November 2nd, 2015 - Frankenhooker (1990)

I really wanted to like Frankenhooker more than I did. I've certainly enjoyed what I've seen of writer-director Frank Henenlotter's other films, but the way Frankenhooker focuses more on overt comedy just didn't pan out for me. I mean, there are still the occasional horror bits (including some Basket Case-ish body horror towards the end of the film), but the comedy comes first here. That, and the story frankly isn't all that interesting. Despite the mash-up title, there's not a heck of a lot in the film that plays around with the Frankenstein tale/mythos. Frankenhooker certainly has potential and has a few fun moments, but overall it's kind of a disappointment.

(Incidentally, if you watch the DVD, don't check out the special features until *after* you watch the film. I'll usually look to see what special features a DVD has - but I always watch the film first. I just want to know what's there. But here, there's a little clip that segues from the main menu that basically gives away the best moment in the film.)

September 9th, 2015 - Frankenstein '80 (1972)

That's some high quality framing

Goofy and rapey is a very odd vibe for a film to shoot for. The two just don't go together under any circumstances, and I don't think even the boldest and/or most talented filmmaker would even try. But that doesn't stop Frankenstein '80, an Italian exploitation flick that is semi-interesting as a gory novelty, but is certainly not a very good movie.

It's a film that asks the bold question - what if early-70's Dr. Frankenstein put gonads into his creation (called "Mosiac" here), and the organ caused the monster to become not only murderer, but also a rapist? Sounds fun, yeah?

June 20th, 2015 - Atom Age Vampire (1960)

Abbreviated Entry...

May 20th, 2015 - Womaneater (1958)

aka The Woman Eater

The titular Womaneater is a plant from deep in the Amazonian jungle. A native tribe worships the huge plant as an idol, and regularly holds ceremonies where they beat some drums, chant a bit, and feed it a young woman. Somewhere in there is the secret to raising the dead. (Why wouldn't it be?) English (mad) scientist Dr. Moran has not only witnessed this ritual in person, he's also become obsessed with harboring the plant's regenerative powers. Since he's a typical mad scientist, he is hungry for the fame and fortune he'd get if he could, in fact, raise the dead. He somehow (it's not shown) managed to get the HUGE plant back to his secret laboratory in his estate, along with a native servant named Tanga (the probably not actually Amazonian Jimmy Vaughn) to help him figure out how it works.

The only problem for Dr. Moran? Being the Womaneater, it needs women to eat. It's a lot easier to come by women to feed it in the Amazon than it is in the big city. The doctor is a little apprehensive about killing random women, but he justifies that it's for the greater good. He manages to find the occasional victim here or there, but the police are getting suspicious. And just so we have a main character to care about, Dr. Moran hires a young woman by the name of Sally. Will she be safe from Dr. Moran and the nefarious womaneater? Tune in to find out!

May 2nd, 2015 - The Phantom Creeps (1939)

I had a passing familiarity with The Phantom Creeps based on its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 - it was presented as a series of shorts in the earlier seasons of the show. (And I guess it *was* originally a 12 part serial, but here it's stitched together as one film.) I remember certain things - the freaky robot, the fake spiders - but didn't really have an appreciation for Bela Lugosi at the time. So I was glad to get the chance to see it as an uncut film, courtesy of the 50 Tales of Terror budget set. And honestly, it's kind of fun. Lugosi is pretty classic as mad scientist (hard to believe, I know) Dr. Alex Zorka. He gets a lot of power-mad dialogue and just seems really committed to the role. Don't get me wrong - The Phantom Creeps is no classic - it's pretty cheesy and kind of feels like fluff, but it passes the time okay.

The element Zorka has discovered can do just about anything - from making a death ray to incision-free surgery - although he seems most proud of the fact that it can put anyone in a state of suspended animation. He does this by putting a little cracker on a person (coated with the element), and then has a spider thing - the titular creep, which is attracted by the element - crawl to it. So you get a lot of comically fake spiders the size of tennis balls crawling around, which is nice. When the spider gets to the wafer.... BOOM! A little smoke and the person goes into a coma. It sounds pretty stupid... and it is. But that gives you a general idea of the science in The Phantom Creeps, and you just have to roll with it.

April 23rd, 2015 - The Curious Dr. Humpp (1969)

When the algorithms at Netflix suggested The Curious Dr. Humpp, I didn't think much of it - old monster movie, creepy face on the box art, and the description "Mindless automatons and a curious-looking monster abduct drug-addled hippies, lesbians, and a stripper and deliver them to the manor of demented Dr. Humpp in this bizarre sci-fi horror flick." Sign me up, I guess? What would have been nice is if I had known how porny it is. I mean, the main story is a doctor who abducts people and gives them drugs to make them have sex all of the time, so he can get some eternal life serum, or something. And *after* the fact, I looked it up on imdb and found it had an X-rating. Now, I'm not saying this would have kept me away from it, but it would have at least changed how I approached it. Mid-afternoon is not the best time to watch an X-rated movie, you know?

So yeah, a lot of sex in this movie. And apparently, the English version (the one I saw) has even more than the original, as the American distributors decided to toss in some more random sex scenes (to the tune of 17 minutes!) to, uh, pad the film. And this movie is only about 85 minutes long. If you took out the sex scenes, you'd probably end up with a 40-45 minute movie.

March 29th, 2015 - Devil Bat (1940)

How you feel about two things will basically determine whether you enjoy The Devil Bat or not. They are (1) Bela Lugosi, and (2) big stupid bat puppets. I happen to be a big fan of both, so found The Devil Bat quite enjoyable.

Lugoisi stars as Dr. Carruthers, a scientist developing chemicals for a cosmetics company (perfumes, lotions, and the like). Unbeknownst to his employers, he performs "weird, terrifying experiments in his hidden laboratory." The experiments are mostly bat-based. Through glandular manipulation via electric shock, he can make a bat as large as a giant bird! Not only that, but he's trained the giant bat to kill whatever is wearing a particular scent he has created. You see, Dr. Carruthers is very bitter that the owners of the company (the Heath family) have made millions off of his hard work - he was offered a percentage of the company early on, but took a cash payout instead. So he gets his revenge by getting members of the Heath family to try out his new "shaving lotion" - which happens to contain the deadly scent that drives the giant bat into a murderous frenzy.