Mill Creek’s latest disc collection gathers three Columbia Sci-fi faves and throws in a Blu-ray debut for a fourth. It’s a good selection: two giant Ray Harryhausen monsters, one marginal bad-taste Sam Katzman zombie epic, and a quirky Lou Costello comedy with Dorothy Provine doing a wholesome take on Allison Hayes’ biggest role. Do these encodings measure up to fancier editions? We give them a spin.
Sci-Fi from the Vault: 4 Films
Blu-ray
Creature with the Atom Brain, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock
Mill Creek Entertainment
1955-1959 / B&w / 303 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / Available from Mill Creek Entertainment / 29.99
Starring: Richard Denning; Kenneth Tobey & Faith Domergue; William Hopper & Joan Taylor; Lou Costello & Dorothy Provine.
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Sidney Miller
Disc collectors are now tempted weekly by plenty of interesting disc releases...
Sci-Fi from the Vault: 4 Films
Blu-ray
Creature with the Atom Brain, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock
Mill Creek Entertainment
1955-1959 / B&w / 303 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / Available from Mill Creek Entertainment / 29.99
Starring: Richard Denning; Kenneth Tobey & Faith Domergue; William Hopper & Joan Taylor; Lou Costello & Dorothy Provine.
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Sidney Miller
Disc collectors are now tempted weekly by plenty of interesting disc releases...
- 2/25/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Part of a perfect 1956 matinee double bill, Alex Gordon’s supernatural thriller features an iconic monster, a piece of real horror art from monster-maker Paul Blaisdell. The production can best be described as ‘pedestrian’ but there’s no denying that the movie is an odd nostalgic favorite — a great poster helps. The cast mixes veterans with new blood — but the real reason to watch is starlet Marla English. This one should have been a classic.
The She-Creature
Blu-ray
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date June 28, 2022
Starring: Chester Morris, Marla English, Tom Conway, Cathy Downs, Lance Fuller, Ron Randell, Frieda Inescort, Frank Jenks, El Brendel, Paul Dubov, William Hudson, Paul Blaisdell.
Cinematography: Frederick E. West
Production Designer: Art Director: Don Ament
Creature costume: Paul Blaisdell
Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair
Original Music: Ronald Stein
Written by Lou Rusoff
Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, Alex Gordon
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Nicholson...
The She-Creature
Blu-ray
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date June 28, 2022
Starring: Chester Morris, Marla English, Tom Conway, Cathy Downs, Lance Fuller, Ron Randell, Frieda Inescort, Frank Jenks, El Brendel, Paul Dubov, William Hudson, Paul Blaisdell.
Cinematography: Frederick E. West
Production Designer: Art Director: Don Ament
Creature costume: Paul Blaisdell
Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair
Original Music: Ronald Stein
Written by Lou Rusoff
Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, Alex Gordon
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Nicholson...
- 7/9/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Last year for Indie Horror Month, I had the pleasure of diving into the history of the cult classic studio New World Pictures. It was such a blast peeking behind the curtain of low-budget genre production in the ’70s and ’80s that I figured it would be fun to go back in time a little further and explore American International Pictures, a studio that set the standard in the mid-20th century for churning out cheap, profitable, and often truly memorable films across a variety of genres.
Founded as American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, the duo quickly changed the name when their first choice, Aip, became available. With principal producers Roger Corman (who would later go on to cofound the aforementioned New World Pictures) and Alex Gordon, Aip completely changed the framework for how to produce low-budget movies.
First, they monetized Peter Pan Syndrome...
Founded as American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, the duo quickly changed the name when their first choice, Aip, became available. With principal producers Roger Corman (who would later go on to cofound the aforementioned New World Pictures) and Alex Gordon, Aip completely changed the framework for how to produce low-budget movies.
First, they monetized Peter Pan Syndrome...
- 4/19/2022
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
CineSavant’s reviews for the new Blu ray set, Cold War Creatures-Four Films from Sam Katzman, are in two parts. You can find Glenn Erickson’s review of Zombies of Mora Tau and The Giant Claw in Part One.
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1955, ’56/ 1.85
Starring Richard Denning, S. John Launer, Steven Ritch
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Fred F. Sears
Sam Katzman began his Hollywood career in 1933 with His Private Secretary, a romantic comedy starring John Wayne made for Screencraft Pictures—he endured for five decades, hopscotching from Victory Pictures to Monogram to MGM before bowing out in 1972 with The Loners, an Easy Rider rip-off starring Dean Stockwell (who called the movie “a mess”). But it was at Columbia where the familiar Katzman brand was born—exploitation fodder inspired by the fish stories found in tabloids. These were movies about headlines, not human beings,...
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1955, ’56/ 1.85
Starring Richard Denning, S. John Launer, Steven Ritch
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Fred F. Sears
Sam Katzman began his Hollywood career in 1933 with His Private Secretary, a romantic comedy starring John Wayne made for Screencraft Pictures—he endured for five decades, hopscotching from Victory Pictures to Monogram to MGM before bowing out in 1972 with The Loners, an Easy Rider rip-off starring Dean Stockwell (who called the movie “a mess”). But it was at Columbia where the familiar Katzman brand was born—exploitation fodder inspired by the fish stories found in tabloids. These were movies about headlines, not human beings,...
- 9/25/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Yes, sometimes a producer could earn ‘auteur’ status making B pictures. A name that’s never going to be uttered in the same breath as Val Lewton is Sam Katzman, who for the 1950s settled into a profitable tenure making Columbia program pictures. They pretty much stayed in the category of ‘obvious junk’ yet include a number of endearing favorites. And Katzman deserved to slip through the pearly gates just for helping get Ray Harryhausen’s feature career into motion. Besides their minimal production outlay, Katzman’s horror/sci fi attractions have one strange thing in common: they don’t carry Columbia torch Lady logos. Part One of this review takes on two of the four features in Arrow’s gorgeously appointed boxed set; reviewer Charlie Largent will follow with a review of the second pair of creature features.
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Part 1: Zombies of Mora Tau...
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Part 1: Zombies of Mora Tau...
- 9/11/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This big, expensive and well-produced action-suspense Sci-fi epic mostly delivers on its promise to be Aliens at the bottom of the sea. At heart it’s a 1950s pulse-pounder with a bigger monster, a zillion times the budget and a script that does everything but make us care. We appreciate the likable characters but it’s too easy to predict who will ‘get it’ next. The realism factor is not bad at all, although the undersea explorer video training sessions should have given ‘how not to crack up under stress’ more emphasis. And can’t anybody properly mind those pesky nuclear bombs?
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Edward L. Cahn directed and monster-maker Paul Blaisdell built the little aliens with the great big heads for this lighthearted sci-film film released in 1957. As usual in an Aip picture, it’s teenagers to the rescue when a flying saucer sets down in the middle of lover’s lane. Steven Terrell and Gloria Castillo play the love-struck high-schoolers while Lyn Osborn and future Riddler Frank Gorshin provide the comic relief.
The post Invasion of the Saucer Men appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Invasion of the Saucer Men appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 6/1/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Alexandre O. Phillippe’s “Memory: The Origins of Alien” isn’t just a documentary about the making of “Alien”; it’s also an act of film criticism. The new film explores the artistic and cultural traditions that led to the sci-fi-horror masterpiece, characterizing the Ridley Scott film as the ultimate culmination of every nightmare that came before it.
And although Phillippe’s documentary oversells its thesis — and suffers from glaring omissions — it’s a thoughtful love letter to a fascinating classic.
Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” written by Dan O’Bannon with a co-story credit by Ronald Shusett, is one of the most celebrated films of its kind. It’s a terrifying movie, set in space, with a crew of working-class joes and janes encountering unbelievable, Lovecraftian monsters that use the humans’ bodies as incubators. The film has been critically analyzed from top to bottom over the years, exploring the innovative production design,...
And although Phillippe’s documentary oversells its thesis — and suffers from glaring omissions — it’s a thoughtful love letter to a fascinating classic.
Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” written by Dan O’Bannon with a co-story credit by Ronald Shusett, is one of the most celebrated films of its kind. It’s a terrifying movie, set in space, with a crew of working-class joes and janes encountering unbelievable, Lovecraftian monsters that use the humans’ bodies as incubators. The film has been critically analyzed from top to bottom over the years, exploring the innovative production design,...
- 10/2/2019
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
For many people, Alien (1979) is the yardstick by which all “creature on a spaceship” films are measured. However, the first few inches on that stick are occupied by It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), an effective low budget shocker that helped write the template still used in sci-fi and horror today. Climb aboard for a 69 minute rocket ride to Mars and back with an unwanted passenger. And no, I don’t mean (insert name or political affiliate you hate here).
Released in August stateside by United Artists, with a November drop in the U.K., It! was mostly dismissed by critics, with the exception of Variety who said, “It’s old stuff, with only a slight twist.” In the B world, that’s as close to a rave as one might get from the mainstream media, and that’s fine; audiences enjoyed the straightforward thrills and somewhat unique concept offered up,...
Released in August stateside by United Artists, with a November drop in the U.K., It! was mostly dismissed by critics, with the exception of Variety who said, “It’s old stuff, with only a slight twist.” In the B world, that’s as close to a rave as one might get from the mainstream media, and that’s fine; audiences enjoyed the straightforward thrills and somewhat unique concept offered up,...
- 3/11/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Glurg garrgle gurgle raaaaw! It's the razor-clawed reptile-man that scared the bejesus out of little kids, way back when. Jack Kevan's basic monster mash drags its feet a bit, but technically it's as slick as they come. Plus, the encoding is perfect. And did I mention the scary parts? This one inspired plenty of gory nightmares. The Monster of Piedras Blancas Blu-ray Olive Films 1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 71 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Les Tremayne, Forrest Lewis, John Harmon, Frank Arvidson, Jeanne Carmen, Don Sullivan, Pete Dunn, Joseph La Cava, Wayne Berwick. Cinematography Philip Lathrop Film Editor George Gittens Assistant Director Joseph C. Cavalier Written by H. Haile Chace Produced by Jack Kevan Directed by Irvin Berwick
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We 'fifties kids love our monster movie memories. I was glued to the set every weekend to see what Science Fiction Theater had to offer,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We 'fifties kids love our monster movie memories. I was glued to the set every weekend to see what Science Fiction Theater had to offer,...
- 9/9/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
"Earth Given 24 Hours to Surrender!" Invisible murderous moon maniacs invade, with invisible troops and invisible flying saucers! John Agar, Jean Byron and John Carradine do their best to keep this underfed sci-fi turnip on its feet --- and we diehard monster fans love it. Invisible Invaders Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1959 / B&W /1:66 widescreen / 67 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring John Agar, Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, Robert Hutton, John Carradine, Paul Langton. Cinematography Maury Gertsman Film Editor Grant Whytock Original Music Paul Dunlap Written by Samuel Newman Produced by Robert E. Kent Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
At the tail end of the '50s monster boom the pickings became lean indeed. For every killer matinee filler like The Blob or The Fly, cheap double bills encouraged by American-International's example became even cheaper. Producers at Columbia, Allied Artists and United Artists turned out...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
At the tail end of the '50s monster boom the pickings became lean indeed. For every killer matinee filler like The Blob or The Fly, cheap double bills encouraged by American-International's example became even cheaper. Producers at Columbia, Allied Artists and United Artists turned out...
- 7/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Invisible aliens from the moon threaten to destroy all humankind on Earth, and it is up to scientist Adam Penner (Philip Tonge) to stop them in Invisible Invaders (1959), being released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber this summer.
On July 12th, Kino Lorber will release Invisible Invaders on Blu-ray. Directed by Edward L. Cahn from a screenplay by Samuel Newman, the film stars John Agar, John Carradine, Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, and Robert Hutton. In addition to a trailer gallery, special features on the Blu-ray will include a new audio commentary:
From Blu-ray.com: “Synopsis: Aliens, contacting scientist Adam Penner, inform him that they have been on the moon for twenty thousand years, undetected due to their invisibility, and have now decided to annihilate humanity unless all the nations of earth surrender immediately. Sequestered in an impregnable laboratory trying to find the aliens’ weakness, Penner, his daughter, a no-nonsense army major...
On July 12th, Kino Lorber will release Invisible Invaders on Blu-ray. Directed by Edward L. Cahn from a screenplay by Samuel Newman, the film stars John Agar, John Carradine, Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, and Robert Hutton. In addition to a trailer gallery, special features on the Blu-ray will include a new audio commentary:
From Blu-ray.com: “Synopsis: Aliens, contacting scientist Adam Penner, inform him that they have been on the moon for twenty thousand years, undetected due to their invisibility, and have now decided to annihilate humanity unless all the nations of earth surrender immediately. Sequestered in an impregnable laboratory trying to find the aliens’ weakness, Penner, his daughter, a no-nonsense army major...
- 6/20/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Well, another year spent in the company of classic cinema curated by the TCM Classic Film Festival has come and gone, leaving me with several great experiences watching favorite films and ones I’d never before seen, some already cherished memories, and the usual weary bag of bones for a body in the aftermath. (I usually come down with something when I decompress post-festival and get back to the working week, and this year has been no exception.) There have now been seven TCMFFs since its inaugural run in 2010. I’ve been lucky enough to attend them all, and this time around I saw more movies than I ever have before—18 features zipping from auditorium to queue and back to auditorium like a gerbil in a tube maze. In order to make sure I got in to see everything I wanted to see, I had to make sure I was...
- 5/7/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
I live in Los Angeles, and my residency here means that a lot of great film programming-- revival screenings, advance looks at upcoming releases and vital, fascinating glimpses at unheralded, unexpected cinema from around the world—is available to me on a week-by-week basis. But I’ve never been to Cannes. Toronto, Tribeca, New York, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, SXSW, these festivals are all events that I have yet to be lucky enough to attend, and I can reasonably expect that it’s probably going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. I never attended a film festival of any kind until I made my way to the outskirts of the Mojave Desert for the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2006, which was its own kind of grand adventure, even if it wasn’t exactly one for bumping shoulders with critics, stars and fanatics on the French Riviera.
But since 2010 there...
But since 2010 there...
- 4/24/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Genre fans have a quiet week of home entertainment releases ahead of them as February 16th features only a handful of horror and sci-fi Blu-ray and DVD offerings. That being said, cult and classic horror film fanatics should be ecstatic with several of the Blus coming out on Tuesday, including The Vincent Price Collection III, The Mutilator, Curse of the Faceless Man and My Science Project, featuring none other than the legendary Dennis Hopper.
Other releases this week include Estranged and Riddle Room.
Curse of the Faceless Man (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Entombed for eons and turned to stone... the Volcano Man of 2,000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! A team of archeologists, led by Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson, TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman) excavates a perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient Pompeii.
Other releases this week include Estranged and Riddle Room.
Curse of the Faceless Man (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Entombed for eons and turned to stone... the Volcano Man of 2,000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! A team of archeologists, led by Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson, TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman) excavates a perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient Pompeii.
- 2/16/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Everybody sing!: An Italian boy from Napoli, got petrified by the scenery. Now his face is white and his arms are long. And he'd rather choke you than sing a song! Hey Ed Cahn! Do another cheapie for us Hey Ed Cahn! No more Volcano nonsense! --- A really stiff guy searches for the reincarnation of his Etruscan babe from 79 B.C.. This fave monster romp from '58 is no classic, but it's the spirit that counts. Curse of the Faceless Man Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 67 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara, Luis Van Rooten, Gar Moore, Felix Locher, Jan Arvan, Bob Bryant. Cinematography Kenneth Peach Original Music Gerald Fried Written by Jerome Bixby Produced by Robert E. Kent Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Actually, 1958's Curse of the Faceless Man is...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Actually, 1958's Curse of the Faceless Man is...
- 1/24/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This is definitely the time of year when film critic types (I’m sure you know who I mean) spend an inordinate amount of time leading up to awards season—and it all leads up to awards season, don’t it?—compiling lists and trying to convince anyone who will listen that it was a shitty year at the movies for anyone who liked something other than what they saw and liked. And ‘tis the season, or at least ‘thas (?) been in the recent past, for that most beloved of academic parlor games, bemoaning the death of cinema, which, if the sackcloth-and-ashes-clad among us are to be believed, is an increasingly detached and irrelevant art form in the process of being smothered under the wet, steaming blanket of American blockbuster-it is. And it’s going all malnourished from the siphoning off of all the talent back to TV, which, as everyone knows,...
- 1/9/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Fred Blosser
Many books have been written about Hollywood Westerns. After 45 years, the late William K. Everson’s “A Pictorial History of the Western Film” (The Citadel Press, 1969) remains one of the best: a coffee-table book with substance. Everson appropriately tips his sombrero to John Ford, John Wayne, Henry Hathaway, and Howard Hawks (with measured praise for “Red River”), and his comments on films spanning the history of the genre up to the end of the 1960s, from “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) to “The Wild Bunch” (1969), are incisive and thought-provoking. As a film scholar and preservationist, Everson was particularly knowledgeable about older and often obscure movies from the silent and early sound eras. Three of the classic titles he highlights are worthy of his approval and deserve to be better known than they are.
King Vidor’s “Billy the Kid” (1930) is slow going at times, particularly if you’re...
Many books have been written about Hollywood Westerns. After 45 years, the late William K. Everson’s “A Pictorial History of the Western Film” (The Citadel Press, 1969) remains one of the best: a coffee-table book with substance. Everson appropriately tips his sombrero to John Ford, John Wayne, Henry Hathaway, and Howard Hawks (with measured praise for “Red River”), and his comments on films spanning the history of the genre up to the end of the 1960s, from “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) to “The Wild Bunch” (1969), are incisive and thought-provoking. As a film scholar and preservationist, Everson was particularly knowledgeable about older and often obscure movies from the silent and early sound eras. Three of the classic titles he highlights are worthy of his approval and deserve to be better known than they are.
King Vidor’s “Billy the Kid” (1930) is slow going at times, particularly if you’re...
- 9/13/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Humankind’s collision with otherworldly life forms can make for unforgettable cinema.
This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.
Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.
Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.
Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).
Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.
This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.
Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.
Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.
Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).
Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.
- 7/13/2014
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
Otherness is the inevitable theme of films dealing with extraterrestrials. They are the ultimate foreigners, organisms who inhabit planets unlike our own. The problem for artists who tackle such stories is how to portray this Otherness. A common recourse is to humanize it, as in everything from The Day the Earth Stood Still to Star Wars. Another solution, however, is to accept what Fredric Jameson terms the “unknowability thesis,” which he ascribes to Stanislaw Lem (1). As the latter wrote in his novel Solaris: “Where there are no men, there cannot be motives accessible to men.” The truly alien, then, recedes into the shadows or the margins. It can hardly be portrayed if it cannot be grasped by the imagination, so it becomes a vague intangible presence, as in Tarkovsky’s Stalker, or a sheer force of malignancy and death, as in the two examples we will be covering, 1979’s...
- 7/3/2014
- by Guido Pellegrini
- SoundOnSight
Destination Murder
Written by Don Martin
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
U.S.A., 1950
One night during an intermission at a downtown movie theatre Jackie Wales (Stanley Clements), a lowly driver, leaves his girlfriend for a few minutes to run a quick errand. Not just any old chore however, but murder! Driven to the house of a notable businessman by an accomplice, Jackie rings the doorbell, inquires as to the name of the older man who answers the door to make sure he knows who the target is and shoots the gentleman dead. As Jackie flees the premise the victim’s daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) catches a glimpse of the fiend, a clue she latches onto the following days when the police begin their inquiries. Rather than remain sidelined from the action, Laura takes matters into her own hands and pretends to befriend the cantankerous Jackie. Through Jackie the intrepid...
Written by Don Martin
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
U.S.A., 1950
One night during an intermission at a downtown movie theatre Jackie Wales (Stanley Clements), a lowly driver, leaves his girlfriend for a few minutes to run a quick errand. Not just any old chore however, but murder! Driven to the house of a notable businessman by an accomplice, Jackie rings the doorbell, inquires as to the name of the older man who answers the door to make sure he knows who the target is and shoots the gentleman dead. As Jackie flees the premise the victim’s daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) catches a glimpse of the fiend, a clue she latches onto the following days when the police begin their inquiries. Rather than remain sidelined from the action, Laura takes matters into her own hands and pretends to befriend the cantankerous Jackie. Through Jackie the intrepid...
- 6/28/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Femme fatale Audrey Totter: Film noir actress and MGM leading lady dead at 95 (photo: Audrey Totter ca. 1947) Audrey Totter, film noir femme fatale and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player best remembered for the mystery crime drama Lady in the Lake and, at Rko, the hard-hitting boxing drama The Set-Up, died after suffering a stroke and congestive heart failure on Thursday, December 12, 2013, at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles County. Reportedly a resident at the Motion Picture and Television Home in Woodland Hills, Audrey Totter would have turned 96 on Dec. 20. Born in Joliet, Illinois, Audrey Totter began her show business career on radio. She landed an MGM contract in the mid-’40s, playing bit roles in several of the studio’s productions, e.g., the Clark Gable-Greer Garson pairing Adventure (1945), the Hedy Lamarr-Robert Walker-June Allyson threesome Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945), and, as an adventurous hitchhiker riding with John Garfield,...
- 12/15/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Actress Joan Taylor, best remembered for two sci-fi / horror B movies of the late 1950s, died March 4 in Santa Monica, in Los Angeles County. Taylor was 82. According to various sources, Taylor was born Rose Marie Emma in Geneva, Illinois, on August 18, 1929. She was the daughter of Austrian vaudeville player Amelia Berky and an Italian-born immigrant who later became a Hollywood prop man. Curiously, last Friday night I watched for the first time the 1957 Columbia release 20 Million Miles to Earth. Though wasted in a non-role in this King Kong rip-off with stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, Taylor looked quite pretty (as an Italian) whether angry at leading man William Hopper (son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper) or screaming at the ballooning Martian creature. I guess it says something about her screen presence that I was rooting for the Martian Monster to gobble up the film's director (Nathan Juran), writers (Robert Creighton Williams...
- 3/7/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Part of a series by David Cairns on forgotten pre-Code films.
Edward L. Cahn—how shall I sing your praises? Perhaps before seeing this film I wouldn't have bothered, though It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) is a genuinely exciting sci-fi horror, and a clear precursor to Alien. Apart from that, Cahn seems to resemble W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's idiot brother), in that he was capable of semi-decent Z-grade noirs, but concentrated much of his attention on science fiction, a genre he seemed to have no understanding of and nothing but contempt for. Cahn's Invisible Invaders (1959) may safely be recommended to anybody who likes really, really stupid movies. Movies so stupid they forget to breath.
Above: The chain gang chorus line—a surprisingly uncommon trope.
But decades earlier, things were different. Cahn was already churning out several quickies a year, with snap-brimmed titles like Homicide Squad (1931) and Radio Patrol (1932). The difference was,...
Edward L. Cahn—how shall I sing your praises? Perhaps before seeing this film I wouldn't have bothered, though It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) is a genuinely exciting sci-fi horror, and a clear precursor to Alien. Apart from that, Cahn seems to resemble W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's idiot brother), in that he was capable of semi-decent Z-grade noirs, but concentrated much of his attention on science fiction, a genre he seemed to have no understanding of and nothing but contempt for. Cahn's Invisible Invaders (1959) may safely be recommended to anybody who likes really, really stupid movies. Movies so stupid they forget to breath.
Above: The chain gang chorus line—a surprisingly uncommon trope.
But decades earlier, things were different. Cahn was already churning out several quickies a year, with snap-brimmed titles like Homicide Squad (1931) and Radio Patrol (1932). The difference was,...
- 12/15/2011
- MUBI
Looking for something to do in Manhattan over the next month? MoMA has announced the slate for its 9th annual International Festival of Film Preservation, in which the museum presents preserved and restored films from archives, studios and distributors around the world. This year’s festival runs from October 14 through November 19, and the lineup looks like a pretty stellar way to spend an evening (or twenty).
One of the highlights is the focus on ’70s genre-enthusiast and frequent Spielberg collaborator Joe Dante (Gremlins, Piranha). The festival opens this Friday with a digital preservation of the original celluloid print of Dante’s rarely screened 1968 debut, The Movie Orgy, a 4-hour barrage of B-movie trailers, ’60s commercials and bizarre found footage. A trashy spectacle that more than lives up to its ever-growing cult status.
Then, on Saturday, Dante’s Twilight Zone: The Movie segment, “It’s a Good Life” (the one with...
One of the highlights is the focus on ’70s genre-enthusiast and frequent Spielberg collaborator Joe Dante (Gremlins, Piranha). The festival opens this Friday with a digital preservation of the original celluloid print of Dante’s rarely screened 1968 debut, The Movie Orgy, a 4-hour barrage of B-movie trailers, ’60s commercials and bizarre found footage. A trashy spectacle that more than lives up to its ever-growing cult status.
Then, on Saturday, Dante’s Twilight Zone: The Movie segment, “It’s a Good Life” (the one with...
- 10/12/2011
- by Dan Schoenbrun
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Movie Pool goes hush-hush for the Hong Kong Confidential DVD!
This DVD is offered as part of MGM's "Limited Edition Collection," which is available from select online retailers and manufactured only when the DVD is ordered. The DVD features a simple menu with no menu for chapters or scenes. Manufacture-On-Demand (Mod) DVDs are made to play in DVD playback units only and may not play in DVD recorders or PC drives. This DVD did not play in our laptop DVD drive but did play in our Toshiba DVD recorder.
DVD Specs
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 68 minutes
Rating: Not rated
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Special Features: None
The Set-up
An American secret (Gene Barry) agent tracks a kidnapped Arab prince to Hong Kong. There, he uncovers a Communist plot.
Directed by:Edward Cahn
The Delivery
This 1958 spy drama seems a bit stilted and unrealistic by today's standards, but it is still highly watchable.
This DVD is offered as part of MGM's "Limited Edition Collection," which is available from select online retailers and manufactured only when the DVD is ordered. The DVD features a simple menu with no menu for chapters or scenes. Manufacture-On-Demand (Mod) DVDs are made to play in DVD playback units only and may not play in DVD recorders or PC drives. This DVD did not play in our laptop DVD drive but did play in our Toshiba DVD recorder.
DVD Specs
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 68 minutes
Rating: Not rated
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Special Features: None
The Set-up
An American secret (Gene Barry) agent tracks a kidnapped Arab prince to Hong Kong. There, he uncovers a Communist plot.
Directed by:Edward Cahn
The Delivery
This 1958 spy drama seems a bit stilted and unrealistic by today's standards, but it is still highly watchable.
- 10/6/2011
- Cinelinx
It’s the last week of TCM’s string of monstrous Thursday night double-features. Joe Dante has the rundown.
We’re wrapping up Joe’s month-long look (yes, he writes the below copy) at TCM’s month-long series. The previous entries in this series — if you so happen want to program your own set of double features — can be found here:
Week 1!
Week 2!
Week 3!
Week 4!
But, for now, onward and upward with the monster-y goodness, direct from the desk of Joe Dante!
The Blob – Ok, Steve McQueen was embarrassed by his first picture, but he could never have imagined how popular it would eventually become. Yes, it skirts the edge of amateurism, but hey, it’s The Blob! The much-missed George Hickenlooper elucidates.
The H-Man – This Japanese production didn’t play very widely in 1959 but it’s an offbeat combo of gangsters and sci fi from the creator of Godzilla,...
We’re wrapping up Joe’s month-long look (yes, he writes the below copy) at TCM’s month-long series. The previous entries in this series — if you so happen want to program your own set of double features — can be found here:
Week 1!
Week 2!
Week 3!
Week 4!
But, for now, onward and upward with the monster-y goodness, direct from the desk of Joe Dante!
The Blob – Ok, Steve McQueen was embarrassed by his first picture, but he could never have imagined how popular it would eventually become. Yes, it skirts the edge of amateurism, but hey, it’s The Blob! The much-missed George Hickenlooper elucidates.
The H-Man – This Japanese production didn’t play very widely in 1959 but it’s an offbeat combo of gangsters and sci fi from the creator of Godzilla,...
- 6/27/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s manufacturing-on-demand program continues during the month of June with 29 films being released as part of MGM’s Limited Edition Collection. Unfortunately only one qualifies as real horror, but there's another that should appeal to genre fans so we're including some info on both for your perusal.
First up is 1958's Curse of the Faceless Man - A stone figure is unearthed in Pompeii followed by a series of skull crushing murders. Stars Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara; irected by Edward L. Cahn.
Next is the mash-up entitled Haunted Summer from 1988 - Romantic poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, along with Shelly's future wife, Mary, and her beautiful stepsister, Claire, travel blissfully through Switzerland one summer. Both women share Shelley's bed, while the tortured Lord Byron flounders in a secret relationship with his physician. They experiment with opium, "free love", and the nature of good and evil.
First up is 1958's Curse of the Faceless Man - A stone figure is unearthed in Pompeii followed by a series of skull crushing murders. Stars Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara; irected by Edward L. Cahn.
Next is the mash-up entitled Haunted Summer from 1988 - Romantic poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, along with Shelly's future wife, Mary, and her beautiful stepsister, Claire, travel blissfully through Switzerland one summer. Both women share Shelley's bed, while the tortured Lord Byron flounders in a secret relationship with his physician. They experiment with opium, "free love", and the nature of good and evil.
- 5/26/2011
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
If you have Netflix and are a horror fan in need of something to watch this Labor Day weekend, one look at this gargantuan list I compiled of the new terror titles Netflix has added for instant streaming in just the first three days of this month should keep you busy until Labor Day next year. You'll find something for everyone, from older titles to recent releases, famous to obscure, classic to not-so-classic, monsters to maniacs - you name it.
For the record, I considered compiling this list in alphabetical order or by year of the film's release, but then I realized I had already spent well over an hour just sorting through the massive catalogue of titles Netflix has now made available for instant streaming and realized Labor Day would be over by the time I finished arranging this list in any kind of order. Ready? Here you go.
For the record, I considered compiling this list in alphabetical order or by year of the film's release, but then I realized I had already spent well over an hour just sorting through the massive catalogue of titles Netflix has now made available for instant streaming and realized Labor Day would be over by the time I finished arranging this list in any kind of order. Ready? Here you go.
- 9/3/2010
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
Written by Dara Naraghi, illustrated by Mark Dos Santos, with a cover by Steve Mannion, Idw Publishing's "MGM Drive-In Theater: It! The Terror From Beyond Space", is based on the 1958 classic sci fi horror feature "It! The Terror From Beyond Space", directed by Edward L. Cahn, considered the inspiration for director Ridley Scott's 1979 feature "Alien".
Premise of the comic book adaptation follows the spaceship 'Challenge 142' as it carries the only survivor of an earlier failed expedition, suspected of killing his crew for their lifesaving rations. But traveling Earthbound, a stow-away, man-eating alien creature on board the ship, has been killing the crew members one at a time.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "It! The Terror From Beyond Space"...
Premise of the comic book adaptation follows the spaceship 'Challenge 142' as it carries the only survivor of an earlier failed expedition, suspected of killing his crew for their lifesaving rations. But traveling Earthbound, a stow-away, man-eating alien creature on board the ship, has been killing the crew members one at a time.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "It! The Terror From Beyond Space"...
- 6/16/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
This week I took a look at Curse Of The Faceless Man on DVD. Cheers to Oregon-based Cheezy Flicks for finally giving this low budget gem from 1958 a proper DVD release.
Directed by the inimitable Edward L. Cahn, (It! The Terror From Beyond Space) the film essentially tweaks the plot of the old Universal Mummy flicks, just switching the action to Italy. (California, really).
A Roman slave is buried by the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii two thousand years ago. His body, now hardened into stone, is discovered by a group of scientists led by American Dr. Paul Mallon. (Richard Anderson of TV's Six Million Dollar Man fame).
It's not long before our lava encrusted friend returns to life to seek his lost love who has been conveniently reincarnated into the body of Dr. Mallon's fiancée, Tina. (Elaine Edwards). Much like The Mummy, he kills all in his path...
Directed by the inimitable Edward L. Cahn, (It! The Terror From Beyond Space) the film essentially tweaks the plot of the old Universal Mummy flicks, just switching the action to Italy. (California, really).
A Roman slave is buried by the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii two thousand years ago. His body, now hardened into stone, is discovered by a group of scientists led by American Dr. Paul Mallon. (Richard Anderson of TV's Six Million Dollar Man fame).
It's not long before our lava encrusted friend returns to life to seek his lost love who has been conveniently reincarnated into the body of Dr. Mallon's fiancée, Tina. (Elaine Edwards). Much like The Mummy, he kills all in his path...
- 12/21/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Bruce Bogad)
- Fangoria
In memory of Forrest J Ackerman, the Famous Monsters of Filmland editor and genre legend who died last week (see item here), Fango classic-horror specialist Tom Weaver sent in some rare pics of Forry on the set of the Roger Corman flicks Day The World Ended and It Conquered The World and Edward L. Cahn’s Voodoo Woman; you can see them below. He also arranged for Joe Dante, one of countless filmmakers inspired and influenced by Forry and FM, to pass along his own tribute:
“A lot of us so-called ‘Monster Kids’ can divide our lives into two parts: before Famous Monsters and after Famous Monsters. Before, we were just geeky fans of horror and science fiction movies, somewhat isolated in our devotion to stuff the rest of the world looked at askance, when they looked at it at all. After, we became part of an exclusive club, secure...
“A lot of us so-called ‘Monster Kids’ can divide our lives into two parts: before Famous Monsters and after Famous Monsters. Before, we were just geeky fans of horror and science fiction movies, somewhat isolated in our devotion to stuff the rest of the world looked at askance, when they looked at it at all. After, we became part of an exclusive club, secure...
- 12/10/2008
- Fangoria
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