‘It’s their planet now!’

Plan 9 is a 2014 science fiction horror comedy movie written and directed by John Johnson, loosely based on Ed D. Wood Jr.’s original Plan 9 from Outer Space.

The film stars Brian Krause (Sleepwalkers; Coffin Baby; House of Purgatory), Mister Lobo, Matthew Ewald, James D. Rolfe, Aaron Yonda, Matt Sloan, Monique Dupree, John Johnson, Conrad Brooks (from the original), Addy Miller, Sara Eshleman, Amy Hart.

Plan 9 is released in the US by Monster Pictures on 18 March 2015.

Reviews:

‘The whole thing is an affectionate tribute to Ed Wood’s B-Movie milestone. From its infamous flying saucers on wires to the late Bela Lugosi, or rather, Wood’s chiropractor who hid his face behind a cape; it’s littered with references that show just how revered the original is. This one just amps up the boobs and gore and oddly enough, it’s the kid characters that get it the worst, because who cares about being politically correct?’ Ernesto Zelaya Miñano, Twitch Film

Clip:

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‘Fear for her.’

Demon Seed – also known as Generation Proteus – is a 1977 American science fiction horror film directed by Donald Cammell (Performance; White of the Eye) from a screenplay by Roger Hirson and producer Robert Jaffe (Motel Hell; Scarab; Nightflyers). The film was based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz (Watchers; Phantoms; Odd Thomas).

The film stars Julie Christie (Don’t Look Now), Fritz Weaver (Nightkill; Jaws of Satan; Creepshow), Gerrit Graham (Phantom of the Paradise; TerrorVision; Child’s Play 2), Berry Kroeger (Nightmare in Wax; The Mephisto Waltz; The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant), Lisa Lu (Terror in the Wax Museum), John O’Leary (The Island). Robert Vaughn was the uncredited voice of the malevolent artificial intelligence.

Plot teaser:

Dr. Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) is the developer of Proteus IV, an artificial intelligence program incorporating an organic “quasi-neural matrix” and displaying the power of thought. Harris explains how Proteus, after only a few days of theoretical study, has managed to develop a protein-based antigen with the potential to treat leukemia.

After returning to his voice-activated, computer-controlled home, Harris argues with his estranged wife, Susan (Julie Christie), over his decision to move out; Susan accuses Alex of becoming distanced and dehumanised by his obsession with the Proteus project. After Susan leaves, Alex phones his colleague, Walter Gabler (Gerrit Graham), and asks him to shut down Proteus’ access terminal in his home laboratory.

The following day, Proteus asks to speak with Alex, requesting a new terminal, saying that he wants to study man—”his isometric body and his glass-jaw mind.” When Alex refuses, Proteus demands to know when it will be let “out of this box.” Alex then switches off the communications link. After he leaves, Proteus restarts itself…

Buy Demon Seed on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

‘How did Cammell convince a studio to back a movie in which Julie Christie is violated by what looks like a copper Rubik’s snake? Better not to ask, or to dwell on the film’s less savory aspects, and soak in its moments of visionary hysteria, including the pulsating geometry of images borrowed from experimental filmmaker Jordan Belson.’ Rolling Stone

‘To carry off its distasteful subject matter, Demon Seed needed strong, well-written characters and a thoughtful storyline. Instead, it gives us a set of cardboard cut-outs surrounded by a plot so relentlessly heavy-handed and didactic that it fails both as credible science fiction and as simple storytelling.’ And You Call Yourself a Scientist!

‘ …the film’s most successful achievement in science fiction terms is to suggest something of how a sentient computer would perceive the universe. In one impressive sequence Proteus attempts to communicate to Susan just what ‘seeing’ is like when your ‘eyes’ – radar scanners, radio telescopes, etc – are sensitive to the whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and you are being bombarded by an awesome sensory input.’ Nigel Honeybone, HorrorNews.net

Buy novel by Dean R. Koontz from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb

The surreal promo video for single ‘Out of the Black’ by British rock duo Royal Blood – vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher – features animated aliens that morph back and forth into live action gas station robbers dressed as a rabbit, a pumpkin, snowman, a heart and an ice cream. The video was co-directed by David Wilson and Adult Swim‘s Christy Karacas.

Buy Royal Blood album on CD + MP3 | vinyl from Amazon.co.uk

The Tommyknockers is a 1993 US television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. It was directed by John Power, from a screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen, and stars Marg Helgenberger and Jimmy Smits.

Plot teaser:

Bobbi Anderson (Helgenberger), a fiction writer, and her boyfriend, Jim Gardner (Smits), a poet, live on the outskirts of Haven, Maine. Anderson suffers from writer’s block and Gardner is a recovering alcoholic. One day, they stumble over a manmade stone object protruding from the ground. They begin excavating the object and discover a series of connected cubes that are made of an unknown alloy.

As Anderson and Gardner unearth more of the object, the local townspeople begin to undergo subtle changes. Insomnia becomes common along with rudimentary telepathy. Some individuals begin inventing wild gadgets using kitchen tools, batteries, small appliances and other odds and ends. Some of the inventions include an automatic letter sorter, a telepathic typewriter and a BLT sandwich maker that creates the sandwiches from the raw ingredients. These inventions have a green glow when active…

Reviews:

‘Here, everything isn’t translated well at all and instead of being scared or creeped out you have to laugh or groan at such ham-fisted delivery of over the top execution and pathetic horror elements. Everything is so typical and literal. The characters are barely sketched or believable, despite having a very talented cast who have all done much better, before and ever after.’ Vince Fontaine, Slasher Studios

‘Some details of the production design work well: the aliens themselves are creepy, and the effect still look pretty good for ’93 TV; also, the effects on the gadgets, particularly the hands-free typewriter, are quite good. The ship itself, though? Awful. Looks like a bunch of those things Olympian medal-winners stand on when receiving their medals, just with some dirt thrown over them.’ The Truth Inside the Lie

‘A number of weird plot twists are tossed in (the townspeople are inventing crazy new devices, including a novel-writing machine) before the satisfying climax in the haunted woods involving a buried spaceship and some great looking aliens.’ John Stanley, Creature Features

Cast:

• Jimmy Smits as Jim “Gard” Gardner
• Marg Helgenberger as Roberta “Bobbi” Anderson
• John Ashton as Trooper Butch Dugan
• Allyce Beasley as Deputy Becka Paulson
• Robert Carradine as Bryant Brown
• Joanna Cassidy as Sheriff Ruth Merrill
• Annie Corley as Marie Brown
• Cliff DeYoung as Joe Paulson
• Traci Lords as Nancy Voss
• E.G. Marshall as Ev Hillman
• Chuck Henry as Chaz Stewart
• Leon Woods as Hilly Brown
• Paul McIver as Davey Brown
• Yvonne Lawley as Mabel Noyes
• Bill Johnson as Elt Barker

Wikipedia | IMDb

Night Fright is a 1967 US science-fiction horror film directed near Dallas, Texas, by James A. Sullivan from a screenplay by Russ Marker (who wrote a similar script for an unfinished project named The Demon of Devil’s Lake in 1964). Sullivan was a production manager and cinematographer on several Larry Buchanan movies and is credited as an editor on the infamous ‘bad’ movie Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966). It stars John Agar (Tarantula; Revenge of the Creature; The Brain from Planet Arous) and Bill Thurman (1966’s The Black Cat; Keep My Grave Open; The Evictors).

In the UK, the film was cheekily released on VHS in 1983 by porn producer David Grant on his World of Video 2000 label as E.T.n. The Extra-Terrestrial Nastie – with the tag line ‘What’s 12 ft tall and eats people’ to cash-in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi family movie and the ‘video nasties‘ moral panic. British video renters were doubtless disappointed by the tame 1967 offering they rented on tape and, as Universal International Pictures threatened legal action, the opportunistic release was rapidly withdrawn. The following year, Grant was ridiculously imprisoned for distributing Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981) on video.

Plot teaser:

A Texas community is beset by a rash of mysterious killings in and around “Satan’s Hollow” involving some of the students from the local college. The sheriff investigating the deaths discovers the startling identity of the killer responsible for the murders. A NASA experiment involving cosmic rays has mutated an alligator into an ogre-like form and bullet-proof unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for blood…

Reviews:

‘Over-wordy and yet mildly amusing in places (especially the frugging to guitar music by The Wildcats scenes), Night Fright comes over as a vapid leftover from the late 1950s, although at least during that classic monster movie era filmmakers remembered now and again the audience needs to see at least a semblance of a creature from outer space. Here, all director Sullivan gives us are day-for-night shots of something we generally can’t quite see due to the poor lighting (dark VHS doesn’t help us either). Meanwhile, composer Christopher Trussel’s score is overly-dramatic to the point of ridiculousness. Alas, Night Fright is more Manos-like than Ed Wood fun.’ Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

‘The monster in this movie must be related to Robot Monster. It’s a gorilla with three-toed footprints and an alien head. We don’t see much of it but we do see a lot of John Agar … The Wildcats provide cool instrumental music and the kids wear V-neck sweaters and white boots.’ Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

‘An unimaginative and poorly-made monster-from-beyond entry.’ John Elliot, Elliot’s Films on Video

‘ …director brings no pace or style to the routine story. Instantly forgettable. John Stanley, Creature Features

Cast:

• John Agar as Sheriff Clint Crawford
• Bill Thurman as Deputy Ben Whitfield
• Carol Gilley as Nurse Joan Scott
• Ralph Baker Jr. as Chris Jordan
• Dorothy Davis as Judy
• Roger Ready as Prof. Alan Clayton
• Gary McLain as Wes Blau
• Darlene Drew as Darlene Scott
• Frank Jolly as Rex Bowers
• Bill Holly as Deputy Pat Lance
• Janiz Menshew as Carla
• Russ Marker as Mitch
• Toni Pearce as Betty the Waitress
• Christi Simmons as Annie
• Brenda Venus as Sue
• Byron Lord as Government Man
• Ronnie Weaver as Government Man
• Olivia Pinion as Partygoer
• Nancy Mann as Partygoer
• Lewis Helm as Partygoer
• Jeanie Wilson as Mary Bennett
• Rod Paxton as Buddy Williams
• The Wildcats as Themselves

Choice dialogue:

“Ooh, you dirty young man. C’mon, let’s get next to nature!”

Sheriff Clint Crawford: “Look punk, don’t ever call me fuzz!”

Offline reading:

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

Wikipedia | IMDb

An iconic original US poster promoting Universal’s Frankenstein (1931) starring Boris Karloff has fetched $323,000 at auction. The poster was discovered in a disused cinema in Long Island, New York in the 1970s and restored. The auction item far surpassed its predicted sale price of $240,000.

A spokesperson for Texas-based Heritage Auctions commented: “To say that the 1931 horror classic Frankenstein was monumental is an understatement of the impact it made on the audiences of the day. It remains the link that gets us where we are today in the evolution of the essentials of the horror film. Every cliché of cinema horror was created with this film – the mad scientist, the misunderstood monster, the angry villagers carrying torches, the dark laboratory filled with science fictional devices and the creepy assistant.”

Mega Shark vs. Kolossus is a 2015 action sci-fi horror movie directed by Christopher Ray (Reptisaurus; Megaconda; Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus) from a screenplay by Micho Rutare for The Asylum. It stars Ileana Douglas, Brody Hutzler, Clare Grant, Alison Haislip, Amy Rider, Milynn Sarley, Ernest Thomas, Rileah Vanderbilt.

Plot teaser:

In search of a new energy source, Russia accidentally reawakens the Kolossus – a giant robot doomsday device from the Cold War. At the same time, a new Mega Shark appears, threatening global security…

The film is being unleashed on 7th June 2015.

IMDb | Image thanks: Dread Central

Sharksploitation on Horrorpedia: 2-Headed Shark Attack | Atomic Shark | Avalanche Sharks | Cruel Jaws | Ghost Shark | Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws | Great White | Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy aka SharkMan | Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jersey Shore Shark Attack | Jurassic Shark | Malibu Shark Attack | Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus | Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus | Mega Shark vs. Kolossus | Piranha Sharks | Psycho Shark | Raiders of the Lost Shark | Sand Sharks | Shark Attack 3: Megalodon | Shark Exorcist | The Shark is Still Working | Shark Lake | Shark Week | Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre | Sharknado | Sharknado 2: The Second One | Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | Sharktopus | Sharktopus vs. Mermantula | Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda | Sky Sharks | Snow Shark | Super Shark | Swamp Shark | Zombie Shark

Area 51 is a 2014 American science-fiction horror film, written and directed by Oren Peli, the director of Paranormal Activity (2007) and starring Benjamin Rovner, Reid Warner and Darrin Bragg.

Plot teaser|

Three young conspiracy theorists attempt to uncover the mysteries of Area 51, the government’s secret location rumoured to have hosted encounters with alien beings. What they find at this hidden facility exposes unimaginable secrets…

The film has had a troubled history. Production began in the fall of 2009. In April 2011 CBS Films hired director and actor Chris Denham to do some rewrites on Area 51. Peli filmed re-shoots in 2013. In August 2013, Jason Blum stated that film had finished production and that Peli was “tinkering” with the film in post production. On March 14, 2015, Blum confirmed that the film was officially completed and would perhaps be released on VOD. Finally, on April 23, 2015 it was announced the film would open exclusively in Alamo Drafthouse theaters and through video on demand platforms on May 15, 2015.

The budget for Area 51 is reported to be $5 million.

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

‘Science gone very, very bad’

Biohazard is a 1984 American science fiction horror film produced, written and directed by Fred Olen Ray (Scalps; Evil Toons; Super Shark), with additional dialogue by T.L. Lankford and Miriam L. Preissel.

The film stars Aldo Ray (Bog; Don’t Go Near the Park; Star Slammer/Prisoner Ship), Angelique Pettyjohn (Mad Doctor of Blood Island), William Fair, David O’Hara, Frank McDonald, Art Payton, Charles Roth, Carroll Borland (Mark of the Vampire), Richard Hench, Loren Crabtree. The monster was Fred’s own son and Donald G. Jackson (director of The Demon Lover and Hell Comes to Frogtown) plays a medic. 

Reviews:

“Biohazard is pretty obvious in its badness. Yes, it’s sometimes very funny, but all of its big moments feel trite, recycled from every movie you’ve ever seen on Mystery Science Theater. I know it seems ridiculous to complain about unoriginal flaws, but when you watch a lot of this kind of stuff, a bad line reading or shitty creature effect just doesn’t cut it anymore.” Tim May VHShitfest

“The plotline is merely an excuse to move the movie along to the next scene of transients having a barbeque, Congressmen getting flummoxed, and bimbos taking baths. We get everything we could possibly ask for in a made-on-the-cheap creature feature with one eye on the gore and two hands on the titties.

There are buckets of blood, a couple of really gratuitous boob shots, and a passing reference to one character’s war atrocities in Vietnam.” Bill Gibron, DVD Verdict

“Awful monster movie, poorly executed by writer-producer-director Fred Olen Ray, who during the closing credits resorts to amusing outtakes, writing off the picture as a joke. An Alien ripoff…” John Stanley, Creature Features

“Biohazard went to 21st Century, where it was rarely seen again. It had a trailer made from the Prison Ship footage a minute’s worth of great spaceship stock shots from Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars. It looked like a big-budget film but I could not get the financing together…” Fred Olen Ray, The New Poverty Row

Buy The New Poverty Row book from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

IMDb | Fred Olen Ray Facebook | Image thanks: VHShitfest

‘Frightmare! Born of Jungle Witchcraft! Created by a Curse!’

From Hell It Came is a 1957 American science fiction horror film directed by Dan Milner from a screenplay by Richard Bernstein, based on a story by producer Jack Milner.

Cast:

Tod Andrews (Voodoo Woman; Circle of Fear TV series; The Baby), Tina Carver (The Man Who Turned to Stone), Linda Watkins (The Munsters TV series; Bad Ronald), John McNamara (The Return of Dracula; War of the Colossal Beast), Gregg Palmer (The Creature Walks Among Us; Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Scream/The Outing), Robert Swan, Baynes Barron (Phantom of the Rue Morgue; The Strangler), Suzanne Ridgeway (The She-Creature).

The iconic Tabanga monster was designed by Paul Blaisdell (also known for his work on The She Creature, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Not of This Earth and It! The Terror from Beyond Space) but was manufactured by Don Post Studios. This was the second and last feature film to be produced by the Milner brothers (the other beingThe Phantom from 10,000 Leagues). It was released by Allied Artists.

Paul Blaisdell: “I designed the Tabanga the way I thought it should look in terms of the script, and the people that built it did a damn good job of reproducing a prop that was a nice concept and certainly an original one, but one that was very awkward. My hat goes off to the guy who had to act the part of the walking tree [Chester Haynes]. I think he did a helluva good job under the circumstances.”

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Plot teaser:

Kimo, a South Seas island prince, is wrongly convicted of murder and executed by having a knife driven into his heart, the result of a plot by a witch doctor (the true murderer) who resented the prince’s friendly relations with American scientists stationed on a field laboratory on the island. The prince is buried in a hollow tree trunk and forgotten about until nuclear radiation reanimates him in the form of the “Tabanga”, a scowling tree stump. The monster escapes from the laboratory and kills several people, including the witch doctor, whom the Tabanga pushes down a hill to be impaled on his own crown of shark teeth…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Many reviews of From Hell It Came, even those written by b-movie mavens, have been pretty harsh, and I’m not sure why. Of course it is a terrible movie, but you and I knew that going in, didn’t we? When watching this sort of movie I look for a preposterous story, crappy effects, poor acting, silly dialogue and, if all goes well, the result will include more than a little unintended humor. I can ask no more, and the Milner Brothers delivered.” B Movie Madness

“This incredibly awful, yet endearingly popular example of Bad Cinema bears some laughably wooden performances that rival the stiffness of the films walking radioactive tree trunk. The plot is inconsequential, even if the inherent racism is not. It’s Anglo ingenuity versus native superstitions in what has to be one of the worst pictures of all time.” Cool Ass Cinema

“It’s not the laughable monster, nor the absurd plot that is the downfall of this movie, though. After all, foam rubber monsters and outlandish stories are what great B-movies are made of. What really kills this film is it’s dragging pace and tedious dialog. Not even a racy shower scene with Tina Carver can invigorate the segments not featuring the Tabanga. Linda Watkins, in the comedy relief role of Mrs. Mae Kilgore, only manages to make the slow scenes more grating.” Exclamation Mark

“Once the Tabonga actually gets on its…er… feet… it seems to wander aimlessly, first from left to right, then from right to left, apparently happening on its victims at random. Sure, its a small island and all, but what should be a suspenseful quest for revenge becomes a tedious mosey for happenstance.” The Bad Movie Report

Choice dialogue:

“Why did I have to fall in love with a dedicated female scientist. She considers marriage some kind of prison.”

“Obviously locked doors mean nothing to the monster.”

Cast:

• Tod Andrews – Dr. William Arnold
• Tina Carver – Dr. Terry Mason
• Linda Watkins – Mrs. Mae Kilgore
• John McNamara – Prof. Clark
• Gregg Palmer – Kimo
• Suzanne Ridgeway – Korey

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: B Movie Madness

Roboshark is a 2015 Bulgarian-Canadian sci-fi horror film directed by Jeffery Scott Lando [as Jefferey Lando] (Insecticidal; Goblin; Boogeyman; Ghostquake) from a screenplay co-written with Phillip J. Roth [as Phillip Roth] (Python; Deep Shock; Dark Waters).

Cast:

Alexis Peterman, Matt Rippy, Nigel Barber, Vanessa Grasse, Isaac Haig, Laura Dale, Vlado Mihailov, Derek Morse, Kicker Robinson, Lorenzo Estebanez, Kitodar Todorov, Hristo Balabanov.

The film makes its debut on the American Syfy channel on July 23, 2015.

Plot teaser:

A great white shark swallows a UFO aircraft in the Pacific and turns into a robo/shark hybrid. The monster then terrorises Seattle…

Choice dialogue:

Rick: “Mutant shark? Honey, wasn’t that on Syfy last week?”

Sharksploitation on Horrorpedia: 2-Headed Shark Attack | 3-Headed Shark Attack | Atomic Shark | Avalanche Sharks | Cruel Jaws | Ghost Shark | Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws | Great White | Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy aka SharkMan | Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jersey Shore Shark Attack | Jurassic Shark | Malibu Shark Attack | Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus | Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus | Mega Shark vs. Kolossus | Piranha Sharks | Psycho Shark | Raiders of the Lost Shark | Roboshark | Sand Sharks | Shark Attack 3: Megalodon | Shark Exorcist | The Shark is Still Working | Shark Lake | Shark Week | Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre | Sharknado | Sharknado 2: The Second One | Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | Sharktopus | Sharktopus vs. Mermantula | Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda | Sky Sharks | Snow Shark | Super Shark | Swamp Shark | Zombie Shark

Man with the Screaming Brain is a 2005 science fiction comedy horror film co-written, co-produced, directed by and starring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead and sequels; Moontrap; Maniac Cop 2). It was Campbell’s feature film directorial debut. Dark Horse Comics published a comic book series based on the film.

Cast: 

Bruce Campbell, Stacy Keach (The Mountain of the Cannibal God; Roadgames; Ooga Booga), Tamara Gorski (Friday’s Curse; To Die For; Poltergeist: The Legacy), Tamara Gorski (Intruder; Candyman; Skinner), Antoinette Byron and Vladimir Kolev (Python 2; Copperhead; Shark in Venice).

Plot teaser:

Bruce Campbell plays William Cole, the wealthy CEO of a US drug company who travels to Bulgaria with his wife, Jackie (Antoinette Byron) in the hopes of diversifying his company’s financial interests. Cole is a stereotypical ugly American who constantly complains about the lack of Americanization of the former communist country. They’re driven to a hotel by a taxi driver, and former KGB agent, named Yegor Stragov (Vladimir Kolev)…

Reviews:

” … a comedy that doesn’t build, lacks structural integrity, and often falls flat. But it’s also winningly loopy, with bizarre incidental ideas and performance riffing making for a series of parts that almost make up for the faults of the whole. Larkish spirit of the enterprise is contagious.” Dennis Harvey, Variety

Buy: Amazon.com

Tamara Gorski

” … unintentional actual badness that could not be redeemed by the ham-handed stringing together of B-movie clichés: scary gypsies, former KGB agents, cheap foreign locations, girly catfights, transplanted brains, and Ted Raimi in full-on dork mode. It’s so cluelessly dumb that it manages to make the genuinely Eastern European actors in the cast sound like they’re putting on fakey accents. This movie — how you say? — it suck.” Maryann Johanson, Flick Filosopher

“The story is pretty ridiculous from start to finish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing since the film doesn’t take itself seriously at all.” Johnny Butane, Dread Central

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com

Cast:

• Bruce Campbell as William Cole
• Tamara Gorski as Tatoya
• Ted Raimi as Pavel
• Antoinette Byron as Jackie Cole
• Stacy Keach as Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov
• Vladimir Kolev as Yegor Stragov
• Valentine Glasbeily as Uri
• Velizar Binev as Mayor
• Raicho Vasilev as Bartender
• Jonas Talkington as Larry
• Mihail Elanov as Punk 1
• Neda Sokolovska as Waitress
• Remington Franklin as Bar Punk

Wikipedia | IMDb

Pod is a 2015 American sci-fi horror film written and directed by Mickey Keating (Ritual). It stars Lauren Ashley Carter (Jug Face; The Woman), Dean Cates, Brian Morvant, Larry Fessenden (Wendigo; I Sell the Dead; Beneath), and John Weselcouch.

The film premiered at the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) on March 16, 2015.

Plot teaser:

After receiving a warning not to come to their family lake house in Maine, siblings Lyla and Ed stage an intervention for their brother, Martin. When they arrive, they find that he has descended into apparent paranoid psychosis and claims to have trapped a monster in the basement…

Reviews:

” …  taps into a supernatural/suburban ambiguity reminiscent of the best of The X-Files … in what is basically a three hander, stunt man/actor Morvant furiously pushes the scenario to its limits, making the increasingly dangerous and erratic veteran equally enthralling, terrifying, and tragic.” Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle

“Pod takes an interesting approach to both the  condensed paranoid drama (à la Bug) and the creature feature, resulting in a wildly entertaining film.” Patrick Cooper, Bloody Disgusting

“Pod is a jarring, exciting cinematic funhouse; an aspect seemingly inherent to Keating’s developing voice. In two features, the director is intent on bursting into various subgenres, not with a focus on deconstruction but—with manic narratives that take place over hours—certainly tearing shit up.” Samuel Zimmerman, Shock Till Your Drop

“Credit Keating with throwing together some tense moments of claustrophobic monster horror, which he’s able to generate by using a tiny cabin located in the middle of a wooded lake area … You will be scared, but more importantly, you’ll gaze upon a snowy landscape with a beautifully sinister feel, and for that, Keating’s team deserves a tip of the cap.” Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Cast:

Lauren Ashley Carter as Lyla
Dean Cates as Ed
Brian Morvant as Martin
Larry Fessenden as Smith
John Weselcouch as John Boy

Locations:

Round Pod, Maine, USA

Trailer:

Clip:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Twitter | Facebook

‘He experimented in horror!’

Hand of Death is a 1962 American science fiction horror film directed by Gene Nelson from a screenplay by producer Eugene Ling for Associated Producers Inc (API). The theremin and bongo fuelled score was by Sonny Burke, whilst the cinematography was by Floyd Crosby, Roger Corman’s frequent collaborator during this period.

Cast:

John Agar (The Mole People; The Brain from Planet Arous; Zontar: The Thing from Venus) Paula Raymond (Blood of Dracula’s Castle), Stephen Dunne (TV series Quatermass II), Roy Gordon (The Unearthly; Attack of the 50 Foot Woman; The Wasp Woman), John A. Alonzo (Bewitched), Jack Younger (Dinosaurus!), Joe Besser (Savage Intruder; The New Scooby-Doo Movies; Scooby’s Laff-A Lympics) , Butch Patrick, Norman Burton (Fade to Black; Mausoleum; Deep Space).

Plot teaser:

An American scientist, Alex Marsh, invents a new nerve gas serum, but accidentally allows himself to be exposed to it, and so he turns into a murderous monster…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Resembling The Hideous Sun Demon but completely lacking that picture’s personality, Hand of Death at least offers one of the more bizarre monster suits of the 1960s. Bill Warren rightly describes the suit as a cross between “the grossest possible caricature of a black man” and The Thing from the Fantastic Four comic books. As in The Incredible Melting Man, our doomed hero does little more than wander around and kill a few people by accident…” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Hand of Death is a cheap monster movie. You could even say very cheap. Agar becoming a monster isn’t a cosmic punishment — he simply knocks over a flask and gets the stuff on his hands, so it doesn’t have the Beware Of Science message you find in so many of these things. It doesn’t build to a Big Finish, though it has its moments (usually when someone first sees Agar’s deflicted* head). But for some reason, it all comes together…” The Hannibal 8
* Deflicted is a Frank Zappa word, not a real word.

“Hand of Death is not an important or remarkable movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an amazing artifact — and the Fantastic Four parallel will keep it visible for decades to come, if only to curious comic fans.” Stephen R. Bissette, Monster! issue 7

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

Alex Marsh (John Agar): “Do you realise, this is a weapon that is so powerful, it could conceivably banish nuclear warfare?”

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Trailer:

IMDb | Images courtesy of The Hannibal 8 | Wrong Side of the Art!

Parasyte: Part 1 – originally: 寄生獣 or Kiseijū – is a 2014 Japanese science fiction action horror film directed by Takashi Yamazaki from s screenplay co-written with Ryota Kosawa.

Main cast:

Shota Sometani, Sadao Abe, Eri Fukatsu, Ai Hashimoto and Masahiro Higashide.

The film was released on November 29, 2014 in Japan and took ¥2 billion at the box office. It was followed by Parasyte: Part 2 in 2015.

Plot:

Aliens enter into human brains via ear canal and take control of their bodies. One of the aliens tries to enter into teenager Shinichi Izumi’s brain, but is blocked because of his headphones. Instead, it invades his right hand. Shinichi calls it Migi, which has now an eye and a mouth. Accepting the fact that one would die if another dies, they join forces against other parasites…

Reviews:

” … the parasites’ faces function like virtual Swiss Army knives, splitting at will to reveal any number of sharp blades, whereas Righty is limited to fighting with Shinichi’s fingers. Relying on viscera-rich sound design to patch over any plausibility concerns, Parasyte marks an entertaining new iteration of the body-horror subgenre, as if someone had grafted a very dark high-school comedy onto a David Cronenberg movie.” Peter Debruge, Variety

“Part 1 of the Parasyte movie is essentially “Parasyte for dummies.” If that. It’s the abridged, muted, and emotionally empty shell of what it could have been. The creative changes rob the story of its substance and while it may be cool to see bladed tentacle-headed creatures duke it out, it’s really not worth the mincemeat that is the plot. I cannot even suggest it to people who have never been exposed to the story and are curious.” Toshi Nakamura, Kotaku

“Parasyte waits until the end to kick into gear, finally delivering on the promise of bizarre alien action and global-scale menace promised from the outset. A bloody school slaying leads to an emotionally charged ending as Shinichi is forced to perform a final act that carries a heavy psychological burden. Utilizing his new abilities to contort into a living weapon and going up against similarly powered adversaries the action is ramped up while putting the pieces in place for the concluding chapter.” Christopher O’Keeffe, Twitch

“In Parasyte Part 1, Takashi Yamazaki … made the parasitic creature Migi, appear cartoon-ish, a direct contrast to the dark mood of the film. This made the live action adaptation refreshing and quite entertaining due to the perfect blend of thrills, drama and comedy. Of course, there are certain scenes with special effects that provided the “horror factor” and it would really depend on the viewer’s reaction to it. ” Jed Medina, Psycho Drama

Cast and Characters:

• Shota Sometani as Shinichi Izumi
• Sadao Abe as Migi
• Eri Fukatsu as Ryoko Tamiya
• Ai Hashimoto as Satomi Murano
• Masahiro Higashide as Hideo Shimada
• Nao Omori as Kuramori
• Kazuki Kitamura as Tsuyoshi Hirokawa
• Pierre Taki as Miki
• Hirofumi Arai as Uragami
• Jun Kunimura as Lieutenant Hirama
• Kimiko Yo as Nobuko Izumi
• Tadanobu Asano as Goto

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official site

‘Here comes Trog. You’ll laugh at yourself for being so scared… but don’t laugh at Trog.’

Trog is a 1970 British science fiction horror film directed by Freddie Francis (The Skull; Tales from the Crypt; Craze) from a screenplay by Peter Bryan, John Gilling (The Plague of the Zombies), and Aben Kandel.

The project was originally developed by Tony Tenser at Tigon Films then sold to Herman Cohen (I Was a Teenage Werewolf; Horrors of the Black Museum). It stars Joan Crawford (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; Strait-Jacket), Michael Gough, Bernard Kay, Kim Braden.

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson’s book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of ‘The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made’.

Plot:

Doctor Brockton (Joan Crawford) discovers that a troglodyte is alive in the caves of the British countryside. She gets the creature to the surface and attempts to train him, but runs into trouble as a few people oppose this, especially a local businessman afraid of negative commercial consequences, Sam Murdock (Michael Gough). Murdock frees the creature, leading to a rampage…

Reviews:

“There is, however, a rudimentary virtue in Trog… in that it proves that Joan Crawford is grimly working at her craft. Unfortunately, the determined lady, who is fetching in a variety of chic pants suits and dresses, has little else going for her.” The New York Times

“Trog is truly ungodly. The performances are rotten, the Trog makeup is so bad it looks, at times, like it will slide right off the actor’s face, and everything proceeds at a snail’s pace to idiotic situations. It’s really sad to see such a huge star [Crawford] be consigned to the Z-grade abyss of films like this. But, hey, a girl’s gotta eat.” Ned Daigle, Bad Movie Night

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“The worst horror movies are those that don’t understand their own absurdity. Trog!, on the other hand, understands it all too well.” RogerEbert.com

The dinosaur sequence was stock footage from the movie The Animal World (1956)

Cast:

• Joan Crawford as Dr. Brockton
• Michael Gough as Sam Murdock
• Bernard Kay as Inspector Greenham
• Kim Braden as Anne Brockton
• David Griffin as Malcolm Travers
• John Hamill as Cliff
• Thorley Walters as Minister
• Jack May as Dr. Selbourne
• Geoffrey Case as Bill
• Simon Lack as Colonel Vickers
• David Warbeck as Alan Davis

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Worst Horror Films of All-Time

‘Nothing can stop it!’

X the Unknown is a 1956 British science fiction horror directed by Leslie Norman from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster (The Curse of Frankenstein; Dracula; The Mummy, etc). It was also promoted as X… the Unknown.

Following on from The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), their hit adaptation of the BBC TV series, Hammer Films continued to mine the same vein of 1950s paranoia induced by post-war scientific developments and radioactivity in particular.

The original director of the film was Joseph Losey (The Damned), an American director who had moved to the UK after being placed on the Hollywood Communist blacklist. Although Losey began shooting the film and some of his footage is included in the final cut, he was replaced by Leslie Norman due to either illness or Dean Jagger’s objections (accounts vary).

Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (1956) and The Blob (1958) are clearly influenced by X the Unknown.

Main cast: 

Dean Jagger (Revolt of the Zombies; Evil Town; Alligator), Edward Chapman (The Man Who Haunted Himself ), Leo McKern (The Omen [1976]), Anthony Newley, Jameson Clark. The supporting cast includes Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper.

Half the film’s budget, $30,000, was provided by RKO Pictures. which went towards the fee for imported American ‘star’ Dean Jagger. Despite this, an American distribution deal between Hammer and RKO fell through, and the film was distributed in the U.S. by Warner Bros.

Plot:

Lochmouth, Scotland, near Glasgow: A group of soldiers find a small and seemingly harmless hidden source of radioactivity in a wide pit area. But their is an explosion and Private Lansing, who was closest, dies of radiation burns.

Dr. Royston (Dean Jagger), from a nearby Atomic Energy Laboratory, is called in to investigate, along with Inspector McGill (Leo McKern), from the UK Atomic Energy Commission.

That night, a local boy goes to a tower on the marshes, where he sees a horrific off-camera sight…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … highly imaginative and fanciful … There’s little letup in the action, and suspense angles are kept constantly to the forefront.” Variety

” … little more than a competent 50’s monster-rampage flick. It is hampered by some unusually desperate pseudoscience, which somehow manages to sound even less credible than it normally would for being spelled out by Dean Jagger’s otherwise thoroughly reasonable and down-to-earth Dr. Royston.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“… photographed in shadowy monochrome by Gerald Gibbs, with a sense of muted hysteria and despair underlying the stalwart attempts to defeat a radioactive thing which erupts in the Scottish highlands. Trash to people who don’t like sci-fi or horror movies, but in a lot of ways it communicates the atmosphere of Britain in the late ’50s more effectively than the most earnest social document.” Time Out

Cast and characters:

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Adam Royston [Dean Jagger]: “For the time being, let’s not conjure up visions of nameless horrors creeping around in the night.”

Peter Elliott [William Lucas]: “It was like something out of a nightmare, it was horrible!”

Major Cartwright [John Harvey]: “The trouble was some of these scientific types is they can’t see the easy way out of anything. It’s got to be complicated if it’s going to work.”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Mega Shark vs. Kolossus is a 2015 action sci-fi horror movie directed by Christopher Ray (Reptisaurus; Megaconda; Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus) from a screenplay by Micho Rutare for The Asylum. It stars Ileana Douglas, Brody Hutzler, Clare Grant, Alison Haislip, Amy Rider, Milynn Sarley, Ernest Thomas, Rileah Vanderbilt.

Plot teaser:

In search of a new energy source, Russia accidentally reawakens the Kolossus – a giant robot doomsday device from the Cold War. At the same time, a new Mega Shark appears, threatening global security…

Reviews:

“Mega Shark vs. Kolossus is delirious fun, a surprisingly well-acted and entertaining homage to the great monster movies of the past.  Obviously, Mega Shark is the top-billed star here but, for me, the film is really stolen by Kolossus. This behemoth of robotic mayhem dominates almost every scene in which he appears and hopefully, he’ll return for a future movie.” Lisa Marie Bowman, Through the Shattered Lens

IMDb | Image thanks: Dread Central

Sharksploitation on Horrorpedia: 2-Headed Shark Attack | Atomic Shark | Avalanche Sharks | Cruel Jaws | Ghost Shark | Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws | Great White | Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy aka SharkMan | Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jersey Shore Shark Attack | Jurassic Shark | Malibu Shark Attack | Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus | Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus | Mega Shark vs. Kolossus | Piranha Sharks | Psycho Shark | Raiders of the Lost Shark | Sand Sharks | Shark Attack 3: Megalodon | Shark Exorcist | The Shark is Still Working | Shark Lake | Shark Week | Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre | Sharknado | Sharknado 2: The Second One | Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | Sharktopus | Sharktopus vs. Mermantula | Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda | Sky Sharks | Snow Shark | Super Shark | Swamp Shark | Zombie Shark

An iconic original US poster promoting Universal’s Frankenstein (1931) starring Boris Karloff has fetched $323,000 at auction. The poster was discovered in a disused cinema in Long Island, New York in the 1970s and restored. The auction item far surpassed its predicted sale price of $240,000.

A spokesperson for Texas-based Heritage Auctions commented: “To say that the 1931 horror classic Frankenstein was monumental is an understatement of the impact it made on the audiences of the day. It remains the link that gets us where we are today in the evolution of the essentials of the horror film. Every cliché of cinema horror was created with this film – the mad scientist, the misunderstood monster, the angry villagers carrying torches, the dark laboratory filled with science fictional devices and the creepy assistant.”

Night Fright is a 1967 US science-fiction horror film directed near Dallas, Texas, by James A. Sullivan from a screenplay by Russ Marker (who wrote a similar script for an unfinished project named The Demon of Devil’s Lake in 1964).

Sullivan was a production manager and cinematographer on several Larry Buchanan movies and is credited as an editor on the infamous ‘bad’ movie Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966).

Main cast:

John Agar (Tarantula; Revenge of the Creature; The Brain from Planet Arous) and Bill Thurman (1966’s The Black Cat; Keep My Grave Open; The Evictors).

In the UK, the film was cheekily released on VHS in 1983 by adult movie producer David Grant on his World of Video 2000 label as E.T.n. The Extra-Terrestrial Nastie – with the tagline ‘What’s 12 ft tall and eats people’ to cash-in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi family movie and the ‘video nasties‘ moral panic. British video renters were doubtless disappointed by the tame 1967 offering they rented on tape and, as Universal International Pictures threatened legal action, the opportunistic release was rapidly withdrawn. The following year, Grant was ridiculously imprisoned for distributing Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981) on video.

Plot:

A Texas community is beset by a rash of mysterious killings in and around “Satan’s Hollow” involving some of the students from the local college. The sheriff investigating the deaths discovers the startling identity of the killer responsible for the murders. It transpires that a NASA experiment involving cosmic rays has mutated an alligator into an ogre-like form and bullet-proof unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for blood…

Reviews:

Over-wordy and yet mildly amusing in places (especially the frugging to guitar music by The Wildcats scenes), Night Fright comes over as a vapid leftover from the late 1950s,. That said, at least during that classic monster movie era filmmakers remembered now and again the audience needs to see at least a semblance of a creature from outer space. Here, all director Sullivan gives us are day-for-night shots of something we generally can’t quite see due to the poor lighting (dark VHS doesn’t help us either).

Meanwhile, composer Christopher Trussel’s score is overly-dramatic to the point of ridiculousness. Alas, Night Fright is more Manos-like than Ed Wood fun.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia.com

‘The monster in this movie must be related to Robot Monster. It’s a gorilla with three-toed footprints and an alien head. We don’t see much of it but we do see a lot of John Agar … The Wildcats provide cool instrumental music and the kids wear V-neck sweaters and white boots.’ Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

‘An unimaginative and poorly-made monster-from-beyond entry.’ John Elliot, Elliot’s Films on Video

‘ …director brings no pace or style to the routine story. Instantly forgettable. John Stanley, Creature Features

Cast:

• John Agar as Sheriff Clint Crawford
• Bill Thurman as Deputy Ben Whitfield
• Carol Gilley as Nurse Joan Scott
• Ralph Baker Jr. as Chris Jordan
• Dorothy Davis as Judy
• Roger Ready as Prof. Alan Clayton
• Gary McLain as Wes Blau
• Darlene Drew as Darlene Scott
• Frank Jolly as Rex Bowers
• Bill Holly as Deputy Pat Lance
• Janiz Menshew as Carla
• Russ Marker as Mitch
• Toni Pearce as Betty the Waitress
• Christi Simmons as Annie
• Brenda Venus as Sue
• Byron Lord as Government Man
• Ronnie Weaver as Government Man
• Olivia Pinion as Partygoer
• Nancy Mann as Partygoer
• Lewis Helm as Partygoer
• Jeanie Wilson as Mary Bennett
• Rod Paxton as Buddy Williams
• The Wildcats as Themselves

Choice dialogue:

“Ooh, you dirty young man. C’mon, let’s get next to nature!”

Sheriff Clint Crawford: “Look punk, don’t ever call me fuzz!”

Offline reading:

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb