‘A beautiful woman by day – A lusting queen wasp by night.’

The Wasp Woman is a 1959 American science fiction horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman (who also plays a cameo as a doctor in the film) from a screenplay by Leo Gordon. It stars Susan Cabot, Fred Eisley and Barboura Morris.

To pad out the running time when the film was released on television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill (Spider Baby).

Corman remade the film for cable television in 1995.

The founder and owner of a large cosmetics company, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), is disturbed when her firm’s sales begin to drop after it becomes apparent to her customer base that she is aging. Scientist Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) has been able to extract enzymes from the royal jelly of the queen wasp that can reverse the aging process. Starlin agrees to fund further research, at great cost, provided she can serve as his human subject.

Displeased with the slowness of the results she breaks into the scientist’s laboratory and injects herself with extra doses of the formula. Zinthrop becomes aware that some of the test creatures are becoming violent and goes to warn Janice but before he can reach anyone he gets into a car accident. Janice continues her clandestine use of the serum and sheds twenty years’ in a single weekend, but soon discovers that she is periodically transformed into a murderous queen wasp…

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Reviews:

“… would certainly seem to offer little promise for those who expect more from a horror or science-fiction movie than a shitty monster suit and a woman in peril, but Corman and screenwriter Leo Gordon somehow managed to turn it into something startlingly serious and mature.” Richard Scheib, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“A passably well-made B movie but there is nothing remarkable to it. Most of the action is static and talky and the film drags, even though it only has a 73-minute running time. Indeed, The Wasp Woman is surely the first monster movie where the action is entirely limited to the confines of an office.” Moria

“Sure, it’s about as kitschy and cheesy as any late 50‘s/early 60‘s Roger Corman flick (one only needs to look at the dreadful movie poster to ascertain this), but with the benefit of hindsight we can look at the film now as a prescient satire on a society obsessed with appearance, beauty, and sexuality.” A Fistful of Cult

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“The Wasp Woman is seen by some as Roger Corman’s heart-felt protest at how society undervalues women over the age of forty, as true today as ever. Others argue The Wasp Woman is evidence of Roger’s sincere belief that a shameless rip-off of  The Fly (1958), a big money-earner for 20th Century Fox the previous year, would earn similar profits for him.” HorrorNews

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Cast and characters:

• Susan Cabot as Janice Starlin
• Fred Eisley as Bill Lane
• Barboura Morris as Mary Dennison
• William Roerick as Arthur Cooper
• Michael Mark as Dr. Eric Zinthrop
• Frank Gerstle as Les Hellman
• Bruno VeSota as Night Watchman
• Roy Gordon as Paul Thompson
• Carolyn Hughes as Jean Carson
• Lynn Cartwright as Maureen Reardon
• Frank Wolff as Delivery Man
• Lani Mars as Secretary
• Philip Barry as Delivery Man

Offline reading:

How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger Corman with Jim Jerome, Da Capo Press, New York, USA, 1998

The Films of Roger Corman by Alan Frank, Batsford , London, UK, 1998

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‘Crawling horror… rising from the depths of Hell… to kill and conquer!’

Attack of the Giant Leeches is a 1959 American science fiction horror film directed by Bernard L. Kowalski (Night of the Blood Beast; Sssssss) from a screenplay by Leo Gordon. It was produced by Gene Corman and was released by American International Pictures (AIP).

The film was one of a spate of monster movies produced during the 1950s in response to cold war fears; at one point, a character speculates that the leeches have been mutated to giant size by atomic radiation from nearby Cape Canaveral.

Has also been released as Attack of the Blood Leeches, Demons of the Swamp, She Demons of the Swamp, and The Giant Leeches.

In the Florida Everglades, a pair of larger-than-human, intelligent leeches live in an underwater cave. They begin dragging locals down to their cave, where they slowly feed on them, draining their victims of blood. Two of the first victims of the leeches are local vixen Liz Walker (Vickers), who has been cheating on her husband (Bruno VeSota), and Liz’s latest paramour.

Game warden Steve Benton (Clark) sets out to investigate their disappearance. Aided by his girlfriend, Nan Grayson (Sheppard), and her father, Doc Grayson, Benton discovers the leeches’ underwater cavern. The creatures are destroyed when Steve, Doc and several state troopers blow up their underwater cavern using dynamite.

Reviews:

“Yvette Vickers manages to fairly much steal the show with her performance here, winding husband Bruno VeSota around her little finger or sensually oiling her legs in the middle of a scene. Bernard L. Kowalski generates passable atmosphere and tension during the searches and all the lurking around the swamps.” Moria: Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy

“Save for one serious, heartbreaking scene, Leeches is all about laughing along with the movie as the predictable plot winds down and plays off all the cliches in the book. The main reason to watch these monsters Attack is to laugh at the garbage bag style “effects” and you’ll without a doubt spend most of the film’s short 60 minute running time giggling at the escapades of the hick characters.” Oh, the Horror!

“The sound effects are slurpy and squishy fun. The bizarre and way quirky soundtrack by Alexander Laszlo is pure brilliance… A decent story and dialog with a banner B-Movie performance by Yvette Vickers that is worth the price of admission. The creature is cheesy; no denying it, but it isn’t without its charms.” Goregirl’s Dungeon

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“ludicrous hybrid of white trash and monster genres” Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide

Cast and characters:

• Ken Clark as Steve Benton
• Yvette Vickers as Liz Walker
• Jan Shepard as Nan Greyson
• Michael Emmet as Cal Moulton
• Tyler McVey as Doc Greyson
• Bruno VeSota as Dave Walker
• Gene Roth as Sheriff Kovis
• Dan White as Porky Reed
• George Cisar as Lem Sawyer
• Joseph Hamilton as Old Sam Peters
• Walter Kelley as Mike
• Guy Buccola as Giant Leech
• Ross Sturlin as Giant Leech

Filming locations:

The film was shot over eight days, including outdoor sequences at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Wikipedia | IMDb

Yvette Vickers in a cheesecake publicity shot:

‘All that was left after…’

The Killer Shrews is a 1959 American science fiction horror film directed by Ray Kellogg. It was filmed near Dallas, Texas, back-to-back with The Giant Gila Monster by producers Ken Curtis and Gordon McLendon.

Special effects were provided by first-time director Kellogg, who served as the head of Twentieth Century-Fox’s special effects department throughout most of the 1950s.  Close-ups of the shrews were filmed using hand puppets, and for the wider shots, coonhounds (hunting dogs) were costumed as the shrews. According to a Variety review, the film cost $123,000 to produce.

A new colorized version has been released alongside The Giant Gila Monster as a double feature by Legend Films.

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A sequel, Return of the Killer Shrews, was produced in 2012, again starring Best as Thorne Sherman. The length of time between the original film’s release and the sequel’s release (over fifty-four years) is one of the longest between film sequels in history.

Thorne Sherman and his first mate Griswold deliver supplies to a group on a remote island. The group, consisting of a scientist named Marlowe Cragis, his research assistant Radford Baines, the scientist’s daughter Ann, her fianceé Jerry Farrell, and a servant named Mario, meet the captain and his first mate and advise them to stay with them in a house because a hurricane is approaching.

On the island, a doctor works to make humans half-size. This, apparently, will reduce world hunger as smaller humans would presumably eat less. Unfortunately, his experiments have also created some giant, venomous shrews.

Reviews:

“The “shrews” in this film are actually dogs that have been dressed in what looks like shredded afghan rugs with prosthetic heads strapped on. The close-ups are classic puppet heads with ridiculous fangs and plastic-like eyes but don’t be fooled. While that might sound ridiculous (and honestly it is) they are still freaking scary looking and if one of those things popped up in a dark room… I shudder” Forgotten Flix

“Hiding beneath the bargain-basement special effects is an extremely economical, shockingly suspenseful movie, with unexpectedly complex characters, a fast-moving, engaging story, and quite a bit of imagination. Neither Craigis nor Baines is the stereotypical mad movie scientist, nor is Sherman the stereotypical two-fisted 50’s hero…” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“There’s such a wonderful sense of ineptitude to Ray Kellog’s direction that this is fun to watch.” John Stanley, Creature Features

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“The Killer Shrews is full of ideas. The character of Jerry is a true jerk, and you can’t wait to see him get gobbled up by the shrews. Ann is likable, shown as both smart and a typical horror film lady of yesteryear that needs some assistance from the male lead. Captain Thorne is not acted as well as the supporting cast, but he still keeps up believability. The shots of the shrews trying to break into the house keep the captive theme alive.” Josh G., Oh, the Horror!

” …if they fell back on the cliché of killing off the black guy early on (another, less welcome aspect that horror movies to come would embrace) then the way they get out of their chewy shelter was an innovative one. Of course, it was amusing to make jokes about this, but for what it was, it was fair.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

Cast and characters:

• James Best as Captain Thorne Sherman
• Ingrid Goude as Ann Cragis
• Ken Curtis as Jerry Farrell
• Gordon McLendon as Dr. Radford Baines
• Baruch Lumet as Dr. Marlowe Cragis
• “Judge” Henry Dupree as First Mate Rook Griswold
• Alfred DeSoto as Mario

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Wikipedia | IMDb | AFI

Image credits: Zombos’ Closet

‘The screen’s 300,000 volt shocker!’

Indestructible Man is a 1955 American science fiction horror film produced and directed by Jack Pollexfen (The Neanderthal Man; Captive Women; The Man from Planet X) from a screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins. It stars Lon Chaney, Jr., Marian Carr and Casey Adams.

The picture was produced independently by C.G.K. Productions. It was distributed theatrically in the United States by Allied Artists Pictures from 18 March 1956 on a double-bill with World Without End.

Police detective Dick Chasen (Max Showalter) narrates a bizarre story that concerns a 72-hour period of horror for the city of Los Angeles.

Charles “Butcher” Benton (Chaney) is a double-crossed convicted robber and murderer who was executed in the gas chamber. His body is unlawfully sold to a scientist (Robert Shayne) who plans to move his experiments into the cause and cure of cancer to human subjects. Benton’s corpse is subjected to chemical injection and massive jolts of high-voltage electricity in order to study the effect on human tissues.

However, Benton’s heart is restimulated and he completely revives (though rendered mute due to electrical damage to his vocal cords), immensely strong and with skin virtually impervious to scalpels, police bullets, even to bazooka shells…

Reviews:

“It is a rather lame story that seems more like a plot of an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits than a feature film (maybe that is why it is only 70 minutes long). The movie isn’t very good and it isn’t very fun… there is a reason it is often a bargain B-Movie.” JP Roscoe, Basement Rejects

“There are many moments of lunacy: the map to the stolen money has no landmarks or writing on it, save for a big “X”; the professor’s assistant apparently drives Chaney’s freshly-executed corpse home in the back of his car; Chaney’s stripper girlfriend eagerly agrees to go out with the lieutenant tracking him down when the detective reveals his first name is “Dick” (!).” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“The worst of it is that Chaney doesn’t even get much chance to do what little acting he was capable of; his only dialogue is in the opening scene between Benton and Lowe, and after that he pretty much just stumbles around looking angry in between extended extreme close-ups on his puffy eyes and bulbous, alcohol-ravaged nose.” Scott Ashlin, 1,000 Misspent Hours and Counting

” …quite a good piece of film noir; dialogue, structure and cinematography all make it quite clear where the movie’s allegiances lie. It owes debts, too, to the horror genre, not only in the person of its star but also in some later moments of grue and in particular in its frequent default to creepily lit close-ups of the Butcher’s crazed eyes.” John Grant, Noirish

Cast and characters:

• Lon Chaney, Jr. as Charles “Butcher” Benton
• Casey Adams as Lt. Richard “Dick” Chasen – The Giant Claw; The Face of Marble
• Marian Carr as Eva Martin, a burlesque artiste
• Ross Elliott as Paul Lowe
• Stuart Randall as Captain John Lauder
• Marvin Press as Henchman “Squeamy” Ellis
• Ken Terrell as Henchman Joe Marcelli
• Roy Engel as The Desk Sergeant
• Robert Foulk as Harry the Bartender
• Robert Shayne as Dr. Bradshaw – The Monster that Challenged the World 
• Joe Flynn as Bradshaw’s Assistant
• Peggy Maley as Francine, a burlesque artiste
• Marjorie Bennett as Floozie at Bar

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Bradshaw: “No, no, it’s too late for the amyl nitrate.”

Captain John Lauder: “These reports sound like they come from a bunch of loonies!”

Film locations:

Angels Flight, Los Angeles, California, USA
Bradbury Building, Los Angeles, California, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb | AFI |  Internet Archive

Artwork by Albert Kallis (later re-used for The Embalmer, 1965)

Night of the Blood Beast is a 1958 American science-fiction horror film directed by Bernard L. Kowalski (Attack of the Giant Leeches; Sssssss) from a screenplay by first-time screenwriter Martin Varno, who was 21 years-old. It starred several actors who had regularly worked with executive producer Roger Corman, including Michael Emmet, Ed Nelson, Steve Dunlap, Georgianna Carter and Tyler McVey.

It took Varno six weeks to write the script, the original working title of which was Creature from Galaxy 27. Screenwriters Jerome Bixby and Harold Jacob Smith gave Varno uncredited assistance with the dialogue. With a budget of about $68,000, it was shot over seven days at the Charlie Chaplin Studios, Bronson Canyon and a television station on Mount Lee in Hollywood.

The Blood Beast alien costume was also previously used in the Roger Corman film Teenage Caveman (1958), which was filmed just two weeks earlier. Art director Daniel Haller, who built the rocketship and other props, slept at the sound stage between work sessions.

Following dissatisfaction with his treatment by the Cormans, Varno pursued two successful arbitration cases, one of which was for underpayment. The other was in response to Gene Corman’s original story writing credit, even though Varno claimed to have written the entire story himself.

Reviews:

“The claustrophobic atmosphere of the first act evaporates into a cloud of endless disputation as soon as Corcoran wakes up, as he and his four companions scour the surrounding hills for the monster’s lair, arguing all the while over whether the alien is an unspeakable menace, or simply misunderstood. The climax is a particularly spectacular botch-job…” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

” …the titular creature in this disaster looks like a human-sized parrot covered in feces. I’m not quite sure what the f*ck the filmmakers were going for, but not only does the alien look ridiculous, it also speaks with the intonation of a movie trailer voice-over artist.” Chris Eggertson, Bloody Disgusting

“Night of the Blood Beast is a good example of the souring of the monster quickie in the late 1950s. Cheap productions kept being made after the novelty wore off, but something was missing. This particular programmer shows some good actors struggling to work with terrible material and coming up with a surprisingly uninteresting show.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

” …this movie suffers from poor exposition, lackluster direction, and uninspired performances, all of which contribute to making the movie a lot duller than it should have been.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“Budget restraints limit this to just three locations; the lab, the woods and the cave. The same meager means ensure this is heavy on talk and low on actual action. This film’s title (and poster) will probably rope in the wrong kind of audience. I’m sure many have felt led astray expecting cheap thrills and Blood Beast action…” Justin McKinnaey, The Bloody Pit of Horror

Main cast and characters:

• Michael Emmet as Major John Corcoran
• Angela Greene as Dr. Julie Benson
• John Baer as Steve Dunlap
• Ed Nelson as Dave Randal
• Georgianna Carter as Donna Bixby
• Tyler McVey as Dr. Alex Wyman
• Ross Sturlin as The Creature

Filming locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Offline reading:

How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger Corman with Jim Jerome, Da Capo Press, 1998

Wikipedia | Internet Archive

Similar: First Man into Space

The Veil is an American horror/suspense anthology television series produced in 1958 by Hal Roach Studios and filmed in England at Elstree Studios.

The series was hosted by Boris Karloff, who also acted in every episode but one and was allegedly based upon real-life reports of supernatural happenings and the unexplained.

Unfortunately, The Veil was never broadcast. Troubles within the studio resulted in production being cancelled after only ten episodes (an additional episode titled ‘Jack the Ripper’ had been produced by another studio and was acquired by the Roach Studios; Boris Karloff only introduces the episode). This was considered too few to justify sales to a network or to syndication.

In the late 1960s, footage from several episodes was combined to make films that aired on late night television. Ten episodes were released to the public in their entirety for the first time in the 1990s and were subsequently been released on DVD by Something Weird Video.

In 1999, “Lifting the Veil of Mystery,” a Tom Weaver article on the making of the series, appeared in issue #29 of Cult Movies magazine. The article was later expanded into the book Scripts from the Crypt: The Veil which featured the scripts of several episodes, the series’ history, a chapter on Boris Karloff’s career as a TV anthology host, etc. Contributors included Weaver, Dr. Robert J. Kiss and Barbara Bibas Montero, daughter of the series’ producer Frank Bibas.

For many years it was generally assumed that only ten episodes of The Veil were filmed, and two extra titles (“The Vestris” and “Peggy”) were “alternative titles”. However, in 2009 Timeless Media Group/Shout! Factory released a 2-DVD set of twelve episodes of The Veil under the title Tales of the Unexplained that included those two. ‘The Vestris’ was an episode of anthology series Telephone Time in 1958, that served as an unofficial pilot for the series.

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Episodes:

• “The Vestris” – with Torin Thatcher and Rita Lynn (actually an episode of the anthology series Telephone Time, but it served as an unofficial pilot for the series
• “Vision of Crime” with Robert Hardy, Patrick Macnee and Jennifer Raine
• “Girl on the Road” with Tod Andrews and Eve Brent
• “Food on the Table” with Kay Stewart and Tudor Owen
• “The Doctors” with Tony Travis and Argentina Brunetti
• “The Crystal Ball” with Booth Colman and Roxane Berard
• “Genesis” with Katherine Squire and Peter Miller
• “Summer Heat” with Harry Bartell and Paul Bryar
• “The Return of Madame Vernoy” with Lee Torrance, Jean del Val and George Hamilton)
• “Destination Nightmare” with Ron Hagerthy and Myron Healey
• “Jack the Ripper” with Niall MacGinnis and Dorothy Alison
• “Whatever Happened To Peggy?” with Denise Alexander, Whit Bissell and Olive Blakeney

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘A creature from beyond the stars. Evil… Beautiful… Deadly!’

The Astounding She-Monster – promoted as The Astounding She Monster – is a 1957 American science fiction horror film directed, edited and produced by Ronald V. Ashcroft (assistant director on Ed D. Wood Jr.’s Night of the Ghouls) from a screenplay by Frank Hall. It stars Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan and Marilyn Harvey.

In Britain, the film was released as Mysterious Invader.

A group of criminals who have kidnapped an heiress take over a geologist’s home in a secluded forest to hide in. A UFO crashes nearby and an alien resembling a beautiful woman emerges – however, she’s highly radioactive and can kill with her bare touch. She starts stalking and killing the other characters…

Reviews:

“Ronnie Ashcroft’s direction is almost entirely static – the film is shot in long, wide angles, something that low-budget directors like because it requires less camera set-ups, something that on the other hand also proves dramatically stultifying.” Richard Scheib, Moria: Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film

” …definitely one of the cheapest, most laughable sci-fi films, but it’s not without charm if you dig Grade Z stuff from that era. You get bad “day for night” photography, ludicrous stock music (that later graced The Beast of Yucca Flats), unconvincingly blended-in stock footage, hammy acting (especially Duncan as the tough but somewhat likable hood), and really cheesy dialog.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“The only point of interest in this clumsily directed, silly film is its misogynistic attitude toward women in its association of female beauty with evil, and unconventional independence with male fears of castration. The point is even more forceful for being so unselfconsciously expressed in [Frank] Hall’s wooden screenplay.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction

“Blatantly cheap, ineptly paced and “Woodenly” acted, The Astounding She-Monster is one no-budget wonder that truly is astounding… but not in any way that reflects favourably on anyone involved in it.” John Wilson, The Official Razzie Movie Guide

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“Pitiful Grade D thriller. Amateurish waste of film…” Castle of Frankenstein

“…feeble and ridiculous contribution to the science fiction library, weakly scripted and poorly acted.” Monthly Film Bulletin

“There’s absolutely nothing astounding about The Astounding She-Monster unless it’s how astoundingly bad the movie is. Director Ashcroft employs static wide shots in most scenes, with little in the way of dynamic editing to enliven the action. The acting and screenplay are pedestrian, and while the alien femme fatale might have been made into an intriguing, complex character, she is rendered mute and reduced to a homicidal cipher.” Paul Meehan, Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir

“Dimly scripted, dimply photographed and dimly directed, only the Astounding She-Monster herself is minimally brighter than the movie.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

Cast and characters:

• Robert Clarke … Dick Cutler – The Naked Monster; Haunting Fear; Alienator; Midnight Movie Massacre; Frankenstein Island; The Hideous Sun Demon; The Man from Planet X
• Kenne Duncan … Nat Burdell – Night of the Ghouls
• Marilyn Harvey … Margaret Chaffee – Rosemary’s Baby
• Jeanne Tatum … Esther Malone – Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow
• Shirley Kilpatrick … The She-Monster
• Ewing Miles Brown … Brad Conley – The Curse of the Gorgon; Blood of Dracula’s Castle; Giant from the Unknown
• Al Avalon … Radio Newscaster [uncredited]
• Scott Douglas … Narrator [uncredited]

Filming locations:

Frazier National Park, outside of Los Angeles; Griffith Park in Los Angeles; and Larchmont Studios in Hollywood have been cited as specific locations.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Image credits: 3B Movie Theater Poster Archive

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‘The fantastic night of terror that menaced the fate of the world!’

Devil Girl from Mars is a 1954 British science fiction film directed by David MacDonald from a screenplay by James Eastwood and John C. Maher. It was produced by Edward J. Danziger and Harry Lee Danziger. The film stars Patricia Laffan, Hugh McDermott, Adrienne Corri, and Hazel Court.

Nyah (Patricia Laffan), a female alien commander from Mars, heads for London in her flying saucer. She is part of the advanced alien team that is looking for Earth men to replace the dying male population on her world.

Because of damage to her saucer, caused by entering Earth’s atmosphere and then colliding with an aircraft, Nyah is forced to land her damaged flying saucer in the remote Scottish moors, near a local village. She is armed with a raygun that can paralyze or kill, and she also has a tall, menacing robot named Chani…

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Review:

A pioneering slice of British science fiction from 1954 – before Hammer’s Quatermass Xperiment opened the floodgates for the genre – Devil Girl from Mars is something of a curiosity. Too well directed by directed by David MacDonald to be hilarious but too trashy to take seriously, it’s an odd – and very British – take on the genre.

The film takes place entirely within a Scottish highlands inn out in the middle of nowhere, making it also a pioneer in the ‘British movies set in a pub’ sub-genre. The first half of the film introduces the characters – there’s inn owners Mr and Mrs Jamieson (John Laurie and Sophie Stewart) who have the sort of ‘hen-pecked husband / no-nonsense wife’ relationship so beloved in British culture, mysterious and well dressed Ellen Prestwick (Hazel Court), irritating child Tommy (Anthony Richmond) and barmaid Doris (Adrienne Corri), who has moved to Scotland to be close to ex-boyfriend Robert (Peter Reynolds), who is in prison after killing his wife.

It just so happens that Robert has escaped, and he turns up at the inn to hide out, employed by the Jamieson’s as a handyman. Unfortunately for him, Professor Arnold Hennessey (Joseph Tomelty) and reporter Michael Carter (Hugh McDermott) also turn up, having gotten lost while travelling to investigate claims of a crashed meteor, and Carter immediately recognises him. But before this revelation can go anywhere, events are interrupted by the arrival of a spaceship, carrying Martian Devil Girl Nyah (Patricia Laffan).

She’s quite the sight in her fetish wear cape and mini dress, black stockinged and booted legs and general dominatrix aura, and when she announces that she has come to take men back to Mars for the purpose of breeding (the Martian men having been rendered sexually useless after a war between men and women), you’d think there would be no shortage of volunteers. But thanks to a miscalculation, rather than landing in London, she’s arrived at a near-empty pub where half the men seem to be pensioners and everyone seems more interested in having a cup of tea.

Nyah does her best to convince them she means business – her ray gun disintegrates trees and tractors, and when she rolls out robot Chani – for no obvious reason, given that he does very little – everyone is amazed, including the audience who will probably fall off their chairs laughing at this extraordinarily clunky machine – imagine Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still made from toilet rolls and sticky-backed plastic. Seeing she means business, the men cut cards to see who will have to sacrifice his stiff upper lip and travel to Mars to be used as a sex toy – though their cunning plan is for whoever takes the trip to sabotage the ship and destroy it.

Devil Girl from Mars is nevertheless better than you might expect – though if this is a good thing or not is debatable. Certainly, in the pre-Martian part of the film, things plod when they ought to gallop, with characters introduced slowly and events spelled out by a radio announcer (saving on additional shooting to show the meteor and letting us know who is who before they are even seen on screen).

The film’s origins as a stage play are all too obvious. However, the performances are better than you’d expect in such a film – old fans and future talents like Laurie, Hammer star Court and Corri ensure that the film never slides into high camp. Of course, the characters are fairly weak – McDermott in particular seems so horrible and arrogant and has such an annoying transatlantic accent that the idea of Court falling for him within a couple of hours seems even more ridiculous than it otherwise would.

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The arrival of the Devil Girl livens things up considerably of course. Laffan gives a haughty performances that is perfect for her space-dom character and plays the whole thing as if it is high-art. These moments of quality ensure that the film never becomes a hilarious Bad Movie, which is a pity, because it has all the right elements – but stubbornly refusing to play along, Devil Girl from Mars is simply too solid a film to ever work as a Good Bad Film, the high-camp of Nyah’s costume and her clunky robot assistant aside.

Still, that’s not to say you won’t get a lot of pleasure from the movie. There is much fun to be had here, not all of it intentional, and it’s better – certainly more memorable – than a lot of 1950s American sci-fi.

David Flint, HORRORPEDIA

Other reviews:

“Obviously, the striking Patricia Laffan as Nyah steals all her scenes, mainly due to her ahead-of-its-time black leather mini-skirt and long legs. She doesn’t have to overplay her lines, because they’re already pretty silly. The film doesn’t out stay its welcome, if you like fifties sci-fi and you’re forewarned about the tiny ‘pub invasion’ scenario, this shouldn’t disappoint.” Black Hole Reviews

“There is way too much talk in this flick, and what little action it contains is far too enclosed for the movie’s good […] Even with a Martian S&M queen running around zapping people with rayguns and siccing the galaxy’s shittiest robot on sheds and trees and shrubberies, there are long stretches of this movie that are soul-suckingly dull.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“hilariously solemn, high camp British imitation of U. S. cheapies” Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide

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“Devil Girl from Mars is not without its charms: Nyah’s bright black get-up, complete with a glossy helmet, is certainly an attention-grabber, and her robot sidekick is so phenomenally goofy that I couldn’t help but admire it […] But as far as entertainment value goes, Devil Girl from Mars relies a little too heavily on the spoken word to generate any real excitement.” Dave Becker, 2,500 Movies Challenge

” …rather set bound and high on talk and corny melodrama. Keeping the whole thing mildly amusing is Laffan, who’s pretty hilarious as the bitchy, humorless, short-skirted alien who seems to take great pleasure in tormenting the humans […] Dated special effects (thought not too horribly bad for the time) and some laughable lines (one of the hysterical females notes “I’m scared! Nothing like this has ever happened to me before!”) are good for assorted chuckles throughout.” Justin McKinney, The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Leave it to the British, the only people more sexually repressed than Americans, to make a movie about a creature from Mars seeking to mate with earthlings that’s less sexy than a science lecture on the periodic table of elements. Throw in acting below the standards of rural community theatre, plus “Martian” props and costumes already outdated when they were created in 1954, and you have all the ingredients of Devil Girl from Mars…” John Wilson, The Official Razzie Movie Guide

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“Devil Girl from Mars has gained a reputation as a bad film. In truth, though it has its occasionally absurd moments today, it is neither any better nor any worse than any other science-fiction film produced in the same equivalent budget arena during this decade […] With her cold, haughty demeanour and clad in a PVC mini-skirt and cape, what Patricia Laffan’s Devil Girl looks like today is a dominatrix from outer space (which was almost certainly not intended at the time).” Richard Scheib, Moria

“Settings, dialogue, characterisation and special effects are of a low order, but even their modest unreality has its charm. There is really no fault in this film that one would like to see eliminated. Everything, in its way, is quite perfect. This primitive effort at science fiction is quite enjoyably ludicrous.” Monthly Film Bulletin, 1954

Choice dialogue:

“It’s not every day we have a distinguished professor from London, a writer for the newspapers and a right purdy lady staying here, so drinks on the house!”

Buy DVD: Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Patricia Laffan as Nyah, the Devil Girl
• Hugh McDermott as Michael Carter
• Hazel Court as Ellen Prestwick
• Peter Reynolds as Robert Justin/Albert Simpson
• Adrienne Corri as Doris
• Joseph Tomelty as Professor Arnold Hennessey
• John Laurie as Mr. Jamieson
• Sophie Stewart as Mrs. Jamieson

Release:

In the UK, the film was released by British Lion Films.

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘He walks through walls of solid steel and stone!’

4D Man – aka The Evil Force (UK); Master of Terror (US reissue) – is a 1959 American science fiction film directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (Dinosaurus!; The Blob, 1958) from a screenplay by Theodore Simonson and Cy Chermak. It was produced by Jack H. Harris (The Blob franchise; Schlock; Equinox) and stars Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, and James Congdon.

The Fairview production was released in the U.S. by Universal-International.

Brilliant but irresponsible scientist Tony Nelson (James Congdon) develops an electronic amplifier that he hopes will allow any object to achieve a 4th dimensional (4D) state. While in this state any object can pass freely through any other object.

Tony, however, fails to pay attention to the overload, which sparks an electrical fire that burns down his lab. This results in the university terminating his contract. Now unemployed, Tony seeks out his brother Scott (Robert Lansing) to help him with his experiment…

Reviews:

“Yeaworth’s direction is unsteady; some of the blocking results in odd eyelines, (Meriwether somehow ends up looking cross-eyed in her first glamour close-up!) and there are as many static scenes as there are dynamic ones. But the non-Hollywood effort is refreshing in its lack of slickness.”Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

“It’s especially good in developing the characters; you’d expect bold, daring Tony to end up as the man who can walk through walls, but instead, it’s dull ol’ Scott. And yet the script carefully prepares us for this as well. The special effects of Lansing passing through walls, chairs, even people, are bold and imaginative, but always give themselves away with a visible matte line.” Bill Warren, Audio Video Revolution

“The character of Scott Nelson (excellently played by Robert Lansing) is so well established and the circumstances of his situation so well set forth that you understand fully why he takes to crime once he develops his abilities; these decisions don’t seem arbitrary or convenient.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“First, there’s the acting, which exhibits that same mix of wildly excessive over- and underacting that characterized the original Star Trek series, though admittedly not to such jaw-dropping degrees. Second, and perhaps more importantly, 4D Man is saddled with what must surely be the most utterly inappropriate background music in the history of cinematic science fiction. Every single scene unfolds to the distracting accompaniment of cacophonous beatnik jazz.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

” …the effects work in particular is very good. The film has an original and interesting idea, even if it is given a series of absurd explanations with nonsense about time being speeded up somehow allowing objects to pass through one another. Irvin S. Yeaworth gives it a scary, suspenseful edge.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“The disparity between the vitality of the younger characters and Scott’s corruption of that same thing proves surprisingly effective for what was a B-movie, but as with The Blob it was the pleasing simplicity of the central notion which made this interesting. Unexpectedly loud jazz score by Ralph Carmichael.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“This is a plausible bit of scientific hocus, and the compact story has enough to please the majority.” Kine Weekly“Rather too much of an emphasis on a hackneyed romance tends to hold up the proceedings but the film moves briskly enough, the idea is well used and the special effects effective.” Alan Franks, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Handbook, Batsford, 1982

Cast and characters:

• Robert Lansing as Dr. Scott Nelson – The Nest; Monsters TV series; Island Claws; Empire of the Ants; The Evil Touch TV series; Journey to the Unknown TV series
• Lee Meriwether as Linda Davis – The Munsters Today TV Series; Batman: The Movie (1966)
• James Congdon as Dr. Tony Nelson – When Worlds Collide
• Robert Strauss as Roy Parker – The Munsters TV series
• Edgar Stehli as Dr. Theodore W. Carson
• Patty Duke as Marjorie Sutherland – Grave Secrets: The Legacy of HilltopDrive; Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes; The Swarm; Curse of the Black Widow; Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby?; Night Gallery TV series
• Guy Raymond as Fred
• Chic James as B-girl
• Elbert Smith as Capt. Rogers
• George Karas as Sgt. Todaman
• Jasper Deeter as Dr. Welles
• Dean Newman as Dr. Brian Schwartz
• John Benson as reporter

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: The B-Movie Catechism

The Screaming Skull is a 1958 American horror film, written and produced by John Kneubuhl (Two on a Guillotine), inspired by the short story of the same name by Francis Marion Crawford. It was directed by Alex Nicol (A*P*E; The Night God Screamed; Point of Terror), who also plays the gardener). It stars John Hudson, Peggy Webber, and Russ Conway.

The film’s cinematographer was Floyd Crosby who worked with Roger Corman several times, especially on key genre movies such as House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961).

In the United States, American International Pictures (AIP) released the film on a double-bill with Terror from the Year 5,000.

On April 25, 2017, The Screaming Skull was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Opening narration: “The Screaming Skull is a motion picture that reaches its climax in shocking horror. Its impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect. It may *kill* you! The producers would like to offer a free burial service to anyone who dies of shock…”

A newly-wed woman (Peggy Webber) believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her husband’s previous wife…

Buy on DVD with The Vampire + The Bat People + The House That Screamed from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … for a directorial debut, it demonstrates remarkable credibility and resourcefulness, and for a horror film of its station and era, it earns a well-deserved niche in the curator’s mind. It’s a nice example of what people used to call a “sleeper.” Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog

” …gets a lot of mileage out of the creepy half-empty house as well as the surprise appearances of the titular skull.  The final sequence in which Eric himself gets attacked by the vengeance seeking skull is particularly memorable.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

“Nicol evidently didn’t have much of a budget to work with, though he was able to select a nice location with the country house and its surrounding gardens, and though The Screaming Skull began in rather pedestrian manner stick with it since it only lasted barely over an hour, and in that time it built up a neat amount of mayhem within its meagre means. The best idea it had was to take what was clearly hokum deadly seriously…” Graeme Clarke, The Spinning Image

” … it’s possible to find some kind of meaning in the character relationships – parallel drownings, an ex-wife resembling the new wife’s mother, etc. But there’s neither enough quality nor enough camp to make the flick rewarding.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy Claws & Saucers: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“Crosby’s camerawork is superb, and there are some nicely macabre moments (birds screeching all around, grinning skulls popping out of a dark pool) … Nicol, an actor directing here for the first time, let’s the action spin out much too slackly…” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Director Alex Nicol as Mickey the gardener

“But while some of the tension is very good and the story is well told within its brief 68 minute runtime, The Screaming Skull cannot escape the silliness of the bland acting, naff script and rolling skull […] For everything it does right, it does twenty things wrong.” The Flickering Myth

Buy 12 Cult Classics DVD: Amazon.com

” …the earnest atmospherics, and perfectly ambiguous ending set this one apart. No, it’s not a masterpiece. But it’s classic late ’50s matinee fun.” The Terror Trap

“The Screaming Skull opens with a [William] Castle-ish gimmick, and the film definitely belongs to the Castle school of horror: a little cheesy, a little suspenseful, a whole lot of fun. The film isn’t quite as high-quality as any of Castle’s many immensely enjoyable outings, but it’s still a pretty good watch… Lindsey D., The Motion Pictures

“No movie should be repetitious if it is only 68 minutes long […] You could easily cut this movie to under an hour and not lose anything. In fact, The Screaming Skull for the most part comes across as a bad episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents…” Duane, Rogue Cinema

Main cast and characters:

• Jon Hudson … Eric Whitlock
• Peggy Webber … Jenni Whitlock
• Russ Conway … Reverand Edward Snow
• Tony Johnson … Mrs. Snow
• Alex Nicol … Mickey, the Gardener

Choice dialogue:

“Hardly seems fair, using the living to bring back the dead.”

Wikipedia | IMDb | American Film Institute

Image credits: Video Watchdog

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‘Young pawns thrust into pulsating cages of horror in a sadistic experiment!’

Teenage Zombies – re-release title Teenage Torture – is a 1957 [released 1960] American science fiction horror film written [as Jaques Lecotier], produced and directed by Jerry Warren (Creature of the Walking Dead; Face of the Screaming Werewolf; Curse of the Stone Hand). The movie stars Don Sullivan, Katherine Victor and Steve Conte.

The film’s soundtrack score was recycled from Kronos (1957).

Warren revisited some elements of the plot for Frankenstein Island (1981).

While boating, a quartet of teenagers, Reg (Don Sullivan), Skip (Paul Pepper), Julie (Mitzie Albertson), and Pam (Brianne Murphy), accidentally discover an island run by a mad scientist named Doctor Myra who, backed by foreign agents from “the East”, intends to turn everyone in the United States into a zombie.

The teenagers become trapped on the island, and are temporarily imprisoned in cages. They are freed when other teenagers arrive with the sheriff (who turns out to be in league with Doctor Myra).

A complicated fight scene serves as the climax, in which a de-zombified gorilla arrives just in time to attack Dr. Myra’s henchmen and allow the teens to escape. When they are safely back on the mainland, it is implied that the teens will receive a reward for discovering the island, and will have an audience with the President of the United States.

On November 10, 2015, Vinegar Syndrome issued the film on a DVD double-bill with 1959 nudie western Revenge of the Virgins (co-written by Edward D. Wood Jr.). Both films are presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen in black and white transfers taken from 2K scans of the original 35mm negatives.

Buy Vinegar Syndrome DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“To some, Teenage Zombies is a fun and hilariously bad movie. To most, it’s absolute torture to sit through. Either way, it’s cheap, poorly filmed, endlessly talky, slow-moving, technically inept, bargain basement garbage. The acting and dialogue are both terrible, nearly the entire thing is comprised of medium shots which seem to go on forever… The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Teenage Zombies is often considered one of the worst horror films ever made. The claustrophobic sets–the ice cream parlor, the general’s headquarters (complete with large map), the police station, and Victor’s lab–all look like they were shot in someone’s house, and it’s enough to make Eddie Wood blush.” DVD Drive-in

“Entire scenes will go by in one master shot, even when only one person speaks throughout the whole thing. Occasional (very occasional) close-ups seem jarringly out of place on the rare times they occur, and you get the impression that they are being used to hide edits than the result of any sort of creative decision. I think there are about 100 cuts in the entire movie.” Horror Movie a Day

“To the stock music that in no way matches any of the film over which it blares — to gargantuan plot holes, non-existent special effects, and an ending that just sort of drags on and on like an elaborate but poorly constructed joke. Teenage Zombies has absolutely nothing going for it. But Teenage Zombies is hilariously awful, and at 70 or so minutes doesn’t overstay its welcome.” Horrorview.com

“Don’t expect much zombie action here, but the junky charms of this film are plentiful as it reels out pages and pages of ridiculous “gee, whiz!” dialogue, a clunky soundtrack cobbled together with stock music from other ’50s sci-fi films, and some juicy overacting from the villainous actors, not to mention “minimalist” sets that would get thrown out of most high school plays. Yep, this one’s a keeper.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“Teenage Zombies is only 70 minutes long, but that’s not exactly indicative of a breezy watch when it comes to awful films from this period. Manos was shorter, and we all know what kind of a ride that movie is! But thankfully, this move is never boring, and it gets into gear very quickly.” Not This Time, Nayland Smith

” …Teenage Zombies is a lot of good, dopey fun. It’s never even close to scary and very much a product of its time but that’s half the charm of a B picture like this. Warren keeps things moving at a pretty quick pace and has a tendency to throw in a strange plot device anytime the story seems like it’s going to slow down, so we wind up with a picture that is, if not particularly logical, pretty entertaining.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

Buy Alpha Video DVD: Amazon.com

“These are the types of zombies that were usually featured in the horror films of old – mindless beings who did whatever they were called upon to do by their masters and though not as fun as the brain-eating kind, they still had a charm about them. The most enjoyable part of it all was not the terrible acting or the hammy script, but the hypnotized ape who took his revenge in the end. Though it might have faults, more than a few even, Teenage Zombies is not the worst feature film that Warren would ever produce…” The Telltale Mind

Buy Bayview Entertainment DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“There are mad, unregulated scientists, Communist scare business, hunchbacks with their eyes rolled up in their head, drugged out “zombies”, awful fashions (check out Morrie and Dottie’s rolled up baggies and her perfectly hideous hairdo) and even a guy in a gorilla suit. I ask you, what’s not to love?” Third Eye Cinema

Cast and characters:

• Don Sullivan as Reg – The Giant Gila Monster; The Monster of Piedras Blancas 
• Katherine Victor as Doctor Myra – Cape Canaveral Monsters
• Steve Conte as Whorf
• J.L.D. Morrison as Brandt
• Brianne Murphy as Pam
• Paul Pepper as Skip
• Mitzie Albertson as Julie
• Jay Hawk as Morrie
• Mike Concannon as Sheriff
• Nan Green as Dotty
• Don Neeley as Major Coleman
• Mitch Evans as Gorilla
• Chuck Niles as Ivan

Running time:

73 minutes

Trivia:

Actress Brianne Murphy was married to Jerry Warren and was also the production coordinator and wardrobe supervisor. She went on to direct Blood Sabbath (1972) and become an Emmy-winning cinematographer. In 1980, she became the first female to shoot a major studio, union picture (Fatso). [Thanks to The Bloody Pit of Horror for this info.]

Wikipedia | IMDb | American Film Institute

Whole movie at the Internet Archive

Image credits: Third Eye Cinema | Wrong Side of the Art!

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‘See the two-headed killer creature!’

The Manster is a 1959 American horror feature film produced by George P. Breakston and directed by Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane (The Monster from Green Hell) from a screenplay by Walter J. Sheldon, based on Breakston’s story. It stars Peter Dyneley and Jane Hylton. The production was filmed in Japan and is also known as Doktor Satan (in Greece), The Split and The Two-Headed Monster.

On August 29, 2017, The Manster was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

American foreign news correspondent Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley) has been working out of Japan for the last few years to the detriment of his marriage. His last assignment before returning to his wife in the United States is an interview with the renowned but reclusive scientist Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura), who lives atop a volcanic mountain.

During the brief interview, Dr. Suzuki amiably discusses his work on evolution caused by sporadic cosmic rays in the atmosphere and professes that he has discovered a method for producing evolutionary change chemically.

Suzuki serves Larry a drugged libation, causing him to fall into a deep sleep. Announcing to Tara (Terri Zimmern), his voluptuous assistant, that Larry is the perfect candidate for his latest evolutionary experiments, he injects an unknown substance into Larry’s shoulder.

Upon waking, Larry is oblivious to the true situation and accepts Suzuki’s invitation to spend the next week vacationing with him around Japan. Over the next few days, Suzuki uses Tara as a beguiling distraction while conditioning Larry with mineral baths and copious amounts of alcohol, exacerbating the pain in Larry’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Larry’s estranged wife (played by Dyneley’s actual spouse Jane Hylton) has traveled to Japan to bring him back home with her. But when confronted, Larry refuses to leave his new life of women and carousing.

After a few drinks that night Larry examines his painful shoulder to discover that a large eyeball has grown at the spot of Dr. Suzuki’s injection…

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

” …one of those films that’s considered a bad movie favorite despite the fact it’s actually not really a bad movie. Sure, it’s utterly ridiculous and has some unintentional laughs here and there, but it’s not poorly made and there’s genuine imagination at work here. Some scenes are surprising and borderline surreal…” Justin McKinney, The Bloody Pit of Horror

” …easily one of the sleaziest, most enjoyably awful pieces of late 50s exploitation nonsense ever conceived. The filmmakers refusal to create a sympathetic protagonist was a ballsy move for the time and the blatant extra-marital sex jabs is racy stuff for a trashy monster picture that aspires for little else than shock value.” Cool Ass Cinema

“…it’s not very classy, but it’s certainly exciting, gory, racy, extreme, at times ironically funny, at times shocking and frightening […] The action is steady and body count high. A good score featuring a theremin accentuates the most freakish moments.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

” …The Manster is a Jekyll and Hyde film – if you can imagine a crosshatch between a two-headed transplant film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Lost Weekend (1945). This is a Dr Jekyll variant where the decent ordinary man is not just struggling with his dark side but one that is also polarised into a struggle between Japanese and American cultures.” Richard Scheib, Moria

” …beyond its trashy visuals, The Manster is still a sombre tale. As a metaphor for the destructive effects of alcoholism (or any drug in general) the film makes pretty good points; and as a sci-fi tragedy, the movies does work nicely if one gets past its cheap visual look. More ambitious than its budget allowed it to be, The Manster is by no means a great film; however, despite its many obvious flaws, this offbeat “Jekyll and Hyde” tale is certainly worth a watch.” J Luis Rivera, W-Cinema

“Manster is a favorite among campy horror aficionados and for good reason as it is both unintentionally funny and genuinely creepy…Wait till you see the climax, with the hero battling himself on the edge of a live volcano” Hal Erickson, All Movie

“Seeing a guy with a blinking eye on his shoulder, then a ghastly second head, then an actual body split (the second head becomes a furry ape) made this pretty unforgettable. Shot entirely in Japan, the film is talky at times, but the last few minutes are totally insane. There’s also the added bonus of Suzuki’s horrifying (and very loud!) mutant wife (a sagging, protruding fleshy eye socket: nasty!) being kept in a laboratory cage.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“A very unusual film which is loaded with weird Freudian images and unnerving atmosphere, and found its influence on a generation of horror films, including War of the Gargantuas, Army of Darkness, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.” Videohound’s Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics

Cast and characters:

• Peter Dyneley … Larry Stanford
• Jane Hylton … Linda Stanford – Circus of Horrors
• Tetsu Nakamura … Dr. Robert Suzuki
• Terri Zimmern … Tara
• Norman Van Hawley … Ian Matthews
• Jerry Ito … Police Supt. Aida
• Toyoko Takechi … Emiko Suzuki
• Kenzo Kuroki … Genji Suzuki
• Alan Tarlton … Doctor H.B. Jennsen
• Shinpei Takagi … Temple Priest
• George Wyman … Monster

Filming locations:

Japan

Buy A3 poster from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Image credits: The Telltale Mind

New and future releases

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The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1953 American animated horror short film produced by UPA, directed by Ted Parmelee, and narrated by James Mason (Salem’s Lot; Frankenstein: The True Story). The screenplay by Bill Scott and Fred Grable is based on the 1843 short story of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe.

Paul Julian served as both designer and colour artist for film, and Pat Matthews was the principal animator.

A murderer’s increasing sense of guilt leads him to believe he can hear his victim’s heart still beating beneath the floorboards where he buried him…

Reviews:

“Carefully paced, keeping that all important rhythm, the film presents little visual motifs and auditory hints at the heartbeat before it begins. With archetypal horror like this, there’s little need for sophisticated technique, and The Tell-Tale Heart makes excellent use of the basics. It’s a creepy little treat…” Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film 

“UPA developed a unique and striking visual style for the cartoons they made in the fifties. and this may well be their masterpiece. The excellent narration by James Mason uses an abbreviated version of the story that manages to capture its essence […] The non-realistic animation uses abstract imagery in a powerful way, and it also makes wonderful use of sound and music as well.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“Chock full of surrealist imagery, the look of the movie feels like what would result when Salvador Dali had a nightmare. Undeniably painterly, but no less disturbing for it, the short still looks distinctive today. The unremittingly subjective camera angles place the audience directly in the mind of the killer, and the look of the short feels appropriately askew as a result, with angular character designs, and deep, inescapable shadows.” Jeremy Heilman, Movie Martyr

“One of the most discussed and imaginative cartoons of any era. It tells the famous Edgar Allan Poe story of the deranged boarder who had to kill his landlord, not for greed, but because he possessed an “evil eye.” The killer is never seen but his presence is felt by the use light-and-shadow to give the impression of impending disaster.” Total Short Films

Release:

Released in the USA on December 17, 1953 by Columbia Pictures.

The British Board of Film Censors made this the first cartoon to receive an adults-only ‘X’ certificate in the United Kingdom.

The short is included as a bonus feature on the first DVD release of Hellboy. It is also included, with commentary by Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck, on disc 2 of The Jolly Frolics Collection.

An audio version was released on an album by Brunswick Records.

Trivia:

In May 1953, pre-production began on The Tell-Tale Heart, which originally was intended to be a 3-D film.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Animation Treasures

More animated horror films

New and future releases

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Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection is a Blu-ray set being released in North America on August 28, 2018.

“Showcases all of the original films featuring the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Starring some of the most legendary actors including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains and Elsa Lanchester in the roles that they made famous, these films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Order in advance for $149.98 from Amazon.com

The 24-disc box set includes the following movies, a 48-page collectible book and Behind the Scenes Documentaries, the 1931 Spanish Version of Dracula, Featurettes on Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Jack Pierce, 13 Expert Feature Commentaries, Archival Footage, Production Photographs, Theatrical Trailers…

• Dracula (1931)
• Dracula [Spanish version] (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• The Mummy (1932)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Werewolf of London (1935)
• Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
• Son of Frankenstein (1939)
• The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
• The Invisible Woman (1940)
• The Mummy’s Hand (1940)
• The Wolf Man (1941)

• The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
• The Mummy’s Ghost (1942)
• The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)
• Invisible Agent (1942)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
• Phantom of the Opera (1943)
• Son of Dracula (1943)
• The Mummy’s Ghost (1943)
• House of Frankenstein (1944)
• The Mummy’s Curse (1944)
• The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)
• House of Dracula (1945)
• She-Wolf of London (1946)
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
• Revenge of the Creature (1955)
• The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

Related:

Frankenstein and Vasaria – The Fictional Locations of the Classic Universal Horror Films

Universal Monsters – merchandise

The Shuffling Saga of The Mummy on Screen – article

Acknowledged horror classic Night of the Demon aka Curse of the Demon (1957) is receiving a Limited Edition Blu-ray release via Powerhouse Films Indicator imprint in the UK on October 22, 2018.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

The package includes:

• The BFI’s 2013 2K restoration of the 96-minute version
• High-definition remaster of the 82-minute cut
• Original mono audio
• Four presentations of the film: Night of the Demon – the original full-length pre-release version (96 mins), and the original UK theatrical cut (82 minutes); Curse of the Demon – the original US theatrical cut (82 mins), and the US re-issue version (96 mins)
• Audio commentary with film historian Tony Earnshaw, author of Beating the Devil: The Making of ‘Night of the Demon’
• Speak of the Devil: The Making of ‘Night of the Demon’ (2007): documentary featuring interviews with actor Peggy Cummins, production designer Ken Adam and historians Tony Earnshaw and Jonathan Rigby
• Dana Andrews on ‘Night of the Demon’: a rare audio interview with the actor conducted by Scott MacQueen
• The Devil’s in the Detail (2018): Christopher Frayling on Night of the Demon and acclaimed production designer Ken Adam
• Horrors Unseen (2018): a discussion of the celebrated director of Night of the Demon by Chris Fujiwara, author of Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall
• Sinister Signs (2018): an analysis by Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies
• Under the Spell (2018): the celebrated British horror writer Ramsey Campbell discusses the unique combination of M R James and Jacques Tourneur
• The Devil in Music (2018): a new appreciation of Clifton Parker’s score by David Huckvale, author of Movie Magick: The Occult in Film
• The Devil Gets His Due (2018): film historian and preservationist Scott MacQueen on the release history of Night of the Demon
• The Truth of Alchemy (2018) a discussion of M R James and ‘Casting the Runes’ by Roger Clarke, author of A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof
• Cloven In Two (2018): a new video piece exploring the different versions of the film
• Escape: ‘Casting the Runes’ (1947): a radio play adaptation of James’ original story
• Super 8 version: original cut-down home cinema presentation
• Isolated music & effects track on the US theatrical cut
• Original US Curse of the Demon theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography, including rare production design sketches from the Deutsche Kinemathek’s Ken Adam Archive
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited Edition exclusive 80-page book
• Limited Edition exclusive double-sided poster
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition of 6,000 copies

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

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William Castle at Columbia: Volume One is a limited edition Blu-ray box set being issued in the UK by Powerhouse Films via their Indicator imprint on October 22, 2018.

“Renowned for his imaginative and eccentric marketing ploys, William Castle became synonymous with delivering lurid horror films backed-up by his trademark publicity gimmicks (‘Illusion-O’, ‘Percepto’, the ‘Punishment Poll’, ‘Fright Breaks’, etc.).

William Castle at Columbia: Volume One features four classic fright films from the outrageous showman’s illustrious career with Columbia Pictures and presented on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK.

Containing a wealth of new and archival extras – including Jeffrey Schwartz’s acclaimed feature-length documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, newly filmed introductions and appreciations, exclusive new audio commentaries, interviews with actor Pamela Lincoln and publicists Barry Lorie and Richard Kahn, archival featurettes, and much more – this stunning Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set is strictly limited to 6,000 copies.”

• High Definition remasters of all four films
• Original mono audio
• Two presentations of 13 Ghosts: the original ‘Illusion-O’ presentation and the alternative black-and-white version
• The Tingler audio commentary by film historian Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons, editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television
• Homicidal audio commentary by author and film historian Lee Gambin
• Mr Sardonicus audio commentary with Daughters of Darkness’ Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
• Spine-Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007, 82 mins): Jeffrey Schwartz’s acclaimed documentary on Castle, featuring interviews with John Landis, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Stuart Gordon, Leonard Maltin, Budd Boetticher, Bob Burns, David Del Valle, Fred Olen Ray and John Waters among others
• Larger Than Life: The Making of ‘Spine-Tingler’ (2007)
• Kim Newman on ‘The Tingler’ (2018): an appreciation by the critic and author of Nightmare Movies
• Scream for Your Lives!: William Castle and ‘The Tingler’
• I Survived ‘The Tingler’ (2007): an interview with actor Pamela Lincoln
• Unleashing Percepto (2007): an interview with publicist Barry Lorie
• Stephen Laws Introduces ‘13 Ghosts’ (2018): an appreciations by the acclaimed horror author
• The Magic of ‘Illusion-O’: William Castle and ’13 Ghosts’
• Psychette: William Castle and ‘Homicidal’
• Stephen Laws Introduces ‘Homicidal’ (2018)
• The Punishment Poll (2007): an interview with publicist Richard Kahn
• Taking the Punishment Poll: William Castle and ‘Mr Sardonicus’
• Ballyhoo!: Bob Thomas recalls the time he interviewed William Castle
• Original theatrical trailers
• Trailer commentaries with Sam Hamm, Stuart Gordon and Joe Dante
• Promotional and on-set photography, poster art and archive materials
• Limited Edition box set exclusive booklets with new essays, archival interview materials, contemporary reviews, and film credits
• UK premieres on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition box set of 6,000 numbered copies

The Tingler – USA, 1959

13 Ghosts – USA, 1960

Homicidal – USA, 1961

Mr. Sardonicus – USA, 1961

The post William Castle at Columbia: Volume One Blu-ray box set – news appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American horror feature film produced and directed by William Castle (Strait-Jacket; 13 Ghosts; The Tingler; et al) from a screenplay by Robb White. The movie stars Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal and Carolyn Craig.

Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) invites five people to a party he is throwing for his fourth wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart) in an allegedly haunted house he has rented, promising to give each $10,000 with the stipulation that they stay the entire night in the house after the doors are locked at midnight.

The guests are test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), newspaper columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal) who specialises in hysteria, Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig) who works for one of Loren’s companies, and the house’s owner Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook). All are strangers to both the Lorens and each other, with their only commonality a desperate need for money…

Reviews [may contain spoilers]:

“House on Haunted Hill might be dumb and corny and reliant to a ludicrous degree on Price’s withering sarcasm, but it not only knows what it is, it loves being what it is, and that’s enough to make it one of the very best “boo!” movies that I have ever seen.” Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

” …it traffics in some psychological underpinnings in the way the Corman Poe outings often do, at least with regard to the obviously tumultuous marriage between Loren and Annabelle. If the Corman films exploit images that evoke a Freudian unconscious or even Jungian archetypes, in House on Haunted Hill, the Freudian element is pure Id, a raging, almost uncontrollable fury that seems to spark the characters.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

” …Castle seems to be spread thin even at 75 minutes, forced to rely on going over the same territory repeatedly until things move into the hokey payoff that largely discounts the entire premise of the film. Yet for all the structural foibles, it is fun to watch Price hold court, even amidst the heroic blandness of Richard Long or the bug-eyed line reads of Elisha Cook.” Rich Rosell, Digitally Obsessed

“Only a few scattered moments reach for ethereal effects, provided mostly by Von Dexter’s score and a quick exterior shoot of the Ennis Wright house atop a very un-haunted old-money residential hill in Los Feliz. Robb White’s idea of staging an unexpected suicide early on undermines our ability to guess what will happen, to the extent that even some of the cornier scares are enjoyably tense.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

“William Castle set out to scare, and here is where he pulls it off the best. It doesn’t have his best extended scare sequence (that honor goes to The Tingler and the nightmare of the dumb lady), but it does have the best single scare (the old lady in the cellar), and it is consistently fun even when it doesn’t make sense.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“As far as haunted houses goes, one can do a lot worse than the one here on Haunted Hill. It’s a great B-movie fright-fest that’s both clever and spooky, full of both ghoulish sights and haunting sounds (Von Dexter’s score is a moody, b-movie complement).” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“To me, this is the quintessential 1950s horror film, even though it comes at the end of the decade. It’s totally tame by today’s standards but has some fun, over-the-top performances, a bit of witty dialog and a large helping of cheese.” Jim Vorel, Paste magazine

“At a quick seventy-five minutes, the film is pretty lean and wastes no time at all getting right to the meat of the story. Once we’re there, a few memorable set pieces and loads of atmosphere keep us entertained throughout. The film has a bit of a reputation for being campy but there are a couple of truly creepy moments in the film that will stick with you.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

” …cemented Price as the man to go to for horror villains for the rest of his career, far more than one of his previous hits, House of Wax. It was scripted by Castle’s usual writer of such entertainments, Robb White, as a chiller, but what it really turns into is a murder mystery with a tricksy ending that reveals all has not been as it seems. Not that it is not ridiculous, but that is part of the fun.” Graeme Clarke, The Spinning Image

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Another shameless William Castle shocker, this one simply can’t be dismissed due to the fact that it’s so much fun: bloody ceilings, trick doors, steel bars on the windows, tubs of acid in the basement… this is absolutely wonderful old school horror.” The Terror Trap

“As a plotted movie, House on Haunted Hill has the feel of a rough draft with a few loose trapdoors. It’s more than adequate as a horror film, delivering a few true shocks at perfectly unexpected moments. But these definitions can’t reach the heady thrill of effects that look all the more possible for being slightly fake, underscored with the flourish of internally consistent logic.” Zachary Wyman, Unsung Films

Choice dialogue:

Frederick Loren: “Of all my wives, you are the least agreeable.”

Annabelle Loren: “Darling, the only ghoul in the house is you.”

Cast and characters:

• Vincent Price … Frederick Loren
• Carol Ohmart … Annabelle Loren – The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe; Spider Baby; Lights Out TV series
• Richard Long … Lance Schroeder – Death Cruise; Cult of the Cobra
• Alan Marshal … Dr. David Trent – Lights Out TV series; The Hunchback of Notre Dame 
• Carolyn Craig … Nora Manning
• Elisha Cook Jr. [credited as Elisha Cook] … Watson Pritchard – Salem’s Lot; Dead of Night; Messiah of Evil; Blacula; Black Zoo; Voodoo Island; et al
• Julie Mitchum … Ruth Bridgers
• Leona Anderson … Mrs. Slydes
• Howard Hoffman … Jonas Slydes

Filming locations:

Exterior shots of the house were filmed at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 1924 Ennis House in Los Feliz, California. The bulk of the film was shot on sound stages, depicting the interior of the house in a combination of styles, including 1890s Victorian, with gas chandeliers and sconces.

Running time and aspect ratio:

75 minutes | 1.85: 1 widescreen

Influence:

The film was remade as the 1999 film House on Haunted Hill. A sequel titled Return to House on Haunted Hill was released in 2007. Both films received mostly negative reviews.

Trivia:

The film is in the public domain and is free to view online.

There is a clip of House on Haunted Hill in Tales from the Hood 2 (2018)

Image credits: Wrong Side of the Art!

New and future releases

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The Tingler – USA, 1959

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‘The tortured ghost who claimed vengeance in the bride’s bedroom’

The Screaming Skull is a 1958 American horror feature film, written and produced by John Kneubuhl (Two on a Guillotine), inspired by the short story of the same name by Francis Marion Crawford. The was directed by Alex Nicol (APE; The Night God Screamed; Point of Terror), who also plays the gardener) and it stars John Hudson, Peggy Webber, and Russ Conway.

When later interviewed by Wheeler Dixon, director Alex Nicol said: “There wasn’t any one director I tried to emulate on that film; I wasn’t smart enough to do that. I just worked my way through the script, blocking it out as I went along, trying to get the film shot on time […] I liked it; it had some nice dolly shots, a good atmosphere. So I was happy with that; it was a nice change from the films I’d been doing.”

The film’s cinematographer was Floyd Crosby, who went on to work several times with Roger Corman.

In the US, American International Pictures (AIP) released the film on a double-bill with Terror from the Year 5000.

On April 25, 2017, The Screaming Skull was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com

Opening narration: “The Screaming Skull is a motion picture that reaches its climax in shocking horror. Its impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect. It may kill you! The producers would like to offer a free burial service to anyone who dies of shock…”

A newly-wed woman (Peggy Webber) believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her husband’s previous wife…

Buy DVD : Amazon.com

Reviews:

” … for a directorial debut, it demonstrates remarkable credibility and resourcefulness, and for a horror film of its station and era, it earns a well-deserved niche in the curator’s mind. It’s a nice example of what people used to call a “sleeper.” Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog

” … some of the dark scenes are effective, particularly when punctuated by mysterious sounds: the peacock screams, the mysterious knocking. And it’s possible to find some kind of meaning in the character relationships – parallel drownings, an ex-wife resembling the new wife’s mother, etc. But there’s neither enough quality nor enough camp to make the flick rewarding.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy Claws & Saucers: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“Crosby’s camerawork is superb, and there are some nicely macabre moments (birds screeching all around, grinning skulls popping out of a dark pool) … Nicol, an actor directing here for the first time, let’s the action spin out much too slackly…” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Director Alex Nicol as the gardener

“But while some of the tension is very good and the story is well told within its brief 68 minute runtime, The Screaming Skull cannot escape the silliness of the bland acting, naff script and rolling skull. There is a reason why this was riffed by Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and why it only holds a 3/10 rating on IMDb. For everything it does right, it does twenty things wrong.” The Flickering Myth

Buy DVD: Amazon.com

“The Screaming Skull opens with a [William] Castle-ish gimmick, and the film definitely belongs to the Castle school of horror: a little cheesy, a little suspenseful, a whole lot of fun. The film isn’t quite as high-quality as any of Castle’s many immensely enjoyable outings, but it’s still a pretty good watch… Lindsey D., The Motion Pictures

“No movie should be repetitious if it is only 68 minutes long. I mean, how many scenes do we have of Jenny looking through the house for noises? The answer is far too many. How many searches for Mickey or as I like to think of him, Red Herring? You could easily cut this movie to under an hour and not lose anything. In fact, The Screaming Skull for the most part comes across as a bad episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents…” Duane, Rogue Cinema

Choice dialogue:

“Hardly seems fair, using the living to bring back the dead.”

Cast and characters:

• Jon Hudson as Eric Whitlock
• Peggy Webber as Jenni Whitlock – The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show TV series
• Russ Conway as Rev. Edward Snow
• Tony Johnson as Mrs. Snow
• Alex Nicol as Mickey

Trivia:

The Screaming Skull was not copyrighted correctly and so is in the public domain.

The film’s US poster was painted by Albert Kallis.

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The Blood Island Collection – a limited edition Blu-ray box from Severin Films – is coming soon. The box set includes Terror is a Man aka Blood Creature; Brides of Blood; Mad Doctor of Blood Island aka Tomb of the Living Dead and Beast of Blood.

These Hemisphere Pictures Filipino favourites pushed the limits on how much sex and violence they could get away with at the time. Plus, they are great fun!

“They’ve been called “defiantly lurid” (1000MisspentHours.com), “delightfully depraved” (FlickAttack.com) and “blood-soaked & naked broad-filled” (MrSkin.com). Their cult of fans is worldwide. And for more than fifty years, these four monster shockers from Filipino directors Gerry de Leon and Eddie Romero have stunned drive-in, grindhouse and VHS audiences, became the foundation of infamous exploitation distributors Hemisphere Pictures and Independent-International, and remain among the most insane/esteemed classics in horror history. Severin Films is now proud to present The Blood Island Trilogy and its celebrated prequel, all featuring uncut scans from recently discovered film elements and oozing with all-new special features!

Terror is a Man Special Features:

• Man Becomes Creature: Interview with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Dawn of Blood Island: Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Terror Creature: Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author of “Immoral Tales”
• When the Bell Rings: Interview with Critic Mark Holcomb
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Reversible Blood Creature Cover

Brides of Blood Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Jungle Fury: Archival Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Here Comes the Bride: Interview with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Beverly Hills on Blood Island: Interview with Actress Beverly Powers a.k.a. Beverly Hills
• Alternate BRIDES OF BLOOD ISLAND Title Sequence and JUNGLE FURY Title Card
• Teaser Trailer
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Reversible ISLAND OF LIVING HORROR Cover

Mad Doctor of Blood Island Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Horror Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger
• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Tombs of the Living Dead: Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author of “Immoral Tales”
• A Taste of Blood: Interview with Critic Mark Holcomb
• The Mad Doctor of Blood Island: Archival Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Bonus Disc: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD (in box set only)
• Reversible TOMB OF THE LIVING DEAD Cover

Beast of Blood [Available ONLY in Box Set] Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Celeste and the Beast: An Interview with Celeste Yarnall
• Dr. Lorca’s Blood Devils: Interview with Actor Eddie Garcia
• Super 8 Digest Version
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery”

Visit Severin Films for details of pre-order bundle offers and limited edition options. Release date is 23 October 2018.

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Brides of Blood – Philippines, 1968

Mad Doctor of Blood Island – Philippines/USA, 1968

Beast of Blood aka Blood Devils – Philippines, 1970

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I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a 1958 science fiction horror feature film, produced and directed by Gene Fowler Jr. (The Astral Factor; I Was a Teenage Werewolf) from a screenplay by Louis Vittes (The Eyes of Annie Jones; Monster from Green Hell). The Paramount movie stars Tom Tryon, Gloria Talbott, Chuck Wassil and Maxie Rosenbloom.

Newly-married Marge Farrell who finds her husband Bill strangely transformed soon after her marriage: He is losing his affection for his wife and other living beings and drops various earlier habits. Soon she finds out that Bill is not the only man in town changing into a completely different person.

Young newlywed Marge Farrell notices her new husband Bill is acting strangely. He doesn’t show any affection towards her or anything else, including his pet dogs, which he used to love. Marge is also concerned that she cannot seem to get pregnant.

She then notices that other husbands in her social circle are all acting the same way. One night she follows Bill while he goes for a walk. She discovers that he is not the man she knew but an alien impostor: An extraterrestrial life-form leaves his body and enters a hidden spaceship…

Review:

I imagine that most people’s natural instinct with a film like this is to make fun of the title and just go on from there but actually, I Married a Monster from Outer Space is an intelligent and well-made sci-fi movie. Gloria Talbott does a great job in the lead role and Tom Tryon’s rather stiff screen presence is perfectly suited for the role of Alien-Bill. Gene Fowler, Jr. directs the film as if it were a film noir where the usual gangsters and bank robbers have been replaced by humanoid aliens who don’t like dogs.

Since this movie is from 1958, there’s all sorts of subtext creeping around. The most obvious, of course, is that America is being invaded from within. You don’t think your husband could be an alien? Well, Alger Hiss’s mother probably didn’t think her son was a communist spy! You think it’s a silly idea that normal seeming humans would be working to conquer the world? Have you not heard of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? When Bill and the other men turn cold and impersonal, it’s easy to see that they’ve embraced an ideology opposed to individual freedom and we all know what that means.

However, for me, this film works because it strikes at a very primal fear. How well do you really know the people who you love? Is he always going to be as perfect as he seems when you first start going out or is he going to totally change once he’s sure that you’re not going to leave him? Like many women who have tried to escape from abusive boyfriends and spouses, Marge discovers that no one believes her. She lives in a world controlled by men and all of the men have been taken over by the same thing that’s taken over Bill. Even if you’ve never married a monster from outer space, you know what Marge is going through.

So, don’t dismiss this film because of the melodramatic title. I Married a Monster from Outer Space is an intelligent sci-fi horror film, one that’s still very relevant today.

Lisa Marie Bowman, HORRORPEDIA – guest reviewer via Through the Shattered Lens

Other reviews:

” …Talbott is genuinely appealing in these sorts of films, while Tyron is as wooden as his alien persona should be. The intergalactic creatures are pretty frightening, with extended arms, fish-like claws and mutated faces that sport trunk-like breathing apparatuses–some if which are ripped open by angry German Shepherds, allowing the ooze to flow in some of the more creepier scenes.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Political implications, as well as feminist ones, can be read into the film, particularly as the title is similar to the earlier I Married a Communist, but the film succeeds purely on the level of a creepy sf/horror film with the emphasis on horror rather than sf.” John Brosnan, Future Tense: The Cinema of Science Fiction, St. Martin’s Press, 1978

“This generally well-acted and staged Science Fiction thriller, though novelettish in its personal story, has an intriguing situation and some effective, if rather sparse, trick camerawork.” Monthly Film Bulletin, 1958

“One of the most enjoyable titles in the genre. The film itself is well acted and directed, although the monster itself is more risible than credible.” Alan Frank, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Handbook, Batsford, 1982

“Fowler’s direction, while sometimes slow, latches onto mounting suspense as action moves to climax. He gets the benefit of outstanding special photographic effects from John P. Fulton, which aid in maintaining interest.” Variety, 1958

Cast and characters:

• Tom Tryon … Bill Farrell
• Gloria Talbott … Marge Bradley Farrell – The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll
• Peter Baldwin … Officer Frank Swanson
• Robert Ivers … Harry Phillips
• Chuck Wassil … Ted Hanks
• Ty Hardin [credited as Ty Hungerford] … Mac Brody
• Ken Lynch … Dr. Wayne
• John Eldredge … Police Captain H.B. Collins
• Alan Dexter … Sam Benson
• James Anderson … Weldon
• Jean Carson … Helen Alexander Benson
• Jack Orrison … Officer Schultz
• Steve London … Charles Mason
• Max “Slapsie Maxie” Rosenbloom … Max Grady, bartender
• Scherry Staiger … Blond in Bar

Production and release:

Principal photography for I Married a Monster from Outer Space began on April 21 and ended in early May 1958. The reported budget was $125,000.

On September 10, 1958, the film premiered in Los Angeles, followed by its US and Canadian theatrical release in October by Paramount as a double feature with The Blob.

In 2004 Paramount released a DVD of the film which, unlike the open matte, full frame (1.33:1) format of the 1998 VHS release, cropped the original 1:85:1 image to the modern 16:9 (1.78:1) TV aspect ratio. On September 2013, the film was released on DVD as part of the Warner Bros Archive Collection.

Trivia:

The film’s title inspired Mancunian poet John Cooper-Clarke’s 1977 poem of the same name.

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More 1950s sci-fi and horror

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