Archive for the ‘Movies Unlimited’ Category
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Featured Columns, Latest News, Movies, Movies Unlimited on March 8th, 2010
“Ghouly Irv” is back, asking you, his best fiends, to lend him your ears–don’t worry, he’ll give them back! In this installment of MovieFrightFare, your chummy chiller expert selects another decade to study and find some unusual facts about your favorite fear flicks:
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Featured Columns, Latest News, Movies, Movies Unlimited on March 1st, 2010
By George D. Allen
Recently, I wrote an article for the Movies Unlimited home blog, MovieFanFare, offering my quickly selected picks for 10 “desert island” movies, those films which, were I forced to choose, I felt (in those moments writing the article, anyway) I would be carting along with me to enjoy during my eternal vacation/banishment on said remote locale.
Now, monsterfans, wipe those memories of Stephen King’s gruesome short story “Survivor Type” from your mind and assume all of your other creature comforts are as normal as they could possibly be (so that you don’t have to worry about minor concerns like hacking off your own body parts for food!), and pick those 10 masterworks of the horror genre you’re going to be forced to live with for the rest of your days. I completed my own “Rorschach test” in this regard below. It was tough. I’ll probably change my mind on a few of these tomorrow. Maybe even five minutes from now. In fact, I just erased one and substituted another. I’ve got to stop!
Here are my selections, in alphabetical order:
The Black Cat (1934) How to choose from among the numerous classic chillers starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi? I clearly will need to have some Boris and some Bela on the island…so, as painful as it might be to leave behind the Browning Dracula, the Whale Frankensteins, the Freund Mummy, and other memorable shockers where the terror titans enjoyed solo starring status, why not pick their first (and in my opinion, their finest) onscreen collaboration? This decadent thriller helmed by B-movie auteur Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour) follows the nightmarish encounter between a honeymooning couple (David Manners, Julie Bishop) and the brooding Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi), who meet onboard a train traveling through Hungary. An accident forces the couple to accompany Werdegast to the home of architect/Satanist Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), the man he intends to revenge himself upon for dark and mysterious reasons. Soon, it becomes apparent that Poelzig and Werdegast share a disturbing past relationship, and the innocent newlyweds quickly find themselves caught in the creepy crossfire. The film has precious, precious little to do with the Edgar Allan Poe story from which it takes its title, but the atmosphere is rich with unsettling dread that’s very much in the Poe style. Lugosi is at his finest here, given a meaty role affording him some very touching moments along with his usual gestures of exotic menace, and Karloff likewise shines in a role thick with sadistic pleasures. Their final showdown is an unforgettable slice of Grand Guignol greatness.
Dracula (1979) I’d already seen the Lugosi and Lee classics on television, but Universal’s 1979 remake of their vampiric chestnut was the first I’d seen on the big screen (and, if I’m not mistaken, the first R-rated movie I was brought to the theater to watch). It’s only natural, therefore, that I’d have a special affection for this adaptation of the Stoker tale starring Frank Langella as the seductive and sinister Count. Langella delivers a performance that—while literally lacking the teeth that would mark him as a member of the bloodsucking undead—brims with romantic intensity and the underlying capacity for shocking violence. Somewhat stylized to echo artist Edward Gorey’s contributions to the Broadway revival that preceded it (which also starred Langella), the film is lavishly produced and contains one of composer John Williams’ finest film scores. Langella’s talents are matched onscreen by solid supporting turns from Donald Pleasance as Dr. Seward, Kate Nelligan as Lucy (or “Mina,” and you Dracula purists know what I mean by that), and Laurence Olivier as Abraham Van Helsing. Trevor Eve makes for a sturdy (and unsurprisingly impotent) Harker, while Tony Haygarth delivers a subtly satisfying interpretation of the insect-munching madman, Renfield. There’s a genuine departure from Stoker during the climax that I, as a young viewer, had not seen coming at all, and it provided a genuine shock that I remember to this day.
The Exorcist (1973) The last time I watched William Friedkin’s terrifying film, I was sitting in a movie theater for the re-issue dubbed “The Version You’ve Never Seen.” There was a lot of laughing with—or at—the movie done by the audience, and by the time it was over, I felt like calling it The Version I Wish I’d Never Seen. I suppose it’s fair to say that, during these decades subsequent to its original release, that because this film’s most well-known moments have passed into the popular consciousness and are endlessly revisited, ripped off, and ridiculed, the film’s ultimate power has somewhat diminished for today’s audiences. Perhaps its most shocking material is simply no longer shocking. Perhaps an increasingly “rational” public (that is, a public devoted less and less to the mysteries of the religious and the supernatural) finds little to fear from the film’s brutally realized account of a young girl’s demonic possession. Still, I’ve been devoted to the original cut of the film ever since it first creeped me out, and it remains, I think, the finest “serious” horror movie ever made–the best chiller that comes along with pretensions of making some manner of commentary on issues of fear and faith. Linda Blair’s performance is still quite heroic; Ellen Burstyn’s work is a portrait of rage and suffering that brings to mind the work of Ingmar Bergman; and the long, exhausting climax that shows the holy dynamic duo of Max von Sydow (in the title role) and Jason Miller (at his brooding, burning best) battling to force the demon from Blair’s body is yet unrivaled in its sheer audacity.
The Fly (1986) When’s the last time you cried at the end of a horror movie? David Cronenberg’s remake of the 1958 thriller starring Vincent Price really got to me. I saw this one multiple times in the theater, perhaps because it was so riveting to see such bizarre subject matter treated with such an emotional punch. People were actively discussing whether or not Jeff Goldblum would follow in the footsteps of Fredric March and receive an Oscar (as March did for 1931’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) for his charismatic and sensitive performance as the scientist who accidentally blends his genetic material with that of a common housefly. Goldblum wasn’t even nominated, unfortunately, but the film did receive the Academy Award for the incredible makeup work by Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis, which dramatized Goldblum’s gradual disfigurement with a sense of genuinely upsetting realism. The picture’s effectiveness was also greatly enhanced by a grandly tragic score from Cronenberg’s go-to musical wizard, Howard Shore.
The Invisible Man (1933) In Bill Condon’s cheeky and enjoyable James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters, Whale (Ian McKellen) at one point offers up a relatively low opinion of his own horror films to an interviewer probing the gay auteur for some inside information. That may certainly have been an accurate representation of how Whale felt, but he remains best known for his classic shockers, and few filmmakers have ever crafted works of the uncanny as clever or enduring. Whale’s determination was always to mix his chills with some chuckles, the better to take his viewers along on an emotional rollercoaster and keep them decidedly off-balance. He masterfully achieved this mix in The Old Dark House and The Bride of Frankenstein, and this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel (which arrived in between those two) likewise comes with a fair share of laughs to warm you up after getting the shivers. Perhaps the film’s grandest gamble was placing so much responsibility for the film’s success on the shoulders of neophyte leading man Claude Rains, whose face remains hidden in bandages (or completely unseen when he strips them off) until the film’s final few seconds. Rains’ vocal and physical performance remains a marvel; the effects are still—still!—a sight to behold; and renowned screen “biddy” Una O’Connor has an unforgettable showcase for her shrill gifts during the film’s suspenseful opening sequences.
Jaws (1975) Whenever I go back to rework my “Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time” lists, Steven Spielberg’s timeless thriller always—always—comes out on top. My parents liked to remind me that they took me (quite a youngster at the time) to see the film first at a drive-in, where I promptly fell asleep. Back we went to see it inside a proper movie theater (some sadistic folks, my mom and dad!), where they waved their hands in front of my bulging eyeballs and got no reaction from me whatsoever. Forget about being afraid to go in the ocean: I was afraid to go in the swimming pool after seeing Jaws. A superb, virile adventure film on top of being one of the just-plain-scariest movies of all time, the picture boasts the terrific trio of Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, playing the men mad enough to take to unfriendly waters off the shores of the fictitious summer resort island community of Amity in search of a man-and-woman-eating Carcharodon carcharias. John Williams’ title theme for the film has passed into cinematic legend, and in spite of its usage in many parodies (“Land Shark!”), that propulsive two-note motif still manages to conjure up shivers.
Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (1979) As a monsterfan quite partial to the Dracula legend (so much so I wrote and directed an original musical adaptation of it…quite a while back), I feel the thirst to keep a second film relating the strange saga of the world’s most famous vampire in rotation at my desert island cinematheque, especially when that second selection is visionary director Werner Herzog’s remake of the 1922 silent shocker. Uniquely channeling the charisma of frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski in the title role (properly called Dracula here and not Count Orlok), Herzog offers up a sinister stew of dread, giving viewers both a detailed and loving homage to the F.W. Murnau classic and a full-on parade of staple Herzog conceits: A doomed protagonist seeking that which is ultimately elusive; nature working monstrous and foul wonders, here in the form of rats carrying the plague; and dark humor pervading an atmosphere of unease. Bruno Ganz and Isabelle Adjani make for a potent Harker and Lucy, while Roland Topor delivers a deliciously batty performance as Renfield. The musical score by Popol Vuh is superbly haunting, while the cinematography by Jorg-Schmidt-Reitwein ( also responsible for the moody appeal of Herzog films Heart of Glass and Woyzeck, among others) casts a palpable gloom over the effectively (un)natural locations.
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) What list of desert island monster movies could be complete without a little night music from the Phantom of the Opera…uh, that is, the Paradise? And who better to provide it than songwriter Paul Williams? The diminutive Williams–who went on to compose the score for the junior gangster saga Bugsy Malone as well as The Muppet Movie–also enjoys the honor of portraying the Faustian “benefactor” of Winslow Leach (William Finley), the deformed composer obsessed with a pretty vocalist (Jessica Harper) he wants to see play the starring role in his new rock opera. What sets this “Phantom” adaptation apart is the wildly effective blend of homage, parody, and sincere reinvention that works to perfection here for writer/director Brian De Palma, I’d argue more so than in his many Hitchcock-inspired thrillers. Williams’ original score bristles with black humor, sass, and authentic poignancy. And then, there’s the campy lunacy Gerrit Graham brings to the role of Beef, the lisping egomaniac brought on to star opposite the Phantom’s beautiful muse, unveiled in a humorous nod to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. “I give you…Beef!,” indeed. There’s plenty for fright fans to chew on in this oft-neglected movie.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) It happens for each and every generation of horror fans—there comes a popular film that breaks all the unspoken “rules” and is severely castigated for being so horrific the experience of watching it becomes too unpleasant and offensive, perhaps even torturous, for viewers to endure. Raising the hackles of critics and moviegoers raised on more “innocent” or “morally upright” fare, these films achieve a kind of instant infamy. The critics forget, of course, that many of their best beloved classics were, in their day, also seen as insults to the public good (just ask James Whale). In the ‘70s, what film better represents that outrage than Tobe Hooper’s reinterpretation of the lurid saga of serial killer Ed Gein, the Wisconsin-born madman whose crimes similarly inspired the earlier, then-controversial 1960 release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho? After multiple viewings, I still find this film’s visceral power undiminished. The murderous man-child Leatherface remains one of scare cinema’s most disturbing grotesques, and while barely a drop of blood is actually spilled onscreen—contrary to the impression of many reviewers at the time who mistook the picture’s seedy, overwhelming intensity for the actual presence of blood and gore—the experience of viewing the film continues to provide uncanny impressions of spectacular butchery. Other films including Deranged, The Silence of the Lambs, and American Psycho all have their uniquely unsettling charms, but no film yet has truly supplanted Hooper’s gritty chronicle in the annals of unhinged sadism. Why bring it to the desert island? Less out of “enjoyment,” certainly, than out of pure admiration for the craft.
Sure, it’s cheating to pick an 11th, but I’m going for broke anyway:
Isle of the Dead (1945) I add it just as a cautionary note about the terrible things that can happen to you if you get stuck on an island while Boris Karloff goes frighteningly bonkers. I blogged in much more detail about this Val Lewton-produced classic during the Boris Karloff Blog-a-Thon, and you can find my thoughts about this still-relevant chiller here.
I know, I know. No haunted house movies. Two vampire flicks and no mummies, wolfmen, or creatures from black lagoons? No Carpenters or Cormans? No Michael, Jason, or Freddy? No Hammer Films??? Hey, this isn’t easy! Please share your own choices, monster-lover-to-monster lover.
George D. Allen performs directing and postproduction duties on “Ghouly Irv” Slifkin’s MovieFrightFare videos, as well as regular podcasts on the Movies Unlimited blog, MovieFanFare, and is currently shooting the scare-packed short Night of the Moonbats.
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Latest News, Movies, Movies Unlimited on February 18th, 2010
By Fred Burdsall
I told you about The Brainiac and The Deadly Mantis from my childhood. Now, I’ll tell you about my favorite movie. The one movie that started my absolute love of horror and sci-fi… the 1979 Ridley Scott masterpiece… ALIEN.
By the time I finally got around to seeing it at the movies it was already on its last legs and playing down the street for a dollar. (Does anyone else remember the days of neighborhood theaters?) My friend Brian asked me if I had seen it yet and when I said no he told me, “I’ll meet you there because you HAVE to see this.” (A personal pet peeve is people telling me what I have to see, because it usually sucks). So with my dollar in hand I went in and was told I should sit in the front row of a fairly empty theater, but he refused to tell me why. This turned out to be the best dollar I EVER spent.
(Warning, Monster Kids Who Haven’t Seen Alien—are there any?—spoilers abound ahead!)
The movie starts out with the Nostromo, a salvage freighter on its way back to earth, diverted by the ship’s computers to investigate an unidentified beacon coming from a nearby planet. The crew is brought out of their sleep to investigate, and Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt, one of my favorite actors) takes Kane (John Hurt) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) down to an extremely uninhabitable planet to investigate while Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) make repairs of the damage incurred on landing. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, in the role that launched her career) stays behind to work on deciphering the repeating message.
On the planet they find a derelict ship housing the remains of a creature that seems to have exploded from the inside. As Ripley begins to realize the message is a warning, Kane discovers a room filled with eggs. When he leans down to get a closer look, the egg opens and a creature leaps out and attaches itself to his face. Once they bring him back, Ripley refuses them entry due to quarantine protocol until Ash (Ian Holm), the ships medical officer, overrides her and let them in.
An attempt to remove it reveals it has acid for blood, which eats through several layers of the ship. It eventually comes off on its own and Kane slowly regains consciousness, seemingly none the worse. Deciding to have one last meal before they hit the “Old Freezerino”, the crew sits down and begins chatting about all the things they are going to do when they get home. As they talk, Kane begins to cough, choke and convulse. They pin him down on the table and try to open his mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue when he screams and his shirt becomes stained with blood. Convulsing again, he lets out one more scream and his chest bursts open and a small Alien rises up out of him, teeth bared and ready to fight. Ash tells them all “Don’t touch it” and it turns and scurries quickly out of the room.
To say this scene scared the crap out of me is an understatement. I was already riveted to the screen and jumped the proverbial “foot” out of my chair. Now I knew why he insisted I sit in the front row. I never did thank him for that.
The stunned crew gives Kane a burial in space and decides to find the “little bugger” using motion sensors. After mistaking Jones the Cat for the Alien, Brett goes off to get him and finds the now full-grown Alien instead. The last Parker sees of Brett is the Alien pulling him into the airshaft. Since they now know it’s using the shafts, they plan on closing them all one by one and forcing it into the airlock where they can blow it out into space. Captain Dallas decides to enter the shaft himself where he meets with the same fate as Brett.
With Dallas gone, Ripley is now senior officer and goes in to talk to “Mother,” the ship’s computer, angry over the lack of help or information coming from Ash. She discovers that Ash has orders to bring the Alien back to Earth, regardless of the cost…crew expendable. When she confronts him, he attacks her and Parker saves her by knocking off his head. They find that Ash was a robot planted on this mission by “The Company.” With no options left, Parker, Lambert and Ripley decide to take their chances in the shuttle. Ripley prepares the self-destruct while Parker and Lambert get supplies.
The Alien finds them and kills them, leaving Ripley alone with Jones the Cat. She heads for the shuttle to find the Alien blocking her way, so she returns to reverse the self-destruct, but too late. She heads for the shuttle again, and–seeing no Alien in sight–gets in and makes a narrow escape before the ship explodes. As she begins preparing for stasis she discovers the Alien is on board the shuttle with her. Donning a space suit, she sits in the control chair and forces the Alien out of hiding. When he is virtually on top of her, she opens the hatch and watches as the escaping air pulls the Alien out the door. He grabs the sides and Ripley shoots him with a grappling hook, which gets stuck inside the shuttle as the door closes. The Alien makes for the engine, determined to get back inside. Ripley fires them up, blasting him, once and for all, out into space.
Sigourney Weaver would go on to earn an Oscar nod for the sequel, Aliens, in a role originally written for a man. The original story was written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett with help from Walter Hill and David Giles and as I said earlier, the movie is my personal favorite. I’ve never seen another film that made me forget I was just watching a movie. A fantastic buildup to a truly terrifying moment that you can never forget, followed by a fast paced race to the finish. I do not scare easily and this movie scared me, and that is why it has become the obsession with me that it has. Books, magazines, action figures, trading cards and a board game (Sorry, Chris. You still can’t have it). Little did I know that a few short months later, I would be introduced to the world of Argento…and that is where I will pick up my story next time.
Watch and enjoy–God knows I did.
Fred Burdsall is an amusement park junkie living with his better half, Allison and their 4 cats. You can find him in the Center City, Philadelphia Borders looking for Doctor Who and Zombie books.
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Movies, Movies Unlimited on February 15th, 2010
By Brian Burkart
James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar may feature photorealistic aliens, but for my money the most magical special effects were created by a single man: Ray Harryhausen. He brought to life some of the most memorable creatures in film history without the assistance of computers.
I was first introduced to Harryhausen’s work in the second grade when I borrowed the picture book Creatures! from my school’s library. The title was part of a book series that featured entries on Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s Monster, even King Kong. These books were very popular with the boys in my class and you had to be quick to grab one during our weekly library visit. The photos included in this entry were magnificent and sent my imagination into overdrive. There were pictures of sword wielding skeletons, a Hydra, a dinosaur attacking a rollercoaster, a giant octopus destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, flying saucers destroying Washington, D.C., and the most mind-blowing of all–an alien fighting an elephant!
I felt a primal need to see these films. How could such wondrous images exist and I have yet to see them? I copied the titles from the index and in those pre-home video days would scan the television listings every Sunday hoping against hope that one would appear.
Luckily I didn’t have to wait long as my local UHF channel aired a double feature of Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a few months later. I sat (too close to our console television) totally transfixed as formally static pictures now moved and interacted with real actors. Harryhausen’s creations were things of beauty and horror. The image of the Cyclops cooking
a sailor on a spit over a fire haunted my nightmares for months.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad provided me not only with thrilling creatures and swashbuckling action but was the source of my first crush. Caroline Munro was so beautiful that she almost outshined Harryhausen’s work. My 7-year-old self felt oddly uncomfortable sitting next to his mother. Ms. Munro haunted my dreams as well…but that is another story.
As the years went by, my admiration for Harryhausen only grew as I learned the secrets of stop-motion. He designed, sculpted and animated the creatures himself. I was flabbergasted by the fact that one minute of footage could take days to complete. How could one man have the patience and the skill to animate these fantastic sequences one frame at a time? The man was a complete genius and could do no wrong. I was appalled to learn that none of his films had ever been nominated much less won the Academy Award for Special Effects. In my eyes, this was a greater sin than Hitchcock never winning Best Director. After all, did Hitch ever choreograph a fight between mythological creatures? The Academy did award Harryhausen the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for contributions to the technology of moviemaking in 1992 and I cheered this overdue recognition.
Harryhausen’s films are the fertile field where imaginations grow. Many artists cite one of his creations as the inspiration for their art. The Cyclops fight with the dragon; the statue of Talos coming to life; Jason fighting the many-headed Hydra; the Kraken rising to destroy Jappa; the terrifying Medusa stalking Peruses; the six-armed, sword wielding goddess Kali; the Ymir and numerous others are classic images that transport many of us to our childhood. I’ve purchased these films on VHS, laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray and will pay to have them directly downloaded to my brain when that technology comes on the market without regret because they are timeless reminders of what one man can accomplish with creativity and patience.
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Featured Columns, Movies, Movies Unlimited on February 8th, 2010
Monsterfans everywhere are salivating over the upcoming release of The Wolfman, Universal’s big-budget remake of their 1941 classic. Can they live up to the malevolent mastery of the original? With all this excitement in the air, it’s only natural that Ghouly Irv would get all sentimental over the hairy horror gems he’s mooned over in the past. Join him in the crypt for a creepy celebration:
Posted by Movies Unlimited in DVD & Blu-Ray, Latest News, Movies Unlimited on February 1st, 2010
By Fred Burdsall
What makes you a fan?
Whatever your interests, there’s always something specific that gets your attention and won’t let go.
For me, it was movies—horror movies—and the scarier the better. I liked that nervous feeling we all get when something makes us uncomfortable. I liked sitting there and wondering if this is the one that finally makes me turn my head away. To me, it’s the greatest feeling in the world and I owe it all to four specific films.
My mother loves watching horror movies, so it was early on in life I got introduced to Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Soon after I discovered the joys of Corman, Price and Poe, but in the midst of all that there were two that grabbed me like no other.
Tarantula had its spider and Them gave us ants, but my bug of choice was a praying mantis…a Deadly Mantis. With a screenplay by Martin Berkeley from a William Alland story, The Deadly Mantis (1957) dealt with a praying mantis frozen in the Arctic ice in a state of suspended animation until the iceberg it was trapped in breaks apart due to a geologic shift. Once free it attacks and destroys a transport plane leaving a claw fragment behind, which is discovered and sent to Washington for identification. This leads to Dr. Ned Jackson (William Hopper) being sent off with photographer Marge Blaine (Alix Talton) to help the military outpost nearest the plane, headed by Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens).
Continuing on its journey inevitably leads it to the outpost where, attracted by the lights, it touches down. The scene of Marge going about her business while the Mantis looks in the window is one of my favorites. Once she begins screaming he brings the house down…almost literally. His next stop is our nation’s capital, where he lands on the Washington Monument and battles it out with jet fighters before taking off again for New York City, where the wounded mantis makes its way into the Holland Tunnel, where it is gassed to death. Hearing it wailing in pain as it died is something I could never get out of my head, and it’s the main reason this movie stuck with me throughout my life. The movie features some excellent special effects for a movie released in 1957 and fine direction by Nathan Juran.
Next was a Mexican horror film called The Brainiac (1962) directed by Chano Urueta and starring Abel Salazar. It concerns Baron Vitelius on trial by the Inquisition for heresy, witchcraft, necromancy, fortune telling, seducing married women and keeping the Cubs out of the World Series. (OK, the last part I made up, but someone has to be held accountable.) Laughing as they torture him, they eventually burn him at the stake. Before he dies, he spots a passing comet and vows to return with the comet’s next passing.
Forward 300 years and the Baron, true to his word, returns and in no time has sucked the brain out of two hapless victims with a forked tongue, met and befriended Vicki and Ronnie and even managed to rob a bank. While the search continues for the comet, the Baron throws a party to celebrate the purchase of his new home, inviting all the Inquisitors descendants including….Ronnie and Vicki. Memorable here is how he walks over to an urn, in full view of the party guests, and takes a spoonful or two of brains after carefully making sure the entire room wasn’t looking at that particular moment. By the time the party is over the Baron has been cordially invited to visit them all at their homes.
First, he visits Professor Pantoja and his daughter and, after murdering them, sets fire to the house. Next, he visits industrialist Luis Meneses and his wife, murdering her and using his hypnotic power to have Luis hop into the furnace. After a visit from the bumbling police duo, mainly in the film for laughs, he visits the newlyweds and disposes of them, as well. Somehow, the chief finally puts it all together and realizes Ronnie and Vicki are next.
As luck would have it, they are at the Baron’s, where he wishes to give Vicki a gift to celebrate her upcoming wedding. They leave the room and a suspicious Ronnie begins poking around. The Baron confesses his love for Vicki, but tells her as the last descendant she must die. Ronnie finds the jar of brains as Vicki rushes in with the Brainiac in pursuit. Since Ronnie’s ancestor defended the Baron he has no wish to harm him and merely passes through him to where Vicki is now cornered by his butler. This is where the bumbling police show up with…….FLAMETHROWERS?!! The day is saved.
Where to begin? Paper mache meteors, sets that move, hilariously bad dialogue and shamefully bad acting. Put it all together and you get an unforgettable movie that is so bad, it’s good. Most memorable of all is the hairy faced Brainiac with his forked tongue that always seemed to bend away from the person he was trying to kill.
These were the two films from childhood that would have me up at all hours of the morning. (MANY is the time my dad would come home from work at three in the morning and find me sitting in front of the TV watching one or the other) I always knew when they were on. I’ve never forgotten them and I always enjoy revisiting them from time to time. Now, it’s your turn.
Next time we meet I’ll tell you about the two films of my teenage years that cemented my love of horror. Here are hints: “In space, no one can hear you scream” and “the only thing more terrifying than the last 10 minutes of this film are the first 90.”
Watch and enjoy!
Fred Burdsall is an amusement park junkie living with his better half, Allison, and their four cats. You can find him in the Center City, Philadelphia, Borders looking for Doctor Who and zombie books.
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Featured Columns, Latest News, Movies Unlimited on January 25th, 2010
Welcome, fright fans, to the first installment of MovieFrightFare! In our premiere episode, your humble (and thankfully not homicidal) host Ghouly Irv shares some fascinating tidbits about some of our most beloved chiller films. Don’t be afraid! Descend into his dungeon and let him spin his shivery spell…
Posted by Movies Unlimited in Featured Columns, Latest News, Movies Unlimited on January 18th, 2010
Dear FM Kids of All Ages,
Welcome to the Movies Unlimited page on Famous Monsters of Filmland! This exciting partnership between FM and MU is a natural, joining the most celebrated brand in film monster fandom with the world’s oldest and most reliable home video mail order company.
During the daylight hours here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I enjoy the job of producing/directing/editing our regular video podcasts on MovieFanFare, MU’s new blog for movie collectors. At MovieFanFare we cover all genres in every era, offering publishing space to contributors whose knowledge of and devotion to all things movie-related is unmatched.
As for me, I have nourished an undying affection for famous monsters (and Famous Monsters of Filmland) since I was a child hunkered down in front of the television set catching the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of “Mad Theater,” which showcased the charming talents of local stage magician Joe Zawislak—better known as horror host Dr. Shock—as well as an endlessly mesmerizing cycle of the greatest chiller classics.
My enthusiasm for the eerie manifested itself not only through repeated (and repeated) viewings of horror films, but in the “play” I enjoyed that bore a growing resemblance to a full-time job! Organizing a film production group amongst my friends shortly after 
receiving my first Super-8 film camera at the age of 12, I kept myself busy after school and during summers with an anthology series called The Dark Factor—when I learned how eggshells could make great “creepy old lady” eyeballs; how a Black & Decker rotary hand pump came in handy when blood needed to spew from hacked-off limbs (or torn-up faces!); how aspiring actors were willing to endure great discomforts in the service of scaring friends and family; and how watching these homemade horrors in the dark with a (paying!) crowd that laughed, shrieked, and applauded offered natural highs that only shock-related cinema can provide.
While our primary wheelhouse at Movies Unlimited is all things DVD and Blu-ray (and we have one of the most lavishly praised catalogs in the business to prove it!), you can trust that we’ll leave no (tomb)stone unturned when it comes to matters horror, sci-fi, and fantasy related. We love to see our famous monsters in books, comics, on the live stage, in our toyboxes–pretty much anywhere they prowl. It’s said you can’t “do it all”…but why not try?
Be sure to tune in as we launch MovieFrightFare, our series of video podcasts featuring “Ghouly Irv” Slifkin, who will invite you into his crypt for reviews of, news about, and celebrations of the old and new greats of the gruesome variety. Plus, we’ll have contributors sharing their insights about the uncanny in what we hope will prove to be entertaining articles you’ll want to talk about. Sure, we’ve all heard and said some variation of “we love Boris Karloff” (or Bela Lugosi, if you fall on his side of that fairly routine either-or choice that only manages to frustrate the true fan…who loves ‘em both!) countless times—but every writer/fan always has his (or her) own unique voice, and there are always new stars to rave about, new scripts in the pipeline, new creature features to invade our frightmares.
We’re looking forward to being a part of this fang-tastic fan community, and hope you’ll do us the honor of commenting, offering suggestions and ideas, and making MU your home for popular, rare, and hard-to-find genre classics just as FM is your home for celebrating the best of the movie macabre.
Until next time, when MovieFrightFare makes its first appearance on this page…Ghoul-Bye!
George D. Allen writes for the Movies Unlimited DVD Catalog and produces the Movies Unlimited Movie Buzz podcasts. He aspires to one day perform Shakespeare (again) and get a movie project out of Development You-Know-Where; George is currently shooting the scary short Night of the Moonbats. Email him at georgea@moviesunlimited.com
