With an upbeat jazz / funk soundtrack, a Shakespeare loving Countess who orders the inhabitants of the village to sacrifice their appendages to feed the unsuspecting visitors, and a ghost child who kills his only friend in a vain attempt to save her, there's never a dull moment.
Delving back into the bottomless pit of the extremely low grade Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection (half of which are a stretch to even be in this set, being far from horror) another above average jewel of low budget entertainment can be found. One of the more enjoyable films in this collection was Roger Corman's Creature From The Haunted Sea, a film that does a nice job of mixing cornball comedy of the 1960's with bad horror. It was part of what's known as The Roger Corman Puerto Rico Trilogy, three films shot back to back in a period of five weeks... yes I said weeks. Included in this trilogy was The Last Woman On Earth, a film that was shot on the same location with the same three lead actors.
Wealthy business man Harold Gern is vacationing with his newly acquired bride Evelyn in Puerto Rico. They set out on a boat trip and go deep sea diving with Harold's attorney and friend Martin, but when they surface they discover they're the only ones left alive. It appears some deadly toxin has penetrated the atmosphere, removing the oxygen and killing all those on the island and possibly the rest of the world. With the prospect of being the only humans left alive on Earth, Harold and Martin begin to vie for the companionship of the lovely Evelyn whose relationship with her husband (Harold) was already strained prior to the worldwide disaster.
Unlike Corman's Creature From The Haunted Sea, The Last Woman On Earth is more of a apocalyptic drama which surprisingly turned out to be quite enjoyable. It's a grand example of how Corman was able to take a simplistic story on a poor man's budget and make something that's not only watchable but quite entertaining, with the cast providing a little better performance with a more serious storyline. If you're a Roger Corman fan or looking to get your feet wet this is definitely a good place to start, and it ranks among the more worth while films I've viewed from this Mills Creek collection.
One of the more well known scream queens in B-movie history during the 1960's was the exotic looking Barbara Steele. I haven't seen much of her work but can definitely understand why she had become a popular fixture in the 1960's horror circuit, as she has a very creepy yet sexy look. Unfortunatley The She-Beast is not one of Steele's better films which is probably how it ended up in the Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection.
A young recently married couple find themselves the rundown town of Transylvania where the inhabitants are all incredibly superstitious. Their honeymoon soon takes a turn for the worst when they're traveling on the narrow village road and lose control of their car flying into the nearby lake. The husband, Philip, manages to escape relatively unscathed but his wife Veronica (Barbara Steele) is nowhere to be found. In her place is the ghastly corpse of a 200 year old witch who was put to death in the same lake by the townspeople in the 18th century. She'd vowed to one day return and seek revenge on the dissidents of those who killed her, now that time has come as she's used the soul of Veronica to make her return. In order to have a chance of getting his wife back Philip has to join forces with the local supernatural exerciser Count von Helsing, a decent of the Van Helsing's who rid the country of the Dracula's so many generations ago. The Count informs Philip that the only way to get his wife back is to exercise the witch, if she is killed his wife will forever be lost.
For those of you looking for a good Barbara Steel film pass this one by, Steele makes an appearance for about five minutes in the beginning and is never seen again until the very end. The film itself is an odd mixture of bizarre comedy and horror but is never once remotely creepy. For a public domain horror film it's about the same level of quality entertainment as a majority of the other Mills Creek films I've reviewed, if you like extremely low budget horrors then you'll probably find this mildly amusing.
With my new search widget I'm able to keep track of what visitors search and whether or not they gathered any results. It gives me an opportunity to grasp more what you as the readers are interested in, and allows me to possibly follow-up with a review you might be looking for. Recently someone searched for the B-movie horror film The Manster, well whomever you are you're in luck, The Manster happens to be one of the 250 films in my long running Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection review saga.
The Manster is a story of an American reporter working in Japan who travels to the remote laboratory of a crazy scientist in order to obtain an interview a gain some information on his work. Little does he know that he is a prime candidate for the scientist's experiments on mutation. Unbeknown to the reporter the scientist drugs him and gives him a shot of serum which slowly begins to change his personality and soon even his appearance. Eventually he begins to transform into a blood thirsty beast, a beast with an additional head growing from its shoulder!
As a late 1950's B-move horror flick, The Manster probably made a suitable lead in to better horror film in a double feature. For this type of production I was surprised to discover that the acting wasn't half bad, it's simply the story which is awful, but for a film that spends more time building up to the final transformation and has relatively limited "manster" screen time I was impressed that I wasn't completely bored. There's really nothing different between this and the two other monster films I've reviewed in the Mills Creek set (The Beast of the Yellow Night & Atom Age Vampire), they all have the same basic premise, plot and conclusion, although The Manster and Atom Age Vampire are watchable the other is not. Overall, if you're into mediocre monster transformation films The Manster is a suitable dose, it's unfortunate though that the film isn't as corny as the title lends itself to be. In the end, The Manster is not going to blow your mind but it holds up in a single viewing.
In my attempt to slowly get myself back into the grove of things I present for your reading entertainment another edition of classic horrible cinema from the Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection, a film which once again has absolutely nothing to do with horror and everything to do with science fiction! The sole reason I chose to watch Doomsday Machine is surprisingly over the last month I have received about 23 hits from Goggle for this film. Being the only film off this collection I've received that much traffic for I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Doomsday Machine is the story of a USA space program to Venus which is pushed ahead of schedule due to the threat of a nuclear fallout between China and the rest of the world. In order to protect the future of the human race three women are substituted into the mission party with the sole purpose of repopulating the human race if Earth should be destroyed. When Earth is inevitability blown up four men and three women are all that remain of the human race (not really very fair to the odd man out). But the crews' problems are only about to begin as they realize they don't have enough fuel to land on Venus, they'll have to jettison most of their supplies and four members of their crew in order to make it!
The entire premise of this film is hilarious, how exactly they plan to live on Venus in the first place was beyond me. Luckily the absurdness of the story ultimately made it entertaining although there were way to many drawn out scenes which easily could have been cut and made the film a clean hour ultimately making it a little more enjoyable. Also the ending was atrocious, making absolutely no sense and then abruptly ending as if to suggest a possible follow up. Overall, I'm not sure what the reason is for the sudden burst of interest in this film, while I found it mildly entertaining ultimately I can't suggest running out and renting it, or in this case freely streaming it online.
Returning once again to the Mills Creek 250 Horror Movie Collection I bring you the first, of hopefully many more, reader chosen reviews. Check the end of this review for a link to where you can choose which film from this collection I review next and in return I'll shamelessly plug your blog when I review the film(s) you've chosen.
Hoping someone else might have better success in choosing a decent film from this collection, I'm sorely once again rewarded with another stinker of a B-Movie in The Brain That Wouldn't Die. A film surrounding a surgeon whose been experimenting with tissues and organs in an attempt to take the process of human transplants to a whole new level. When his girlfriend is killed in a car accident he manages to save her head (which somehow just falls off her body) and is able to keep it alive with his special mixture of chemicals. But the head can only stay alive for a short period of time and he must find her a body before it's too late. Unbeknown to him his girlfriend's head is quite angry at him for doing this, and has gained some psychic ability giving her control over a ghastly beast he's created and locked up in a closet, with which she plans to stop him before he murders an innocent girl to keep her alive!
The Brain That Wouldn't Die is pretty awful, for starters how does someones head just fall off in an accident! The doctor crashes his car with his girlfriend inside, he flies through the windshield and down a hill and ends up with no injury, she doesn't fly out of the car but her head falls off. I guess this is a lesson that you should not wear your seat-belt, your better off rolling down a hill! Of course I'm not going to test this theory, but that seems to be what this film ultimately promotes, wear a seat-belt and lose your head! In the end, this is another B-movie only worth watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 style and I believe that episode is available on DVD, check that out if your interested but leave the uncommentated version alone.
What I Learned Don't wear your seat belt. Heads don't have hearts, and are therefore evil by nature. Michael Jackson might still be alive if someone and brought his head back to life and found him a body. Beware of Doctors who are overly eager to help you, for free.
4/10
This review is brought to you by Alex from Film Forager, if your head falls off when you get into a car accident don't blame her you're the one that wore your seat-belt! If you would like to be a sponsor for a bad horror movie review please visit Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection and adopt a movie that is less fortunate than you!
For those of you not familiar with the Mills Creek collections, they are a company that packages together some of the more well known public domain films, films that are viewable for free on the internet, but at a relatively cheap price can be purchased in bulk in these DVD sets. Most of these films are B-movie material, some are even worse, but it's still a rather good deal for 250 films some which are actually quite entertaining. This section will be devoted to an index of all my reviews of all 250 films.
Alien Contamination (1981) Alien Species (1996)
All the Kind Strangers (1974) Alpha Incident, The (1977)
Amazing Mr. X, The (1948)
Amazing Transparent Man, The (1960)
Anatomy of a Psycho (1961)
Ape Man, The (1943)
Ape, The (1940)
Assignment: Outer Space (1960)
Astral Factor, The (1976)
Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (1961) Atom Age Vampire (1960)
Atomic Brain, The (1964) Atomic Rulers of the World (1964) Attack From Space (1964)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Attack of the Monsters (1969)
Bat, The (1959)
Bat, The (Silent) (1926) Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)
Beast of Yucca Flats, The (1961)
Black Dragons (1942)
Blood Tide (1982)
Bloodlust (1959)
Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)
Bluebeard (1944)
Bowery at Midnight (1942)
Brain Machine, The (1977) Brain That Wouldn't Die, The (1962)
Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
Buried Alive (1939)
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1920)
Carnage (1983) Carnival of Souls (1962)
Chloe, Love is Calling You (1934)
City of Missing Girls (1941)
Cold Room, The (1984)
Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960)
Colossus and the Headhunters (1960)
Condemned to Live (1935)
Corpse Vanishes, The (1942)
Cosmos: War of the Planets (1977)
Counterblast (1948) Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
Crimes at the Dark House (1940)
Crimes of Stephen Hawke, The (1936)
Crooked Circle, The (1932)
Crypt of the Living Dead (1973)
Curse of the Headless Horseman (1974)
Daughter of the Tong (1939)
Day the Sky Exploded, The (1958)
Dead Men Walk (1943)
Death Warmed Up (1984)
Dementia 13 (1963)
Destroy All Planets (1968)
Devil Bat, The (1941)
Devil Monster (1946)
Devil's Daughter, The (1939)
Devil's Messenger, The (1962)
Devil's Partner (1962)
Devil's Sleep, The (1949)
Disappearance of Flight 412, The (1974)
Doomed to Die (1940) Doomsday Machine, The (1972)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Drums of Africa (1941)
Dungeon of Harrow, The (1962)
Eegah (1962)
Embalmer, The (1965)
Embryo (1976)
End of the World, The (1977)
Eternal Evil (1985)
Evil Brain from Outer Space (1956)
Face at the Window, The (1939)
Face in the Fog, A (1936)
Fatal Hour, The (1940)
Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Frankenstein 80 (1972)
Frozen Alive (1966)
Fury of the Wolf Man (1972)
Galaxy Invader, The (1985)
Gamera the Invincible (1966)
Ghost and the Guest, The (1943)
Ghost Walks, The (1934)
Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
Giant Gila Monster, The (1959)
Giants of Rome (1964)
Goliath and the Dragon (1960)
Good Against Evil (1977)
Gorilla, The (1939)
Grave of the Vampire (1972)
Green Eyes (1934)
Hands of Steel (1986)
Head, The (1959)
Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)
Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963)
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964)
Hercules Unchained (1959)
Horrors of Spider Island (1962)
House of Danger (1934)
House of Mystery (1934)
House of Secrets (1936)
House of the Dead (1978)
House of the Living Dead (1973)
House on Haunted Hill, The (1959)
How Awful About Allan (1970)
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1923)
I Killed That Man (1941)
Idaho Transfer (1973)
Incredible Petrified World, The (1957)
Indestructible Man (1956)
Invisible Ghost, The (1941)
Invisible Killer, The (1941)
Island Monster, The (1954)
Killer Shrews, The (1959)
Killers From Space (1954)
Killers of the Sea (1937)
King of the Zombies (1941)
Kiss Me Kill Me (1971)
Kong Island (1968)
Laser Mission (1990)
Last Man on Earth, The (1960) Last Woman on Earth (1960)
Lion Man, The (1936)
Little Shop of Horrors, The (1960)
Long Hair of Death, The (1964)
Lost City, The (Part 1 and Part 2) (1935)
Lost Jungle, The (1934)
Lost World, The (1925)
Lucifer Complex, The (1978)
Maciste in Hell (1925)
Mad Monster, The (1942)
Man with Two Lives, The (1942)
Manfish (1956)
Maniac (1934)
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) Manster, The (1962)
Mesa of Lost Women (1953)
Metropolis (1927)
Midnight Phantom (1935)
Midnight Shadow (1939)
Midnight Warning, The (1932)
Mistress of Atlantis, The (1932)
Mole Men against the Son of Hercules (1961)
Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967)
Monster Maker, The (1944)
Monster Walks, The (1932)
Moon of the Wolf (1972)
Murder at Midnight (1931)
Murder in the Red Barn (1935)
Nabonga (1944)
Never Too Late (1937)
Night America Trembled (1957)
Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The (1971)
Night Fright (1968)
Night of the Blood Beast (1958)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Night Tide (1961) Nightmare Castle (1965)
Nightmare Never Ends, The (1980)
Nosferatu (1922)
One Body Too Many (1944)
One Frightened Night (1935)
One Step Beyond - Peter Hurkos Story, The (Part 1) (1960)
One Step Beyond - Peter Hurkos Story, The (Part 2) (1960)
Panic (1976)
Passenger to Bali, A (1950)
Phantom Creeps, The (1939)
Phantom Express, The (1932)
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues, The (1956)
Phantom From Space (1953)
Phantom of 42nd Street, The (1936)
Phantom of Soho, The (1964)
Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)
Phantom Planet, The (1961)
Phantom, The (1931)
Piranha, Piranha (1972)
Planet Outlaws (1953)
Prehistoric Women (1950)
Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1984)
Purple Death from Outer Space (1940)
Queen of the Amazons (1947)
Radio Ranch (1940)
Return of Dr. Mabuse, The (1961)
Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Ring of Terror (1962)
Robot Pilot (1941)
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: Crash of the Moons (1954)
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: Menace from Outer Space (1956)
Rogues Tavern, The (1936)
Sadist, The (1963)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Savage Girl, The (1932)
Scared to Death (1946)
Scream in the Night, A (1935)
Screaming Skull, The (1958)
Shadow of Chinatown (1936)
Shadow of Silk Lennox, The (1935)
She Gods of Shark Reef (1958) She-Beast, The (1966)
Shock (1946)
Shot in the Dark, A (1935)
Shriek in the Night, A (1933)
Sisters of Death (1977)
Snow Creature, The (1954)
Snowbeast (1977)
Son of Hercules: The Land of Darkness (1963)
Son of Ingagi (1940)
Sound of Horror (1964)
Star Odyssey (1979)
Strange Adventure, A (1956)
Strangers of the Evening (1932)
Swamp Women (1955)
Tales of Frankenstein (1958)
Teenage Zombies (1959)
Teenagers From Outer Space (1959)
Tell-Tale Heart, the (1960)
Terror at the Red Wolf Inn (1972)
Terror Creatures from the Grave (1965)
Terror, The (1963)
They (1974)
They Came From Beyond Space (1967)
Thirteenth Guest, The (1932)
This is not a Test (1962)
Ticket of Leave Man, The (1937)
Tormented (1960)
Torture Ship (1939)
UFO: Target Earth (1974)
Unknown World (1951)
Vampire Bat, The (1933)
Vampire's Night Orgy (1973)
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
Vulcan, Son of Jupiter (1961)
Walking Nightmare, A (1942)
Wanted: Babysitter (1975)
War of the Robots (1978)
Warning From Space (1956)
Warriors of the Wasteland (1983)
Wasp Woman, The (1960)
Werewolf of Washington, The (1973)
Werewolf Woman (1976)
White Gorilla, The (1945)
White Pongo (1945)
White Zombie (1932)
Wild Women of Wongo (1958)
World Gone Mad, The (1933)
My Mills Creek excursion into the 250 Horror Collection continues as I attempt to find something worthwhile in a set full of extremely low budget films thrown together into a collection in what seemingly appears to be absolutely no order. I've yet to find a film I truly enjoy or would even bother recommending, and I've yet to view a film in the collection that I would really even classify as a horror film!
Beast of the Yellow Night pretty much lost my attention from the very beginning. For one thing the video quality of the film was awful, completely off color and a lot of the time very yellowed, maybe it's somehow related to the "yellow night", but it was mostly the daylight scenes that had a yellow tight. Direction wise the film's the story is supposed to surround a criminal close to death who promises to serve the Devil if his life is spared. The Devil saves him and orders him to use his new life to bring out the evil in those around him. By selling his soul he now begins to transform into a beast at night, much life a gray Hulk , and mutilate people. Overall, not only was I extremely bored with this one but the combination of the Devil and the man transforming into a beast was too odd of a combination to even make the film remotely interesting. For a B-movie this one was both bad and boring, two combinations that just don't cut it.
Fans of Japanese cinema unite! Starman has returned with another US release in Attack from Space! Sadly it appears even sequels to B-movies are seemingly worse than the originals. While I halfheartedly praised the corniness of Atomic Rulers of the World, I at least hoped for a little more variety in the series followup, but Attack from Space is only more of the same and even reuses some of the previous film's footage!
Once again Starman is returning to Earth to assist in preventing a nuclear attack by a race known as the Spherions, who suspiciously look human to me. The biggest flaw in this film are the drawn out scenes of flying through space, and the 10 minute fight scene which becomes quite repetitious after a couple minutes. Plus Starman, the hero of the film, is absent for a period of almost twenty minutes prior to the story's conclusion leaving you with characters who aren't remotely entertaining.
The only upside to Attack from Space is it's slew of illogical inconsistencies. The writers obviously didn't care one bit if this film was anywhere near realistic, which was the only aspect of the film that made it worth watching (some these I've listed down below). Overall, unless you're a die-hard fan of bad Japanese science fiction or really love the Starman series this one is worth skipping.
What I Learned
There is wind in space.
Asian children have American cartoon voices.
You can buy spaceship parts at your local hardware store.
The cemetery is a great place for a bunker of an evil alien race.
You can destroy a space station simply by breaking it's antenna.
Spaceships only travel at a max of 120 mph.
It takes 30 minutes to warm up a spaceship's engine.
I'm going to attempt to keep up with the Mill Creek 250 Horror section because even though most of the films can hardly be considered good, I still recommend that anyone who enjoys old corny films give this and some of the other Mills Creek collections a shot. For under $100 you can get 250 average quality B-movies and might even find something you really like. One of the films from this collection is where I first discovered Helga Line, so that in and of itself was worth it to me. So here's another brief review of one of the films I watched quite a while back but never got around to reviewing.
The Alpha Incident centers around an outbreak of an alien microorganism which was brought back to Earth via a probe sent to Mars. While being transported via train the microorganism is released and infects four individuals, forcing them to be quarantined in a small train depot. The effects of the organism are unknown but government scientists attempt to find a cure before it's too late. They soon realize that sleep initiates the affects of the organism so the four infected must stay awake until a cure is discovered, or they'll die.
While I've only viewed a few of these low budget films, I have arrived at the number one defining negative factor against them, length. Most of these films could easily be made into a fairly entertaining half hour Twilight Zone themed series, but as 90 minute movies they don't work at all. The Alpha Incident is a prime example of that, the premise of the film is simple but there is an underlining mystery as to what is going to happen to the infected. The ending is rather surprising, and throw in a train operator who sounds like Larry the Cable Guy and you have a film that isn't totally devoid of amusement, but is it worth sitting through 30 minutes of drivel to see? Unfortunately not, but if you wanted to take the time to edit this film down to 30 minutes you might have something quite entertaining to watch, albeit incredibly corny and low quality but as it stands the wasted time outweighs what little suspense this film has.
The Japanese are probably by far the leaders in campy B-movie cinema, if not they are responsible for starting the trend which dates back at least 1954 with the premier of Gojira aka Godzilla. So it should be of no surprise that the campy films of early Japanese cinema would branch out to other characters maybe not as well known as Godzilla. Atomic Rulers of the World is the United States first introduction to the Superman themed hero known as Starman. Played by Ken Utsui, Starman had grown to popularity in nine previous films in Japan under the name Super Giant. Keeping up with B-movie tradition this first Starman film, boasts campy lines, outlandish fight scenes and incredibly bad costumes, but like most Japanese science fiction of this time it's still unbelievably entertaining, no matter how bad it is.
Earth is threatened by atomic annihilation from a group known as the Mirapolia. A distant planet who are observers of Earth find it to be their responsibility to intervene and stop an atomic attack which could have dire effects on surrounding planets in the galaxy. To prevent this from occurring the planet sends their human cyborg named Starman, who is equipped with a globe meter (a watch) which allows him to do three things, detect radioactivity, gives him the ability to fly, and to speak and understand any language. Starman must intercept the device being delivered to the Mirapolia which is need to complete the bomb before it's too late.
Atomic Rulers of the World is basically a Japanese ripoff of Superman, and therefore features many similarities. If your were a fan of the Superman series back in the early 1950's then you might especially get a kick out of this. Like all similar films of this era, it lacks a real solid story, often making absolutely no sense but is still quite humorous in it's ignorance of it's corniness. Overall, it's a brainless science fiction film that is sure to please fans of similar films of the era.
What I Learned:
- It's so bright inside Japanese airplanes that the women have to wear sunglasses, even during rain storms. - Nuclear bombs come in easy to carry sizes. - Starman can jump backwards out of the depths of the ocean.
Alien Species is one of the films in the Mills Creek collection that I can only give a very concise review of... stay away! The film makes Sci Fi Channel originals look like masterpieces, it makes homemade Youtube videos look like the work of an Oscar winning director, and it gives you an idea of what mental torture would be like. Watching the first 15 minutes of this film might be the hardest thing I have ever had to sit through, everything from the acting, the story, to the "special effects" is so bad that it's almost as if the creators of this film had never seen another movie in their lives.
I've seen cheesy horror films from the 50's with more going for them, this film is seriously an insult to the industry. I then had to fast forward through the rest of the this 92 minute borefest periodically pausing to see if it ever became even slightly better, it didn't. If anyone can seriously sit through 92 minutes of this film they'd either have to be in a coma, or need to seriously examine the usefulness of their life if they have to time to actually watch this. This is one of those films I don't know who to feel more sorry for, the guy who decided to include this in the Mills Creek collection (who probably no longer has a job), or the people stupid enough to make this film. The only silver lining is I've discovered a new form of torture for terrorist prisoners and it's playing this film on a constant loop.
From director and writer of one of my favorite B-movie works, Starcrash, Luigi Cozzi returns with another science fiction ripoff in Alien Contamination aka Contamination. Starcrash is particularly famous as one of the better "Star Wars" ripoffs of the late 70's, Contamination is another semi rip-off of a famous film with some mild resemblances to Ridley Scott's Alien.
When an empty freighter comes barreling into New York, harbor authorities begin to worry when they discover the crew brutally killed, and a strange cargo of large green eggs packed in coffee boxes from South America. The eggs appear to come alive when they come in contact with heat, beginning to glow and pulsate, eventually exploding and spewing a deadly liquid which appears to have killed the entire crew. Scientists can only conclude that these eggs aren't from Earth, but could have possibly come from a recent Mars mission, yet someone appears to be harvesting them and planning some sort of attack. Earth's only hope lies in the scattered memories of the remaining astronaut from the Mars mission and a mysterious South American coffee company.
Contamination doesn't strike a spark as well as Cozzi's previous film Starcrash, and only succeeds in it's rather gruesome scenes of bursting internal organs when humans get too close to the alien eggs. The story has enough going for it that the film is watchable and it wasn't too difficult to make it through the 83 minute run-time. A few hilarious lines made it slightly amusing, but overall it's a grade F horror film that doesn't have all the makings of worth while B-movie.
What I Learned: - There's ice caves on Mars. - Martians grow quite well in the jungles of South America. - A one eyed squid Martian's can be grown from a seed.
Next up on my B-movie bonanza, is a rather entertaining little film known by many as Nightmare Castle or also The Faceless Monster. Searching for any positive reviews on this B-movie classic may be difficult to unearth seeing that many reviewers on Netflix chalked this one up to "unwatchable" status. But strangely enough I found this to be the most enjoyable film out of the four public domain horrors I've reviewed so far, which might solely be due to the fact I completely feel in love with a actress named Helga Line.
Nightmare Castle is the story of a mad scientist, Dr. Arrowsmith and his wealthy wife, Muriel who is secretly having an affair with the gardener. When Dr. Arrowsmith discovers his wife's fornication he takes it upon himself to release her and her lover from their bondage of life. Unfortunately for him Muriel has altered her will leaving her wealth to a mentally unstable step-sister. Now to take control of Muriel's wealth Dr. Arrowsmith must prove Muriel's step-sister, Jenny, is so mentally unhinged that he should be given control of all her assets. How will he accomplish such a task? Well of course by marrying her and making her believe she is completely out of her mind, which doesn't take a whole lot of effort when the Arrowsmith castle is being haunted by the ghosts of Muriel and her lover.
Nightmare Castle does a great job of setting forth a dark atmosphere, and some surprisingly decent acting from the cast (for a B-Movie). Most people gearing to watch this film are probably drawn to it because of the lead actress, Barbara Steele, who is somewhat a star in the B-movie genre and plays dual roles in this film as Muriel and her step-sister Jenny. Frankly I wasn't too fascinated by Steele's performance or looks, it was co-star Helga Line that really held my attention. Bluntly put this film could have consisted of a constant shot of Line glaring into the camera with her utterly exotic face and I would have been glued. It baffles me how someone as drop dead gorgeous and quite talented, just in terms of physical acting, could be limited to a career in mediocre horror films, Line could have easily been a Hollywood starlet in the 60's.
Overall, I was quite pleased with Nightmare Castle, while at times the story is a little full of holes, the film eventually gets around to explaining everything in it's own time. There are quite a few twists that pop up throughout the story that might not be surprising, but are still often well placed. And since this is originally a Spanish film the dialogue has been dubbed, which is actually done quite well compared to similar films I have seen. But really, I think the performance, and quite frankly the presence of the lovely Helga Line made this film click with me, ultimately prompting me to queue up some of her other films in hopes of seeing more of her. In the end, Nightmare Castle is worth the view for fans of Barbara Steele, or Helga Line, or even curious viewers. Frankly I had never heard of either actress prior to viewing this and am now a sold fan of Miss Line, so check it out.
To label Creature from the Haunted Sea as a horror is almost a stretch that's too hard to prove. Better labeled as a comedy this film epitomizes what a good B-movie should really be, horrendously bad to the point of humor.
Creature from the Haunted Sea is a film that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then again that's probably the point, it doesn't have to. The film sees American mobster Renzo Capeto assist a group of Cuban loyalists and their cartload of gold, escape from certain death during a Cuban rebellion. But Renzo's assistance is not out of the kindness of his heart but rather the greedy pit of his wallet, as he plans to murder the Cubans one by one and set off with their treasure. To do this Renzo comes up with an ingenious plan to create a monster and trick the Cubans into believing they are being hunted by a perilous creature from beneath the sea, ironically enough it turns out to be true. Oscar winning screenwriter Robert Towne co-stars, in one of his first films as the idiotic undercover agent XK150, a cross between Maxwell Smart and Barney Fife. XK150 joins Renzo's gang under the cover of Sparks Moran, and chronicles the party's adventures and crimes.
Creature from the Haunted Sea is pure cornball comedy from the very beginning, some people have gone as far as calling this "satire", but frankly give satire a little more credit. Director Roger Corman occupies the ranks of "great" directors such as the famed Ed Wood, so to claim this film is such a glorifying achievement in satire is giving way too much credit to a guy whose well known for cranking out low budget films in a matter of days... yes I said days! Ultimately, I found the Creature from the Haunted Sea to be a fun and campy "horror" that never once attempts to take itself seriously, and actually does a pretty good job of keeping the viewer entertained. If you can overlook the horrible audio quality of this film, and are a fan of B-movies or Corman, this is definitely worth a view. The film does run out of steam near the end but still manages to entertain most of the way through.
After sitting through two B-movie "horror classic" films I can easily point out the greatest fault... length. Even at only 80-90 minutes most of these films are too long. A run time of 60 minutes would honestly have made the viewing experience more enjoyable. This time around I watched Atom Age Vampire, while it held my attention longer than Carnival Of Souls it still took a simplistic plot and stretched it out too long, with too much babble and not enough monster which is ultimately what hurts these films.
Atom Age Vampire is the story of a lovely dancer named Jeanette Moreneau. Jeanette gets in a horrible car crash after having a fight with her boyfriend and as a result her face is horribly disfigured. The doctors all say the damage is permanent and there is no treatment available to restore her beautiful looks. In a fit of depression Jeanette contemplates committing suicide, but she's offered a second chance at life by Professor Alberto Levin. Levin has discovered a new formula which he believes will reanimate the cells in the human body and restore Jeanette's beauty to her.
The treatment is a success but seems to only last for a small amount of time. Levin begins to go insane by falling madly in love with Jeanette and must find a way to make the results of the formula permanent. He arrives at the conclusion that the only way to permanently restore Jeanette's beauty is to initiate a series of transplants, transplants he must obtain from the glands of unsuspecting women whom he must murder! It seems murder is not his only dark secret. Levin injects himself with another type of formula he has created which turns him into a horrible monster, a monster capable of doing horrible things!
Atom Age Vampire is a decent 60's horror film that has a few good moments to it. The special effects, mainly the transformation of the Professor into the vampire, were quite impressive for this period in time. The acting is pretty bad but some of that is do to the fact this is a Italian film and all the actors voices are dubbed. At times its sounds a little corny but surprisingly not too bad compared to the present day dubbing on Asian films, which seems to always be horrible. The film begins to stagger about half way through and we only see the monster very randomly and for only short periods of time. The last five minutes is definitely the high point of the film and contains the most action, but I was quite disappointed with the ending which is done so quickly and effortlessly that you have to rewind and watch again to see what happened and even then your quite puzzled. In the end, Atom Age Vampire is alright, nothing great and not even that bad to be funny, its just there.
I'm looking for the following Barbara Bouchet films. Any help locating them would be much appreciated, and would assist me in watching and reviewing her entire filmography. You can contact me through the contact button near the top of the page! Thanks.
