Category Archives: Reviews: Movies

Movie Review: The Lost Patrol

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(1934)
Directed by John Ford
Starring Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny, J.M. Kerrigan, Billy Bevan, Alan Hale

Here we go again. Another seemingly non-horror title, directed by none other than John Ford. So why are we reviewing this? Simple. Because it stars Boris Karloff, only a year before he appears in The Bride of Frankenstein. And the fact that not only is Karloff exceptional here, but it is also a really good and intense movie. It’s a simple story about an army patrol lost in the Mesopotamian desert during World War I, after their young commanding officer is shot by an unseen sniper, taking their orders and directions with him. Now the Sargeant, played by Victor McLaglen, is in charge, with no clue as to where they are or where they were going. They keep marching and come across an oasis, where there is a watering hole and plenty of dates to eat. Before the next morning, their sentry is killed and their horses stolen. As they wait, trying to decide what to do, they are slowly picked off by their unseen assailants.

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Movie Review: The Bad Seed

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(1956)
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, William Hopper, Henry Jones, Evelyn Varden, Eileen Heckart, Joan Croydon, Gage Clarke, Jessie White, Paul Fix

I am amazed more and more by this film, every time I watch it. I’m astonished and shocked at the subject matter for starters. For a movie to be made dealing with a very young female sociopath that possibly murdered a fellow classmate, delving into the whole theory of mental illnesses and the debate of “nature versus nurture,” is a shocking theme to be tackling at any time, but especially for 1956. Then you discover it was based on a stage play from 2 years earlier, which had huge success, running over 300 performances. The play was based on a book of the same name, written by William March, which came out the same year it was adapted for the stage. The film follows the book and stage play, for the most part. But the ending is quite different, but we won’t go into that so we’re not giving away any spoilers.

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Movie Review: Forbidden Planet

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(1956)
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Starring Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman, Robert Dix, James Best, and Les Tremayne as the Narrator

Yeap, here we are again with another NON-horror title!?!? What is going on here at the Krypt? Okay, okay… hang on. There is a monster in here, and one like you’ve never almost seen before, so I think I’m good. But in reality, I do like this movie because of its originality, of course the incredible look of the whole thing, but also giving audiences not just a monster we’ve never seen before, but an idea that was new and something different, especially its origin. But enough of that…no spoilers! Nonetheless, there are so many things in this film to admire.

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Marshmallow Blu-Ray Review

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We had already reviewed the movie last year (click HERE to read it), but this is an updated review that also covers the Blu-Ray release coming out by Toy Robot. There might be some parts from the original review but have at it!

(2025)
Directed by Daniel DelPurgatorio
Starring Kue Lawrence, Corbin Bernsen, Giorgia Whigham, Kai Cech, Paul Soter, Pierson Fode, Miya Cech, Max Malas

In this day and age, it’s not too often when a movie comes about that blows your expectations, especially when you think you know where the story is going. This film is one of them. The film starts off with a very young boy who obviously has issues making friends and is just basically an outcast for no apparent reason. His parents are about to shove him off to summer camp for the first time, which he is not too happy about.

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Movie Review: Destination Moon / Flight to Mars

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Destination Moon (1950)
Directed by Irving Pichel
Starring John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O’Brien-Moore

Flight to Mars (1951)
Directed by Lesley Selander
Starring Cameron Mitchell, Marguerite Chapman, Arthur Franz, Virginia Huston, John Litel, Morris Ankrum, Richard Gaines, Robert Barrat

Sure, these two films aren’t horror by any means. You could make a stretch to say that the space crews in each of these films get put into peril, but I don’t feel the point is to frighten anyone. What I do think the point is, especially at the time these were made, was to give viewers something they’ve never seen before, a very early look at traveling into space. Made over a decade before we would start sending man into space, these two films give us two very different tales of those courageous men and women blasting off the planet into the unknown.

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Movie Review: Snowbeast

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(1977)
Directed by Herb Wallerstein
Starring Bo Svenson, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan, Clint Walker, Sylvia Sidney

Only a couple of years after the release of Jaws (1975), doing similar themed movies were still in force. But this was one made-for-TV, as well as getting about as far away from the water as you could, setting it in a ski lodge up in Colorado! Instead of a rogue shark, we have the title character, sort of winter version of Bigfoot, but much more menacing.

Bo Svenson plays Gar Seberg, an Olympic gold medalist in skiing a few years earlier, but hasn’t been able to hold onto that former fame and glory and is now down on his luck. Along with him is his wife Ellen, played by Yuette Mimieux, a TV journalist. They arrive at the Rill Lodge and Ski Resort, run by an old friend, hoping that Gar can get a job. Gar and Ellen obviously are having trouble with their marriage, which doesn’t help when Tony Rill, the manager of the lodge, is not only an old friend of theirs, but an old flame of Ellen’s. But Tony has other things on his mind, like a female skier going missing earlier that day. Her friend says she was attacked by something, even though she didn’t see it. When Tony when to check out the area, he thought he saw something huge and white amongst the trees along hearing a loud and terrifying roar. Something that wasn’t human.

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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

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(1958)
Directed by Nathan Juran
Starring Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, Torin Thatcher, Alec Mango, Danny Green

Okay, so why are we reviewing a Sinbad movie here in the Krypt? Simple… it does have monsters! And more importantly, they were created and animated by the one and only Ray Harryhausen. It cannot be stated enough of what the impact of Harryhausen’s work had influenced not only the industry at that time, but all the people that would be so inspired by his work that they decided their future path would be connected somehow to what Harryhausen had started. So, while this film isn’t going to give you chills and goosebumps, I’m pretty sure it will still thrill you and just be in awe of some of the work that Harryhausen has given us. And now thanks to this incredible 4K that has just come out, along with a ton of extras, it’s going to help you fall in love with the master’s work, as well as still being so impressed with what he accomplished, I’m sure you’ll soon forget that it’s not a horror movie.

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Movie Review: Night of Bloody Horror

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Night of Bloody Horror (1969)
Directed by Joy N. Houch. Jr.
Starring Gerald McRaney, Evelyn Hendricks, Gaye Yellen, Herbert Nelson, Lisa Dameron, Charlotte White, Nick Krieger

This is a title that I remember renting back in the VHS days and wondering what the hell was going on in the film. Not because it was an intricate or confusion plot, but because it was so damn dark! I honestly didn’t remember any of the film from back then. It’s been released on DVD before, but the quality always looked the same. When this new Blu-ray from Leomark & Shoreline Entertainment came out, I figured I’d give it a try. Unfortunately, it looks exactly the same. Dark as hell. Any time there are night shots, you can barely see anything. Even indoors, the lighting isn’t the greatest. Very disappointing. But let’s get to the actual movie.

This is the first film directed by Joy N. Houch Jr., who would go on to direct other grindhouse and drive-in fair like Women and Bloody Terror (1970), which has one hell of an exploitive title, The Night of the Strangler (1972), which starred Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees, The Brain Machine (1972), which stars James Best, and Creature from Black Lake (1976), which is probably his best film, as well as his best known film. So, I’ll have to give Bloody Horror a little bit of a break since it was Houch Jr.’s first feature, and maybe he didn’t realize what filming at night meant needing lights.

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Movie Review: The House of Hammer: Volume 1

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For decades, Hammer fans would get excited when the famous studio would get a new owner and we’d hear promises of a return of the name of Hammer. And then we’d wait. And wait. And nothing. Then another new owner, and the same would follow. But ever since John Gore bought Hammer Films, those promises has not only happened but have gone way beyond any fans’ dream. It started with the glorious 4K restorations of not only some of their most famous classic titles, but even some more obscure and non-horror titles that started Hammer on their path years before the gothic revival they started in 1957. And they continued on.

Then they started to announce titles that were not from the Hammer catalog but other British titles, acquiring licenses from studios like Tyburn, AIP, United Artists, and others. They are giving these films the same treatment and restorations as their own titles, giving movie fans a chance to see them like never before. Not to mention the extras included in the releases.

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Movie Review: Sacrificios

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(2025)
Directed by Mauricio Chernovetzky
Starring Jorge A. Jimenez, Frida Astrid, Siddhartha Tonalli

There are a lot of movies that are made just to give you some mindless entertainment, excitement, fun, and maybe even make you laugh. And that is not a criticism because we need those movies, especially in this day and age. But when a film takes a series subject, one that I hope no one would ever have to deal with, takes that trauma, those feelings of grief and guilt, and intertwine them into a movie with a possible supernatural element to it, I’m even more impressed. But let me just say, I have no idea if that is what co-writer and director Chernovetsky was dealing with when he and other writer, Alexander Ioshpe, came up with this story. No matter how they came out it, it is a very impactful story.

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