Infected (2008), a genre derivative Canadian television adventure/science-fiction thriller, is also known as They’re Among Us and The Hatching. Stinkweed by any other name is still stinkweed.

An X-Files re-dux, which also borrows heavily from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), a newspaper reporter and his ex-girlfriend (also a reporter, who won’t put it on the glass for him anymore), uncover an extraterrestrial plan to take over human bodies so that aliens can live more comfortably on this toilet Earth. Most of Infected is spent running, hiding, and uncovering proof of the colonisation. What little pay-off there is comes in the form of a naked humans wrapped in sheets that probably won’t be able to be cleaned and kept under alien sedation in a facility that looks suspiciously like my proctologist’s office.

Once the aliens have been outed their true selves emerge, looking like a cross between a lobster and black. The reporter risks his neck to save his ex, who previously did not want to put it on the glass for him anymore. But it’s amazing how alien intervention can mend broken glass. So does Infected end happily for the aliens or the humans? I am beyond caring. 

Jeff Gilbert, Drinkin’ & Drive-In

Night of the Big Heat is a 1967 British sci-fi horror film produced by Planet Film. Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by John Lymington, the film was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Jane Merrow (Hands of the Ripper, The Horror at 37,000 Feet, The Appointment)

The film was eventually released theatrically in the United States in the winter of 1971 by Maron Films as Island of the Burning Damned, where it was paired up nationwide on a double bill with Godzilla’s Revenge. When the film was released years later on US television it was retitled Island of the Burning Doomed.

Jeff and Frankie Callum run the Swan, an inn on the remote Scottish island of Fara. Jeff, a novelist in his spare time, hires a secretary named Angela Roberts. Unknown to Frankie, Jeff and Angela are former lovers. The Callums moved to Fara Island so that Jeff could escape Angela’s amorous advances (although as far as Frankie knows, it was to escape the tedium of city life on the mainland). Angela wants to resume her fling with Jeff, despite Jeff wanting nothing to do with her. Not helping matters much is the fact that despite the fact it’s the middle of November, Fara Island is experiencing a stifling and inexplicable heat wave, with temperatures in the 90s and rising daily. It has become so hot that cars stall, beer bottles shatter, Televisions explode, and telephones have ceased to work. Into this tense situation comes Dr. Godfrey Hanson, a mysterious scientist from the mainland who rents a room…

Wikipedia | IMDb

“A good  bit of hokum… Pity it’s an X: the kids would love it.” Kinematograph Weekly, 1967

“Island of the Burning Doomed’s greatest strength is the fact that it mainly keeps the aliens offscreen. This is not because of any intrinsic advantage in scare value that the unseen has over the seen (and in any event, this is about as unscary a movie as you could ask for), but rather because of what the aliens look like once they are finally revealed. The aliens, and I am being completely serious here, resemble nothing so much as fried eggs the size of St. Bernard dogs.” 1000 Misspent Hours… and Counting

“The creatures, when they belatedly appear, are hopelessly cheap and un-terrifying, rather reminiscent of the low budget Doctor Who inventions of the era … the creatures are infinitely more intriguing when they’re off-screen. The tatty, papier-mache, ‘made-in-the-garage’ creations that show up for the final act of the film are more laughable than scary. The climax also comes across a little rushed and muddled, though to give due credit it’s quite exciting in patches.” Leon Nicholson, FMV Magazine

“Making extraterrestrial spiders look convincing would have defeated a budget many times greater than the one on offer from Planet, so the writers transformed the menace into creatures resembling large fried eggs, sliding gracelessly through Black Park.” John Hamilton, X-Cert: The British Independent Horror Film: 1951 – 1970 (Hemlock Film, 2012)

Mutilations is a 1986 micro budget American science-fiction horror film written and directed by Larry Thomas. It stars Al Baker, John Bliss, Bill Buckner and Shelly Creel. The film was made in Tulsa, Oklahoma in Thomas’ spare time and – bizarrely – it seems to have a religious message. According to Film Bizarro, the entire production – which on the surface seems merely just good genre fun – is based upon the Book of Mormon. Mutilations was released briefly on VHS in the USA by Baron Video but has since seemingly disappeared.

A high school science field trip becomes a nightmare when the pupils are stalked by a giant alien.

“Mutilations is truly an awful movie but one that I thoroughly enjoyed because the major faults in the flick are what allowed it to be so entertaining. Be warned, this is not a movie for your flight-by-night b-movie patrons. No. This movie should, I repeat, should only be watched by bad movie veterans, SOV aficionados, or masochists.” Film Bizarro

IMDb

Night of the Comet is a 1984 horror/science fiction film written and directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall), Sharon Farrell (It’s Alive!, Sweet 16),  Geoffrey Lewis and Mary Woronov.

A Blu-ray + DVD Collector’s Edition is being released by Shout! Factory on November 19, 2013.

The Earth is passing through the tail of a comet, an event which has not occurred in 65 million years, the last time coinciding with the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. On the night of the comet’s passage, large crowds gather outside to watch and celebrate.

18-year-old Regina “Reggie” Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart) works at a movie theater in southern California. She is annoyed to find the initials DMK have the sixth highest score on the theater’s arcade game, all the other scores being hers. She stays after the theater closes to become number one again and have sex with her boyfriend, the theater projectionist, in the steel-lined projection booth. Meanwhile, Reggie’s 16-year-old sister Samantha “Sam” (Kelli Maroney) argues with their stepmother (Sharon Farrell), who punches her in the face. The next morning, a reddish haze covers everything, and there are no signs of life, only piles of red dust surrounding heaps of clothing. Unaware that anything strange has happened, Larry (Michael Bowen) goes outside and is killed by a zombie…

“a successful pastiche of numerous science fiction films, executed with an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek flair that compensates for its absence in originality.” Variety

“What really makes Night of the Comet such a joy isn’t the nostalgia rush it provides, but the two central characters. These girls just get on with it, dealing with the apocalypse with resourcefulness, crackerjack wit, and machine guns.” Ian Berriman, SFX

Buy Night of the Comet on Blu-ray + DVD combo from Amazon.com

Blu-ray bonus features:

Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Thom Eberhardt

Audio Commentary with Stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart

Audio Commentary with Production Designer John Muto

Valley Girls At The End Of The World – Interviews with Stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart

The Last Man On Earth? – An Interview with Actor Robert Beltran

Curse of the Comet – An Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator David B. Miller

Still Galleries (Behind the Scenes and Official Stills)

Theatrical Trailer

“Thom Eberhardt does a great job at directing with an equal balance of suspense and comic levity and even interjected a lot of horror for a PG-13 movie. The two funniest scenes in the film involve a shopping montage which turns into a new wave zombie shoot’m up at a nearby mall (scored with a boot-leg version of Cyndi Lauper’s hit, Girls Just Want to Have Fun) and the other is when Hector battles a zombie child in his mom’s East LA home. Beyond that, there are plenty of funny lines… ” Strange Kids Club

“moves quickly enough, but is filled with hilariously cheesy lines, non sequiturs, and cardboard characters.  There’s some decent plotting, a nice twist towards the end, and an attempt at a commentary, but the real fun of Night of the Comet comes in a few montage sequences.” dcp film

Wikipedia | IMDb

Nezulla (Saikyôjû tanjô Nezura; also known as Nezulla: The Rat Monster) is a 2002 direct-to-video horror film B movie, written and directed by Japanese director Kanta Tagawa. It stars Ayumi Tokitou, Yoshiyuki Kubota,and Mika Katsumura.

In Japan, a U.S. co-funded attempt to create a super soldier accidentally creates the Bacillus Virus, which gives people hundreds of black sores on their faces. That these sores look like someone took a laundry marker and just made dots is not really the point.

Their experiments mutates a lab rat into a seven-foot tall lab rat monsterwith baby walrus-sized fangs and a red rubber face frozen in a roller coaster expression of “Aiyeeeeee!” Other distinguishing features include red eyes (to convey aggressive behavior), sharp claws (a way to open cans of rat food in case there’s no rat food opener handy), and a head that looks like sunburnt meatloaf (though it really does go with the whole fangs/claws ensemble). What looks to be a giant brain stuck on its back could indeed be plastic. My research is inconclusive at this time.

The scientists wanted to make a soldier who would be impervious to chemical warfare and germs, but they couldn’t make themselves impervious to Nezulla, the rat monster, who wants to chew the fat with each and every one of them locked in the containment facility.

A double agent is sent in to blow up the place, thereby eliminating any evidence that could link them back to the virus that’s gooning people out. Soldiers, speaking both Japanese and money-in-the-bank English, are systematically made null and void by Sunburnt Meatloaf Head. But Nezain’t got time to mess around – when confronted with one soldier, he pushes him down! (That’ll teach ’em.) Another soldier triggers an explosive device and shoves it deep Nezulla’s mouth, but forgets to extract his arm. Nezulla, doing what mutated rats do, bites the arm off. No time to savour it’s deliciousness as the bomb goes off and Nezulla, alas, is no more.

But this train wreck of a horror/sci-fi movie keeps going even after its star power has been finely minced. So face-scrunchingly bad is Nezulla – The Rat Monster (2002), it train wrecked my evening. OK, not really. But close.

Jeff Gilbert, Drinkin’ & Drive-In

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: Rat Man

Stung is a 2014 comedy horror film directed by Benni Diez. The cast includes Matt O´Leary, Jessica Cook, Peter Stormare and Lance Henriksen. An XYZ Films production, Stung was developed by producer Benjamin Munz at Rat Pack Filmproduktion based on an idea by Adam Aresty, who won RatPack’s 2012 horror-writing contest.

A fancy garden party goes terribly wrong after a local species of wasps mutate into giant predators. It’s up to Paul and Julia, two catering staffers at the high-society event, to stop the killer creatures – an effort that kickstarts a budding romance between the two.

Images courtesy of Twitch and Daily Dead.

Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958) was the third of four films crafted by producer Marc Frederic and director Richard E. Cunha in the late 1950s. In it, Victor Frankenstein’s grandson repeats his grandfather’s grisly experiments. The script includes the term ‘meddling kids’, later a Scooby-Doo reference point. The cast includes:

• John Ashley as Johnny Bruder
• Sandra Knight as Trudy Morton
• Donald Murphy as Oliver Frankenstein/Frank
• Sally Todd as Suzie Lawler
• Harold Lloyd Jr. as Don
• Felix Locher as Dr. Morton
• Wolfe Barzell as Elsu
• John Zaremba as Lt. Boyle
• Robert Dix as Det. Bill Dillon
• Harry Wilson as the Monster

The grandson of Victor Frankenstein, Oliver (Donald Murphy), is hiding away as a laboratory assistant for the gentle Prof. Morton (Felix Locher). While Dr. Morton pursues a pet project, Dr. Frankenstein secretly works his own experiments on his benefactor’s niece, Trudy Morton (Sandra Knight). Although these experiments temporarily disfigure Trudy’s face and cause her to wander aimlessly at night, they are only a build-up to Oliver’s greater goal of recreating life. With the aid of one of his father’s former assistants, Oliver constructs a female monster from the body parts of various murdered people and begins to deal a horrible fate upon any who dare stand in the way of his desires…

‘Working with a meagre $65,000 budget, a breakneck six-day shooting schedule, and a crackpot script, director Richard Cunha delivered a businesslike, unapologetic grade-z programmer that is perfectly entertaining.’ Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog

‘Nicholson’s lighting throughout Frankenstein’s Daughter is particularly eerie, framing Sandra Knight’s she-monster in bizarre street lighting in the scenes in which Knight prowls the streets of a Los Angeles suburb. Nicholson is also adept at using “shock cuts” that gradually show Knight’s monstrous deterioration and disfigurement. In fact, it’s Nicholson’s camerawork that allows the film to be limned with a patina of grimy dissolution, similar to the look and feel of She Demons. Note, too, the scene in which Murphy advances toward Sally Todd just before he runs her over. Nicholson’s camera focuses strictly on Murphy’s wild, wide eyes, as he repeats to himself: “I need a brain …I need a brain!” Monsters from the Vault

‘Neither as childishly idiotic as Missile to the Moon, nor particularly campy in any fun way, Frankenstein’s Daughter would seem to avoid boredom by simply being what it is – a Frankenstein story pared down to its barest essentials. It really should be called Woman Who Lived in the House Where a Frankenstein Descendant Conducted Secret Experiments, or Grandaddy Made Me Graft a Blonde Bombshell’s Head onto a Rotting Corpse. Well – photographed (in focus, consistently exposed), it nevertheless exhibits the full range of Z-Movie symptoms: illogical plotting, vacant characterisation, performances that don’t mesh.’ Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

”has craggy, overaged teenagers, a scene dramatising the hazards of going parking with a guy you’ve only just met, and a rock and roll band that even the one in The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow would look down on, it also comes complete with double the usual allotment of monsters and mad scientists.’ 1000 Misspent Hours… and Counting

Wikipedia | IMDb | Internet Archive (free download) | Images courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction thriller directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Donald Sutherland (Don’t Look Now), Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright (Alien) and Leonard Nimoy (Them!). It is a remake of the 1956 film of the same name, which was based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. A box office success, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was very well received by critics, and is considered by some to be among the greatest film remakes.

In deep space, a race of gelatinous creatures abandon their dying world. Pushed through the universe by solar wind, they make their way to Earth and land in San Francisco. Some fall on plant leaves, assimilating them and forming small pods with pink flowers. Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), an employee at the San Francisco health department, is one of several people who bring flowers home. The next morning, Elizabeth’s partner, Geoffrey Howell (Art Hindle), suddenly becomes distant, and she senses that something is wrong. Her colleague, health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), suggests that she see his friend, psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy). Kibner suggests that Elizabeth wants to believe that Geoffrey has changed because she is looking for an excuse to get out of their relationship.

Meanwhile, Matthew’s friend Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum), a struggling writer who owns a mud bath with his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), discovers a deformed body on one of the beds and calls Matthew to investigate. Noticing that the body (which has adult features but lacks distinguishing characteristics) bears a slight resemblance to Jack, Matthew breaks into Elizabeth’s home and finds a nearly complete double of her in the bedroom garden. He is able to get Elizabeth to safety, but the duplicate body has disappeared by the time he returns with the police…

Variety wrote that it “validates the entire concept of remakes. This new version of Don Siegel’s 1956 cult classic not only matches the original in horrific tone and effect, but exceeds it in both conception and execution.” The New York Times‘ Janet Maslin wrote “The creepiness [Kauffman] generates is so crazily ubiquitous it becomes funny.”

‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a masterclass in slowly building paranoia, but also allows itself to have spectacular action scenes, and impressive moments of visceral horror. The semi-formed pod creatures are creepy – a single moment of blood running from the nostril of one a far more potent moment that many a horror set piece – and the scene where the pods give birth to these half-formed creatures while the human version sleeps and begins to rot remain impressively grotesque. The few moments of gore – Sutherland smashing in the head of a semi-formed pod, a character’s face collapsing as their duplicate is completed – are suitably horrible, while Adams gets the most unsettling topless scene in film history. This is a truly great film – evidence that a remake can actually bring something new to a story and a great stand-alone piece. Jack Finney’s original novel is the gift that keeps giving – there have been two more versions of the story since this one – but Kaufman’s movie remains the one to beat.’ David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

Buy Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Arrow Video Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a 1965 American science fiction cult film, directed by Robert Gaffney and starring Marilyn Hanold, James Karen (The Return of the Living Dead), Lou Cutell and Robert Reilly. It was filmed in Florida and Puerto Rico in 1964.

The film was released in the UK as Duel of the Space Monsters. It is also known as Frankenstein Meets the Space Men, Mars Attacks Puerto Rico, Mars Invades Puerto Rico, and Operation San Juan. In the United States, it was initially released by Futurama Entertainment Corp on a double bill with Curse of the Voodoo. The film tells the story of a robot who combats alien invaders. Despite the title, neither Dr. Frankenstein nor Frankenstein’s Monster make any appearance in the film.

All of the women on the planet Mars have died in an atomic war, except for Martian Princess Marcuzan (Marilyn Hanold). Marcuzan and her right hand man, Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell), decide they will travel to Earth and steal all of the women on the planet in order to continue the Martian race. The Martians shoot down a space capsule manned by the android Colonel Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly), causing it to crash in Puerto Rico. Frankenstein’s electronic brain and the left half of his face are damaged after encountering a trigger-happy Martian and his ray gun. Frank, now “Frankenstein”, described by his creator as an “astro-robot without a control system” proceeds to terrorize the island. A subplot involves the martians abducting bikini clad women…

” … undoubtedly a slapdash effort, lacking any form of suspense, terror, coherency, or social or political commentary. However, the film does pack a number of unintentional laughs and a slew of performances that will have you blushing in embarrassment for the actor or actress. And if there are any other positives to be pointed out, the film has plenty of monster action to keep B-movie fans coming back for seconds and thirds” Anti-Film School

“Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is actually fairly well made if one can discount some wretched post-synched dialogue. The camerawork isn’t bad and the action cuts are pretty active. Just about all the director had to create space-age ray gun battles are some smoke pots and a few eager actors.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

” … a thoroughly enjoyable relic that’s well-paced for its brief running time, despite the inclusion of mucho NASA and wartime stock footage. As unconventional a “Frankenstein” film as they come, the film is sort of a cheat in that respect, with the posters promising a more Karloffian figure than what’s delivered in the final product. But with a horribly mangled half-face and scorched astronaut suit, Frank is a memorable movie monster, especially when he’s seen hatcheting a beachside resident, assaulting a young couple’s automobile in the middle of the night, or fighting off the aliens with the one spark of decency he still has in him. Lou Cutell’s grimacing Nadir, with add-on Spock ear tips and a bald cap that looks like it was left over from a grammar school production of “Annie”, adds a dimension of perversion and unintentional chuckles to the proceedings.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“In the end, it’s a bad movie. There can be no doubt about it. But it does just enough to instill a giddy smirk and a heap of schaudenfreude. It’s hard not to laugh as aliens target half naked Puerto Rican women for procreation, only to be thwarted by a reanimated corpse astronaut and NASA employees riding around on Vespa scooters, all wrapped up in a groovy 1960′s soundtrack and stock footage from the space program.” The Droid You’re Looking For

‘Portentous dialogue — two of the script-writers were poets — and repeated references to a ‘plan’ mark this camp trash masterpiece out to be in the realm of Ed Wood filmmaking, albeit with a bigger budget, despite the heavy use of stock footage. Highly recommended if you’re in into cinematic sludge’. Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: First Man into Space | The Incredible Melting Man

We are grateful to The Deuce Grindhouse Cinema Database and Zombo’s Closet for images above.

The World’s End is a 2013 British science fiction comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike and Eddie Marsan. It is the third in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, following Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Wright has described the film as “social science fiction” in the tradition of John Wyndham and Samuel Youd.

Gary King, a middle-aged alcoholic, resolves to track down his estranged friends and complete the “Golden Mile”, a pub crawl encompassing 12 pubs in their hometown of Newton Haven. The group attempted the crawl as teenagers over 20 years earlier, but failed to reach the final pub, The World’s End. Gary persuades Peter Page, Oliver “O-Man” Chamberlain, Steven Prince, and Andy Knightley to join him in Newton Haven.

The group are briefly joined for a drink by Oliver’s sister Sam, over whose affections Gary and Steven had previously rivaled. In the toilets of the fourth pub, Gary gets into a fight with a surprisingly strong and agile teenager. Gary accidentally knocks the teen’s head off, exposing him as a robot. Gary’s friends join him and fight more robots, after which Andy abandons his teetotal ways and drinks an order of shots. The group decide to continue the pub crawl to avoid suspicion…

“Just as the adults step in to make some belated adult decisions, it turns out that the town has been taken over by robots. And even though that’s pretty much the whole plot of the movie, once things get rolling, a lot of the genuine character-driven plot evaporates. I get it, I guess, that this kind of a spoof on a disaster movie is a way to confront existential problems, addiction, middle-age, conformity, feelings of isolation, but I just couldn’t help but feel that the group dynamic was building toward something. And then the robot thing happens and that’s basically the rest of the movie.” Rob Gunther. Strictly Autobiographical

Buy The World’s End on DVD | Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet | Instant Video from Amazon.com

Buy The World’s End on DVD | Blu-ray | Steelbook from Amazon.co.uk

“The most inventive, humane comedy in ages, probably the best-directed action film of the summer, and easily the most intelligent science-fiction story in a year lousy with the things.” Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

“There’s a lot to enjoy in The World’s End, and it’s only let down by a sense of familiarity – it might be very different in story, but stylistically it’s very much the same as the previous two films. What once seemed fresh now sometimes feels like Wright is referencing himself, and after three films, we get it – you have a great editing technique. No need to keep pointing it out, we’ll pick up on it anyway. But the story and the characters here feel much more developed than in previous films and this time, Wright and Pegg are willing to make their central character less an everyman and more someone we might struggle to like (it can be argued that Gary is the real villain of the piece for the first half). And the smart screenplay – which has lots of subtle moments in the dialogue that foreshadow later events – is sharp, witty and knowing.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

Buy The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb

Track of the Moon Beast is a 1972 American horror film, directed by Richard Ashe and written by Bill Finger (co-creator of Batman in 1939) and Charles Sinclair (Finger and Sinclair also scripted The Green Slime). It remained unreleased until 1976 and is now in the public domain. The film stars Chase Cordell, Leigh Drake, Gregorio Sala, Patrick Wright, Francine Kessler, Timothy Wayne Brown, Crawford MacCallum and Jeanne Swain. Makeup artist Joe Blasco (Shivers) played the titular Moon Beast. It is one of the few horror movies filmed in New Mexico.

Mineralogist Paul Carlson (Chase Cordell) is struck by a lunar meteorite while observing a meteor shower. Lodged in his brain, the meteorite causes him to transform into a strong and vicious lizard demon whenever the moon comes out. In his lizard form, Paul loses all traces of his human self and goes about killing people at random. While human, Paul is subject to spells of dizziness and nausea, causing his girlfriend Kathy Nolan (Donna Leigh Drake) and friend and former teacher Johnny Longbow (Gregorio Sala) to become concerned.

Eventually it is shown that Paul is the monster, and deduced that the meteorite fragment in his brain is the cause of his transformations. Plans are made to remove it from his skull, but the NASA brain surgeons realize, after another X-ray and Johnny remembering some Native American legends documenting similar phenomena, that the meteorite has disintegrated and will eventually cause Paul to self-combust…

“The acting is universally wooden, the dialogue atrociously written, and the camerawork and other production values are barely competent. In some cases they aren’t even that, such as during the painfully bad time-lapse photography sequence of Paul transforming into the Moon Beast. Or maybe when one changes from a human to a giant, humanoid reptile, an extra set of eyes and a nose appear and disappear as part of the process.” Steve Miller, 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See

Buy 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Incredibly, having your hero be a geologist wasn’t boring enough… they had to add a few supporting radiologists to move the story further along. Approximately 15 minutes or so of Track of the Moon Beast’s runtime is spent in an X-ray exam room… Approximately 2 minutes into that scene, you’re already saying to yourself “Why in the hell are they still in the X-ray Exam room?!?”.  But don’t worry. If you are able to make it through those parts, you’ll be rewarded with terrific action sequences such as digging up ancient pottery…. and engaging dialouge like “His name is Ty. Which is short for Tyrannosaurus.”…. and spectacular scenery such as Albuquerque, N.M.” Cinema Bandits

“Folks, there are horrible guy-in-a-rubber-suit films from the 1970s, and then there’s Track of the Moon Beast (1972). Like its contemporaries Octaman, The Milpitas Monster, and Slithis, the New Mexico-lensed Track rehashes monster movie tropes from the 1950s against a backdrop of the eco-conscious but fashion-challenged 1970s. Only, unlike its contemporaries, Track of the Moon Beast sports an excellent musical interlude and a really long scene about making soup.” Brian Albright, The Dead Next Door

Buy Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990 from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Interview with Charles Sinclair

The Maze is a 1953, atmospheric horror film in 3-D starring Richard Carlson and actress Hillary Brooke. Directed by William Cameron Menzies (Invaders from Mars), it was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures. This was to be the second 3-D film designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies, who was known as a director with a very “dimensional” style (e.g. many shots are focused in layers). This would be his final film as production designer and director.

[Spoiler warning]: A Scotsman named Gerald MacTeam (Carlson) abruptly breaks off his engagement to pretty Kitty (Veronica Hurst) after receiving word of his uncle’s death. He inherits a mysterious castle in the Scottish highlands and moves there to live with the castle servants. Kitty refuses to accept the broken engagement and travels with her aunt (Katherine Emery) to the castle. When they arrive, they discover that Gerald has suddenly aged and his manner has changed significantly.

After a series of mysterious events occur in both the castle and the hedge maze outside, they invite a group of friends, including a doctor, to the castle in the hopes that they can help Gerald with whatever ails him. Although the friends are equally concerned by Gerald’s behavior, they are at a loss to its cause. One night, Kitty and her aunt steal a key to their bedroom door (which is always locked from the outside) and sneak out into the mysterious maze…

“This isn’t essential viewing for horror fans, but is good for 3-D fans and friends of the fifties. It’s pace is slow-moving compared to today, but I’ve always thought that a slower editing pace and steady tracking shots are the best use of 3D. The slow tracking shots moving slowly around the maze are extremely effective.” Black Hole Reviews

” … a marvelous bit of gothic nonsense that satisfies in spite of the comically absurd punchline. It’s part horror film, part mystery, and part fairytale, and somehow it all combines to make a distinctive, suspenseful film.” B-Movie Madness

“Most commenters observe that the film is let down by the ending, and it’s true that the ultimate revelation is a bit goofy in its low-budget execution and also doesn’t seem to hold together logically, suddenly flipping, as it does, our sense of who the true victim has been all this time. Nonetheless, The Maze succeeds as a model of suspenseful, eerie atmosphere and surprisingly crisp depiction of human relationships. Menzies is a master of staging and meaningful looks, creating a vivid visual scheme for character interactions even in a threadbare scenario.” Randy Byers, Dreamland Cafe

Wikipedia | IMDb

Thanks to Vagebond’s Movie Screen Shots for some of the images above

Banshee Chapter (sometimes referred to as The Banshee Chapter) is a 2013 horror film and the directorial debut of Blair Erickson, who also provided the screenplay.The movie had its first screening at the Fantasy Filmfest on August 22, 2013 and released on video on demand on Dec 12 of the same year. It stars Ted Levine, Katia Winter and Michael McMillian. The film is loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story From Beyond and the 1986 film of the same name.

Supposedly inspired by actual documents detailing clandestine CIA experiments, Banshee Chapter follows a resourceful young journalist (Katia Winter) who enlists the aid of a disgraced counterculture writer (Ted Levine) in locating her missing friend (Michael McMillan), who vanished without a trace after ingesting a mysterious, military-grade chemical. Drawn into a top-secret government research laboratory, she soon discovers the powers-that-be have a very good reason for concealing their findings…

“Bolstered by very strong work from Ms. Winter (if you don’t like this character, the film is sorta sunk from the outset) and some truly enjoyable support from character actor extraordinaire Ted Levine (as the reclusive author turned reluctant sidekick on Anna’s quest for the horrible truth), Banshee Chapter doesn’t actually have anything to do with banshees (sorry, banshee fans) but as a smart, clever, and diverting little mash-up of numerous sci-fi and horror tropes, it’s certainly worth a look.” Scott Weinberg, FEAR Net

“The film falls flat at many key scenes but not because of the acting or the direction. The bane in this film’s side is often the script and/or the production design. I often say that the weakness of many films these days lie in the lack of interesting or memorable dialogue. The characters aren’t fleshed out enough for us to want to take the journey with them. In the end, Banshee Chapter  is just a series of dark scenes and pseudo psycho-babble with allusions to greater ideas… and films.” Christopher Jiminez, Shock Till You Drop

“A solidly unsettling little picture with good performances from veteran Levine as a fleshed-out Ken Kesey-cum-Philip Dick-cum-Robert Anton Wilson character and Winter as the driven, unusual heroine. It does have a lot of the usual found footage wandering, but stages its scary moments very well – with one great jump moment.” Kim Newman, Screen Daily

Wikipedia | IMDb

Storage 24 is a 2012 British sci-fi/horror film, directed by Johannes Roberts (Hellbreeder, Forest of the Damned, F, Roadkill) from a screenplay by himself, Davie Fairbanks, Marc Small, and Noel Clarke (Doctor Who). It stars Clarke, plus Colin O’Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Laura Haddock.

On January 10, 2014, The Guardian newspaper reported that the film was the lowest gross of every film released in the USA in 2013, taking the equivalent of just £44. This was somewhat misleading as Storage 24 was only released in one cinema, for one day, as part of a contractual obligation.

An unspecified disaster occurs on board a military plane, which causes the aircraft crash into Greater London, releasing its highly classified contents across the city. Completely unaware that the city is in total lockdown, four people find themselves trapped inside a giant storage unit center called Storage 24. As they try to escape, they discover they are being stalked by something not of this Earth…

‘This is a knows-its-place B picture which manages decent suspense and horror. It has to get past needless relationship chat at the start, but the monster-dodging is compelling, the creature design is good and there are a couple of in-your-face jumps.’ Kim Newman, Empire

‘what’s ultimately chilling about Storage 24 isn’t the horror of the alien’s close-quarters assault, but the rank misogyny that more than offensively underscores the Melrose Place-grade human drama that plays out as Charlie and his posse try to wrestle their way toward freedom. Throughout, the action is mostly staged as a means for Charlie, who learns that Mark was boinking Shelley for some time, to prove that he’s no chump. And around him, Dennehy’s government-conspiracy nut compares his “feeding me fucking dry” wife to the alien, while one of Shelley’s friends not only has an intimate exchange with a female mannequin, but even calls a candy machine that refuses to drop its bounty a “pussy hole.”‘ Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Buy Storage 24 on Blu-ray + Digital Copy + Ultraviolet | DVD from Amazon.co.uk

‘An impressive if unoriginal monster is upstaged by – spoiler alert! – a cuddly toy dog with fireworks attached. The whole thing proves unexpectedly entertaining.’ Jeremy Clarke, The Guardian

‘ … aching to be a gripping monster movie, but it’ll have to settle with being a merely serviceable one. The picture benefits from invested filmmaking, with the production working diligently to pull off a haunted house atmosphere populated with rounded characters, while unleashing a creature with a horrifying interest in the innards of its human prey. Certainly enjoyable with a few interesting stalking sequences, “Storage 24” isn’t remarkable, falling into a few low-budget traps along the way. It burns through a somewhat predictable routine of survival instincts, nutty outsiders, and betrayals…’ Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

Buy Storage 24 on Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video from Amazon.com

‘While sluggishly starting in a fashion horror/sci-fi fans are all too familiar with, Storage 24 takes an unexpected turn for the awesome with bouts of ooey-gooey creature horror – but still leaves us wanting a tad more. It’s hard to completely fall in love with Roberts’ monster mash because of useless relationship issues and downright despicable character work at times, but those bright red flashes of brilliance are enough to sporadically entrance eyes.’ Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Wikipedia | IMDb

Scintilla is a 2014 British science fiction horror film produced by Liquid Noise Films and directed by Billy O’Brien (Isolation, Ferocious Planet) from a screenplay co-written with Rob Green, G.P. Taylor, Josh Golga, Steve Clark. It stars John Lynch (Isolation, Night Wolf/13Hrs), Craig Conway, Antonia Thomas, Jumayan Hunter, Morjana Alaoui and Beth Winslet. Mongrel Media will distribute in the US whilst Metrodome has secured UK.

An elite team of mercenaries are chosen to carry out a covert operation deep in a former Soviet State. They must first battle the ferocious armed militia at ground level before descending through a maze of tunnels inhabited by dark, menacing creatures. When the team arrives at an underground laboratory they discover the purpose of their mission: A genius scientist has been genetically splicing alien DNA with human and the results of this revolutionary work must be secured. The soldiers must protect and save the specimens whilst avoiding the threats of multiple predators, both human and otherwise…

IMDb

Night of the Living Carrots is a 2011 Halloween short animated film, based on Monsters vs. Aliens and produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the 2009 short, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, a mutated carrot has spawned hundreds of zombie carrots taking control of the subject’s mind. Dr. Cockroach determines that the only way to defeat them and free their victims is for B.O.B. to eat all of the carrots.

The short premiered in two parts exclusively on Nintendo 3DS. It was released to a general audience on August 28, 2012, as a part of Shrek’s Thrilling Tales DVD and DreamWorks Spooky Stories Blu-ray.

Plot:

In a theater, B.O.B. introduces the story in a manner similar to many horror films. He recalls the events of Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, saying “it all started with a spooky spaceship, mutant pumpkins and monsters saving the day. But that was only the beginning.”

The scene then shifts to the twist ending of the previous special. The Zombie Carrot emerges and charges at the camera but is stopped short by a gate. Carl Murphy announces to the children of the Modesto suburbs that a costume contest was about to start and that the winner got their weight in candy. B.O.B., dressed as a pirate, takes interest and comes inside but takes all the candy meant for the contest. Outside, he hears a strange voice and is initially frightened by the zombie carrot, but he mistakes it for a child in a costume. Believing the carrot would win the costume contest, he throws it inside where it immediately bites Carl, turning him into a zombie.

All the guests flee the Murphy house and not long after, the carrot is blasted by Dr. Cockroach’s scanner. Doc theorizes that the carrot was contaminated by the mutant pumpkins and that the curse could only be lifted by eliminating the infected carrot. However, the remains of the carrot replicate themselves into more zombie carrots. Before long, all three monsters are completely surrounded…

Wikipedia | IMDb

Parasite is a 1982 science fiction horror film produced and directed by Charles Band and starring Demi Moore in her first major film role. Irwin Yablans (Halloween) was the executive producer.

In the near future, an atomic disaster has reduced the world to poverty. Instead of a government, America is run by an organization called the Merchants, who exploit the degenerate remains of society. In order to keep control of the populace, the Merchants force Dr. Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini) to create a new life form, a parasite that feeds on its host. Realizing the deadly potential of such a being, Dean escapes the Merchants with the parasite, infecting himself in the process. Now on the run, he travels from town to town, studying the parasite so that he can find a way to destroy it, all the while keeping one step ahead of a Merchant named Wolf (James Davidson) who is hunting for him. While resting in a desert town, he is attacked by a gang of hooligans (Cherie Currie, Freddy Moore, Natalie May, Joanelle Romero, Tom Villard) led by Ricus (Luca Bercovici), a former slave of the Merchants. The gang steals silver canister containing the parasite, not realizing what it is, and it escapes and infects one of the members….

Buy Parasite on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“This will surely have appeal for those who have fond memories of parasites jumping out at you from the silver screen, but thirty years on and on the TV, it doesn’t translate quite so well. In fact, it translates terribly. This is a charmless rip-off, almost totally devoid of merit. Explore the many better examples of the sub-genre out there.” Digital Retribution

“The absolute stand out feature of Parasite is the FX.  Stan Winston did all the work, which will definitely bring a smile to a genre fan’s face.  The parasite itself resembles “the deadly spawn” which is definitely not a bad thing, and looks freaking awesome.  The gore, while not plentiful, is enough to keep gore-hounds content, and comes often enough.  It’s really crazy to see what they were able to do with the practical FX in 1982 and on a fairly low budget.” Cinema Slasher

“Look, I really like cheeseball horror movies. But the golden rule of “dummy movies” is quite simply this: Don’t bore me! (Actually, that’s the ONLY rule!) If you added up all the potentially entertaining ‘horror bits’ from the first 73 minutes of this movie, you’d have the cinematic equivalent of a postage stamp. (The three-cent kind.) I’ll never knock a movie for being stupid or derivative or unoriginal as long as it’s simply fun to sit through. Nothing in Parasite even comes close. The brief gore splatters occur way too late in the game for anyone to care, and the creature (early work by FX genius Stan Winston nonetheless) is about as horrifying as Miss Piggy covered in barbecue sauce.” eFilmCritc

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Megafoot is an American 2014 science fiction horror film currently in development by scriptwriter and director Rolfe Kanefsky (There’s Nothing Out There, The Hazing, Emmanuelle Through Time: Emmanuelle’s Sexy Bite) based on an original idea and story by Justin Martell (producer of Troma’s Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volumes 1 & 2). The filmmakers are currently trying to raise $35,000 production costs via online investor site IndieGoGo.

Press release: 

A highly classified experiment accidentally unleashes a top secret killing machine known as megafoot. Part Cyborg, Part Bigfoot. All Terror. And now it’s up to an elite squad of soldiers to track down the beast and kill it before it destroys everyone and everything in its path. A married couple, a group of college students, the scientists who know the truth, and some not-too friendly locals are about to confront their worst nightmare in this action-packed, horror thriller, gore-ride that’s bigger than big – It’s megafoot.

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The Projected Man is a 1966 British science fiction horror film starring  Bryant Haliday, Norman Wooland, Mary Peach, and Ronald Allen. It was released in the United States by Universal, on a double bill with Island of Terror.

Discovered by Alex Gordon as an unproduced screenplay by Hollywood writer Frank Quattrocchi, The Projected Man was directed by Ian Curteis; it would be the first theatrical film that he would direct. However, due to his lack of experience, he ran into several problems during filming. As the film fell behind schedule and the budget kept increasing, he was fired during the film’s final stages. Producer John Croydon replaced him; however, Croydon remained uncredited as the producers did not wish to publicise the problems which had occurred on set.

Plot:

Dr. Paul Steiner (Bryant Haliday) and Dr. Christopher Mitchell (Ronald Allen) work on a projection device that enables them to transmit any object within a few miles of the machine. While they find the device works with inanimate objects, the living creatures they use it on always seem to die. When Dr. Patricia Hill (Mary Peach) arrives, she helps them fix the error, making Steiner think the problem has been solved. Meanwhile, Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland), Steiner’s boss and head of the institute he works for, is being blackmailed by Mr. Latham (Derrick De Marney), who wants credit for Steiner’s discovery. He forces Blanchard to demand Steiner to give a premature presentation to Professor Lembach (Gerard Heinz).

Steiner, Mitchell, and Hill feel they are ready to present, but at the event, Blanchard sneakily places acid on the machine, causing an explosion. The funding for Steiner’s project is ended instantly, however, Mitchell later discovers that the device has been tampered with. Steiner goes to Blanchard’s house. He presents the men with the evidence that his machine was deliberately tampered with, and Lembach allows him to have another chance…

Topless scene included at the insistence of Tony Tenser’s Compton Films

Reviews:

” … certain aspects of its story never quite get around to making much sense, but it’s much faster- paced and more tautly directed than most of the 50’s monster-rampage movies from which it takes its cues. The acting is well above the average for movies of this type, and the special effects are excellent, considering the constraints of The Projected Man’s obviously low budget. You could easily find a hundred worse Saturday matinee time-wasters than this one.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“British horror thriller with scientific overtones would have been more watchable with faster pacing and less superfluous material.” John Stanley, Creature Features Movie Guide

“The title monster is sufficiently different in appearance to anything I had seen before, the laboratory actually looks like a proper laboratory and equipment rather than the contents of someone’s garage. There’s some explosions at the end , a brief view of some bare breasts and more than a few unintentional laughs.” Tim Rogerson,

Publicity shots emphasized actress Tracey Crisp in her underwear

“Nearly the whole first half is spent on annoying arguments at the research center. The second half commences with a decent lab scene and then turns into a monster-on-the-loose story, like First Man into Space. But even this second half wastes itself with annoying people meandering around, trying to figure out what’s happening. The action quotient is tiny.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film

Buy The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon book by Tom Weaver from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

Skinless is a 2014 micro $2000 budget American horror film co-written and directed by Dustin Mills (The Puppet Monster Massacre, Bath Salt Zombies, Night of the Tentacles). It stars co-writer Brandon Salkil, Erin R. Ryan (Babysitter Massacre), Allison Egan and Dave Parker.

Skinless will receive an initial theatrical premiere in Cleveland at midnight in the US by Phantom Pain Films on March 8 with other venues to follow.

Official synopsis:

“Brilliant oncologist Peter Peel discovers a possible cure for skin cancer in the belly of an exotic parasite. When he tests the cure on himself, his world is shattered and a monster is born. Skinless is a sad tale of madness, murder, monsters, and love.”

Night of the Tentacles trailer:

Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for some of the info above.

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