Rasalba Neri plays the title character in 1971’s Lady Frankenstein, a role that is mad scientist-y enough for a man but made for a woman. She is obviously solidly of Italian descent, but is inexplicably the daughter of that deeply American staple of cinema Joseph Cotten.  He will be out of this picture before too […]

The mock-religion The Church of the SubGenius employs as its primary symbol a clip art image of the stereotypical ideal of the 1950’s American male, complete with pipe clenched between teeth.  I kept thinking of this image every time the eerily similar Arthur Franz appears on screen during 1951’s Flight to Mars.  He is like […]

I grew up with video games, though with the first wave of arcade games and home consoles.  I still feel some nostalgia for those.  My current outlet for that is my collection of arcade game flyers, and I have never met anybody else who collects those.  This lead-in is my way of saying I am […]

Those who have seen enough of Universal’s horror and sci-fi b-movie fare will know roughly what to expect before watching 1941s Man-Made Monster.  What is interesting is how well the movie hits the expected beats, and then does a number of things which were unexpected. Lon Chaney, Jr., stars as the sole survivor of a […]

It was startling when Kenneth Branagh helmed Thor, a Marvel film, in 2011.  I don’t necessarily dislike the actor/director, but I have always found him to be smug and pretentious.  His association with Shakespeare doesn’t help dissuade that opinion.  And yet it now seems he always wanted to do “big” productions, as evidenced by his […]

This 1970 movie has an identity crisis.  The case said it was titled Scream of the Demon Lover.  The title card for the movie said it is The Killers of the Castle of Blood, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.  Among other titles it has gone by are Castle with the Gates of Fire […]

Given the choice, I think I would often choose to see a movie that does something different and doesn’t quite succeed instead of watching one that does nothing I haven’t seen before while doing it extremely well. That’s how I would summarize my feelings so far about Arrow Video’s blu-ray set Enter the Video Store: […]

I had a weird moment of confusion while watching the beginning of 1965’s The Seventh Grave, as a found myself thinking about the 1990’s puzzle-mystery CD-rom game The Seventh Guest.  Typical of such games of the era, which was one of those things set in a creepy mansion on a dark and stormy night.  These […]

I don’t know much about Richard Basehart except for a recurring gag on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 where Gypsy, one of the bots, is obsessed with him.  Not sure why she’s obsessed with this actor, only that I was reminded of this while watching him in 1950’s Outside the Wall. Basehart is a man who […]

I love all forms of animation, especially the various forms of stop-motion.  So I am familiar with the work of Will Vinton and his trademark Claymation process.  I hold him in high regard for the quality of his work, even if there is consistently something I find a bit off-putting about it.  Something I can’t […]

I love gothic films, which I find odd, as it one of the most restrictive genres.  I mean, what is gothic exactly?  You must have at least a sprawling old building of some sort, whether it is the baron’s castle or a school for girls which is lorded over of a prim schoolmistress. The 1964 […]

I confess to being a soft touch, despite being such a cynic.  Some movies have moved me to tears, even when I realize I am being blatantly manipulated.  But my eyes stayed bone dry throughout the only time I intend to watch 1941’s Penny Serenade.  I found it to be an accurate title for something […]

You know you have reached an advance age when you see somebody in a film getting stretched on a medieval rack and you think about how great your aching back might feel after some time on that.  But that’s what I was thinking when Boris Karloff was subjecting some poor soul to this punishment in […]

In a perfect world, Ann Magnuson would have had a long career of leading roles in movies while attracting a growing cult following for her musical endeavors.  Alas, neither of these things happened, though not for lack of trying.  I challenge anybody to see 1987’s Making Mr. Right and not wonder why they haven’t seen […]

It isn’t often I find myself in direct opposition to an opinion Roger Ebert expressed in a review, yet I am stunned by how much he hated 1975’s Death Race 2000. I will sum up the plot for the unfamiliar.  In the future (well, 2000 was the future in 1975), America is under the thumb […]