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Post by charleshelm on Nov 5, 2019 22:51:43 GMT -5
welp...I paid $164...an i oop...
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Post by almuric on Oct 1, 2020 9:19:29 GMT -5
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 1, 2020 10:19:37 GMT -5
I miss the good old days of getting the Universal sets and watching them again with new eyes. I think they're actually up to Volume 6 on Blu now.
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Post by almuric on Oct 1, 2020 11:57:11 GMT -5
Dan Stumpf reviews the three "Creeper" movies featuring Rondo Hatton:
mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=70784I admit I've only ever seen him in Pearl of Death. His other Universals are a bit hard to find (and by all accounts not that great). Something I learned from the article is that here's a Hatton biography, which sounds interesting.
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 1, 2020 12:38:54 GMT -5
Dan Stumpf reviews the three "Creeper" movies featuring Rondo Hatton:
mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=70784I admit I've only ever seen him in Pearl of Death. His other Universals are a bit hard to find (and by all accounts not that great). Something I learned from the article is that here's a Hatton biography, which sounds interesting. House of Horrors isn’t too bad for a very late Universal. Brute Man is MST3K material, and they did a pretty good job with it.
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Post by Jason Aiken on Oct 1, 2020 21:07:34 GMT -5
I think I'll watch some Hammer House of Horror this year. Have the DVD set but haven't watched any yet. I've watched all the Universal stuff enough already.
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Post by almuric on Oct 2, 2020 10:29:18 GMT -5
The Fly (1958) - Quebec scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison), has invented a teleportation device which he hopes will change the world. Testing it on himself, he falls prey to a freakish accident which gives him the head and claw of a housefly. Vincent Price plays Francois, Delambre's friend, one of the last times he'd get the straight part in a horror movie. The movie suffers a little bit from no fault of its own. There's a big mystery about what happened to Delambre . . . except audiences now know exactly what's happened to him. Hedison does a great job giving pathos to the titular character. Not many actors can emote through a giant fly head. The film's reputation is well-deserved.
Return of the Fly (1959) - Time flies. When we last saw young Phillipe Delambre (now played by Brett Halsey), he was but a boy. Now, one year later, he's a grown man, determined to vindicate his father's work. The wonky timeline is reminiscent of Universal's sequels, as is the idea of a scientist's descendants carrying on the family legacy. This time, the merger of man and fly is the result of deliberate malice by a saboteur who knows of Phillipe's phobia of flies. This is unusual in that it's a black-and-white sequel to a color film (though still shot in CinemaScope, rare for monochrome). While it's not groundbreaking, it's a decent enough follow-up to the original.
Curse of the Fly (1965) - In this British co-production we leap ahead yet another generation in the Delambre family (though still remain firmly in the mid-60s). Martin (George Baker), son of the hitherto-unknown Henri Delambre (Brian Donlevy), still mucking around with teleportation. There are no flies in Curse of the Fly. The filmmakers wisely decided that a third fly-related mishap would be stretching credulity past the breaking point. Instead, the Delambre teleporter is creating genetic mutations with prolonged use. The direction by Don Sharp (Kiss of the Vampire) is crisp, with a striking opening sequence. Continuity is even hazier this time, with a confused retelling of the previous two movies.
This movie did not do well at the box office and fell into near-obscurity for a long time, only recently getting released on DVD and Blu-Ray. Which is a shame because it's the best kind of sequel, one which doesn't merely recapitulate the original, but goes beyond it.
Next time: What is this I don't even
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Post by almuric on Oct 5, 2020 19:24:01 GMT -5
House (Hausu) (1977) - Instead of trying to explain and encapsulate director Nobuhiko Obayashi's psychedelic haunted house movie, I shall instead present several quotes from the movie, without context:
"You look like the witch in a horror movie!"
"I bet you're marrying for love!"
"You like piano?"
"What a watermelon!"
"My fingers are gone."
"It's unscientific, unexplainable, unnatural, unreasonable. It doesn't make sense!"
"Bananas! Bananas everywhere!"
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Post by almuric on Oct 10, 2020 10:04:34 GMT -5
The Ghoul (1933) - During a contract dispute with Universal, Karloff returned to his native England and starred in this vehicle from Gaumont British. Egyptologist Professor Morlant (Karloff), has obtained an ancient jewel, the Eternal Light, which he believes will grant him passage into the Egyptian afterlife when he dies. But he must be holding the jewel in death, and after his passing, someone steals the jewel, causing Morlant to rise from his tomb and seek revenge . . .
The opening is very strong, with great atmosphere and a mood of impending dread. The middle bogs down a bit with some comic relief which isn't comic or relieving. But once Karloff apparently rises from the grave, things really pick up. I say "apparently" because we get a half-arsed explanation (delivered by two policemen in front of the worst process screen ever which leads me to suspect reshoots) that Morlant was actually buried alive and his seeming resurrection under the exact circumstances he predicted is just a huge, totally un-supernatural coincidence. Uh huh. I'm willing to lay money that the notoriously squeamish British censors are to blame. The cast is good, with Ernest Thesiger and Cedrick Hardwicke, both of whom would appear in Universal movies later. Karloff is great as always. There's a wonderfully nasty detail in his makeup that I won't spoil.
This movie was believed lost for a number of years before being rediscovered, first in some very poor prints which are missing portions of the movie, and finally a complete print in the '80s which has been released on Blu-Ray and sometimes airs on TCM. With a little less "comedy" and more courage of its convictions, this would be much stronger. It's no immortal classic, but it's worth watching at least once.
Next: Girl Just Wanna Have Guns
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 10, 2020 10:25:28 GMT -5
The Ghoul (1933) - During a contract dispute with Universal, Karloff returned to his native England and starred in this vehicle from Gaumont British. Egyptologist Professor Morlant (Karloff), has obtained an ancient jewel, the Eternal Light, which he believes will grant him passage into the Egyptian afterlife when he dies. But he must be holding the jewel in death, and after his passing, someone steals the jewel, causing Morlant to rise from his tomb and seek revenge . . .
The opening is very strong, with great atmosphere and a mood of impending dread. The middle bogs down a bit with some comic relief which isn't comic or relieving. But once Karloff apparently rises from the grave, things really pick up. I say "apparently" because we get a half-arsed explanation (delivered by two policemen in front of the worst process screen ever which leads me to suspect reshoots) that Morlant was actually buried alive and his seeming resurrection under the exact circumstances he predicted is just a huge, totally un-supernatural coincidence. Uh huh. I'm willing to lay money that the notoriously squeamish are to blame. The cast is good, with Ernest Thesiger and Cedrick Hardwicke, both of whom would appear in Universal movies later. Karloff is great as always. There's a wonderfully nasty detail in his makeup that I won't spoil.
This movie was believed lost for a number of years before being rediscovered, first in some very poor prints which are missing portions of the movie, and finally a complete print in the '80s which has been released on Blu-Ray and sometimes airs on TCM. With a little less "comedy" and more courage of its convictions, this would be much stronger. It's no immortal classic, but it's worth watching at least once.
Next: Girl Just Wanna Have Guns
I remember when this showed up on TCM about 10 years ago, interesting little piece of the 30s horror puzzle. Funny you focused on the comedic aspects, when it was remade in 1961, it was done as a sort of Carry On offshoot.
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Post by almuric on Oct 11, 2020 16:26:01 GMT -5
Answering the important questions:
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 11, 2020 17:45:45 GMT -5
Answering the important questions:
The film was so fuzzy before the restoration, no wonder he didn't notice it. The clicks on the soundtrack probably distracted from noticing it as well. Thank you Universal again for the Dracula restoration!
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Post by almuric on Oct 13, 2020 10:13:00 GMT -5
Night of the Comet (1984) - When radiation from a comet kills most of the human race, Valley Girls Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Samantha (Kelli Maroney) find themselves the last girls on Earth. The end of the world has never been so . . . bouncy. One gets the distinct impression the cast had a lot of fun making it, which translates into a very enjoyable movie. Sure there's homicidal zombies and shady scientists, but there's also shopping sprees (set to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun") and being able to play whatever you want on the radio station. The film does threaten to turn serious a few times, but ultimately ends on an optimistic note. It's a nice antidote to grim apocalyptic movies. Chopping Mall (1986) - A group of teens (including Kelli Maroney) get stuck in an LA mall after closing. Little do they know that the mall's new high tech security robots have malfunctioned and will kill anyone they encounter. So yes, it's a Dead Teenager Movie, but with robots instead of masked lunatics. It was directed by Corman protege Jim Wynorski (Corman's Attack of the Claw Monsters is being watched by one of the teens) who still works today. This is remains his best-known film. It's goofy but enjoyable in the best traditions of B-movies. Next: The Browning Versions
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Post by deepermagic on Oct 14, 2020 9:08:14 GMT -5
I watched Dracula the other night. I purchased a 6 DVD set a few years back and it's scratched the itch. I'm not a huge Universal film buff. I dig the reviews though!
My youngest girls (8 & 5) are enamored with The Wolf Man. They think it's funny (and annoying) that the film is in "grey".
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 14, 2020 11:49:59 GMT -5
I watched Dracula the other night. I purchased a 6 DVD set a few years back and it's scratched the itch. I'm not a huge Universal film buff. I dig the reviews though! My youngest girls (8 & 5) are enamored with The Wolf Man. They think it's funny (and annoying) that the film is in "grey". Of the early five (Drac, Frank, Muumy, Invisible, Wolf), Dracula is effective but stagy. Whale gives Frankenstein and Invisible Man an added boost of directoral flair (let alone Bride). Freund seems to follow in Browning's footsteps with the Mummy but it's visually interesting. The Wolf Man is a bit of a programmer but more relatable which may be why the girls like it the best.
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