Week of Friday Sept 14 through Thursday Sept 20, 2007

Before I get into the movies for this week, I need to try and redo a paragraph I wrote but lost last week. I've started one of those 12-disc, 50 Movie collections entitled 50 Chilling Classics. The beauty of these collections is that you get a lot of movies for very little money. I have many of these box sets in my collection, and we are beginning to see a lot of duplication. I am skipping those that I've seen before in other collections. I kinda have to, otherwise, even at 2 movies a night, it'll take me over 3 weeks to get thru them all. But even if I only get 10 movies I've never seen before, that's a great deal at $19.99. And as I now know, I watched 26 of the 50, so that's only 76 cents a movie! Even with the crappy transfers and poor audio, it's a steal!


Friday, September 14, 2007
50 Chilling Classics, Disc 3
Haunts - 1977


Cameron Mitchell again. And Aldo Ray too. But at least it's American movie with a ski-masked scissor killer. Couple of decent twists at the end. Not really horror, but best so far.


Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory - 1962

seen several times

Driller Killer - 1979

I have a special edition version of this, which would have a much better transfer, I'm sure.

Horror Express - 1973

excellent, but seen several times

Disc 4
The Snake People - 1971

I've seen this one recently

Sisters of Blood - 1977

IMDB lists it as Sisters of Death, which I've seen, but like 4 years ago. So I ended up watching it, but thinking, haven't I seen this? And it is pretty forgettable. I mean, it was shot in 1972, but not released until '77. That's a good hint of what this movie is like. Forgettable, and no nudity.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
War of the Robots - 1978

Back to Italy, for this cheapie SF "adventure". Could this thing be any cheaper. The sets are so cheap, they make Star Trek TOS episodes look like the current Battlestar Galatica. And the story is SO stupid, I laughed my ass off. Several beers helped.

Oasis of the Zombies - 1981

Jesse' Franco goodness. But it looks like it's a TV cut. It must be, because whoever heard of a J.F. movie without any nudity? Oooops, spoke too soon, but nearly an hour in. . Nice zombies (very Fulci-like), but no blood or gore.

Disc 5
The Witches' Mountain - 1972

Dull, but weird. Wish I could understand the dialogue well enough to know what's going on. And then, suddenly, there's a musical number, with dancing and wildly inappropriate music.

Sunday, September 16, 2007
Deep Red - 1975

Dario Argento, but I've seen several times, under both this and "The Hatchet Murders" title.

Revenge of Doctor X - 1970

just saw the RetroFlicks version about a year ago.

Bad Taste - 1988

Peter Jackson classic, just rewatched fairly recently. But let me just say, if you haven't seen this, and you loved LOTRs, you owe it to yourself to see where PJ came from. Dirkmaster says "check it out, Joe Bob".

Disc 6
Virus - 1980

aka Day of Resurrection. Wow, what a cast. Glenn Ford, Robert Vaugh, George Kennedy, Bo Svenson, Chuck Conners, and Olivia Hussey! And the movie is actually good. I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that I've never heard of or seen this movie before. An end of the world flick that is undeservedly obscure. Gotta love a movie where Olivia Hussey is one of the last 8 women on earth.

Devil Times Five - 1974

Hey, a movie from the USA, and a horror flick! Yippee! Too bad it looks and sounds like a made for TV movie.

Monday, September 17, 2007
Funeral Home - 1980

Ahhh, a mutant in the closet movie. Well, maybe not. And there's Barry Morse from Space: 1999. This is a classic 80's horror movie. Not too shabby.

Lady Frankenstein - 1971

Yeah, I've got it once already in my collection, but it's been so long, I wanted to see it again. Yeah gotta love Joseph Cotton. And it's kinda sick in it's implications. It's worth seeing.

Disc 7
Silent Night, Bloody Night - 1979

seen several times, and it's not Christmas.

Panic - 1976

Another Italian movie that is neither chilling nor a classic. The only thing it has going for it is David Warbeck playing a character called Captain Kirk (snicker).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Messiah of Evil - 1972

have in a different box set.

The Blancheville Monster - 1964

Made in Italy, and in B/W. The dream sequences reminded me of the 1961 psychotropic movie The Mask. Some really good cinematography.

Disc 8
Cathy's Curse - 1977

seen it

The Alpha Incident - 1971

Hey, there's George 'Buck' Flower! Oh no! This is by Bill Rebane , the man who gave us Monster A Go-Go and The Giant Spider Invasion . This is sort of a cheap ass The Andromeda Strain , which was made the same year.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
The Demons of Ludlow - 1984

more Bill Rebane badness. And right off, we have a sign of the cheapness of this director. We have a common upright piano, that amazing sounds like a harpsichord. They call it an Harmonium. Just for those who haven't taken a Musical history course, a Harmonium is a foot pumped cheapie pipe organ that sounds a lot like an accordion. Certainly nothing like this thing sounds. And she's not pedalling like mad. Details like that make me mad. Couldn't you have done even a LITTLE research. And then there's the death scene that left me asking "Was that a dummy, or are the SFX just that crappy!?"

And then, there's the WTF ending. It makes no damn sense whatsoever! And what is that poem even saying? Man, is this a hurter! Bill Rebane is a unsung hero of the bad cinema universe.

Thursday, September 20, 2007
Disc 9
Hands of a Stranger - 1962

This is a very odd B/W movie, even if the basic idea has been done a number of times. First, I have to ask "Did people really talk like that in the 60's, or could they just not write dialogue?" Actually, this is a pretty good in that 50's sort of way. More brain then anything else. And what's with the "What is Past, but Prologue" title at the end?

Gothic - 1986

I can't believe I've never gotten around to seeing this Ken Russell classic. Lots of wide lenses to make everything look distorted. This adds to the air of insanity. But after seeing it, I'm afraid that this may be a little too artsy for me. Not sure what it's saying. It was very weird, and at least it's not an Italian crime drama.