Category Archives: Reviews: Movies

Movie Review: The Navy vs the Night Monsters

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The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966)
Directed by Michael A. Hoey, with Jon Hall & Arthur C. Pierce (both uncredited)
Starring Mamie Van Doren, Anthony Eisley, Billy Gray, Bobby Van, Pamela Mason, Walter Sande, Edward Faulkner, Phillip Terry

What a title, huh? That would surely draw the attention of any young monster fan. And I’m sure it did, especially if you were cruising through the TV guide and saw this listed some Saturday afternoon. Which is exactly where most younger fans saw it. Now I’m not saying this is a terrible film by any means, but it is definitely a Turkey. Recently released on Blu-ray from Leomark Studios, in about as bare-bones edition as you can get. I had a copy of this movie on DVD from Cheezy Flicks or some other low budget place, and this Blu-ray is just slightly a step up from that. Barely. The movie just starts when you start the disc. No menus and definitely no extras. In fact, the cover art shows a guy with a beard staring at some sort of alien creature, face to face. Neither of these characters are in this movie, which is about killer plants. In fact, I’m trying to remember if there was even a guy with a beard!?!? But nonetheless, since it looks like they spent about $1 on the packaging, let’s get to the actual movie.

The movie starts with the typical narration, letting us know about how the U.S. is exploring Antarctic, to discover all its secrets! And after finding some strange plant life in an apparently warm spot down there, they load it on a plane to take it to the states. But on their way to Gow Island to refuel, they run into issues as they try to land. Low budget icon Anthony Eisley stars as Lt. Charles Brown (I kid you not) who is now in command of a Navy base located there, since his commanding officer left the night before, and now he must step up and take charge.

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Movie Review: Dust Bunny

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(2025)
Written & Directed by Bryan Fuller
Starring Sophie Sloan, Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian, Sheila Atim, Rebecca Henderson, Line Kruse, Caspar Phillipson

There aren’t too many movies I feel that can perfectly blend in fantasy and reality together, with a heavy touch of surrealism, and maybe a little life lesson in there, and do it well. Tim Burton is one that comes to mind, and only after a few minutes of watching Dust Bunny, I wondered if he had anything to do with this picture! It really is like a child’s dream/nightmare come to life and seeing it through the eyes of a little 8-year-old girl.

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Movie Review: White Zombie

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(1932)
Directed by Victor Halperin
Starring Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Joseph Cawthorn, Robert Frazer, John Harron

This film starring Bela Lugosi tends to get overshadowed by the one he made the previous year, Universal’s Dracula (1931) since that was the film that made him a star. It is unfortunate because I feel that he gives a much more memorable performance here in White Zombie, as the voodoo priest Murder Legendre, than he did as the famous Count. And while it might not be an all-around classic title in the annals of horror history, it does have more than enough to give it more credit than it gets, besides being the namesake of Rob Zombie’s first band.

This does have the honor of being the very first feature zombie film, taking ideas from William S. Seabrook’s novel The Magic Island, which was where American audiences first heard of tales of voodoo and zombies. These were somnambulist or automatons, humans moving without will, or at least without their own will. These were not the flesh-eating, living dead kind, which we wouldn’t see until 1968. Based mainly on voodoo rites, these were not actual dead that have come back to life, but more likely just under a spell, as well as possibly caused by drugs of some sort. No matter what the belief is, it is the first film dealing with them. This kind of zombie would remain in horror films for the next 3 decades until George Romero changed the game with Night of the Living Dead.

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Movie Review: Crawling Hand & Slime People

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While Mystery Science Theatre 3000 brought a lot of films to a whole new audience, which is a good thing, the problem is that they told that same audience that these were bad movies and should be made fun of. And that is not a good thing. Sure, the movies didn’t have a huge budget, probably not the best script, and maybe even a cheesy monster, but the people involved making it gave it their all. And for that, you have to give some credit. Plus, as I’ve stated many, many times, if you were entertained once it’s over, then it is not a bad movie!

The two titles recently released by VCI Entertainment, The Crawling Hand and The Slime People, both from 1963, are two perfect examples of that. Both were produced by Joseph F. Robertson, who got his foot in the door in Hollywood by these two films. A short time later, he started producing and directing adult features, under the name Adele Robbins. He came back to the horror genre to produce Dr. Caligari (1989) and directing Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies (1992). But we’re here to discuss those first two titles!

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Monster Mayhem Collection

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When I saw this Monster Mayhem Collection announced, I was pretty excited. Then when I saw it was coming from Film Masters, it made it even better. Releasing 4 great titles from the 1950s, one of my favorite eras, means it’s always going to be a fun time. In this set, you get Kenneth G. Crane’s Monster from Green Hell and Nathan Juran’s The Brain from Planet Arous, both from 1957, and then two features from director Richard E. Cunha, Frankenstein’s Daughter and Giant from the Unknown, both from 1958. Each of the titles have 4K scans from archival prints in their original theatrical aspect ratios. While Brain looks a little bright, it still looks good, while the other ones all look crisp and clean, the usual high-quality standard we’ve seen from previous Film Masters’ releases.

But let’s dig a little into the films in this collection.

For years, Kenneth G. Crane’s Monster from Green Hell was one of those long-thought lost titles, though some may argue that it should have stayed that way. But if that was true, we’d never get to see these amazing giant wasps created by legendary Wah Chang. Now, there is a lot of walking during the films 71-minute running time. And then some more walking. And then some more.

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Movie Review: The Eye

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(2002)
Directed by Pang Brothers
Starring Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Candy Lo, Yin Ping Ko

Let me say this right off the bat to avoid confusion. Granted, this is my opinion, so take it for that. This is not a horror film. It is though, a ghost story, and while creepy and having a few jumps in there, I don’t feel the intention of these filmmakers is meant to scare you. Sometimes, depending on your belief, dying is just part of life. Then there are those that get lost in between, that are around us all the time. That could be frightening in itself!

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Movie Review: Salem’s Lot

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(1979)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Davil Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Geoffrey Lewis, Kenneth McMillian, Fred Willard, Reggie Nalder

My first experience with the film Salem’s Lot was not a good one. I don’t remember seeing it when it was first broadcast on TV back in 1979, which seems odd enough. But in the early 80s, I began to dive into horror fiction, which spread faster than a vampire plague in a small town! When I got to King’s Salem’s Lot, I absolutely loved it and over the years, it would remain my favorite. Maybe because I grew up in a similar small town, though in Michigan, where everyone knew everyone’s business, but it really resonated with me. So, after finishing the book I went out and rented the VHS release of it, not realizing it was the shorter theatrical version. I absolutely hated it. I hated that Barlow looked like Nosferatu, which is completely different than he is in the novel. I hated they had left so much character development and backstory out. This was in my younger and naive days when I had no clue what it took to adapt a novel into a feature film, not to mention that the version I had just watched was condensed version of the full 2-part series.

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Movie Review: The Black Raven

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The Black Raven (1943)
Directed by Sam Newfield
Starring George Zucco, Wanda McKay, Noel Madison, Robert Livingston, Bryon Foulger, Charles Middleton, Robert Middlemass, I. Stanford Jolley, Glenn Strange

Because I grew up watching a lot of old movies on TV in my early teens, seeing titles like this always gives me a feeling of nostalgia. Almost like I’m a kid again watching these, always hoping for something dark and sinister. And while The Black Raven is really just a mystery melodrama, a couple of the cast ties it into the horror genre which makes it even more fun.

George Zucco plays Bradford, known to the underworld as the Raven, who runs a out of the way motel called The Black Raven, near the Canadian border. During the night, all sorts of guests arrive that are somehow all connected. The first is an old partner of Bradford that escaped from prison and now wants revenge on him. Then there’s another gangster on the run, as well as a young couple that are trying to get across the border so they can be married, because the young woman’s father, a corrupt politician, won’t allow it. Of course, he then shows up at the hotel as well! Then throw in a bank thief, a bumbling sheriff, and Bradford’s dim-witted helper Andy, and it’s going to be a night full of thrills.

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Movie Review: Stranger on the Third Floor

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(1940)
Directed by Boris Ingster
Starring John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Elisha Cook Jr., Peter Lorre, Charles Waldron, Charles Halton, Ethel Griffies

This film proves once again that no matter how long you’ve been a film fan, there are always more titles to discover that you might not have known about. Now thanks to Warner Archives, I have to the chance to see a film starring (well, sort of) one of my favorite actors from the classic eras, Peter Lorre.

Now even though Lorre is top billed, he is barely in a supporting role. While he is the title character, he only appears in a few scenes, but they were obviously using his name to hype of the film, especially since the rest of the cast didn’t have any of the star status needed to promote it. But while it’s not one of the best of that era, there is still more here to be appreciated.

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Movie Review: Evil Dead Rise

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(2013)
Directed by Lee Cronin
Starring Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas

I did not get to the theater to see this but did it once it hit the streaming services. Not sure if it was just that service or what, but it looked very dark, like someone had cranked the brightness way down. Since there is no power in the apartment building for a good chunk of the story, it made it incredibly difficult to see what the hell was going on. That made the overall impression of the film for me to thinking it was just okay. So, I was very excited to revisit it now in its 4K release from Arrow. Boy, what a difference.

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