Friday January 11 through Thursday January 17, 2008

Friday, January 11, 2008
Disc 10, Side A
Purple Death From Outer Space - 1940

Flash Gordon! Actually, this is a portion of the serial Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe. Man, what a terrible actor Buster Crabbe was. This is pretty funny though, if for nothing else then its utter childishness. Seriously, our kids shows are more complicated than this. I guess they really were simpler times back then.

Prisoners of the Lost Universe - 1984

I just saw this on the last 50 pack, and do NOT have to torment myself again with it so soon. Skipping.

Disc 10, Side B
Radio Ranch - 1940

Gene Autry? I don't think so. They are really stretching the SF label here. Skipping.

The Return of Dr. Mabuse - 1961

Hey, it's Goldfinger, Gert Frobe. While this was a pretty interesting crime drama, it's SF only by a VERY long stretch. I enjoyed it, though.

Saturday, January 12, 2008
Disc 11, Side A
Robot Pilot - 1941

Forrest Tucker as a child. And directed by William Beaudine. Good old 'One-shot", the man who gave us Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter and Billy the Kid versus Dracula. The description on the sleeve has NOTHING to do with the movie, though.

What a great ending. Little Billy Curtis, star of 60 movies and 33 TV shows. But my favorite is still his first role, the hero in The Terror of Tiny Town .

Ring of Terror - 1962

Have I seen this before? Seems kinda familiar. Oh yeah, I remember, it's episode 206 of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It's WAY better with Joel and the bots.

Sunday, January 13, 2008
Disc 11, Side A con't
Frozen Alive - 1966

God, is playing a whiny bitch. Especially by 1960's standards. And this was SO dull. Once again, it's only SF around the peripheral. Dull, dull, dull.

Star Odyssey - 1979 Italian

Italian SF from the seventies. Can you say Star Wars rip off? I knew you could. So sad, really. They take every element, and change it a little, than think that it's original. These guys make the Japanese stuff from the same period look positively stellar.

I mean, lets that the alien androids for a moment. Why are they all built to look like Prince Valiant? What's up with that? And why is every energy shooting weapon so monstrously inaccurate? Who would ever use such a weapon? Projectile weapons would never go out of style, if their competition could only hit a target one out of ten times. And isn't it amazing that the heroes all know how to use energy swords, even though they've never seen one before. And they're better with them than the androids. Who programmed these things, anyway? Sack his ass too.

Anyway, you get the picture. Fun to watch and laugh at.

Monday, January 14, 2008
Disc 11, Side B con't.
Terror of Red Wolf Inn - 1972

Standard 70's B-horror fare. Cut from the same cloth as Death Ward #13 (better known as Don't Look In The Basement) (which I like a lot better). Anyone who doesn't see what's coming has never watched 70's horror movies. Ever.

Disc 12, Side A
The Manster - 1962

Dude, you turned your brother into the abominable snowman? Really a lot better than it has any right to be. maybe because the mad doctor is both colossally sleazy and compassionate. And it's funny to see the reporter just go completely off the track partying.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Disc 12, Side A con't
They - 1974 aka Invasion from Inner Earth

A clay model of a UFO??? Holy crap, that may be the cheapest thing I've EVER seen! Ed Wood would laugh at them. Director listed as Ito, but its actually Bill Rebane, the man who gave us Monster A Go-Go, Blood Harvest (with Tiny Tim), and The Alpha Incident (earlier in this set). Not to mention the ever popular The Giant Spider Invasion . Cheapest special effects ever, this guy was REALLY bad. And WTF is up with the ending? Utterly inexplicable. How did this guy get work after this?

Disc 12, Side B
Unknown World - 1951

Newsreel-style documentary feel at the beginning. Pretty clever. A drill machine to the center of the earth. Hmmmm, when have I heard that before? Pretty nice that there's a road up to the top of a volcano.

I am impressed that they actually kill off characters in both the second and third reels. Pretty good, actually. I enjoy'd it more than I thought I would at the beginning.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Disc 12, Side B
UFO: Target Earth - 1974

Music sounds like a Fulci zombie movie. Oooops, singing kinda ruined that. And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the longest visible boom mike EVER. Fully 60 seconds. Impressive. And terrible acting. Not since Plan 9 from Outer Space have actors been this wooden. And another WTF ending. Why is he old all of a sudden? When did Kubrik's 2001 get released? 1968. What a ripoff this was. Sad, sad, sad.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that. 50 Movies, I watched 41. That's 82%. Not too shabby. If I had paid the $19.95, that would be less than $0.50 a movie. That's even cheaper than Netflix. And I've got plenty to watch now, even though I'm still throttled like hell.

Altered - 2006

Directed by Eduardo Sánchez, who wrote and directed both Blair Witches. It's Rednecks vs Predator. Holy crap! This is some rough sh*t! Subtitled, but no commentary (which is too bad). Only extra are deleted scenes. And oddly enough, all three of the deleted scenes are good, and I'm not sure why they would be cut.

Thursday, January 17, 2008
Absolution - 2003 Sub Rosa Extreme

No subs, no commentary. The plot keeps weaving these two stories together. Alas, I could only follow one of them. The one with the body hoping angel just confused the sh*t out of me. Not bad, but not great either. Been kinda disappointed with Sub Rosa recently.

Extras include: Bloopers (short, less than 2 minutes), deleted scenes (none missed), a thing called "Motives?", a 30 minute short by the same folks (where the dialogue was too soft and the music too loud).