. The film's climax, involving black magic and swarms of bats, was originally intended to be the ending of The Brides of Dracula, but the star of that film Peter Cushing objected that Van Helsing would never resort to black sorcery. In fact, the paperback novelization of Brides does use this ending.

Alternate version Retitled Kiss of Evil for American TV, Universal trimmed the original film for its initial television screening so much that more footage had to be shot to pad out the missing time. Additional characters - that didn't appear at all in the original release - were added, creating a whole new subplot. Every scene that showed blood was edited out, e.g. the cinema release's pre-credits scene in which blood gushes from the coffin of Zimmer's daughter after he plunges a shovel into it. Also, in the televised version we never do find out what Marianne sees behind the curtain, a sight which makes her scream. A couple of the cuts result in scenes that don't make sense any more: while the theatrical release had Harcourt, when he frees his hands after being clawed by Tanya, smearing the blood on his chest into a cross-shaped pattern, keeping the vampires away as he escapes, the televised version omits the blood-smearing, leaving the vampires' inaction unexplained. The abbreviated running time was made up for by the addition of scenes of a family who argue about the influence of the vampiric Ravna clan, but never interact with anybody else in the movie. The teenage daughter throws over her boyfriend in favor of Carl Ravna (unseen in these scenes) who has given her a music box which plays the same hypnotic tune that he plays on the piano elsewhere in the movie. The middle-aged parents are played by Carl Esmond and Virginia Gregg (who gained fame by voicing Mother in three of the Psycho films), while their teenage daughter is played by Sheila Welles.

From Wikipedia

 

 

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE
DON SHARP   (1963)
HAMMER PRODUCTIONS
88 MIN
UK