The Screaming Skull (1958)

American International Pictures
Directed by Alex Nicol
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Elite Entertainment)

A newlywed couple move into a mansion, his former home where his wife died of an apparent accident. She's got her own problems, including a history of stays in a sanitarium. When she starts seeing skulls nobody believes her, that is until it is found. Suspicion falls on the simpleton gardener and the husband. In one scene the skull attacks the husband and clamps on to his neck, throwing all credibility out the window.

Burn, Witch, Burn (1962)

American International Pictures
Directed by Sidney Hayers
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM Limited Edition Collection)

A professor at a small English medical college catches his wife practicing witchcraft. He forces her to give it up, then his life falls to pieces. He's accused of raping a student, his wife tries to kill him and he is chased around campus by a giant eagle. It's all the result of a jealous faculty member.

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

American International Pictures
Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Elite Entertainment)

White trash living in the Florida swamp deal with giant leeches, mutated from radiation released at nearby Cape Canaveral. The locals want to use dynamite to bring them to the surface, they live in alligator caves, but a state wildlife officer tries to stop them. Plenty of detours for lurid romance and redneck stupidity. The monsters are obvious rubber suits with some suction cups glued to them.

It's Hot in Paradise (1960)

Directed by Fritz Bottger
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Strippers en route to Singapore crash in the ocean and are stranded on an island. They discover the body of a man trapped in a giant spider web. Their manager is later bitten and turns into a monster with a spider face. A couple of guys arrive by boat with supplies for the dead man. They drink whiskey and frolic with the girls in bikinis for most of the movie. Later, the spider monster returns, but wanders into some quicksand and dies.

A Reflection of Fear (1973)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by William A. Fraker
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A 30-year-old Sondra Locke plays a precocious 15-year-old girl who talks to dolls. Her estranged father Robert Shaw shows up to ask for a divorce from mom, but mom soon turns up dead. Locke and Shaw engage in some inappropriate and uncomfortable affection, driving his girlfriend Sally Kellerman into a rage. Kellerman is attacked on a dark road one night, either by one of Locke's killer dolls or someone dressed like one. It all leads to a big twist ending that is quite preposterous. Dreamily photographed by Laszlo Kovacs.

Eye of the Devil (1966)

MGM
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

David Niven returns to his home in rural France, where he is the mysterious lord of a castle. Deborah Kerr is his wife and she soon follows from England with kids in tow. Gradually she realizes that Niven is a willing participant in an ancient religion and plans to sacrifice their young son. It's a moody story told in a slightly arty style, with lots of swooping and spinning camerawork. Sharon Tate and David Hemmings are brother and sister who are also caught up in the evil proceedings.

Bride of the Gorilla (1951)

Realart Pictures
Directed by Curt Siodmak
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

Raymond Burr stars in this jungle melodrama as a brutish plantation worker who kills his employer and marries his widow. An old lady poisons him and he turns into a gorilla that roams the jungle. Lon Chaney is a government official who tries to stop him.

The Green Slime (1968)

MGM
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

American actors and Japanese special effects are used in this sci-fi monster flick. An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, so a mission is sent to blow it up. They succeed, but also bring back a life form that feeds on energy to a space station. The slime grows quickly into miniature monsters, reminding me of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters from Saturday mornings in the 70s, only with one red eye and long tentacles with sparklers on the end. The macho space men fight the monsters, as well as each other over the girl. It's even got a groovy theme song.

The Hypnotic Eye (1960)

Allied Artists
Directed by George Blair
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

A pretty girl faces the camera and starts to wash her hair, then a flame is lit on the stove and the girl sets her head on fire... one of the most startling opening scenes of a horror movie. A hypnotist is using his stage show to brainwash girls into disfiguring themselves. A police detective on the case brings his girlfriend to a show. When she begins acting strangely they finally start to figure things out. It's also one of the best audience participation movies. Not only do we get hypnotized by a strobing eyeball, but there is a series of demonstrations of how the mind controls the body. It's just not the same without an audience.

Macabre (1958)

Allied Artists
Directed by William Castle
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

William Castle's first horror film with a gimmick: life insurance policies were given to the audience in case they died of fright. There is some narration at the beginning and end of the film asking the audience to "watch out for their neighbor" and not to spoil the ending. The story is about a small town doctor whose young daughter is kidnapped and buried alive. With the help of his nurse and father, he desperately searches for her, mainly in the cemetery. There is a memorable midnight funeral during a thunderstorm. A couple of flashbacks drag down the middle with mundane melodrama, but it roars back to life with a plot twist ending.

The Undead (1957)

American International Pictures
Directed by Roger Corman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(amctv.com)

Psychiatrists in the present hypnotize a girl and force her into a past life regression. She relives a life as an accused witch. The devil and a real witch with an imp fight for her soul. She must choose to either live, and kill all her "future lives", or die and preserve them. One of the psychiatrists travels back in time to help her, but gets stuck there, leaving nothing but his clothes in the present for the final shot. It's an odd mixture of time travel and horror, with the typical cheap sets and wooden acting from a Corman production.

Cat Girl (1957)

American International Pictures
Directed by Alfred Shaughnessy
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(amctv.com)

Barbara Shelley and a group of friends drive to her uncle's remote castle. He tells her about the family curse, a sort of variation of the werewolf theme but involving a leopard. He dies and she inherits the curse. Bodies start showing up and when she blames the leopard she is sent to an insane asylum in London by her psychiatrist friend. The killings continue in the big city. Occasionally moody but more concerned with melodrama than horror.

The Headless Ghost (1959)

American International Pictures
Directed by Peter Graham Scott
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Juvenile antics of a trio of exchange students, two Americans and their voluptuous Danish friend, in an English castle. They sneak away from a guided tour to spend the night and get a story for their college newspaper. A ghost walks out of one of the large portraits in the main hall and implores them to help break a centuries old spell that keep them roaming the castle. They are given the task of finding a leather pouch in a secret room and then reciting an incantation. The big pay off is a scene of a head suspended by wires, it sways a lot, while being chased by its owner. It must have been a lot of fun at the 1959 drive-in, hard to stay awake in today.

The Disembodied (1957)

Allied Artists
Directed by Walter Grauman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Potboiler revolves around Allison Hayes as a voodoo queen who seduces the men at a remote African plantation, much to the chagrin of her husband. She uses voodoo to either punish or hypnotize them to give in to her demands. There are the usual voodoo dance routines accompanied by stereotyped Hollywood natives. Hayes has perfect hair and make up and an endless supply of skimpy attire, despite being deep in the jungle.

A Study in Terror (1965)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by James Hill
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

John Neville's Sherlock Holmes pursues Jack the Ripper in the slums of London. Donald Houston as Doctor Watson provides support and occasional comic relief. The murders by bayonet and scalpel are shocking and bloody. The period detail and bold colors combine to provide atmosphere reminiscent of the best Hammer productions. The unveiling of Jack the Ripper's identity may be difficult, but not impossible, to guess. I was wrong.

The Cyclops (1957)

Allied Artists
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Mr. BIG, Bert I. Gordon, strikes again with one of his patented big monster movies from the 50s. Here, a group of people led by Gloria Talbott fly to a remote Mexican mountain range in search of her missing fiance. Instead, they find giant animals roaming around. They stumble onto a cave where a giant human mutant with one eye torments them. Could it by her boyfriend?! The effects are laughable, ruined by a "ghosting" effect that lets the background leak through any dark area on the screen. Still, in the right frame of mind this is one of those "so bad it's good" movies.

The Soul of a Monster (1944)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Will Jason
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classic by Request)

The wife of a dying physician calls upon the dark powers to save him. Satan obliges in the form of Rose Hobart, literally a devil in high heels. The physician recovers but not without a price: he kills his dog, shuns his friends and is at the beck and call of Rose. However, when she asks him to help murder another doctor he draws the line. He wakes up back on his death bed as if nothing ever happened. The script tries to work in some religious themes, but really is nothing more than the Faustian legend updated to the 1940s.

Fragment of Fear (1970)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Richard C. Sarafian
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

David Hemmings tries to repeat the success of Blow-Up in another stylish murder mystery, but Richard Sarafian is no Michelangelo Antonioni. Hemmings is in Italy living it up with his aunt after publishing a successful account of his previous drug addiction. When the aunt turns up dead Hemmings is terrorized back in London by the mysterious group responsible for her murder. They attempt to drive him insane by leaving phone messages, spying on him and sending a succession of impersonators to play with his mind. After awhile you realize that nobody is whom they seem and it becomes quite predictable, although Hemmings never catches on to the ruse. It's too clever for its own good and the ending is quite unsatisfying. Still, it is well photographed by Oswald Morris, whose cinematography resume is very impressive.

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Nina Foch is drugged and kidnapped, waking up in a remote mansion by the sea. A doting mother and her homicidal son have a plan to cover a previous murder by using her as a substitute. I'm not sure how that would work, since if the body was found the police would figure out the switch. Anyway, the film is mainly concerned with Nina's attempts to escape, whether it be by hiding in the back seat of the car of some visitors or trying to get a message out to her boyfriend. It all comes to a head in a predictable ending involving some misdirection. I guess I've seen too many 40s mysteries.

Experiment Perilous (1944)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Confusing story of a doctor who gets involved with the life of pretty Hedy Lamarr. There are many flashbacks but offer little if any help to explaining the story. I counted at least three men who fell in love with Hedy, not including her husband. She seemed oblivious to all the attention, more interested in her daisies. Speaking of her husband, apparently he is a homicidal maniac, but really not until the last ten minutes or so when he has a complete change of personality.

The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Laszlo Kardos
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony Screen Classics by Request)

A group of scientists from the 1700s have discovered a way to become immortal. Unfortunately they need young girls to supply them with life-energy, otherwise they turn to stone and die. A girl's detention center provides them with the necessary specimens as well as a cover. A couple of psychologists suspect what's going on and try to expose them. Interesting make up effects and the hard science angle elevate this above the standard B picture.

The Patient in Room 18 (1938)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Bobby Connolly and Crane Wilbur
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Another fast moving Warner/First National mystery, this one set in a hospital. Patients are dying left and right, not from illnesses but a killer on the loose. Luckily detective Patrick Knowles is in for a stay to cure his sleepwalking. Ann Sheridan is his girlfriend and helps to solve the case, which revolves around some expensive radium which at the time was thought to be a curative.

Mystery House (1938)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Noel Smith
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

A series of murders are committed at a remote hunting lodge. The victims and suspects are all employees of a company facing a forgery scandal. A private detective is called in to investigate when the first murder is mistakenly ruled a suicide. When the identity of the killer is revealed it's a bit of a let down, there are simply too many suspects and we don't get to know any of them very well.

Cry of the Werewolf (1944)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Henry Levin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Contrived reworking of the Marie Laveau legend in Louisiana. Here, a gypsy princess changes into a wolf and terrorizes a voodoo museum in New Orleans. Intrepid policeman Barton MacLane investigates the murders that result. The suspects include a young woman who is the daughter of the museum owner and her scientist boyfriend. The transformation scenes are done using shadows or a simple dissolve.

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Greg Ford, Terry Lennon, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, Maurice Noble
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

Looney Tunes anthology of horror-themed cartoons bridged by new animation. The transition is far from seamless, notably the modern voice work pales in comparison to the classic work by Mel Blanc. Nonetheless, it's always nice to revisit some old favorites, like "Transylvania 9-5000" and it's Gothic-inspired backgrounds and "Hyde and Go Tweet" with Sylvester the cat driven mad by a giant Tweety bird.

Old Dracula (1975)

American International Pictures
Directed by Clive Donner
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM Limited Edition Collection)

David Niven revives his old flame Vampira at their castle in Transylvania. She turns out to be black comedienne Teresa Graves. He needs to find a rare blood type to change her color back to white, although she is perfectly happy with her new race. At one point, she goes to see a Jim Brown movie and starts talking jive. Anyway, the search for blood leads to London and the emerging disco scene, where things get a bit silly. Vampira never gets her race changed, so Niven changes his in the last scene.

A Howling in the Woods (1971)

Directed by Daniel Petrie
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Barbara Eden returns to her small home town on Lake Tahoe. The townsfolk give her the cold shoulder and act like they have something to hide. A stray dog leads her to a grave in the woods. A little girl drowns in the lake. Could it all be related? And most importantly, will she get back together with her husband Larry Hagman? It's too bad this isn't a comedy, but rather a long, boring murder mystery that plays, well, like a TV movie from the 70s.

The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972)

Directed by Reza Badiyi
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Peter Haskell has visions of his dead uncle in a coffin. Later he learns he has inherited from him "The Sight" which causes much grief in the form of unwanted hallucinations. A girl shows up at the uncle's funeral and asks for his help. She believes her brother has been murdered, despite the fact everyone else says he is alive and well. It tends to drag in the middle, but Barbara Bush comes along and gets to play a crazy psycho with a knife.

The Gamma People (1956)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by John Gilling
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

A couple of intrepid newspaper reporters end up in the fictional country of Gudavia where a mad scientist is experimenting on children with his gamma ray. It's a thinly veiled critic of Nazi brainwashing and Hitler youth. The reporters are captured and must rely on an uprising of the people to save them. It all ends in a fiery revolution in the castle. Any promise of intelligent sci fi is undone by stereotyped characters and poor acting.

The Hand of Pleasure (1971)

Directed by Zoltan G. Spencer
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Scenes of typical London tourist attractions are juxtaposed against some of the most obvious simulated sex you will ever see. A middle aged man in a trench coat and Sherlock Holmes hat narrates the proceedings and spies on the sex. Pointless, un-erotic waste of time.

A Day of Judgment (1981)

Directed by Christopher Reynolds
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(VHS, Thorn EMI)

Painfully bad amateur North Carolina production about a preacher who vows to take vengeance on the sinful residents of a small town. Most of the running time is taken up by low budget soap opera melodrama acted by hicks with atrocious southern drawls. The lines are over rehearsed and delivered without emotion or spontaneity. Apparently it is also supposed to be a period piece, but fails miserably to convince. In one scene, an old lady is dragged to hell through her flower garden. Later, there is a decapitation. Don't worry, it turns out it was all just a dream anyway. The Ten Commandments are displayed in their entirety before the credits, so I guess this was intended to be shown on church night in Wilmington.

Night of the Creeps (1986)

TriStar Pictures
Directed by Fred Dekker
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony)

Endearing homage to 1950s horror and B-movies updated with 1980s style humor. Alien slugs invade Corman University, in one of many references to horror directors, and take over hapless college students. They become zombies which can only be killed by shooting them in the head followed by burning the slugs which spew out. The gore effects are impressive, if a tad overboard. Characters are the usual college stereotypes: jocks, nerds, sorority girls. Dekker also directed The Monster Squad, another homage to classic horror.

House of the Living Dead (1976)

Directed by Ray Austin
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, VCI Command Performance)

A plantation owner in South Africa welcomes his bride-to-be to her new home. She soon finds out that the family has numerous skeletons in the attic, literally. Mom rejects her and does her best to convince her to leave. The house servants use voodoo and witchcraft. A mysterious man in a hooded robe is seen killing people. Is it the brother in the attic who is "collecting souls"? Most of the running time of this dreadful film is spent on boring family melodrama. It does pick up in the last 15 minutes or so when true identities are finally revealed. The best scene: a dead body seated at a bloody organ playing some demented music. However, it's a long, slow build-up to reach it.

Funeral Home (1980)

Directed by William Fruet
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Paragon Video Productions)

Teenager Heather arrives in a rural town one summer day to help her grandmother turn the family funeral parlor into a tourist hotel. Grandma seems to be spending too much time in the basement having conversations with her dead husband. When hotel guests start turning up dead Heather and her new boyfriend start digging into the past. If you've seen enough of these kind of movies the identity of the killer will come as no surprise.

Night, After Night, After Night. (1971)

Directed by Lindsay Shonteff
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, VEC)

Girls are being stalked and murdered by a knife wielding sex maniac in London. A police detective assigned to the case considers a swinging young stud his primary suspect. When his wife turns up as the next victim he will do anything to apprehend him, even if he is innocent. There are two other suspects that we as an audience can consider: a judge who takes out his frustrations in the courtroom by imposing stiff penalties on young offenders, and his assistant who likes to frequent strip clubs after work. The identity of the killer is not very surprising. The film reminded me of De Palma's Dressed to Kill released 10 years later, just not as sophisticated.

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971)

Directed by Bob Wynn
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, VCI Command Performance)

Scientists in New Mexico use "somas", basically clones, as organ donors for critically injured patients that a committee decides are important enough to live. When a Senator and presidential hopeful is near death after a car accident, he is flown out to have all of his vital organs transplanted from his somas. Interesting medical horror in the vein of Michael Crichton is let down by poor production values and amateur acting, particularly from big-name star Angie Dickinson. Leslie Nielsen is a TV reporter who is out to expose the whole set-up, but spends most of the movie running from a couple of inept government thugs. He does, however, get the best scene in the movie when he stumbles upon a shack of zombie somas.

The Penalty (1920)

Goldwyn Pictures
Directed by Wallace Worsley
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Kino)

Lon Chaney is crippled in his youth by a doctor who unnecessarily amputates his legs after a traffic accident. He grows up to be a king pin in the San Francisco underworld. He befriends the doctor's daughter by posing as Satan for a statue in her studio. He's really plotting revenge. Meanwhile, his cronies are planning to carry out his master plan to rob the entire city of San Francisco. Just when you think there is going to be a happy ending, "the penalty" arrives in the form of an assassin. Lon Chaney is the whole show, and it is amazing to see him get around on his stumps and crutches.

The Smiling Ghost (1941)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Lewis Seiler
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Wayne Morris is an easy-going unemployed oaf who takes an offer to become engaged to a wealthy socialite with a history of disappearing fiances. He goes to her country estate with valet Willie Best. A phantom with a permanent creepy smile is roaming the mansion, entering rooms through sliding doors and peering through holes in the wall. Morris and company must uncover his true identity before he strikes again. Breezy film is easy to digest with plenty of comedy relief from a nervous Best.

Find the Blackmailer (1943)

Warner Bros.
Directed by D. Ross Lederman
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Fast talking detective Jerome Cowan is hired by a mayoral candidate to find a trained crow who is being used to blackmail him. The trail leads to dame Faye Emerson and her crony friends. The police get involved but are not much help. Lots of talk, lots of confusion.

The Hidden Hand (1942)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Benjamin Stoloff
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Craig Stevens is good as an escaped mental patient who hitches a ride with the police to his elderly sister's house, who turns out to be just as crazy as him. She hatches a plot to fake her death in order to get her relatives together and kill the ones she doesn't like. An old clock over the mantle is both a safe and the release for a trap door that drops people to their death. It's a typical, talky murder case, with comedy relief from Willie Best, Bob Hope's sidekick in The Ghost Breakers.

Sh! The Octopus (1937)

Warner Bros.
Directed by William C. McGann
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

It seems every year in the October horror marathon a previously unseen film unexpectedly emerges as a favorite. Look no further than Sh! The Octopus, a late 30s mystery comedy starring Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins as an Abbott-and-Costello-style pair of detectives investigating a murder in a remote lighthouse. A body hangs upside down far atop the lighthouse, dripping blood on the people below. One of them cuts it loose and it lands hard on a table...obviously a dummy but still disturbing. Only it really is a dummy and the blood only ketchup. The remote lighthouse gradually becomes full of people, most of whom are not what they appear. A sea captain with a hook, the screaming girl who faints, the painter who just bought the place, an old woman. Identities are revealed in the finale, featuring a seamless transformation scene that I had to go back and watch in slow motion. This effect is simply stunning for 1937! Apparently it was done live on the set using filters over the lens, the same effect used in the 1932 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even before this scene I was enjoying the film far more than it deserved, but this just sealed it. A must see!

Something Evil (1972)

CBS Movie of the Week
Directed by Steven Spielberg
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

An early TV movie effort from Spielberg, it does not quite reach the heights of Duel, but still a good "haunted house" movie. Sandy Dennis and Darren McGavin buy a house in the country, against the advice of the owner who warns them it is "different". McGavin goes off to work in the city while Dennis stays home to take care of the kids. She becomes obsessed with making pentacles, a design she saw in the barn, and with encouragement from a neighbor begins to read books on black magic. Soon she is hearing babies cry in the barn and has a nervous breakdown. A somewhat silly ending involving possession is a let down, but it does have some genuinely creepy moments. It's also fun to spot the similarities to later Spielberg films, especially Close Encounters and Poltergeist.

Terror at Orgy Castle (1972)

Directed by Zoltan G. Spencer
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

A young couple vacationing in Europe decide to stay the night in a castle. They end up at a black mass and have (simulated) sex with a lot of people. A silent film, with bland narration by the director and canned music consisting of simple blues tunes, organ music or generic Indian sitar. Bottom of the barrel Something Weird.

Evil Come Evil Go (1972)

Directed by Walt Davis
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Sister Sarah Jane is a street preacher in Hollywood. She lures men to bed then kills them while having sex. She converts a rich girl to her cause, "to rid the world of evil men", and together they continue to murder people they catch having sex. The blood is red, the sex a little too real, and the movie absolutely terrible.

Jungle Woman (1944)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Reginald LeBorg
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Universal)

J. Carrol Naish is a mild mannered doctor accused of murdering a patient at his sanatorium. In flashback, he tells the story of a mysterious young woman who came to him from a circus. She has a strange hypnotic power over animals, and occasionally turns into an ape-woman that murders one of the other patients. We never see any transformation and it is left unexplained. Instead, we get melodrama involving the doctor's daughter and her fiance, between whom the ape girl has caused jealous bickering.

The Wild Man of the Navidad (2008)

IFC Films
Directed by Duane Graves and Justin Meeks
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Independent Film Channel)

A man-beast is on the prowl in the wastelands of south Texas. One man feeds him every night at 9pm, leaving a dead rabbit on his doorstep which is consumed with much racket. The locals tell stories but mostly shrug it off, until mutilated bodies start to appear. The only thing more repellent than the redneck hunters which make up the cast are the dead and dying animals which are shown in all their gory detail: deer, cows, horses, pigs, cats, snakes... all real, all so unnecessary. Apparently filmmakers today still haven't learned that it is far more effective to let the imagination sketch in the details rather than show scene after scene of graphic imagery.

The Screaming Woman (1972)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by Jack Smight
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Olivia de Havilland is an aging woman out for a horse and carriage ride one day when she thinks she hears a voice crying for help. She discovers a woman buried under an abandoned shack, neck deep in dirt. Unfortunately Olivia was just released from a mental hospital, so spends the rest of the movie trying to convince people she really saw the woman and to help dig her out. Eventually she ends up at the house of the man responsible, leading to a tense showdown. A couple of good scare moments at the beginning and end, but spends far too much time on the boring relationship between her son and his wife who constantly bicker. Based on a Ray Bradbury short story.

Supernatural (1933)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Victor Halperin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, MCA Universal)

A murderess is put to death in the electric chair but agrees to donate her body to a scientist who is conducting some vague research in his posh apartment. Debutante Carole Lombard and friend Randolph Scott drop by one evening and Lombard becomes possessed by the murderess. She consults a fake psychic to contact her recently deceased brother, who also happens to be the person that turned in the dead girl to the police. She gets her revenge through Lombard. The plot is overly convoluted and the possession scenes consist of some blowing wind and simple camera dissolves.

Dance of the Dead (2008)

Ghosthouse Underground
Directed by Gregg Bishop
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Independent Film Channel)

Just what the world needs, another teen comedy with zombies. Although competently acted by its young stars, it simply lacks any new ideas in a genre that has overstayed its welcome. Everything here is predictable, from the stereotyped characters to the zombie gore, not to mention the stale plot and hand held camerawork. It zips by at a breakneck pace so common in modern movies that there is no room for anything remotely close to atmosphere. The teen drama would be right at home on Disney afternoon TV.

The Devil and Miss Sarah (1971)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by Michael Caffey
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

James Drury is a stoic farmer taking his wife to their new homestead by wagon. They reluctantly help a dying sheriff transport prisoner Gene Barry to justice. Barry turns out to be a liar and master manipulator, quickly appealing to Drury's wife and turning her against him. A couple of other weak-minded men also give in to his suggestions. Barry eventually escapes from his restraints and seduces the woman. This leads to the big showdown between Drury and Barry for the finale. Talky blend of the horror and western genres, with Barry supposedly the devil, though personally I don't think it was literal.

Revenge! (1971)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by Jud Taylor
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A woman switches briefcases in the San Francisco airport but later contacts the man to return it. She drugs him and locks him inside a cell in her basement. Apparently she believes her daughter committed suicide after the man got her pregnant. He explains it away as a case of mistaken identity. Meanwhile his wife consults a psychic in her search for him. The psychic turns out to be a fake, but ironically it is the wife that has psychic abilities. Shelley Winters gives a gloriously deranged performance as the kidnapper in one of the better ABC made for TV movies.

A Taste of Evil (1971)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A woman returns to the childhood home where she was attacked and raped by a mysterious man. Her mother, Barbara Stanwyck, still lives in the mansion but is remarried to a drunkard. Is he the rapist? Or maybe it's the mentally challenged caretaker who creeps around hunting foxes? It's the kind of movie where people appear to die, but it's all explained away by blanks in the gun or dummies instead of real people.

Sweet, Sweet Rachel (1971)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by Sutton Roley
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Psychic researcher Alex Dreier is consulted by Stefanie Powers, accused of murdering her husband. Dreier, along with his blind psychic medium, turn into sleuths. The trail leads to Powers' in-laws, who have moved into her mansion. Her mother-in-law turns up dead in the pool, but frequently appears to members of the cast as a dead apparition. If you can accept all of the ESP and telekinesis mumbo jumbo, its got some occasionally creepy atmosphere and a decent mystery to solve.

Five Desperate Women (1971)

ABC Movie of the Week
Directed by Ted Post
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Escaped convict terrorizes five women who take a trip to a remote island for a school reunion. There are actually two men on the island, the captain of the boat and the caretaker, either of whom could be the killer. Joan Hackett is the first to die, strangled while under the influence of sleeping pills. The others discover her body and proceed to freak out. The only boat goes up in flames. One of the men is killed and the identity of the killer finally revealed. He's got one more victim on his list. The women are mostly dumb, the murders tame, the mystery uninteresting, in other words, a typical made-for-TV movie.