Limping into the finish, here's my final list. I ran out of steam about half way through the month. Official 8th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge Totals 1. Cult of the Cobra (1955) 2. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967) 3. The She-Creature (1956) 4. The Black Cat (1941)...
I've had no time to write any comments on the movies I've watched over the past week or so. Instead, I'll just list them with my rating and update my overall list. 10/14 - Curse of the Fly (1965) - :star::star::star:1/2 10/14 - Weird Woman (1944) - :star::star::star:1/2 10/15 - Attack of...
10/13 - The Screaming Skull (1958) - 1/2:star: - The definition of dull. I'm not talking ordinary dull - I'm talking watching grass grow dull. There are great stretches of the movie where nothing happens. The screen could have gone blank and I would have gotten as much entertainment out of it...
Rated on a :star::star::star::star::star: scale w/ first time viewings in RED: 10/12 - How to Make a Monster (1958) - :star::star: - There's just something about How to Make a Monster that never quite works with me. As a horror movie, it fails. There's nothing here (atmosphere, sense of...
Rated on a :star::star::star::star::star: scale w/ first time viewings in RED: 10/11 - The Mad Monster (1942) - :star:1/2 - There’s not much to recommend here. Zucco’s fun as the mad doctor, but beyond that you’d be hard pressed to find anything that resembles entertainment. About as dull...
Rated on a :star::star::star::star::star: scale w/ first time viewings in RED: 10/10 - The Earth Dies Screaming (1965) - :star::star::star::star: - I really enjoyed this piece of 1960s low-budget British horror/sci-fi. A few things that The Earth Dies Screaming has going for it include...
10/9 - Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) - :star::star::star: - If you had asked me what my favorite movie was when I was about eight years old, chances are I would have answered Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I couldn't wait for this movie to appear on the local television...
10/8 - Son of Dracula (1943) - :star::star::star::star:1/2 - My personal favorite of the Universal Dracula series. If possible, it gets better and better each time I see it. A lot of people seem to want to focus in Chaney’s physical suitability to play the Count, but he’s fine with me. In...
10/7 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) - :star::star::star: - Despite what I consider to be a ridiculous name, I Was a Teenage Werewolf is much better than I ever expected for a Teen Angst / Horror movie. The IMDb rating of 3.9 is way too low. It's a lot more fun than that. And, it's easily my...
10/6 – Man Mad Monster (1941) – :star::star::star:1/2 - Man Made Monster may not be as good as some of Universal's better known films, but it's a solid, entertaining effort. Director George Waggner does a marvelous job of keeping things moving at a nice pace. None of the relatively short 59...
10/5 - Night Monster (1943) - :star::star::star:1/2 - Very effective mystery/thriller set in one of those rambling old dark houses that I just love. While I found the ending to be terribly predictible, it didn't make it any less fun. Lugosi is good, though underused. But my biggest complaint is...
10/4 - The Slime People (1963) - :star: - This movie represents some of the worst aspects of low-budget film-making. Spotty acting, inane dialogue, uninteresting characters, poor editing, bad lighting, poor location and set choices, and amateurish direction – The Slime People has it all. The...
10/3 - The Black Cat (1941) - :star::star::star: - Much better than I had been led to believe. The Black Cat is actually a very enjoyable little mystery/thriller with a great setting and a strong cast. A creepy dark old house filled with hidden rooms and secret passages, a dark and stormy...
10/2 - The She-Creature (1967) - :star: - What an uneventful way to spend 77 minutes. Dull all the way through. Lance Fuller makes for the most "do nothing" lead I've seen. I usually enjoy Tom Conway, but here he's sleepwalking his way to a paycheck. The only positives worth noting are the...
10/1 - Cult of the Cobra (1955) - :star::star: - Talk, talk, talk - that's about all there is to this rather predictable Universal film. The movie came across to me like a Cat People wannabe, but without the style and atmosphere that made that movie so good. 10/1 - Hillbillys in a Haunted...
Official 8th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge Totals First time viewings in RED: 1. Cult of the Cobra (1955) 2. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967) 3. The She-Creature (1956) 4. The Black Cat (1941) 5. Horror Island (1941) 6. The Slime People (1963) 7. Captive Wild...
First Time Viewings in Bold: 1)1/1 - Tarzan and the Leopard Woman(1946) - :star::star: 2)1/3 - Rome Armed to the Teeth(1976) - :star::star: 3)1/4 - The Etruscan Kills Again(1972) - :star::star: 4)1/5 - The Five Man Army(1969) - :star::star::star: 5)1/6 - His Name Was Holy Ghost(1971) -...
As usual, I had a great time with this, but I'm also glad it's over. I've got a pile of non-horror I'm looking forward to getting to. Here's my final list: Ratings: BOMB to :star::star::star::star: First time viewings in bold: 10/1 - The Mole People (1956, Virgil W. Vogel) -...
I got in two more tonight: Monster on the Campus (1958, Jack Arnold) - Another creature feature winner from Jack Arnold. Despite its flaws, I had a great time with this one. Regardless of how farfetched the movie might be, I appreciate the fact that an attempt was made to intelligently...
Trying to get caught up on what I've seen lately: The Black Room (1935, Roy William Neil) - This has to be one of Karloff's two or three best performances. He essentially plays three different characters very convincingly. It's a good movie but a little too predictable for me to rate any...
10/19 Count Dracula's Great Love (1972, Javier Aguirre) - Yet another Naschy film that doesn't quite work for me. It's not the worst of his films that I"ve seen, but it's far from the best. Part of my problem may be related to the American version of the film I saw that includes a...
Well, it's October 18 and I met my challenge goal - 31 movies. I know many of you have seen a lot more than that, but I'm happy with my progress this year. Here's what I watched today: Devil Bat's Daughter (1946, Frank Wisbar) - While this may sound like a sequel to The Devil Bat, don't...
After having watched some real crap (Bad Inclination, Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks) in the last couple of days, I decided to watch a few old favorites: Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale) Son of Frankenstein (1939, Rowland V. Lee) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942, Erle C. Kenton)...
10/15 The Climax (1944, George Waggner) - Beautiful film. Wonderful sets, costumes, and lighting all filmed in glorious Technicolor. Ultimately, however, the film is a bore. The problem – too much opera and not enough horror. There’s not one surprise to be had in the entire runtime. Boris...
I've always enjoyed Part 2 for the same reason you've given. I prefer the primitive, sack-wearing Jason to the hockey masked icon. Anyway, here are the movies I watched today: The Mummy (1932, Karl Freund) - Boris Karloff gave a lot of wonderful performances in his career, but none...
I've seen four of these movies (Phone, Ringu, One Missed Call, A Tale of Two Sisters). While I enjoyed all four to a certain extent, A Tale of Two Sisters really stands above the others. Wonderfully beautiful and creepy movie that I recommend to anyone with an interest in Asain horror.
10/13 King of the Zombies (1941, Jean Yarbrough) - It my not be much of a movie, but Mantan Moreland makes this one worth watching. It may be terribly un-PC, but he’s very funny in King of the Zombies. If the rest of the movie were as good as Moreland, it could have been a real winner...
10/12 The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932, Charles Brabin) - :star::star::star::star: - Great movie that I'm glad to finally have on DVD. I seem to enjoy it more and more with each repeat viewing. Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy, great cinematography, interesting sets, and a scandalous story make it a...