Here are today’s.
Village of the Damned: I am telling that you MUST like this one. Unfortunately I don’t really have the power to do that but these kids do! This is a great British film starring George Sanders. A small English town suddenly goes “dark.” In other words everyone passes out unconscious, and anyone entering the area of the town does the same. It’s a great mystery that the military is studying when suddenly everyone wakes up. Everything seems normal again except for one thing. Several women in the town turn out to be pregnant. Whether they did what was necessary to become pregnant or not. This obviously causes friction amongst the husbands, but be that as it may, the babies are all born anyway. These are not normal babies though. (See pic). They develop the power to read anyone’s mind, and order them to see or do anything. One fellow is made to light himself on fire (after he had threatened the children), and the townspeople are scared to death of them. Turns out the English village is not the only country in the world where this has happened either. Several countries have the same problem, and the soviets actually have to resort to the use of a nuclear missile to destroy their group of children. Well…George Sanders figures a heroic way out of all this for the English village and you will have to watch this film AND love it to find out! I am now in your mind telling you to do so! Or you can just watch the video below!
Kwaidan: A wonderfully shot Japanese film made up of 4 unrelated “ghost” stories. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea as it is slow, and not overly bombastic/loud, but these are haunting images that are very well done in a bit of a different style than we are used to today (especially here in the US). My favorite is probably the Woman in the Snow story. A man is trapped out in the freezing cold. Snow and ice are everywhere, and a snow spirit shows up to save him from freezing to death, but she warns him….if you ever mention this to anyone, ever, anywhere, anytime in your life I will kill you. Of course years later that presents a problem for this guy. There is a nice disc of this movie available from Criterion with subtitles.
Dr. Who: Not everyone cares for this BBC TV classic, but I enjoy it. First a quick history (told better than I probably could) from Wikipedia:
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious and eccentric humanoid alien known as the Doctor who travels through time and space in his spacecraft, the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, faces a variety of foes and saves civilizations, helping others and righting wrongs, as well as improving the way people, aliens and robots choose to live their lives.
The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world, and as the “most successful” science fiction series of all time, in terms of its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, iTunes traffic, and “illegal downloads”.[2] It has been recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget special effects during its original run, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop). The show is a significant part of British Popular culture in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, it has become a cult television favourite and has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programmes, including the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2006, and five consecutive wins at the National Television Awards since 2005, in the Drama category.
The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. After an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production with a backdoor pilot in the form of a 1996 television film, the programme was relaunched in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. The first series was produced by the BBC; series two and three had some development money contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which was credited as a co-producer. Doctor Who also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television programmes Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, the standalone K-9, and a single 1981 pilot episode of K-9 and Company.
The Doctor has been principally played by eleven actors. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the show as regeneration, whereby the character of the Doctor takes on a new body and, to some extent, new personality. Although each portrayal is different, and on occasion the various incarnations have even encountered one another, they are all meant to be aspects of the same character. The Doctor is currently portrayed by Matt Smith, who took up the role after David Tennant‘s final appearance in an episode broadcast on 1 January 2010. A fifth series of the relaunched programme began on 3 April 2010, in which the Eleventh Doctor is accompanied by Amy Pond, portrayed by Karen Gillan.”
This has always been a very imaginative TV series, and of course like many fans around the world I love the Daleks. What’s not to like about these guys? The ultimate bad guys. Single minded, destructive creatures living inside those bizarre tank-like vehicles exclaiming…Exterminate! Many are available on Amazon. Tough to say where to start, but you can atch the current episodes on cable, then pick up the The Dalek Invasion of Earth episode with Willam Hartnell as Dr. Who (the very first guy to play the doctor and an early episode) and the Genesis of the Daleks with the infamous Tom Baker as Dr. Who (from the 1970′s). Watch those and take it from there!
Daimajin series: A 50 foot tall Japanese statue comes to life in Medieval Japan to exact revenge on a cruel warlord or some such person. That is basically the plots for all three enjoyable (although repetitive and stretched out a bit too far to wait for Majin to appear) Daimajin films. The effects are marvelous, and Akira Ifukube’s music elevates the material even more. Amazingly there were 3 Daimajin (rough translation “giant statue”) AND they were all produced in the same year! Only in Japan baby! Daimajin, Return of Daimajin and Wrath of Daimajin. Later on in this countdown I will post a pic of me and my own 2 foot tall Daimajin! The US discs are ok, but watch out for the US dubs! They aren’t the greatest. These are highly recommended to any Japanese monster fan.
Godzilla vs Ebirah: A dark sort of video of me in my “Godzilla/monster” room review…………………
Gamera, Guardian of the Universe: (1995) Now this one is a lot of fun. This was the return of Gamera (after 15 years) to the movies, but a rebooted Gamera. The budget was low, but Shuske Kaneko and company brought us a fun new take on Gamera. We also get a bonus because Gyaos is also in this movie. Gamera and Gyaos slug it out in Tokyo in (what was then) the most entertaining kaiju battle seen in a while and that even includes Godzilla! This was the first of the modern Gamera trilogy. Very highly recommended.
Gamera 3 (1999): Many consider this film as the pinnacle of the Gamera Trilogy, and while the effects are by far the best of the three films, it is slightly lacking in the fun aspect, and to tell the truth, the villainous monster, Irys, is just not that great. The other problem is that there just isn’t enough monster action. However, the showstopper to see is the Shibuya sequence. Gamera blasting away with fireballs at 2 Gyaos over the very crowded streets of Tokyo. Thousands are killed, and Gamera shows no quarter to the Gyaos. Very well done, and great to see giant monsters portrayed in this way. The ending is left open as Gamera valiantly marches off to almost certain destruction sporting a major hole in his chest, and a missing hand that had been blown off minutes before in his climatic battle with Irys (Gamera wins of course). Heading towards Tokyo are hundreds of Gyaos, and Gamera knows it. Highly recommended!
Star Wars series: We have all seen these a million times so there isn’t a need to cover the plots, but this is the way I saw them as they came out.
Star Wars: Saw this when it came out (as I did all of the Star Wars movies) and like everyone, liked it immensely ( I was 17 at the time) and how influential was this movie? A real game changer. Now that time has passed it is cool to see Alec Guiness as Obi Wan. This isn’t my favorite of the series though that would be………
The Empire Strikes Back: I saw this during my first summer living in NYC. I have always remembered that experience. My faith in movies had been restored and I never forgot that experience. Like everyone I was highly anticipating the next one…………….
Return of the Jedi: This was a letdown from Empire, but the beginning segment was (and still is) pretty good. Although I was never crazy about the almost “cute” puppets and makeup in Jabba’s palace. The Rancor was great though! The Ewoks though? Blech. Watching it today the ending between Luke and his father works pretty well. I thought that might have been the end, even though it had been rumored that Lucas had a prequel and a epilogue in mind………….
The Phantom Menace: I didn’t expect this one to be so great (lightning doesn’t strike twice) but this is just plain crummy. I really don’t need to add anything as it has al been said already. SFX were everywhere and overwhelmed the thin story. Actually it’s a pretty dull affair, maybe the next one, I thought……………
Attack of the Clones: More of the same dreck only a little better this time. The arena battle is fun, and seeing Yoda fight with a lightsaber was kind of Ok….but overdone effects wise. Seeing Christopher Lee was exciting though! This movie had nothing to write home about though until…….
Revenge of the Sith: The best of the 3 “prequels” but is still crammed with too many overblown effects. This one is at least interesting because of the executions of all the Jedi, the birth of Vader and the uncanny job Ewan McGregor does as a younger Alec Guiness. Hopefully this will end any more Star Wars films because the gas ran out on this series a LONG time ago.
Video goes here.
The Black Cat: A terrific 1930′s pairing of two heavyweights Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. It’s disjointed, and it sometimes feels like they throw in everything, but the kitchen sink….. ah what’s the use? I still love it , and it’s great seeing these two go at it. Karloff is the evil one in this film. He has done bad things to Lugosi, his wife, and even his daughter. By the end of the film Bela cracks, and skins Karloff alive (done tastefully but quite horrible in silhouette). Recommended as a good non monster/horror Universal. Universal………a habit that is hard to break!
So Bad they are guilty, I mean feels guilty I mean…………..
Gamera vs Barugon: (1966) Effects wise this is the best of the Showa Gamera films. The pacing is ponderous, and it takes a while to get to the monster action, but (this is Gamera film number two) the monster action is crazy. Barugon is a four legged lizard, that sports a super long tongue that fires a freezing mist. He even freezes Gamera with it! Not only that, but he projects a rainbow beam from the spines on his back that destroy a missile range that is about to fire on him. It was this kind of imaginative stuff that the kids loved, and Gamera rapidly worked his way up the kaiju food chain to second banana in Japan. The next film was the enjoyable Gamera vs Gyaos.
Maniac: Not an easy film to watch because it just isn;t very good, but this early 1930′s “effort” contains crazy stuff. A crazy scientist plucks an eyeball out of a cat! Here’s a good and brief explanation of this mess from this website http://www.archive.org/details/1930sExploitationNudityDevilMonsterTrailerManiacClips
“Maniac” (1934) with perhaps the earliest use of nudity in an exploitation film. An astonishingly bizarre and lurid horror movie with terrible over-acting, nude scenes, and an obvious rape-in-progress sequence (too dark for my mpeg converter) that amazingly escaped censorship. Plus a totally gratuitous scene of floozies in skimpy lingerie that has nothing to do with the story. The last bit shows a nice fantasy transition special effect and superimposed scenes from the 1922 silent film “Witchcraft Through the Ages” to illustrate the mad scientists insanity.
The inclusion of numerous title cards with clinical descriptions of mental illnesses gave this film a pseudo-scientific documentary appearance. Thus, the pretense of being an educational film made it possible to screen it, with all its outrageous scenes intact, on the exploitation circuit.
Director Dwain Esper was pretty much the Ed Wood of the ’30s. He gave the world the exploitation classics “Narcotic” (1933), “Marihuana” (1936), and “Sex Madness” (1938) — the latter two also have nude scenes and are available in this archive along with the complete “Maniac” and “Devil Monster”.
You “may” want to check this out or you just may want to skip it all together!
The Brain From Planet Arous: (1957) Now THIS is a fun one. An alien ( it looks like a brain from as you see in the pic below) wants to take over most badly! I came across this brief and well done explanation on Wiki:
“An outer-space terrorist from a planet named Arous – a brain-shaped creature named Gor – arrives on Earth and possesses young scientist Steve March. Gor then proceeds to use his vast, destructive powers to bend the world to his will, threatening to wipe out the capital city of any nation that defies him.
Meanwhile, another brain from Arous – named Vol – arrives on Earth and eventually inhabits the body of March’s dog. Vol explains that Gor is a wanted criminal on their world. Gor’s only weakness is the Fissure of Rolando and he is only vulnerable during one brief period when he needs to exit his host to absorb oxygen.”
Starring genre regular John Agar…this is low budget but very enjoyable if you like these kinds of films form this period. I know I do!
Just over a week to go….until tomorrow,
Robert
I haven’t checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist