Tarantula 1955 Universal International Pictures
Director: Jack Arnold
Starring: John Agar
A research biochemist is developing an artificial nutrient to save the world from hunger. In his lab, he has seen success in small animals. He is able to grow rabbits to nearly full-grown in 6 days and a tarantula three feet long! The test on humans have not gone so well, causing gross deformities and death. One day, a human guinea pig runs amuck in the lab, nearly destroying the place and injecting the doctor with his own serum. In the process, he frees the giant tarantula and it escapes before the flames are extinguished.
Believing all his animals perished in the fire, the biochemist continues his work with the help of a lovely new assistant, who has already befriended a local doctor (Agar). Meanwhile, in town, the doctor and his sheriff buddy are getting some strange calls- mutilated cattle, a car thrown 30 feet off the road, etc. At each of the scenes, the doc finds a milky white substance which turns out to be spider venom! No one can believe the amounts!!
We can believe it. That escaped tarantula is now 100 feet tall... and hungry! As the biochemist is on his death bed, the overgrown arachnid attack the house. The doc arrives just in time to save his girl. Fleeing the scene, they run into the sheriff and soon everyone is running from the spider! The town is evacuated and they gather up all the dynamite in town. It's useless, as the colossal spider emerges from the explosion unscathed! Finally, they call the military up... rockets, napalm, whatever you got!!
With Jack Arnold at the helm, this is above par. The effects are dated, yes... but very good for the era. The story is pretty typical of the '50s giant animal genre, right down to the romance on the side. All in all, not bad at all! XXX
Teenage Monster 1958 Marquette Productions Ltd.
Director: Jacques Marquette
We start with a typical '50s western- ma and pa and little uh... Charles. Pa bought an old mine and is just waiting to find that perfect vein. Everyday, it's off to work the mine. One day, Charles leaves early to go help his pa and BAM! Meteor! Pa is killed and Charles, well... He's just not quite right.
Flash forward 7 years and Charles is now a teen- a ten foot tall teen with poofy hair and a ZZ Top beard! Instead of taking him to the doctor, or something normal like that, ma keeps him working the mine and killing off anyone who wanders to near, or at least looking the other way when he does.
The trouble starts when Charles does find gold in that thar mine. Ma buys a nice house in town and tries to keep Charles under wraps there. Ha! He just starts killing townsfolk and trying to play with the other kids. Rumors swirl, and when one gal finds out the truth ma offers her a lucrative gig to keep quiet. And she does. But at what price?
An interesting tale, with the monster more victim of conniving women than the bad guy himself. More it was the monster himself that made this laughable. To quote Warren Zevon, his hair was perfect. He must've spent hours brushing it! Then there were the leftover Frankenstein boots, worn with jeans for western effect! Eh... XX
Teenage Zombies 1957 R.B.M. Productions
Director: Jerry Warren
Four teens (whose names I cannot recall- so we'll call them Bud, Dobie, Marilyn and Bunny) set out water-skiing... actually snooping around a deserted island. Once there, they see a bunch of zombies, all seemingly under the control of a lady scientist. They decide to split man, like fast, but upon returning to the beach, find their boat has gone AWOL.
Bud and Dobie find a house and are greeted by the mysterious lady scientist. She offers them a Pepsi, while her zombie slave Ivan kidnaps the girls and locks them up in the cellar. Soon enough, the boys join them. Separate cages mind you, for in the fifties even mad scientists have strict morals! Not to say that stops Ivan from staring lustfully at Marilyn...
Meanwhile, back in town, two more teens (let's say Wally and Judy) are panicked that the gang didn't show up for horseback riding. They enlist the help of the sheriff but he's not too much help, so they investigate themselves. They "borrow" a boat and go to the island. They too meet up with the lady scientist but are released unharmed. Something strikes them as peculiar though and they go to the sheriff, "Gee whiz, sheriff... we gotta go out there!"
And they do, only they get bushwhacked and the whole thing turns into a big wrestling match between the teens and some nefarious men and the lady scientist, oh... and a gorilla. In the midst of all this, Marilyn and Bunny are turned into zombies, in the gas chamber. Then the teens put the lady scientist in the chamber, thinking they can gleam the antidote from her as a zombie!
It was definitely Leave It To Beaver meets mad science! The kid I called Wally was very much Wally Cleaver. The bits with the sheriff showed the general distrust of teens in the era, which was played to full effect in The Blob. The lady scientist was great- A terrible actress in a sparkly ball gown and lab coat! The acting was bad all the way around so the cheap gorilla suit didn't hurt anything. XX
Teenagers from Outer Space 1959 Tom Graeff Productions
Director: Tom Graeff
A shiny silver saucer floats down from the sky and lands in a barren field. Four aliens, in very superhero get-ups, emerge and check the atmosphere to see if this is a good place to raise their "Gargons"- the source of their food but not a critter they want roaming their planet! OK, really it's just a lobster in a fancy cage.
Well, the sissiest alien (his name is Derek) takes exception to unleashing the lobsters on an inhabited planet but the tough guy aliens insist on it and take Derek into custody. You guessed it, he escapes and makes his way to town where he befriends skinny Betty and her fat grandpa. One of the tough aliens, Thor, is sent after Derek and basically he just fries everyone he meets along the way with his disintegrator gun.
As Derek and Betty chase around, Thor starts making headlines as a killer. The law is on the case and Thor just can't seem to catch up with Derek and Betty. It's just a big goose chase, with Thor a step behind at every turn. Eventually, Betty figures out Derek "isn't from around here" but it's too late, she just has to help him.
Meanwhile, the aliens are on their way to earth to unleash their lobsters, which by now we know grow to colossal size and eat anything, including fellow townsfolk! Derek must find a way to thwart his comrades and save the earth from certain destruction at the hands, er... Claws of giant lobsters!
Now, this movie isn't any better or any worse than many of it's ilk, giant see-through lobster and all. I just don't know why it's called Teenagers from Outer Space. We have four aliens, ranging in age from say 24 to 40, and a 30 year-old girl and her grandpa. There's not even a teenager in the movie! I expected something more like the kids from Hot Rod Girl piling out of the saucer and taking over the town. WTF? A disappointing X.
Terror 1978 Crystal Film Productions
Director: Norman J. Warren
We open back in ye olde days, with a genuine witch burnin'! The witch, however, doesn't burn. She comes in the house and curses the inhabitants and all their descendants, before lopping off the head of the matriarch. Fast forward to say 1978 and you've got James, his cousin Ann, Phillip, Carol, Gary and some others all partying it up at the old house. When Gary mesmerizes Carol, no big deal. When he does Ann, watch out! She grabs a sword and tries to kill James!
After that, it's just not the same. Carol is stabbed to death, starting a series of gruesome deaths surrounding the revelers at the house. Next, Ann's roommate Suzy accuses her of killing Carol, briefly anyway. They all head off to work at the strip club, where Ann is accosted by an older patron. Said older patron then finds himself impaled on a fence!
Then there's an "accident" at the studio James owns. A cameraman is crushed by a falling spotlight, right in front of James and Phillip. Back at the hostel, Ann finds dripping blood which turns out to be paint but then again Suzy's blood(!). Later, at the studio, Phillip is attacked by a swirling tornado of film (again !) before being decapitated by a window.
Finally, the cops close in on Ann but one of them gets run down with his own car, while Ann escapes to the country. After a wild ride in a levitating car(!), she makes it to the house, breaks in and is greeted by the ghost of the witch. The witch fulfills the prophecy and the credits roll.
Here we are starting to see the shift away from suspense and storytelling, to just gore and T & A. The beginning stages of the countless, pointless slasher films of the '80s. While there were many good gory films, this wasn't one of them. Very amateur. I give it one X and that is for the punk rock stripper at the club!
Terror Creatures from the Grave 1966 Entertainment International
Director: Ralph Zucker
A lawyer responds to a request from a doctor to review his will and travels to a villa that was once a hospital for plague victims. There he finds the doctor's daughter and widow, who inform the lawyer that the good doctor has been dead almost a year! The widow is of the opinion that her dead husband was a bit of a kook, but the daughter is convinced that her father really was in communication with the long dead plague victims.
After meeting another doctor and some others in the nearby village, the consensus is that the deceased doc really was a kook and the circumstances surrounding his death were a little out of the ordinary. The doctor and lawyer team up to investigate the matter. They find out that there was no official record of death, other than six people who witnessed the doctor fall down some stairs. And three of them have been found dead under mysterious circumstances as well! Soon, a fourth witness is killed and the race is on to save the others- including the lawyer's partner, who the letter was addressed to.
It was the deceased doc's request that his body be laid to ground for a year and then moved, but wouldn't you know it- the body was not in it's grave!! Hmmm. The whole mess unfurls when the lawyer's partner turns up and it's revealed he was involved with the widow of the doctor, perhaps even instrumental in his death? The peculiar gardener brings the corpse of the doctor into the villa and starts the incantation to bring the dead back from their graves. Soon, the plague ridden corpses are pushing their way out and the unseen doctor takes his revenge on his betrayers!
Along the way, of course, the lawyer has fallen for the daughter (et vice versa) and in the end it's the rain(?) that saves them from the carnage. Who knew??
Overall, this one is creepy and suspenseful with less cheesy effects than you might expect. I give it XXXX.
Terror in the Haunted House a.k.a My World Dies Screaming 1961 Beacon Process & Equipment Corp.
Director: Harold Daniels (no relation)
Phillip Tierney and his new bride Sheila head to a "romantic getaway" at a charming old house away from the city. There they meet a crazy-eyed caretaker who warns them of the dangers of the house. Oh great, and Sheila just got out of the nut house in Switzerland! So, she already on the verge and Phillip just seems intent on scaring her.
The next morning, while Phillip is out, Sheila is confronted by the owner of the house, Mark (your standard '61 Hollywood type) who also tries to get her to leave. Phillip has the "Tierney Curse" he tells her, meaning he is quite mad. Then she remembers, she has been here before and Phillip is her childhood love. He grew up in this house!
Phillip returns and he and Mark are at odds. Mark wants to leave and take Sheila with him Phillip insists that she go to the attic and face the buried fear that is still causing her nightmares after all these years. But who is the hero and who is mad? It's not as clear cut as you might think!
This was a rather average haunted house movie, with all your average characters and scenarios. What set this movie apart was the attempt at subliminal scare tactics. Long before the "sex" in ice cubes gin ad, here was a horror film trying to inject more terror by flashing "terrifying" images in the screen. Sadly, they were about as scary as your Halloween decorations! XX
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974 Vortex, Inc.
Director: Tobe Hooper
A group of hippie-ish kids is traveling across texas in a beater van- two couples and one of the girls' handicapped brother, Franklin. They are looking for their childhood home, which is now just an abandoned farm house in the middle of nowhere (like much of texas). Along the way, they pick up a hitch-hiker, who is not quite your average joe. Once the nut nearly lights the van on fire burning a picture of Franklin, they give him the heave-ho.
After loading up on BBQ, but no gas, they find the house and do some exploring. It is a trip down memory lane for Sally and Franklin but he, being trapped downstairs in his wheelchair, is finding some strange little decorations. The other couple decides to go for a "swim" and Franklin reluctantly tells them where the watering hole is... Er, was. All dried up now! But wait, the guy, Kirk?, Kurt?, hears a generator and decides to go ask the neighbors for some gas.
No one appears to be home, so Pam sits her cute short-shorts on the swing while macho "K" goes to investigate. Big mistake. Soon Pam goes in the house as well and is met with a room full of chicken feathers and human bones, then with the same luck as her boyfriend. Meanwhile, the sun is setting and Sally's beau sets out to find the lost pair. Yep, you guessed it... He don't come back either!
So, now we have Sally and Franklin pacing by the van waiting for all to come back, until they finally decide to go looking themselves. Again, big mistake! Franklin is dispatched in the woods and Sally is chased from one side of the county to the other. Eventually, she escapes to the gas station, only to find the owner is kin with the chainsaw wielding maniac AND the crazy hitch-hiker. Next, it is a night of horror beyond even her worst nightmares!
Hooper and set designer Robert A. Burns create a very detailed and creepy atmosphere at the house, loosely based on the story of notorious grave-robber and killer, Ed Gein, as is the story itself. Brilliantly shot in 16mm, it looks every bit as good as the 35mm of the era and the cinematography is unusual at times and sometimes absolutely beautiful. This low budget creep-fest is a winner! XXXXX
They Came from Beyond Space 1967 Amicus Productions
Director: Freddie Francis
Mysterious meteorites fall on an english farm. Not so unordinary, except they fell and landed in a V-shaped formation. A team of scientists assembles to go check it out, all but the nation's top expert on extraterrestrials. He is forbidden to travel by his doctor, on account of the silver plate in his head. His assistant/girlfriend is sent in his place. Once there, they are all "possessed" by non-physical aliens, starting with their leader inhabiting the girl.
All hole up at the farm, locking out any outsiders and building prolifically- after recruiting some bankers and local government leaders. It becomes a small compound and the aliens are busy building something. Back in town, our plate-headed friend is wondering what the hell happened to his girlfriend. He defies doctor's orders and takes his antique car out to the farm. There, he is met in a somewhat unfriendly manner- gunpoint. His girl tells him straight to his face to get lost!
He's not giving up though. He sneaks around, gathering more info and causing a stir at the compound. Eventually, he sneaks his way past the electrified fence and discovers a large underground bunker and begins to suspect what we already knew. He "kidnaps" his girlfriend and takes her to his friend's house, where they experiment with her to find both a defense against and a way to destroy the aliens. Then comes the show-down or in this case, let-down.
This movie is slow and WAY too long, with overused effects. The colorful futuristic choir robes, which only appeared at the end, have inspired modern UFO cults all over the world. Perhaps the only legacy from this film... X
Things to Come 1936 London Films Productions
Director: William Cameron Menzies (with a screenplay by author H. G. Wells)
Starring: British people
It's 1936 and war breaks out (kind of like it really did four years later) and all of known civilization is wiped out. The great war is followed by the great pestilence of 1966, which lasts until 1970. Things then become somewhat stable and locals begin to thrive. The government has broken down and local warlords control towns and villages (kind of like much of modern day Africa).
You know how warlords are- drunk with power and only interested in expanding their fiefdom. This clown who calls himself "The Chief" is no different. Trying to feed his servants and even more desperately trying to get his WWI bi-planes back in the air! You can't be a good warlord without ruling the skies!
Too bad someone beat him to it. One day a fancy new plane (but still with a propeller) lands and The Chief is enraged. He orders the pilot taken hostage. His chief engineer and a local scientist are enlisted to get this strange man to help them with their planes. Of course, they have other designs... Never you mind, "Wings Over the World" arrives and uses "peace gas" to subdue The Chief and his subjects.
Another large jump forward to 2036 and we are living in a technological society (imagine that!) but a group of intellectuals are growing leery of technology and "progress". They decide to rebel, in the form of destroying Wings' "space gun" (picture a rocket being launched à la human cannonball!). The leadership of Wings must beat the now angry masses to the cannon and shoot themselves into space. How this or the rebellion solves anything? Your guess is as good as mine.
At times this movie is right on... A 30 year war and four year plague could bring progress to a halt in many areas. The rebel leader's holographic speech is coming soon to your cell phone! Other things are not so forward thinking. All of the modern ships and vehicles still full of analogue dials and toggle switches. I'm sure the book is better but the movie isn't all bad, especially for a '30s flick full of stage actors. It's 2011 and we have a XX movie that jumps around too much. I guess I'll see what happens in 2036, if I'm still around...
13 Ghosts 1960 William Castle Productions
Director: William Castle
In the intro, director William Castle instructs us on how to use our special 3D glasses. Fortunately, I was watching TV and they took care of the glasses for me! After a colorful opening credits, the B&W movie begins. A family, struggling with the demands of today's economy and not making all their bills gets a lucky break when a great uncle (or some such relative) dies and leaves them his mansion- no more rent!
This uncle though, was a nut of sorts. He was conducting experiments with ghosts and had allegedly hidden thousands of dollars in the house. Soon enough, the family starts to encounter the supernatural (moving objects, smoke and voices). Then dad tries on some funky ghost glasses he finds in the basement and sees for the first time the horrors they face!
Now little junior, Buck is his name, he's not afraid of no ghost. He knows them all by name and is friends with most all. Seems the housekeeper has given him a lesson in the history of each. Oh, and she might be a witch! In the end though, it all boils down to the money. Is it there? And if so, who will find it first- the family or the greedy lawyer(?) who is always bugging them to move out. This is essentially a 90 minute episode of Scooby-Doo. X
This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse 1967 Ibérica Filmes
Director: José Mojica Marins
Starring: ditto
Now, I also watched part of At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul but through no fault of the picture, I fell asleep. We'll save that for later.
This, the second Coffin Joe film, has our hero looming into another town. Despite his diminutive stature, the townsfolk recoil in horror at his sight. They whisk their children from the streets as he strides in. This also a true sequel, Joe is still in search of the perfect vessel to host his seed, as things didn't work out so well in the first movie!
Soon enough, wives and daughters start to disappear and the townfolk do suspect Joe. Somehow the freaky little bastard is able to convince them that anyone could be responsible. I didn't buy it for a second and I was right! Very next scene, there's Joe with all the women. He informs them that they will be competing for the honor of fucking him and the losers will be killed!!
There's one stand-out, a sort of a Coffin Joe groupie if you will... She wins the test of spiders and nestles down in Joe's bed with him. Yet she too chickens out at the last minute, sympathetic to the others' demise. Joe then finds "true love" in the daughter of his main nemesis in town. She seems to read his mind and is perfectly willing to breed with him, on the lawn even...
But Joe is not as evil and powerful as he thought. He is plagued by nightmares of hell and cannot seem to overcome his "catholic guilt" (I did mention this is a brazilian film, right?) The big climax... The girl is pregnant. Will she give birth to his perfected race before he comes undone??
A very interesting little film. Coffin Joe is a very complex and human villain, struggling with his self at every turn. Not your typical hollywood villain at all! Perhaps it was brazilian censors or maybe Marins himself, I do not know, but these are definitely morality plays as much as they are horror films. Kind of funny in today's godless american society. Not the best in the world but I am really looking forward to Awakening of the Beast next week! XXX
THX 1138 1970 Warner Brothers Pictures
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence.
Forget about Star Wars and its fantastic and wholesome fantasies... This is a more realistic and bleak vision of the future, by the same George Lucas. A sterile underground city, where citizens are conditioned, even force-medicated, to be more efficient workers. No worries, no stress, they live in a constant state of sedation, slaving away in the technology factories of the future. Like robots, you might say. They all look the same (shaved heads), dress the same (white jumpsuits). No room for individuality. But are there really no worries? After all, they are doped up and policed by an army of robotic cops.
The trouble begins when THX's roommate LUH 3417, begins withholding his medication. THX (Duvall) starts to have feelings, for the first time in his life. This, apparently, was her intention and those feelings turn to lust and love, as they run contrary to the law and have "forbidden proximity". About this time, one of THX's co-workers, SEN (Pleasence) has LUH transferred, so he can be THX's roommate, with obvious homosexual overtones.
THX is upset, faltering at work and now his love is lost in a sea of bureaucracy. His worries only worsen as he is arrested for "drug evasion" and "sexual perversion". At trial he is spared destruction and sent to confinement, in a large cell, just a floor and white as far as the eye can see. There he has a brief reunion with LUH, before finding himself roommates with SEN, who was busted for his manipulation of the system.
Fed up, he and SEN wander off searching for a way out. They find it with the help of a hologram and escape back into the city, with the robot-cops in hot pursuit. SEN is separated and eventually caught, as is the hologram after a very brief car chase. With no hope of finding his lost love, THX never looks back.
This was good enough picture when I was a young teen, albeit strictly science fiction. In 2007, the movie has taken on a more frightening aspect. It is coming true! We slave away our lives to an unseen corporate god, trapped by the technology we created and at the same time using it as an escape from our dreary existence and if it all gets to be too much, there is always a pill to make us feel better about it. Lucas' vision here was eerily foretelling. XXXXX
The Tingler 1959 William Castle Productions
Director: William Castle
Starring: Vincent Price and some other people.
Another from that king of gimmicks, William Castle (see 13 Ghosts above). This is the story of a doctor (Price) who is convinced that some bug-like creature grows on our spines when we feel fear and is disabled when we scream. The doc is married to an heiress she could care less about him but is still family with her sister, who is conveniently dating his assistant.
After trying a gun loaded with blanks on his unsuspecting wife, he x-rays her and for the first time confirms there is something there. But how to capture the creature... Hmm, how about that deaf-mute wife of the theatre owner. She can't scream! And so begins the fright night for her! Eventually she dies of fright and the doc has his "tingler". Now if he can just keep it contained!
Unlike Ghosts, the special gimmick in this one isn't readily available at home. See, they rigged certain seats in the theatre to buzz when the lights go out in the movie, which happens more than you think. Kind makes me want to see Matinee again, just to see the lengths they would go to back in the day! This was a good one! XXXX
Tormented 1960 Allied Artists Pictures
Director: Bert I. Gordon
A love triangle gone awry, all set on the island beach near an old abandoned lighthouse. Jazz pianist Tom and young and wealthy Meg are set to be married but it looks like Tom has been dipping the wick elsewhere. Namely Vi, a voluptuous, blond jazz singer and all around sexpot. Vi shows up on the island to reclaim Tom, to whisk him away to another place where they can be together, in love.
Tom wants no part of this. He loves Meg (or at least her money) and up on the lighthouse deck, he tells Vi that it's over in no uncertain terms. Vi won't have it. She tells him that if she can't have him no one will and threatens to expose their affair by reading their love letters to his fiancée. So when the railing gives way, leaving Vi dangling with one hand, Tom seizes his opportunity and stands there watching as she loses her grip and falls to the rocky shore below.
With Vi out of the way, he can focus on his music and upcoming wedding... Or so he thinks. Soon, he is seeing Vi everywhere. He brings her body in from the sea, only to watch it turn to seaweed before his eyes. She plays her record while he is trying to practice piano and she steals Meg's wedding ring, which causes him to go out to the lighthouse and tell her off. She finds her voice and starts talking to him, basically driving him crazy as no one else is able to see or hear her.
About this time, the kind fellow who brought Vi over to the island shows up, wanting his five bucks. When he finds out the illicit nature of Tom and Vi's relationship and realizes Vi may no longer be alive, he blackmails Tom for five grand. Tom is going nuts, trying to keep it all under wraps until the wedding and the subsequent honeymoon, which will take him away from this nightmare. Will he make it??
So much overacting, bad dialog and such terrible special effects make this a joke of a "psychological thriller". It is really funny and entertaining though and by the end, you kinda feel sorry for ol' Tom... And if you've ever had a psycho-obsessive girlfriend like Vi, this would truly be your worst nightmare- her ghost coming back to threaten and nag you into insanity! XXX
Trouble Every Day 2002 Messaoud/A Film - Rezo Productions - Arte France Cinema - Daccia Films
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Vincent Gallo and the ever lovely Béatrice Dalle
Now pay attention, because this one jumps around a lot... We have Shane (Gallo) and June Brown, on their honeymoon in gay Paris. Only Shane has some serious issues and a bag full of pills to try and combat them. He also has ulterior motives for coming to Paris, in a certain doctor Semeneau- an old colleague from his graduate school days. At first he tries to spend time with his new bride, but as time passes she is mostly left to her own devices.
The doctor's wife, Core (Dalle), also has some deep rooted issues, mainly that she has to be locked in their house to keep her from seducing, then feeding on unsuspecting men. She also shows promise as an escape artist! Dr- Semeneau is forced repeatedly to "clean up" after his wife's "liaisons", while throughout, Shane is tracking him down through old acquaintances. Mrs- Brown is forced to wonder where her husband is, what he is doing and why he runs from her every time he gets sexually aroused!
After a very grisly love scene between Core and a curious neighbor boy, Shane finally arrives at the doctor's house and finds the bloodied Core stumbling down the stairs in a post-orgasmic bliss. A brief, joyful reunion and he realizes she wants a piece of him too! He leaves her in flames to go back to the hotel, where he must confront his own demons when tempted by the maid. Back in the room, the little missus finds him in the shower, a lover's embrace and then it's over. As if only chapter one!
Gallo plays disturbed quite well and the actress who plays his wife is convincing, as is the marginally ethical maid. Dalle is an outright seductive menace. As beautiful and crazy as she was in Betty Blue but much more dangerous!! It all comes together at the end but it's a long time and bumpy road, with little or no dialog to help us along the way. A very bleak Paris honeymoon, this trip. XXX
20 Million Miles to Earth 1957 Morningside Productions
Director: Nathan Juran
Starring: William Hopper (of Perry Mason Fame...)
Sicily, and the fishermen are pulling in their nets. And speaking english(!)... When suddenly, the biggest spaceship you ever saw comes whizzing out of the sky. I mean, this thing is the size of the empire state building! It dives nose first into the water and one courageous boatful of fishermen goes to take a look.
As the one fisherman expects there are people on board, all dead but for Colonel Robert Calder and the ship doctor. They carry them to the boat just as the spaceship abruptly sinks. (?) While everyone else is attending to the injured men, little Pepe finds a real treasure- a sealed glass canister. Of course he opens it and out plops a gooey blob.
The little boy sells the blob to Dr. Leonardo for 200 lira (apparently 50cents), with which he buy a cowboy hat and a pair of plastic six-shooters. What else? The doctor leaves the thing on the camper table while talking to his saucy granddaughter (the chick from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) and it grows and then hatches!
They come back in to find a small creature (a cross between a allosaur and the creature from the black lagoon) pacing back and forth. They secure the creature in a cage only to find it doubles in size every hour or so, and it escapes on the road to Rome. By then Col. Calder and the rest of the authorities have caught up. They capture the beast and take to the zoo. Where else?
Held captive by the power of electricity, you know the power is going to go out. It does and again the thing escapes, fights and elephant and launches two man-hunts. One (the air force) who wants to capture the beast and one (the italians) who want to kill it! And so the race is on...
This is a mediocre picture, but for the claymation by Ray Harryhausen. Here we get a small glimpse of what is to come in Sinbad, and Jason and the Argonauts. Of course this technology is dated and somewhat humorous to watch now but all in all, this is a pretty good flick, albeit completely predictable (does every doctor or scientist have a beautiful, single daughter or granddaughter? Only in Hollywood...). XXX
Twisted Brain 1973 Crown International Pictures
Director: Larry N. Stouffer
Poor Vernon Potts. He's a nerdy science geek, who just can't catch a break. He's picked on by everyone... the gym coach, the whole football team, the creepy janitor even his spinsterish english teacher. All the kids at school call him "The Creeper". His only friends are a cute redhead, Robyn, and a guinea pig named Mr- Mumps! After school, Vernon is working on a special serum and testing it on ol' Mumpsy.
One night, Vernon sneaks into the lab to find his beloved Mumps has morphed into another creature altogether, and has killed the janitor's cat. The janitor is pissed, thinking it is Vernon who did it. He forces Vernon to drink his concoction and beats him mercilessly. Vernon then morphs into something more sinister and dunks the janitor's head in 55 gallon drum of acid!
A hard-boiled negro detective arrives at the school and starts asking questions. Vernon cooperates but also continues to drink his potion and kill again. First the horrid english teacher, who shredded his biology paper (he worked all summer on it!). Then, after trying to bribe Vernon, the gym teacher gets it in a particularly bloody fashion! The football captain, Roger, is arrested for the murders and Vernon thinks he is scott-free. Plus, in the meantime, he has won over Robyn's heart. Things are working out perfectly, maybe too good...
A call from Roger brings it all crashing down. Robyn tries to save him but it's too late, the potion is already taking hold and the police are closing in. It's Armageddon in the school parking lot! The movie is little long and sometimes slow, but mood and the effects are pretty good and the music is porno deluxe!! Vernon is the perfect anti-hero. It's hard to feel sorry for any of his victims! XXX