Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Universal-International
Directed by Jack Arnold
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray 3D, Universal)

Scientists sail into the Amazon on a ship similar to the African Queen in search of a creature they believe to be a missing link in man's evolution from sea creature to land dweller. They eventually weigh anchor in the mysterious Black Lagoon where the creature wastes no time in killing crew members. He seems to be particularly interested in pretty research assistant Julie Adams, but she has her hands full with two other scientists who constantly bicker. One of them wants to keep the creature alive for scientific study while the other wants to kill it for profit. As the attacks continue, they eventually have no choice if they want to survive. I'm not normally a fan of 3D, but having finally seen this in its original format I have to say it is a completely different experience. The claw in the first part of the movie juts out of the screen dramatically, the underwater scenes lend themselves perfectly to 3D and a spear gun is another good prop. This was meant to be seen in 3D, and I can't imagine going back to plain old 2D now that I've seen it.

The Wolf Man (1941)

Universal Pictures
Directed by George Waggner
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Lon Chaney, Jr., returns to a large English estate after being away many years to live with his father. He falls in love with a local girl and while out on a date kills a wolf who attacks her friend near a gypsy camp. He's convinced by the gypsies that the wolf was actually a werewolf and that he now has the curse. He's not sure whether to believe them, but his nightly trips into the woods combined with more murders convinces him otherwise. The story actually leaves the door open for a non-supernatural interpretation that maybe Chaney's problems were all in his mind. The key witness to the last attack at the end who might have said otherwise says nothing about a werewolf. Anyway, Chaney's acting as usual leaves much to be desired, he simply lacks the charisma of his father, and as a result some of the love scenes early on are cringe inducing. Nonetheless, its fog enshrouded atmosphere, gypsy curses and transformation scenes have made it an iconic horror classic.

Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Arthur Lubin
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Middle aged violinist Claude Rains is fired from the Paris opera house when he develops problems with his fingers. He has no savings to fall back on because he spent it all on music lessons for his secret crush on a young opera singer. He tries to sell one of his own music compositions to a publisher, then becomes enraged when he hears it being played after they turn him down. He murders the publisher, but not before an assistant disfigures his face with acid trying to stop him. Forced into hiding, he takes up residence in the bowels of the opera house. Still obsessed with the singer, he resorts to extortion and more murder to make her a star. Gorgeously photographed in sumptuous Technicolor, with plenty of music for opera fans and a stunning opera house set recreated on the Universal stages. A tepid romantic rivalry keeps it from being a true classic, and Rains can't touch the performance of Lon Chaney in the original silent version as the phantom, but still quite rewarding.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Universal Pictures
Directed by James Whale
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Picking up where the original story left off, Frankenstein's monster survives the windmill attack and is loose again. He kills several villagers (he later explains: "love the dead, hate the living") and even manages to make a friend with a blind hermit who teaches him to speak, drink and smoke. Meanwhile, Dr. Frankenstein is recovering at home with his fiance when an old professor shows up and reveals that he has been carrying out similar experiments to create life. When Dr. Frankenstein refuses to help, the mad professor kidnaps his fiance and forces him. The two retire once again to the bell tower where they bring a new monster to life, this one a woman intended as a mate for the original monster. The plot occasionally takes a detour into the ridiculous, like the "little people" the professor keeps in jars, and the whole bride angle just doesn't work for me, but the psychological and emotional development of the monster does and it is that plot thread, combined with Karloff's performance, that keeps things interesting.

Alone in the Dark (1982)

New Line Cinema
Directed by Jack Sholder
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

A group of mental patients escape from their ward during a power blackout. They loot a store for weapons then head over to the new doctor's house, who they mistakenly believe killed their last doctor. A long standoff takes up much of the film, between the patients outside and the doctor and his family inside. One by one they break in, but the family manages to hold their own. Their ringleader, Jack Palance in a relatively subdued role for Palance, is the last to confront them, but they are saved at the last second by a contrived coincidence that nearly ruins the film. Nonetheless, there are some genuinely tense moments, and a dry wit that runs through it all which provides a good counterbalance to all of the violence on display.

The Invisible Man (1933)

Universal Pictures
Directed by James Whale
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Entertaining yarn about a scientist who discovers a drug that makes him invisible, but also makes him mad with power. He has fun tormenting the local villagers, until he murders one of them. He has delusions of taking over the world and kidnaps a fellow scientist to help him. In true HG Wells fashion, radio broadcasts and newspaper headlines send the general public into mass panic. The police eventually corner him in a barn where he is sleeping then his footsteps in the snow give him away while trying to escape.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Steve Miner
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

After a brief flashback, five years have passed since the events in the first Friday the 13th. Teens arrive for "counselor training" at a campground right next door to the infamous Camp Crystal Lake. You can pretty much guess what happens next. While certainly a step down from the first film, not all is lost. Harry Manfredini treats us with another intense soundtrack, albeit derivative of Bernard Herrmann. Woods are still scary, and there is a thunderstorm to spice it up. The point-of-view shots from the killer make extensive use of the "panaglide" camera, basically an early variation of the steadicam, and are quite effective. However, after awhile the scares become formulaic: who didn't predict it would be Muffin at the door?

The Mummy (1932)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Karl Freund
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

British archaeologists accidentally revive an Egyptian mummy when they read an ancient scroll. Ten years later, relatives of the original archaeologists are back for another dig, but so is the mummy, who wants the scroll to revive his dead lover. Under disguise, he shows them where to find her tomb and the artifacts, including her mummy, are put on display in the local museum. He then discovers that the soul of his lover has been reincarnated in the body of exotic beauty Zita Johann. However, one of the archaeologists is also in love with her, setting up a melodramatic showdown between old and new lovers. Karloff's mummy make up is incredible, particularly when he stares the down the camera with glowing eyes, and he makes a very believable living mummy. His supernatural powers have much in common with Dracula, such as his ability to hypnotize people into becoming his slaves, and he has a magical pool of water in which he can see the past and over great distances. I was not totally convinced of these powers, nor of the moving ancient statues which come to his aid and to that of others at fortuitous moments. These shortcomings, combined with the melodramatic romance elements, keep this a notch below the other classic Universal horrors.

Tales That Witness Madness (1973)

Paramount
Directed by Freddie Francis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Olive Films)

British anthology set in an insane asylum, where psychiatrist Donald Pleasence presents the case histories of four patients to a skeptical Jack Hawkins. The stories are in the "comic book" style: predictable and juvenile, with some kind of twist, becoming more and more preposterous until all credibility is gone. In the first story, a little boy's imaginary tiger friend comes to life, in the second a man rides an old bicycle back in time, in the third Joan Collins is raped by a tree and in the final story a Hawaiian man serves his human sacrifice to her unsuspecting mother. The wraparound story contains a double twist ending, which you will see a mile away.

Poor Pretty Eddie (1975)

WestAmerican Films
Directed by Richard Robinson
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, HD Cinema Classics)

Leslie Uggams, more or less playing herself, is a pop singer on vacation whose car breaks down on a remote road. She walks to a nearby restaurant and bar where she first meets "Eddie": an Elvis impersonator with no talent and a creepy smile. He lives off the money of the bar owner, Shelley Winters, a middle-aged, alcoholic ex-nightclub singer in love with the much younger Eddie. There is also "Keno", an employee who is overprotective of Shelley and hates Eddie. Uggams has no choice but to spend the night in one of the cabins, where she is soon raped by Eddie. She manages to escape with the help of Keno and find the police, but they have no sympathy and hold a mock trial in a VFW Hall where she is stripped in front of the locals. Uggams, trapped in redneck hell, is repeatedly raped, then forced to marry Eddie in a bizarre ceremony that ends in violence. A disturbing expose of racism, misogyny and corruption in the South, although it occasionally crosses the line of good taste.

Frankenstein (1931)

Universal Pictures
Directed by James Whale
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Scientist Colin Clive and his hunchbacked assistant Dwight Frye dig up bodies from the grave or cut them down from the gallows to provide him with the raw materials for a body he intends to bring to life with the power of lightning. The experiment proves to be a success one night during a thunderstorm, but the creature, given the brain of a criminal and tormented by the hunchback, goes on a killing rampage. One of his victims is a small girl, whom he throws into a lake and drowns, which turns the drunken residents of the small town into a lynch mob. The film still manages to shock nearly a century later, with scenes of death and disfigurement, but also elicit sympathy for the monster who never asked to be created, and even for Dr. Frankenstein, drunk on  his own power, who later regrets it.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Orion Pictures
Directed by Dan O'Bannon
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)

Careless employees at a medical supply company release a chemical which reanimates the dead. A cadaver attacks them and does not "die" even when cut into pieces. They take the parts across the street to a mortuary where they convince the mortician to incinerate it in the crematorium. The smoke falls as rain laced with the chemical, reanimating hordes of the dead in a nearby cemetery. They take refuge in the mortuary with a group of punk rockers who were goofing off in the cemetery. The military eventually steps in to take care of the mess. One of the best horror films to come out of the 80s, it strikes just the right balance of horror and comedy, has terrific performances by James Karen, Clu Galager and Don Calfa in their leading roles and even the stereotyped punk rockers come off as a likeable group of misfits.

Dracula (1931)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Tod Browning
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Mild mannered businessman Renfield (Dwight Frye) travels to Transylvania to complete a real estate transaction with one Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi, in his signature role). Ignoring the warnings of the locals, he goes to the Count's castle and spends the night. He is of course bitten by Lugosi, a vampire, and becomes his slave. They travel to England where Lugosi takes up residence in Carfax Abbey, which happens to be next door to the sanitarium where Renfield has been committed. The imminent Dr. Van Helsing correctly diagnoses Renfield and Lugosi as vampires, but not before they have infected the pretty daughters of the director of the institution. Helsing confronts Lugosi with a mirror, then follows him next door where he drives a wooden stake through his heart. The film is at its most powerful in the opening scenes in Transylvania, particularly those in Dracula's decrepit, crumbling castle. However, when the action shifts to England, the plot becomes talky and spends far too much time in boring drawing rooms at the sanitarium. Dwight Frye overplays his Renfield character and becomes an annoyance. There are too many fake flying bats, including one scene where a bat speaks to a character by squeaking. Things pick up towards the end with some scenes in the equally crumbling Carfax Abbey, but they are too brief and the ending rather abrupt.

The House with Laughing Windows (1976)

A.M.A. Film (Italy)
Directed by Pupi Avati
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

An artist is hired to restore a painting in a church in a small Italian village. He becomes interested in the life of the artist and slowly learns about his past. One day the friend who got him the job is pushed out of a window and dies. The townspeople are unfriendly, gossipy and a few are downright weird, including a drunk and an altar boy. He is booted out of the hotel and moves into a house with a paralyzed lady upstairs. He starts a romantic relationship with a pretty schoolteacher. All of these plot threads go nowhere until the ludicrous ending reveals hidden identities and motivations.

The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)

U.S. Films
Directed by Jon Hall
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

Jon Hall, a popular leading man in 1940s adventure movies, attempted a comeback in this cheap beach movie. Someone wearing a rubber mask and seaweed is killing beach girls in bikinis. The suspects include a crippled artist and an oceanographer having marital problems. There are frequent interludes for surfing footage, a ballad by the campfire and of course beach girls dancing to bongos and twangy guitars.

Afraid of the Dark (1991)

Fine Line Features
Directed by Mark Peploe
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

Confusing story which blurs the line between fantasy and reality. In the first part of the film, a young boy accompanies his blind mother to a clinic. A "slasher" is on the loose, and the victims are all blind. There are plenty of creepy suspects hanging around the clinic, including a photographer who convinces his blind sister to pose for nude photographs. The boy sees him about to kill her but manages to poke his eye out with a knitting needle first. After that point, everyone in the movie who was previously blind can now see. The boy continues to have fantasies/nightmares, leading to another eye-poking episode, this one involving a friendly neighborhood dog. Later, he kidnaps his infant baby sister and one can only expect another eye-poking will follow, but luckily it never happens. An unsatisfying conclusion fails to offer any reasonable explanations.

The Day It Came to Earth (1979)

Howco International Pictures
Directed by Harry Thomason
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

A meteorite resurrects a dead gangster at the bottom of a lake. After killing his own murderers, he terrorizes teens at the local university. George Gobel has a serious role as a professor. Among the teens is the future Mrs. Tom Hanks. The plot has many similarities to The Blob, including the fact that it is set in the 1950s, ends in a theater and is poorly acted.

Creepshow 2 (1987)

New World Pictures
Directed by Michael Gornick
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Anchor Bay)

George Romero scripted from Stephen King's short stories, but their combined talents don't really come through in the final product. The anthology of comic book style stories includes a wooden Indian that comes to life seeking revenge, dope smoking teenagers who swim to a raft in the middle of a lake only to become victims of a man-eating oil slick, and a woman who can't shake her hit and run victim. All are heavy-handed and obvious, much like the comic books that inspired them, so perhaps it was intentional, but they do not transition to the screen very well.

Doctor Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (1972)

Regia Films (Spain)
Directed by Leon Klimovsky
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

Naschy is back as the wolfman for the sixth time. He's living in an isolated castle in Transylvania when he rescues pretty Shirley Corrigan from villagers who just murdered her husband. She eventually falls in love with the human side of Naschy. Witnessing his transformation into a werewolf one night, she takes him to London where she hopes her friend Dr. Jekyll can cure him. Instead, his serum turns him into Mr. Hyde and he goes on a killing rampage through the seedier side of town. So now poor Naschy has three personalities and is more confused than ever. His final transformation from Hyde to werewolf takes place on a disco dance floor using a strobe light effect. The early scenes in Transylvania at least have some atmosphere, but the plot loses all credibility when the action shifts to London.

Night of the Demon (1980)

Directed by James C. Wasson
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

A professor takes a few of his students to the woods in search of Bigfoot. They find a crazy woman living alone in a cabin. They hypnotize her to find out that she was raped by Bigfoot, had his baby, which was killed by her religious father, whom she burned to death for revenge. Bigfoot attacks the cabin and kills the students. Notorious today for its explicit gore and violence, the film pulls no punches. However, the acting is terrible and the plot relies too much on flashbacks.

Help Me... I'm Possessed! (1976)

Riviera Productions
Directed by Charles Nizet
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

A mad doctor runs a sanitarium in a cardboard castle in the California desert. Some patients are free to roam around, including his sister who sings to her dolly. He keeps others in a secret basement/dungeon, where he tortures and kills them in an effort to free "evil" from their bodies with a new drug. Meanwhile a monster runs amok outside the castle, killing teen lovers and hapless sheriff deputies. The monster is only seen in a series of fast cuts, and it sort of looked like flying spaghetti to me. The sheriff eventually catches up to the doctor, but not before he manages to kill himself with a guillotine. Despite the title, no one is possessed.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

Screen Gems
Directed by Scott Derickson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(HDNet Movies)

A priest is put on trial for negligent homicide after a failed exorcism leads to a girl's death. His lawyer agrees to defend him mostly to win a partnership in her firm, little realizing what she is getting herself into. The story of the possession and ensuing exorcism is told in flashback during the trial, resulting in a "greatest hits" kind of impact: there are endless scenes of inhuman contortions, faces morphing into demons, spider eating, etc., all of which I found unintentionally hilarious. There is almost no character development of the movie's most important character, Emily Rose. The scariest scenes involve the lawyer waking up at 3 am each morning, "the witching hour", to investigate strange sounds and smells in her apartment, but they are brief and go nowhere. We are left with a long, drawn out courtroom drama in essentially a movie-length version of an episode of Law & Order.

Time Walker (1982)

New World Pictures
Directed by Tom Kennedy
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shout Factory)

A California professor and his students open King Tut's tomb and bring the sarcophagus home. It's covered in green mold which is reactivated by a dumb x-ray technician, who also steals the crystals he finds hidden in the crypt. The mummy disappears and terrorizes students on campus. He is really an alien and just wants his crystals back so he can go home. It works best as a monster-on-the-loose story, including a green tinted mummy cam, but the sci-fi angle nearly ruins it. Nina Axelrod from Motel Hell is a student assistant and James Karen from Return of the Living Dead is the stubborn university president.

Rituals (1977)

Aquarius Releasing
Directed by Peter Carter
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

A group of six doctors take their annual vacation together deep in the woods of Canada. At first it's all kidding around and fishing, until their boots disappear, critical to their survival. One of them sets off alone to find help, but the others are soon fighting for their lives against an unseen human menace. Eventually only two are left, and they attempt carry an injured friend by stretcher through hostile wilderness. They reach their destination, a dam, only to find it abandoned. The final showdown with their pursuer takes place in a cabin, where the Army training of the only survivor gives him an edge. Hal Holbrook is excellent in the lead in what must have been a grueling shoot. However, there is far too much unexplained coincidence and the plot quickly  falls apart upon serious reflection.

Grotesque (1988)

Empire Pictures
Directed by Joe Tornatore
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shout Factory)

Linda Blair and friend visit her parents at their Big Bear Lake cabin. A group of "punkers" break in during the night, murder everyone but Linda, but don't know about the "monster" in a hidden room. Linda runs through the snow pursued by one of the punkers, while the monster turns out to be an idiot man-child who gets revenge. The film comes to a grinding halt when the police arrive to investigate. Since Linda's dad is a Hollywood special effects man, there are numerous fake scares and false starts. I was thinking maybe the whole movie might be one of those fake "this is really just a movie" gags, but surely they wouldn't do that...

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974)

Directed by Francesco Barilli
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Raro Video)

Vague, unsatisfying story of a woman haunted by memories of her mother. Her normal life begins to fall apart when she sees her mother sitting in a chair in her boyfriend's bedroom, even though apparently she killed her by pushing her out a window. Later, a little girl shows up in her apartment, which turns out to be herself at that age. She gradually adopts her mother's persona and reenacts the murder, this time as the victim. In the ludicrous ending, the entire cast shows up and eats the organs out of her dead body. Attempts to incorporate elements of Alice in Wonderland only add to the confusion.

The Velvet Vampire (1971)

New World Pictures
Directed by Stephanie Rothman
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shout Factory)

A young married couple at an LA art gallery take up an offer from a complete stranger to visit her remote desert ranch. The husband is quickly seduced by the woman while his pretty wife watches. Bodies eventually start turning up and the wife figures out that the woman is really a vampire. It ends with a boring chase from the desert, on a Greyhound bus and into the streets of LA where hippies with crosses save her. Mild concoction is more interested in sex and nudity than the horror angle, and somehow I just don't find the desert setting complements a vampire story.

Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

J. Arthur Rank
Directed by Bryan Forbes
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Home Vision Entertainment)

A henpecked husband is coerced by his "psychic" wife to kidnap a little girl. They hide her in a bedroom and pretend that she is in the hospital, keeping her quiet and out of the way. They demand a ransom which leads to a long scene involving a money exchange and chase on the London subway. The police eventually come calling and the couple give themselves away during a seance. The motivation for all of this is not the money, but apparently the wife's desire to become famous for her psychic abilities. However, there is also quite a bit of talk about a dead child leading one to believe that replacing him is the true reason. Kim Stanley gives a brilliant performance but her character is unsympathetic. Richard Attenborough is also good, but his character is difficult to relate to and also does not illicit much sympathy. The only people left to care about are the little girl and her parents, but they are not the focus of the plot. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? explored similar themes much more convincingly only two years later.

Lady Frankenstein (1971)

New World Pictures
Directed by Mel Welles
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shout Factory)

The first half of this Italian-made film is basically a remake of the original Frankenstein, and a pretty good one at that, with authentic castle atmosphere, midnight grave robbing for body parts, disturbing scenes of human transplants and the iconic awakening of the monster during a thunderstorm. However, the plot deviates from the original when the monster immediately kills Dr. Frankenstein. The focus then turns to Frankenstein's daughter, a recent college graduate and surgeon, who falls in love with her father's assistant but lusts after the much younger idiot servant boy. She concocts a plan to transfer the assistant's brain into the boy's body in order to satisfy her own desires. Frankenstein's original monster is mostly forgotten, and this change of focus from the original story is not for the better.

The Sorcerers (1967)

Allied Artists
Directed by Michael Reeves
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Boris Karloff plays a hypnotist who, along with his wife, "program" a young man to send and receive not only his thoughts, but his feelings to the elderly couple. At first, they take delight in experiencing a midnight swim or motorcycle ride through the country. However, it is the wife, not Karloff, who soon becomes bored and decides to make the boy a thief and eventually a murderer. The far-fetched plot and accompanying unconvincing scientific explanation is offset somewhat by the late 60s swinging London locations and period atmosphere.

Mardi Gras Massacre (1978)

Omni Capital Releasing
Directed by Jack Weis
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

A man picks up prostitutes in New Orleans bars, brings them to his apartment and ritually kills them in a sound proof room decked out with an altar. The murders feature H.G. Lewis-style graphic gore which is obviously fake. A couple of inept cops investigate. There is a disco soundtrack and endless scenes of disco dancing and strippers. The acting is strictly amateur and some of the worst you will ever see. New Orleans residents will enjoy the French Quarter locations and local color from an era long gone.

Dead Ringer (1964)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Paul Henreid
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Bette Davis, a middle aged woman desperate for money, murders her long-lost twin sister who is filthy rich. Her plan to step into her sister's life, however, hits a few snags along the way, especially when her sister's lover Peter Lawford shows up and wants to resume their affair. Meanwhile, police detective Karl Malden hangs around just long enough to nab her for murder, but not the one she committed. The twisty plot and morbid subject matter immediately call to mind Hitchcock, but Paul Henreid is no Alfred Hitchcock, and the end result feels like Hitchcock-lite.

Spooks Run Wild (1941)

Monogram Pictures
Directed by Phil Rosen
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Acme)

Leo Gorcey and friends are sent to the country where they end up in Bela Lugosi's spooky mansion. They spend most of the film wandering around through secret passages, bumping into things in the dark, etc. There are the usual East Side Kids lame jokes, many of which at the expense of their black friend, and the stupid intentional mispronunciations. Lugosi hams it up and has a midget sidekick.

From Beyond (1986)

Empire Pictures
Directed by Stuart Gordon
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Two physicists contact "the beyond" in their attic by constructing a machine that stimulates their pineal gland. They see fish swimming in air, then one of them has their head bitten off, only to reappear as a half human monster intent on eating people. Jeffrey Combs is the surviving physicist who teams up with psychiatrist Barbara Crampton to defeat the evil being. The 80's special effects are a slimy, gooey mess. The scientific explanations are unconvincing. An attempt to work in kinky sex is laughable. A major disappointment from the makers of the much superior Re-Animator based on an H.P. Lovecraft story.

The Ghost (1963)

Magna Pictures
Directed by Riccardo Freda
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Retromedia)

Plodding story of a wife who conspires with her lover to murder her crippled husband, but then is haunted by the dead man. It all takes place in a remote Scottish castle in 1910, giving it a Gothic-tinged period atmosphere. However, the mystery of the "haunting" is obvious and the melodrama tends to overwhelm the supernatural elements. Barbara Steele is good as usual in her role as the tormented wife.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Michael Dougherty
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

On Halloween night in a small Ohio town teens and kids are mauled, mutilated and bloodied. The local principle moonlights as a serial killer, tween trick or treaters prank each other at a haunted rock quarry, older teen girls looking for dates are really werewolves and a midget alien in a potato sack follows everyone around. The good Halloween atmosphere is wasted on shallow characters, jump scares which aren't scary and story lines which are just plain silly.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Paramount-Artcraft Pictures
Directed by John S. Robertson
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

After a slow beginning which establishes the relationships in the day-to-day life of Dr. Jekyll, he finally takes the elixir which releases Mr. Hyde. Trolling the foggy underbelly of London he lives a life of debauchery, mainly seeking out women. The anonymity of his new identity allows him to act out his fantasies with no conscience. However, when he eventually starts turning into Mr. Hyde unpredictably, and he runs out of the drug which can return him back to normal, things start to fall apart. John Barrymore's bravura performance and some incredible make-up effects for the time elevate this above the typical silent melodrama.

Blood Diner (1987)

Lightning Pictures
Directed by Jackie Kong
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Two brothers who run a vegetarian restaurant in Hollywood keep a talking brain with eyes in a jar who instructs them on resurrecting an ancient God. They collect body parts from restaurant patrons and others, then stitch them together to a form its body. Meanwhile, a couple of inept police officers try to solve the murders. Played mainly for laughs, it's never funny, and the two brothers are unlikeable dimwits mostly interested in seducing girls. Not even the scary rockabilly-fueled sound of Dino Lee in the final nightclub scene can save it.

The Black Sleep (1956)

United Artists
Directed by Reginald Le Borg
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM Limited Edition Collection)

Scientist Basil Rathbone saves a colleague from the gallows with a serum that mimics death. After reviving him with an antidote, he brings him to his remote castle where he forces the doctor to assist him in his brain research on live humans. At first he accepts, until he discovers the monsters hidden in the basement, survivors of botched surgeries. Notable for the appearance of several horror icons in the same film, but most are relegated to little more than supporting roles, it's really all Rathbone, who is fine as the steely-eyed mad doctor.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)

CBS
Directed by Frank De Felitta
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Predictable thriller in which vigilantes mistakenly murder the town dummy, who seeks revenge on all of those involved by killing them in various grisly manners. Charles Durning is good as the mailman who encourages the mob of gun-happy rednecks. However, it is a bit overlong and the whole scarecrow angle is not really played up at all.

The Dead Next Door (1989)

Directed by J.R. Bookwalter
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Anchor Bay)

Enthusiastic regional zombie flick set in Akron, Ohio, with plenty of blood and guts on display, but little in the way of plot or characters. The film wastes no time in getting to the good stuff: zombies are attacking and chomping on flesh within the first few minutes, and continue to do so throughout. The "Zombie Squad" are police-types who roam around killing zombies, or more often becoming victims. Their search for a cure for the zombie "virus" leads them first to Washington, DC, and ultimately to a cult operating in a high school auditorium.

Dr. Black-Mr. Hyde (1976)

Dimension Pictures
Directed by William Crain
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI Entertainment)

Bernie Casey is an LA doctor who takes care of his poor patients in a Watts clinic by day and experiments with a serum in his lab by night. He decides to inject himself, which turns him into a white version of the Incredible Hulk. He has super human strength which he uses to kill pimps and prostitutes, in revenge for the death of his mother. Stan Winston's make up effects are just barely adequate, some white face paint and white hair, and there is no transformation, just a cut away. Good for a few laughs at the 70's kitsch, but impossible to take seriously.

Genocide (1968)

Shochiku
Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Eclipse)

American pilots crash land their bomber on a Japanese island after encountering a swarm of insects. They later turn up dead or insane from insect bites, and their H-bomb is missing. A local man is accused of murdering them. His young wife enlists a friendly insect professor to help prove his innocence. Meanwhile, a crazy American girl rants about humanity and experiments on the insects, turning them into mass killers. Some stupid, arrogant American military types search for the H-bomb. It contains at least two unnecessary scenes of animal cruelty, including the beating and killing of a Collie, shaving a little off my rating.

The Living Skeleton (1968)

Shochiku
Directed by  Hiroshi Matsuno
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Eclipse)

Gangsters massacre the passengers and crew of a ship then make off with its load of gold bullion. Years later, each member is terrorized by a ghost of one of the victims and some pesky bats. However, it's possible the twin sister of the victim is just pretending to be a ghost, I really couldn't figure that part out. She is adopted by a Japanese priest, which is unusual in itself, but it turns out he isn't really a priest. They end up on the "death ship" where more ridiculous plot twists await. The murky plot and poor special effects (strings plainly visible on the bats, unconvincing miniatures, underwater toy skeletons) sink this early "J-horror" effort, although the widescreen black and white cinematography redeems it somewhat.

Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966)

Embassy Pictures
Directed by William Beaudine
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Vampire John Carradine lusts after young girls in the old west, intent on making them his undead "mates". He assumes the identity of an uncle and guardian of 18 year old Melinda Plowman after her parents are killed in an Indian raid on a stagecoach. She is engaged to none other than Billy the Kid, but Carradine soon breaks that up. A couple of superstitious immigrants and an old woman doctor manage to expose Carradine by the old no-reflection-in-the-mirror gimmick. Billy the Kid and Carradine's final fight (he never uses the name Dracula) takes place in an old mine and is pretty boring.

The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)

Cinema International Corporation
Directed by Paolo Cavara
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Blue Underground)

Labyrinthine giallo with a police detective trying to find the person killing beautiful girls in Rome. The killer paralyzes his victims by placing an acupuncture needle in the base of the back of their neck, then finishes them off with a knife, apparently inspired by a wasp that kills tarantulas in a similar manner. Most of the film, though, is an endless parade of suspects, all leading to dead ends, and the boring love life of the detective. Even when the killer's identity was revealed, I did not recognize him. Obviously inspired by Antonioni's Blow-Up, including a photo which is enlarged many times over to reveal hidden clues, leading nowhere of course. 

Octaman (1971)

Heritage Enterprises
Directed by Harry Essex
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Retromedia)

Low budget man-in-a-rubber suit wonder filmed in Mexico. Somehow they managed to get Sinbad himself, Kerwin Matthews, to star as a marine ecologist searching for a walking, mutated octopus. It doesn't take long to find him, in fact the monster shows up in the opening credits, violating the first rule of monster movies: don't reveal it until the end.

The King's Thief (1955)

MGM
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Traitorous nobleman David Niven is murdering his enemies one by one, taking their fortunes in the process. His little book of names falls in to the hands of thieves, who want to use it to extract ransoms from the intended victims. One of them falls in love with Ann Blyth, who convinces him to use it instead to incriminate Niven. As much a western as a period costumer, with a long jail break, horse stunts and gun play in addition to the usual sword fighting.

Small Soldiers (1998)

DreamWorks
Directed by Joe Dante
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(HDNet Movies)

I suppose this looked good on paper, but the final result is a hollow rehash of Dante's own Gremlins series. This time around, instead of cute little monsters we get gung-ho military action figures who are at war with some cute alien action figures. They terrorize a kid and his wannabe girlfriend Kirsten Dunst, their teenage romance completely lacking in credibility or chemistry. Dante goes for the big, crowd-pleasing scenes with dumb humor, obnoxious musical numbers and supporting roles by trendy SNL veterans. I'm a big fan of Dante's earlier works, but this one was a huge disappointment.

The Victors (1963)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Carl Foreman
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Sony Movie Channel)

Long, episodic look at American soldiers in Europe during the waning days of WWII. Mostly they get involved with various local girls, fall in love, ultimately leading to heartbreak. However, the reality of war is never quite far behind, and the there are several deeply moving scenes, including the execution of a soldier for desertion, carried out while Frank Sinatra sings Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Real newsreels from the period provide segues between the segments. The widescreen black and white cinematography by Christopher Challis is fantastic.