Category Archives: Reviews: Movies

Movie Review: Night of the Blood Beast

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Once again, Film Masters has given fans a great little package in their latest Blu-Ray release. Being a huge fan of the sci-fi/horror films of the ’50s, I never get tired of watching films of that era. Here we have two great ones, both directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. One of my favorite things about these early films is that everyone is playing it completely straight. No winking at the camera and never giving it less than 100%. Sure, a lot of them were struggling actors that were trying to get their foot in the door, but they still gave their best and sometimes giving us some very memorable characters. It really shows in the final product, no matter how silly that product might be. As a fan of these movies, I give them a lot of respect and gratitude for doing just that.

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Movie Review: Kinski Double Feature

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Once again, I’m discovering more and more some films that I might have seen back in my 20s or 30s, that I never really paid much attention to. I must have watched them and then forgot about them because they left no real memory with me. It might be because of the shabby releases of them that always seemed to be around, where the quality was pretty rough, so you figured the film itself had to be cheap as well and not worth your time. Thankfully, as we grow older, we really do become a little more serious in our movie viewing and pay more attention to what we are watching. At least, I know I do. A prime example is this new release from Film Masters, a Kinski double feature, of Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) and Web of the Spider (1971). And when the films are presented like they are here, it really is worth your time.

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Movie Review: Common Law Wife & Jennie Wife/Child

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Common Law Wife (1961)
Directed by Larry Buchanan & Eric Sayers
Starring Annabelle Weenick, George Edgley, Max W. Anderson, Lacey Kelley, Bert Masters, Libby Hall

Jennie: Wife/Child (1968)
Directed by Robert Carl Cohen & James Landis
Starring Jack Lester, Beverly Lunsford, Jim Reader, Virginia Wood, Richard Cowl

When I read about the announcement of the latest release from Film Masters, a Hicksploitation double feature, I was going to pass, since it’s not really in the horror genre. Then I realized that one of the titles, Common Law Wife, was partially directed by Larry Buchanan, a favorite cult director of mine! So, I figured I had to take on the assignment of reviewing them anyway because I just couldn’t pass up anything that Buchanan was involved with. I am so glad I did.

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Movie Review: Mute Witness

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Director Anthony Waller
Starring Marina Zudina, Fay Ripley, Evan Richards, Oleg Yankovskiy, Igor Volkov, Alec Guinness

Not sure why, but I never got around to watching this when it first came out, close to 30 years ago. But now, with the new 4K release coming out, I have fixed that and I’m glad I did.

Mute Witness was director Waller’s first film, which I know would have made me pay attention to his career. Unfortunately, his next feature was American Werewolf in Paris (1997), which probably would have made me stop paying attention! But none the less, we are here to talk about his debut feature, which is about a young woman, named Billy Hughes, who is a special makeup effects artist working on a slasher film in Russia. She also happens to be mute. She can hear, just can’t speak. Her sister is on the crew, as well as dating the director, who helps her with any language barriers or difficulties with the crew or actors.

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Movie Review: Oddity

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(2024)
Director Damian Mc Carthy
Starring Carolyn Bracken, Gwilym Lee, Tadhg Murphy, Steve Wall, Caroline Menton, Johnny French

I had the wonderful opportunity to recently see this new film by director Mc Carthy, even though at the time, I had no idea it was from the director of Caveat (2020), which I counted as my favorite of the year I saw it, in 2021. During one part of the movie, scrolling past a display case, you can see that scary little rabbit from Caveat and then it all clicked!

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Movie Review: Tormented

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(1960)
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Starring Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding, Joe Turkel

Director Bert I. Gordon, or known to most fans as Mr. BIG, got that moniker because of the unusual sizes of the subjects of his films, from giant grasshoppers, dinosaurs, spiders, and angry men. So, it was a quite the change of pace when he came up with this simple story about a ghostly revenge on a seemingly innocent man. While there is nothing giant here, Gordon still was able to pull off some of his unusual and interesting camera tricks, including a talking head sitting on an end table.

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Movie Review: Don’t Look in the Basement

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(1973)
Directed by S.F. Brownrigg
Starring Bill McGee, Rose Holotik, Annabelle Weenick, Michael Harvey, Gene Ross, Jessie Lee Fulton, Betty Chandler, Robert Dracup, Harryette Warren, Jessie Kirby, Hugh Feagin, Camilla Carr, Rhea MacAdams

When you’re discussing low budget movies, the conversation could go a few different ways. You could be talking about the kind of titles that were being churned out in the ‘80s, when the video market was booming and everyone and their brother had a camera and was trying to make their own little production. Nothing wrong with those.

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Movie Review: The Abandoned (2006)

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Directed by Nacho Cerdá
Written by Karim Hussain, Nacho Cerdá, and Richard Stanley
Starring Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev, Paraskeva Djukelova, Carlos Reig-Plaza

I was lucky enough to see this in the theater when it was released in 2007 nationwide, as part of the After Dark Horrorfest’s 8 Films to Die For. This was the first year of this happening and it had some great titles in there, such as Mike Mendez’s The Gravedances and J.S. Cardone’s Wicked Little Things (you can read our review of that HERE). I knew of Cerdá work because of his 1994 short film Aftermath that made quite a lot of noise in the horror underground, with it being a very nasty and graphic tale of a coroner who just happens to be a necrophiliac. Very disturbing, but incredibly shot and very effective. So, when his first feature film was coming out, I wanted to take advantage of seeing it in the theater. And I’m glad I did.

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Movie Review: Sea Fever

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(2019)
Written and directed by Neasa Hardiman
Starring Hermione Corfield, Jack Hickey, Olwen Fouéré, Dougray Scott,
Connie Nielsen, Ardalan Esmaili, Elie Bouakaze

This was a film that I just took a random chance on while scrolling through Prime, and I’m glad I stopped on it. The bad part about having endless titles to scroll through is if it doesn’t hook you in the first 10 minutes, you move on. We have to make that decision and stick with it. Yeah, sometimes you’re going to lose, but others are well worth the time. Sea Fever was one of those I feel is worth taking the time.

Watching the trailer, it almost makes it sound like the plot is about a fishing boat that runs across some sort of sea monster. And that is sort of the story, but not really. There is some sort of creature, but the story is more about the effects of microbiology that makes the film a little more interesting. And if you watch the trailer, I’m not giving anything away that it doesn’t do.

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Movie Review: Devil’s Partner

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Devil’s Partner (1960)
Directed by Charles R. Rondeau
Starring Ed Nelson, Edgar Buchanan, Jean Allison, Richard Crane, Spencer Carlisle, Byron Foulger

This film was one that I remember seeing the poster art but never really knew the film. I’ve read that it was in public domain, but never remember seeing it on VHS. It wasn’t until I bought a bootleg DVD of it last year when I first saw it. And of course, since I bought that bootleg, now we have not only a legitimate release, but a beautiful 4K restoration on Blu-ray! You’re welcome.

Released in 1960, about a decade away from when movies, both theatrical and for television, loved to tackle the theme of the devil, selling one’s soul, and all the other mischievous things Old Scratch would get into. But here we have a very early film that not only tackles that subject but does it in a very strange and different way. The film starts with a very old man killing a goat, using the blood for a ritual, and writing a pact with the devil on a piece of animal skin, promptly dying. Right before he expires, we see a mysterious hand come into the frame to sign the contract. What a way to start the film.

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