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Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack [24 Discs] - DVD

SKU: 8345338 | Release Date: 6/19/2007

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Format: DVD
Length: 7613 minutes
Screen Formats: Black & White
Genre: General Horror
Studio: UNKNOWN

Synopsis

Includes:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

The Bat (1926)

Phantom (1931)

The Midnight Warning (1932)

Strangers of the Evening (1932)

The Phantom Express (1932)

The Ghost Walks (1934)

House of Danger (1934)

Chloe (1934)

House of Mystery (1934)

Condemned to Live (1935)

The Great Manta (1935)

Murder in the Red Barn (1935)

One Frightened Night (1935)

The Midnight Phantom (1935)

The Crimes of Stephen Hawkes (1936)

The Rogue's Tavern (1936)

The House of Secrets (1937)

Never Too Late to Mend (1937)

Crimes at the Dark House (1939)

The Phantom Creeps [Serial] (1939)

Pocomania (1939)

Midnight Shadow (1939)

Torture Ship (1939)

The Devil Bat (1941)

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

The Living Ghost (1942)

The Man With Two Lives (1942)

The Ape Man (1943)

Nabonga (1944)

White Pongo (1945)

Shock! (1946)

Scared to Death (1947), MPAA Rating: NR

The White Gorilla (1947)

Studio One: A Passenger to Bali (1950)

Bride of the Gorilla (1951)

Island Monster (1953)

The Snow Creature (1954)

Tales of Frankenstein (1954)

The Brain Machine (1955)

A Strange Adventure (1956)

Evil Brain From Outer Space (1956)

The Devil's Partner (1958)

She-Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

Teenage Zombies (1958)

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

The Head (1959)

Horrors of Spider Island (1959)

The Wasp Woman (1959), MPAA Rating: NR

Beast From Haunted Cave (1960)

The Manster (1961)

Night Tide (1961)

The Devil's Messenger (1962)

Eegah! (1962)

The Sadist (1963)

The Atomic Brain (1964)

The Long Hair of Death (1964)

The She-Beast (1965)

The Sound of Horror (1965)

Manos, the Hands of Fate (1966)

Terror Creatures from the Grave (1966)

The Phantom of Soho (1966)

Kong Island (1968)

Night Fright (1968)

Attack of the Monsters (1969)

The Amazing Transplant (1970)

The Murder Mansion (1970)

The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman (1970), MPAA Rating: R

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave (1971), MPAA Rating: R

Curse of the Headless Horseman (1972)

Vengeance of the Zombies (1972)

Moon of the Wolf (1972)

Crypt of the Living Dead (1973), MPAA Rating: PG

Graveyard Tramps (1973), MPAA Rating: R

Voodoo Black Exorcist (1973)

Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1973), MPAA Rating: R

The Werewolf of Washington (1973)

Don't Look In The Basement! (1973), MPAA Rating: R

The Vampires' Night Orgy (1973), MPAA Rating: R

El Buque Maldito (1974)

Legacy of Blood (1974)

The Legend of Bigfoot (1975)

Rattlers (1976)

Savage Weekend (1976), MPAA Rating: R

Sisters of Death (1976), MPAA Rating: PG

Snowbeast (1977)

Rituals (1978), MPAA Rating: R

Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), MPAA Rating: R

Enigma Rosso (1978)

War of the Robots (1978)

Mama Dracula (1980)

Blood Tide (1982)

Tenebre (1982), MPAA Rating: R

Phenomena (1984), MPAA Rating: R

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1984)

Night Train to Terror (1984), MPAA Rating: R

Spare Parts (1985)

Hands of Steel (1986), MPAA Rating: R

Death by Dialogue (1988), MPAA Rating: R

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
In one of the most influential films of the silent era, Werner Krauss plays the title character, a sinister hypnotist who travels the carnival circuit displaying a somnambulist named Cesare (Conrad Veidt). In one tiny German town, a series of murders coincides with Caligari's visit. When the best friend of hero Francis (Friedrich Feher) is killed, the deed seems to be the outgrowth of a romantic rivalry over the hand of the lovely Jane (Lil Dagover). Francis suspects Caligari, but he is ignored by the police. Investigating on his own, Francis seemingly discovers that Caligari has been ordering the somnambulist to commit the murders, but the story eventually takes a more surprising direction. Caligari's Expressionist style ultimately led to the dark shadows and sharp angles of the film noir urban crime dramas of the 1940s, many of which were directed by such German �migr�s as Billy Wilder and Robert Siodmak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bat
Long believed lost, the silent thriller-chiller The Bat finally resurfaced in the mid-1970s and proved well-worth the wait. Based on the play by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the plot is set in motion by a maniacal serial killer who dresses in a bat costume and flashes a batlike shadow on the wall just before he strikes. Most of the action takes place in the spooky old mansion of mystery writer Mrs. Cornelia Van Gorder (Emily Fitzroy), where a number of innocent bystanders, chiseling crooks, murder suspects and cowering bystanders converge. When the police show up, everything seems to be under control -- and then The Bat strikes again! The film's surprise ending was rather better handled in the 1930 talkie remake The Bat Whispers, but otherwise The Bat is a remarkable achievement, boasting superbly shuddery cinematography by Arthur Edeson and some absolutely eye-popping special effects, courtesy of production designer William Cameron Menzies. Some current prints of The Bat include an eerie musical score culled from episodes of TV's The Twilight Zone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Phantom
A largely forgotten comedy-chiller in the tradition of The Cat and the Canary, The Phantom, from Poverty Row company Artclass Pictures Corp., emerges as one of the loonier films of the early sound era. Guinn Williams, sans his nickname "Big Boy" and the usual B-Western regalia, stars as nervy reporter Dick Mallory who, along with Ruth (Allene Ray), the daughter of the district attorney (Wilfred Lucas), goes in search of the Phantom, a masked killer whose recent jailbreak is alarming the citizenry. They find him running an insane asylum (a rather appropriate place for a deranged killer), but not before a series of encounters with Swedish-accented domestics and the usual thick-headed police officers. It is all played for laughs and with that in mind, the film is much better than its reputation. Williams is quite good and even Ray, a silent serial queen in her final film, manages to deliver her few lines with some conviction, especially in lieu of the fact that sound is supposed to have destroyed her career. Through it all runs veteran bogeyman Sheldon Lewis, for no other purpose, apparently, than to give the audience the expected chills. Contrary to popular wisdom, Lewis does NOT play the Phantom; the role of the killer is instead enacted by veteran B-Western villain William Gould. Director Alan James also wrote the screenplay under his real name, Alvin J. Neitz. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Midnight Warning
Inspired, it was stated at the time, by a real event, this minor but well-made Poverty Row mystery features Claudia Dell as Enid Van Buren, a young girl who checks into Apartment A at the Clarendon Arms Hotel with her brother, Ralph, and fianc�e Erich (John Harron). But Ralph mysteriously disappears and to Enid and Erich's bafflement, no one at the hotel seems to remember his presence. Enter noted investigator William Cornish (William "Stage" Boyd), who, for one, takes the girl seriously and promises to help. But neither Cornish nor his personal Dr. Watson, Dr. Steven Walcott (Hooper Atchley), can prevent someone from luring Enid to a nearby mortuary where corpses suddenly seem to come to life. As it turns out, the owners of both hotel and mortuary are covering up a deathly secret, a secret that would mean their ruination should it become public. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Strangers of the Evening
Also known as The Hidden Corpse, Strangers of the Evening is an effective blend of horror and humor. There's dirty work at the city morgue, where the body of Frank Daniels (Lucien Littlefield) suddenly disappears. Later on, at Daniels' funeral, the wrong man is buried. It's all the handiwork of crooked undertaker Chandler (Warner Richmond), who is part of a complex political cover-up. Things get really hairy when Daniels shows up very much alive, much to the astonishment of his daughter Ruth (Miriam Seeger). Top-billed ZaSu Pitts plays the Daniels family maid, who has a vested interest in the macabre goings-on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Phantom Express
It is all but impossible to dislike a film as gloriously corny as The Phantom Express. The title is derived from an early scene in which veteran engineer Smokey North (J. Farrell McDonald) wrecks his own train while trying to avoid a head-on collision with another. Suddenly, the other train disappears into thin air -- or at least that's Smokey's story. No one believes this incredible tale, and the old man is unceremoniously fired. For the sake of Smokey's pretty daughter (Sally Blane), the railroad-company president's son (William Collier Jr.) does some investigating of his own, ultimately uncovering a diabolically clever scheme hatched by the villains. Even those viewers who are inclined to laugh out loud at the film's ridiculous dialogue will be held in thrall by the pulse-pounding climactic train chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ghost Walks
In the tradition of the classic scare piece Banquo's Chair, The Ghost Walks features one phony spectre and one supposedly real wraith. An actor is hired for a high-society gathering to pose as a ghost. It's all part of a plan by a struggling playwright to stir up interest in his latest production. But just as the "faux" phantom is putting on his sheet, he's scared off by a genuine spook. A murder plot is at the bottom of these weird occurrences, as we discover in reel seven. The Ghost Walks was another one-set wonder from pinchpenny Chesterfield Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

House of Danger
The first of four low-grade thrillers produced by Sam Efrus and filmed on mostly rented sets around Hollywood, House of Danger emerged as an ordinary if well-photographed (by J. Henry Kruse) Poverty Row melodrama. Former Universal lead Onslow Stevens starred as Don Phillips whose friend, Ralph Nelson (James Bush), is gravely injured in a shipwreck. Ralph sends Don to impersonate him at the family estate at San Rafael, CA, where strange things are going on. Unable to fool the family lawyer, Don is unable to fool Uncle Weatherby (John Andrews), the family solicitor, and the two conspire with Ralph's fianc�e (Janet Chandler) against cousin Martin (Desmond Roberts), whom they suspect killed Ralph's father. Ralph himself returns during the celebration of his birthday, just in time to prevent Martin and his co-conspirator, Gordon (Howard Lang), from murdering Don. House of Danger was directed by silent serial star Charles Hutchison, whose straightforward handling of the story was partially undermined by too obvious stock shots of the shipwreck and a car smash-up. Typically for this sort of thing, the name of producer Efrus was misspelled "Ferus" on the onscreen credits. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Chloe
This racist horror film from director Marshall Neilan was inspired by "Chloe -- Song of the Swamp," a minor hit for Eva Taylor. Silent film star Olive Borden is Chloe, a woman of mixed parentage who lives in the swamps with an elderly black voodoo practitioner named Mandy (Georgette Harvey), who hates whites because her husband was lynched. Romance is present in the form of Jim, who wrestles an alligator to rescue Chloe, and her true love Wade (Reed Howes), who works at the local turpentine factory. All the black characters despise white people, and even Mandy turns against the mulatto girl she raised, trying to cut her heart out in a voodoo ritual. As in many such efforts, "whiteness" wins out in the end. This is a sad spectacle to behold today, but was par for the course in 1934. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

House of Mystery
Based on Adam Hull Shirk's moth-eaten 1927 play The Ape, this comedy-mystery-thriller is one of those static, ham-fisted bump-in-the-night whodunits that made Monogram Pictures justly infamous. A group of investors gather at the secluded estate of paralyzed archeologist John Prendergast (Clay Clement), who 20 years previously had escaped a disastrous expedition to Hindustan with a great deal of loot and a somnambulist Hindi mistress-cum-housekeeper (Laya Joy aka Joyzelle).The dreaded Curse of Kali, however, followed Prendergast back to America and is apparently killing off the archeologist's greedy house guests one by one. Tom-Tom drums, incense-burning and shrieks in the night follow, of course, and so do the inevitable dumb police officers headed by Inspector ("I shall not let that ape make a monkey out of me!") Pickens (Irving Bacon). Emil Van Horn skulks about in his gorilla suit (in one scene, the simian has a hard time opening a couple of Monogram's French doors); Chanda, the Hindu woman glowers at ingenue Verna Hillie; Clement does an acceptable imitation of Lionel Atwill, and an American-accented janitor (John Sheehan) proves to be a Scotland Yard inspector in disguise. Nominal leading man Ed Lowry, as a brash insurance salesman, quickly returned to his natural habitat, radio. Shirk's play also served as the basis for Monogram's 1940 Boris Karloff thriller The Ape, although the plot of that film bore little resemblance to The House of Mystery. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Condemned to Live
In Condemned to Live, Ralph Morgan stars as Professor Paul Kriston, the kindly and generous doctor of a tiny European village. So well-liked is Kriston that the beautiful Marguerite Mane (Maxine Doyle) is willing to marry him, even though she loves another man, young David (Russell Gleason). Things take a sinister turn when a series of murders occur in the village, apparently committed by a vampiric beast. David makes himself quite unpopular when he suggests that the killer may be a human being. Meanwhile, Professor Kriston turns to an old family friend, Dr. Anders Bizet (Pedro de Cordoba), for a possible solution to the murder spree, but Bizet is strangely secretive. Condemned to Live was filmed on standing sets at Universal City and on location at Bronson Canyon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Great Manta
This obscure seafaring adventure was based mainly on documentary footage filmed in Micronesia in the late 1920s. Low-budget producer Excelsior shot a wrap-around story about the search for a young San Franciscan, Jos� (Jack Del Rio) shipwrecked on a South Seas island. The boy's girlfriend (Blanche Mehaffey) and a tuna fisherman (Barry Norton) manage to locate the castaway, who, having fallen for a native princess (Maya Owale), refuses to return to civilization. Together, the three westerners hunt for the "devil monster," a giant manta ray. After Jos� loses an arm rescuing Mehaffey from the sea fiend, he readily agrees to return to the waiting arms of his beloved mother (Mary Carr). Director S. Edwin Graham also filmed a Spanish version of this film -- with Movita Castenada as the native princess and Carmen Bailey replacing Blanche Mehaffey -- which premiered in Mexico in December of 1935. The English language version was apparently not shown in America until 1946, but it was exhibited as The Sea Fiend in Great Britain in 1937. Expanded with new footage, The Devil Monster was finally released to American theaters in 1946. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Murder in the Red Barn
The film opens on a theatrical stage where the principal players are introduced in a manner that suggests the audience already knows the story about to be played out. It begins inside the Red Barn in Polstead, Suffolk, where local girl Maria Marten (Sophie Stewart) dances with local, middle-aged squire and magistrate William Corder (Tod Slaughter) during a merry barn dance. Stealing a moment from the festivities, Carlos, a gypsy (Eric Portman) declares his love for Maria, but she rebuffs him and does not disclaim her interest in Corder. Corder is angered when a gypsy palm reader gives him a bad fortune and all of the gypsies are ejected from the party. Maria catches up with Corder later and shares a drink with him at his home; meanwhile, her father (D.J. Williams) notes Maria's absence and suspects her out with the gypsy. Corder, in the meantime, has become intimate with Maria and sends her home, promising marriage. A chance encounter with Carlos is interrupted by Maria's father, who pleads with Corder to have the gypsy barred from the locality. Corder then travels to London and loses big with a disastrous tumble of the dice; Corder schemes to recoup his losses through wooing a local widow of means, plans that do not include Maria. Over time, Maria's delicate condition becomes apparent and her father casts her out of the family home. Maria approaches Corder for help, but becoming aware of her dire situation threatens to tell her father the truth. Corder renews his pledge to marry Maria and tells her to meet him at the Red Barn in couple of hours. Once there, Corder shoots Maria with a pistol and buries her body under the floor, but misplaces a damning piece of evidence at the scene. Disarmed by the pleas of Maria's grieving mother (Clare Greet, a favorite actress of Alfred Hitchcock's), Maria's father resumes the search for her. Carlos appears at Corder's and begins to pressure him about Maria's whereabouts; they are interrupted and Corder sets a trap for the gypsy which he barely escapes. Carlos, Corder, Mr. Marten and a number of police constables all end up at the Red Barn; at first it looks bad for Carlos, but when Corder's own dog begins sniffing around in the barn, Corder finds himself facing a spell of misfortune that will make his poor luck at the dice table seem insignificant by comparison. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide

One Frightened Night
Hoping to avoid the new inheritance tax, eccentric millionaire Jasper Whyte (Charles Grapewin) gathers together his greedy relatives and associates and announces that he intends to give away his fortune to his long-lost granddaughter Doris -- but if she doesn't show up for the reading of the will, the money will be divided evenly among the heirs. Among those present are two girls (Mary Carlisle and Evalyn Knapp) who both claim to be Doris. When one of the girls is poisoned, Whyte's heirs waste no time blaming each other for the murder. After an attempt on the life of the remaining girl, the suspect list narrows down to Whyte's great-nephew Tom (Regis Toomey). Combining forces with two-bit vaudeville magician Joe Luvalle (Wallace Ford), Tom manages to expose the genuine murderer. Written by Stuart Palmer of "Hildegarde Withers" fame, One Frightened Night is a class act all the way, from the inventive opening-title sequence to the exciting finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Midnight Phantom
An overly verbose screenplay all but sinks this otherwise standard whodunit from Poverty Row company Reliable Pictures Corp. A reform-minded but hardheaded chief of police, James Sullivan (James Farley) has a yen for making enemies of both colleagues and family members, including daughter Diane (Claudia Dell), whose romance with plainclothes detective Dan Burke (Lloyd Hughes) is met with stern disapproval. Sullivan, however, is brutally murdered by a dart laced with curare and the same fate befalls the attending physician (Francis Sayles). Enter noted criminologist Professor David Graham (top-billed Reginald Denny), whose investigation soon points the finger directly at Lieutenant Burke. But is Burke guilty or is someone else behind the killings? A Spanish language version, El Crimen del Media Noche, was filmed simultaneously and starred Ramon Pereda, Adriana Lamar, and Juan Torena in the roles originally played by Denny, Dell, and Hughes. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Crimes of Stephen Hawkes
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke opens at a BBC radio studio, where a variety program is being broadcast. After the singing duo of Flotsam and Jetsom and a comic butcher perform, Tod Slaughter appears as himself to perform a radio play about Stephen Hawkes. Hawkes is, to all appearances, a model of kindliness and decorum. A money-lender, he is compassionate and caring toward his clients, and extremely attentive to his lovely daughter, Julia, whose beauty and innocence make her attractive to many suitors. But Hawkes is not all that he appears. In his guise as The Spine Breaker, he is a merciless and notorious murderer, viciously killing his victims in a gory and painful manner. Aided by his assistant, a strange hunchback, the first killing the audience sees involves an obnoxious but otherwise undeserving child. Eventually, Hawkes even kills his best friend; when the friend's son, Matthew discovers the truth, he vows to hunt down Hawkes himself. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

The Rogue's Tavern
Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper have a field day playing Poverty Row versions of William Powell and Myrna Loy in this amusingly silly whodunit. Honeymooners Jimmy and Marjorie Flavin find that their Red Rock Tavern hostelry is not only home to a jewel smuggling gang but the site of a double murder. Since both the victims were seemingly bitten to death, the most obvious suspect is Silver Wolf, the part-wolf police dog owner by wheelchair-bound hotel proprietor Jamison (John Elliott) and his wife (Clara Kimball Young). But nothing is quite as it appears at first and the Flavins are quickly enmeshed in a conundrum worthy of -- well, Nick and Nora Charles. Produced by Mercury Pictures for release by Sam Katzman's Puritan Pictures Corp., Rogue's Tavern was filmed on standing sets at the former RKO Path� studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The House of Secrets
A young man is in danger of losing his inheritance in this muddled thriller from the waning Chesterfield Motion Picture Corp., a remake of the company's first talkie. After rescuing a pretty girl from a brute while crossing the English channel, Barry Wilding (Leslie Fenton) learns that he has inherited the large Hawk's Nest estate on the condition that he never sell the place. He also discovers that the girl, Julie Kenmore (Muriel Evans), lives on the estate along with her father (Morgan Wallace), a noted scientist. After agreeing that Julie and her father may remain on the estate for at least six months, Barry is dumbfounded when the girl prohibits him from visiting her. He does so anyway and is promptly confronted by nasty American gangster Dan Wharton (Noel Madison). What exactly is the gang lord doing at Hawk's Nest and why are the British authorities so reluctant to help the troubled heir? The answer, as Barry discovers soon enough, has something to do with a treasure hidden on the estate. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Never Too Late to Mend
In this melodrama, an old fashioned bad guy is determined to have an innocent young maiden for himself. To do so, he frames her beloved fiance and gets him sent to jail. His wicked plot is foiled when the man is freed and the lovers get back together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Crimes at the Dark House
So since when have crimes been committed in a house with all the lights on? This chop-licking British melodrama stars the gloriously uninhibited Tod Slaughter, playing the unspeakable Sir Henry Glyde. Disposing of his wealthy wife, Glyde replaces her with a look-alike, a recent "graduate" from the local insane asylum. This may sound vaguely familiar to you if you've seen the 1948 Warner Bros. Gothic drama The Woman in White. Indeed, both the Warner film and Crimes in the Dark House were based on the same 1860 novel by Wilkie Collins -- and both are good gory fun in their own separate ways. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Phantom Creeps [Serial]
The bravura performance of Bela Lugosi is the main selling card for the 12-episode Universal serial The Phantom Creeps. Unhinged by the death of his wife, Dr. Alex Zorka (Lugosi) vows to avenge himself on the world with a variety of strange inventions, including a "disvisualizer belt" which allows him to carry out his perfidy under the cloak of invisibility. Zorka also terrorizes the countryside with an eight-foot-tall robot, which appears to have enlarged kidneys (no wonder he's so grouchy!) Defying both the US government and various foreign spies, Zorka charts his own villainous course, keeping one step ahead of the nominal hero and heroine, Captain Bob West (Robert Kent) and girl reporter Jean Drew (Dorothy Arnold). One particularly spectacular laboratory sequence was "borrowed" via stock footage from the 1936 Universal horror film The Invisible Ray, which also starred Lugosi. The rip-roaring climax finds the demented Zorka flying high above the ocean, carrying a vial of deadly explosives with which he intends to blow up the world (one wonders where he plans to land his plane). A feature-length cutdown of The Phantom Creeps (75 minutes) is also available on videotape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pocomania
In this rare film, shot on location in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican native inherits her father's rubber plantation. Later her highly successful sister from New York shows up to claim it for herself, but the other sister employs bogus voodoo rituals to frighten her off. When they fail, the two sisters overcome their differences and begin working together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Midnight Shadow
This long-lost black-cast whodunit was discovered in a vault in Tyler, TX, and preserved by the Southwest Film & Video Archive of Dallas. A showman known as Prince Alihabad the Great (John Criner) suddenly shows up in a small Southwestern town and is welcomed by Dan Wilson (Clinton Rosemond), who readily accepts that the obvious charlatan begins courting his daughter, Margaret (Frances Redd). But when Dan is found murdered after brandishing the deed to an oil field, Margaret takes matters into her own hands and hires aspiring private eye Junior Langley (Richard Bates) and his jive-talking sidekick, Lightfoot (Buck Woods), to solve the case. The trail leads to Shreveport, LA, where the murderer is caught despite the bungling of the case by "Sherlock" Langley and his inefficient "Dr." Lightfoot. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Torture Ship
Torture Ship is a strange amalgam of crime thriller and horror chiller that can't quite make up its mind what it wants to be. Irving Pichel plays Dr. Herbert Stander, a well-meaning physician who becomes a little too much the single-minded visionary. Convinced that criminality is a result of a glandular condition, he assembles an array of escaped convicts -- from small-time grifters to murderers and psychopaths who have nothing to lose (or so they think) -- and takes them out to sea. The doctor begins performing nasty operations and other (usually lethal) experiments on them. The ship's captain (Lyle Talbot) allows this to go on, believing in the doctor's better nature. The criminals know what's going on, but between the doctor's own strong-arm men and the unwillingness of the crew to intervene, they're not able to protect themselves. It's only when Talbot's character gets a first-hand glimpse of the doctor's work that he raises a hand against him, ordering the crew, working in tandem with the wanted men and women, to take control of the ship from the doctor, who is destroyed by his own intended victims. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The Devil Bat
This campy, entertaining cheapie from PRC Pictures features Bela Lugosi as a chemist who plots an elaborate revenge scheme on his business partners, whom he feels have cheated him out of his share. To this end he develops a mutant breed of vicious, oversized bats and trains several of this breed to home in on a special chemical which he then blends with shaving lotion. Presenting gifts of the lotion to his partners as a peace offering (and browbeating them into splashing it on themselves while in his presence), he subsequently unleashes his monstrous pets to tear them to pieces. Believe it or not, this was one of PRC's more successful horror programmers, spawning a the sequel Devil Bat's Daughter. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Bowery at Midnight
Bowery at Midnight casts Bela Lugosi as Professor Brenner, a psychology instructor at New York University (which looks a lot like Berkeley in the exterior shots!). When not enlightening his students -- most of them buxom Monogram starlets -- Brenner is engaged in charitable work, running a mission in the Bowery. In truth, however, the kindly professor is a fiend in human form, who uses his mission as a front for a vast criminal empire. When Judy (Wanda McKay), one of Brenner's students, stumbles onto the truth, she's targeted for extermination by the Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde prof. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Living Ghost
A true "guilty pleasure" crime melodrama with horror movie touches, the low-budget The Living Ghost stars future Academy award-winner James Dunn as Nick Trayne, a retired detective hired to look into the mysterious disappearance of banker Walter Craig. Working with Craig's pert secretary Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury), Nick is questioning Craig's alarmingly suspicious friends and relatives when the missing banker (Gus Glassmire) suddenly turns up in a strange, zombie-like state. According to Dr. Bruhling (Lawrence Grant), Craig is suffering from a paralyzed cerebral cortex, a state that may render him dangerous and that is in all likelihood induced by someone else. And, sure enough, Nick has barely begun to understand what the good doctor is suggesting when Craig is found hovering over the dead body of his brother-in-law, George Phillips (J. Arthur Young). But is the cataleptic banker actually a killer or is someone even more dangerous behind the murder? The trail leads Nick and Billie to a nearby shack where strange experiments have recently been conducted and, in time, to the real culprit. The Living Ghost was released on videocassette as A Walking Nightmare, and a nightmare it certainly is. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Man With Two Lives
Long forgotten, Monogram's Man With Two Lives has recently resurfaced on the videocassette market, proving itself a most intriguing second-echelon "mad doctor" melodrama. Nearly killed in a car accident, Edward Norris is given a new lease on life when a dedicated (but slightly addled) scientist artificially injects a new soul into Norris' body. Alas, Norris' new soul is that of a recently executed murderer. Before the words "Frankenstein" or "Donovan's Brain" can form in our collective subconscious, Norris finds himself inexorably drawn to a life of crime. While the ending is a letdown, Man With Two Lives manages to keep the viewers on pins and needles for 66 of its 67 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ape Man
Whatever poor Bela Lugosi may have done in a past life, the man did not deserve The Ape Man, arguably the worst of his Monogram horror clunkers. Viewed today, it seems that screenwriter Barney Sarecky and infamous director William Beaudine (whose nickname "One Shot" was earned helming movies like this) were out to humiliate the proud Hungarian actor at every opportunity. They had the man, who once turned down the Frankenstein monster because he found the role demeaning, walk about the entire film in a manner that was supposed to appear simian but ended up looking merely foolish. They gave him an Anglo-Saxon name, Dr. James Brewster, without bothering to explain that familiar Middle European accent. And they provided him with a spiritualist sister (Minerva Urecal), whose character name, Agatha, Lugosi of course was incapable of pronouncing. To compound matters, they wrote in a mysterious character named Zippo (Ralph Littlefield), who, in a silly porkpie hat, drifted in and out of the narrative being annoyingly mysterious, only to reveal himself in the end as "the author of the story." "Screwy idea, wasn't it?" he says blithely putting the final nail in Lugosi's coffin. Lugosi's Dr. Brewster had experimented with a spinal serum derived from the fluids of a gorilla. The dedicated medico naturally tested the serum on himself and now appears incapable of walking upright, in dire need of a shave. Needless to say, the only antidote is human spinal fluid (which Lugosi pronounces "fluit"). Accompanied by screaming headlines such as "Ape man killer still on the loose!" Dr. Brewster and his gorilla henchman (Emil VanHorn, whose simian suit paid his rent for years) stalk the dark streets for human prey. A couple of wisecracking reporters (Wallace Ford and Louise Currie, both surprisingly tolerable) briefly wander into harm's way, knocking each other over the head with prop vases. Happily, for unexplained reasons, the gorilla suddenly turns on his master and breaks his neck, ending the nightmare for all concerned, including, one would imagine, Lugosi himself. Typical for cheap Monogram, Lugosi stayed in his ape-like makeup throughout, the expected transformation scene never materializing. The critics were understandably severe -- "Monogram's writer didn't have to wipe the dust from Bela Lugosi's Ape Man, he had to take the mold off," chuckled the Daily News -- but as horror-film historian Tom Weaver so succinctly put it: "Despite their ruinous effects on Lugosi's career, had these Monogram pictures been made without him, they would not merit discussion today." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Nabonga
In this campy jungle adventure, an embezzler's daughter is the sole survivor of a plane crash. Hurt and afraid, the woman is befriended by a gorilla who protects her from danger. They stay together for many years when one day a man appears looking for the stolen loot. At first Nabonga wants to rip his head off, but the girl soothes him and convinces him that the stranger is okay. After that the threesome set off across the jungle to have many more adventures and stop the villains who pursue them. Also known as Gorilla. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

White Pongo
African explorers hit the Congo in search of a rare white gorilla in this campy jungle adventure filled with deliciously goofy special effects. The British biologists believe the white ape will prove to be the missing link. A British undercover cop accompanies the explorers because he believes the guide to be a killer. The cop's theory proves to be right and the guide soon causes the native bearers to revolt. He abandons the scientists to face the jungle alone. Before leaving, the guide kidnaps the expedition leader's lovely daughter. He then sets off to find some legendary gold. He ends up stumbling into the ancient home of the blonde ape. The primate doesn't like visitors and so strangles the killer and takes the hapless girl, her terrified bosom heaving seductively through her tattered blouse, to his lair. There the blonde ape must fight a regular gorilla. While the two muscle-bound hairballs fight it out, the undercover bobby and the scientists arrive. The white gorilla tosses his rival off a cliff and returns for some booty. Unfortunately, the explorers wound him and put him in a cage. They then return to England with their prize. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Shock!
In this thriller, psychiatrist Dr. Cross (Vincent Price) kills his wife and expects to get away with murder, until he discovers that the slaying was observed by a next-door neighbor, Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw). As Janet attempts to convince her husband (Frank Latimore) of the doctor's dastardly deed, Cross shows up to advise him that Janet is in dire need of some in-depth counseling. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Scared to Death
Completed several years before its 1947 release, Scared to Death is historically important as Bela Lugosi's only color film (outside of his brief unbilled appearance in 1931's Fifty Million Frenchmen, which today exists only in black & white). Other than that, it's a dreary story of how a beautiful but treacherous young woman (Molly Lamont) literally dies of fright. Anticipating Sunset Boulevard by at least five years, the film is narrated by the deceased "heroine", meaning that suspense and surprise are hardly considerations here. It's a toss-up as to who's funnier: the film's official comedy relief, dumb detective Nat Pendleton and dumber blonde Joyce Compton, or the "odd couple" team of the caped-and-cloaked Bela Lugosi and his dress-alike dwarf companion Angelo Rossitto. For the record, Lugosi plays a sinister hypnotist named Leonide, yet another of his myriad of "red herring" roles in the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The White Gorilla
"An All-Star Cast" (well, that's what the credits say) helps bring a confusing tale of shenanigans in the jungle to the screen in this low-budget adventure saga, which has become a cult favorite. Steve Collins (Ray "Crash" Corrigan") is an explorer who stumbles injured and exhausted into Morgan's Trading Post, an oasis of civilization in the African jungle, and tells a strange tale of what he's seen over the past few days. Collins encountered Bradford, a fellow explorer who had run afoul of angry natives and was being held captive when they discovered a beautiful woman and her son, who were left stranded years ago by a death in their touring party. The young boy has developed an ability to communicate telepathically with the beasts of the jungle, and through them may be able to lead Bradford to the location of a long-lost treasure. Meanwhile, everyone lives in fear of the White Gorilla, an albino ape who has been shunned by the other creatures of the jungle and now regards every living thing as his enemy, in particularly an especially savage black gorilla. The majority of the jungle footage in The White Gorilla was taken from a silent serial, Perils Of The Jungle, which was shot in 1927; this helps to explain why Collins narrates the action, why many of the characters never actually meet on screen, and why the action frequently and abruptly speeds up or slows down. Ray "Crash" Corrigan donned an ape suit to play the White Gorilla, as well as portraying Collins. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Studio One: A Passenger to Bali
His ship turned upside down by an innocent passenger, a harried freighter captain struggles to remain afloat in this live television adaptation of the popular radio play. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Bride of the Gorilla
This silly, stagebound but entertaining little monster-mash from Universal horror writer/director Curt Siodmak stars burly Raymond Burr as a steward on a rubber plantation whose romantic tryst with the boss' wife (Barbara Payton) eventually leads to the employer's murder. When one of the voodoo-practicing servants of the ex-boss learns of this, he concocts a magic potion which transforms Burr (apparently) into a "sukaras" -- a kind of were-ape which roams the village by night, savaging the locals and sparking a plodding investigation by the local constable (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Enjoyable if only for its relentless goofiness, with an ending that will have most viewers wondering if Siodmak forgot to include a reel or two in his final edit. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Island Monster
This obscure Italian crime potboiler features a nominal performance from a slumming Boris Karloff as wealthy businessman Don Gaetano, who assists a narcotics detective (Franca Marzi) in rescuing his kidnapped daughter from a drug-smuggling ring based on the island of Ischia. The syndicate's leader is using the girl as a shield to prevent the inspector from getting too close to their operation. Predictable plot twists abound until Gaetano is revealed as the man who masterminded the abduction from the beginning. Karloff, still in a pre-Thriller career lull, would fare considerably better in his next Italian production, I Tre Volti Della Paura, thanks to the deft hand of director Mario Bava. Also known as Monster of the Island. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Snow Creature
One of several sci-fi/fantasy efforts produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the film's only drawback is the inconsistency of the Colorama color process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tales of Frankenstein
No synopsis available.

The Brain Machine
A vicious murderer suffers amnesia and his psychiatrist finds his brain waves indicative of violent tendencies. After he escapes and kidnaps the doctor, police follow and soon uncover evidence of gangsters and drug smuggling. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

A Strange Adventure
In this crime drama, a young man with a love of hot cars and fast women gets into real trouble when he finds himself involved with a beautiful bank robber who forces him to help her hijack an armored car. At her insistence they end up hiding out in a remote cabin in the High Sierras. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Evil Brain From Outer Space
This Japanese sci-fi film, ostensibly a sequel to Attack from Space, is actually re-edited episodes from a Japanese TV serial, Super Giant. It tells of the adventures of the chrome-plated man of steel, Starman, and how he saves the planet Earth from the ravages of intergalactic evildoers. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Partner
In this occult obscurity, an old hillbilly named Pete Jensen (Ed Nelson) makes a pact with the Devil and returns to the town of Furnace Flats, NM, as a much younger man. Claiming to be his own nephew, Nick Richards, he romances pretty Nell Lucas (Jean Allison). Her fianc�e David (Richard Crane) is mauled by his own dog, leaving him scarred and bitter. Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan) and Sheriff Fuller (Spencer Carlisle) figure it out and shoot Richards down after he turns into a snake and a horse. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

She-Gods of Shark Reef
In this fantasy adventure, an escaped convict and his brother find themselves shipwrecked on a paradisiacal island filled with luscious native women who spend their days enacting bizarre rituals and diving for pearls. One of the women is selected by the others to be a sacrifice to the sharks, but the convict's brother has fallen in love and saves her. The lovers then flee to civilization. Meanwhile the brother's greedy brother tries to steal some of the women's pearls and ends up becoming shark bait. The story was filmed on location in Hawaii. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Teenage Zombies
A deranged female scientist conducting weird experiments on a remote island kidnaps teens and injects them with a formula that transforms them into zombies. ~ All Movie Guide

Night of the Blood Beast
The familiar rocks and rills of LA's Bronson Caverns are seen to good advantage in Night of the Blood Beast. The story begins when a manned space rocket develops trouble and plummets back to earth, apparently killing its occupant, Major John Corcoran (Michael Emmet). Unfortunately, Corcoran's body has become a breeding ground of extraterrestrial embryos, picked up while the rocket was in outer space. The tiny monsters grow and multiply, and before long Corcoran revives from the dead, literally impregnated by the alien beasts. After this promising and decidedly unorthodox buildup, the film goes downhill, settling for standard eek-eek shocks and a most unconvincing "blood beast", whose costume wouldn't have even passed muster at a Halloween party. Still, Night of the Blood Beast is at least half of a good, well-constructed horror flick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Head
A horror film of dubious taste, a least for the early '60s when it was released, this Gothic tale about transplanted heads comes from Germany and is directed by Victor Trivas. Prof. Abel (Michel Simon) has invented the miraculous "Serum X," and with it he successfully keeps a dog's head alive after the rest of the canine is quite dead. When the able Prof. Abel dies, his assistant, the odd Dr. Ood (Horst Frank), keeps Abel's head around -- but not for old times' sake. Dr. Ood is in love with a hunchbacked nurse (Karin Kernke) and he wants Abel's head to help him out with a novel transplant operation. Dr. Ood wants to take the body of a stripper (Christiane Maybach), snip off her head, and put the nurse's head in its place. Unfortunately, nothing goes exactly as he plans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Horrors of Spider Island
This German-Yugoslav coproduction first surfaced in 1960 under the title Ein Toter Hing Im Netz. Egyptian leading man Alex D'Arcy plays a talent agent who escorts seven gorgeous chorus girls to a club date in Singapore. En route, their plane crash-lands in the ocean. D'Arcy and the girls make their way to a seemingly idyllic island, where they come across a huge spider's web-and the dessicated body of a scientist. The giant spider sinks its teeth in D'Arcy, turning the poor fellow into a werewolf! Then the fun begins, depending upon your idea of fun. Released in America to general distinterest in 1962, It's Hot in Paradise fared no better a few years later, when it was recut and retitled Horrors of Spider Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wasp Woman
This goofy but entertaining horror cheapie from producer-director Roger Corman and company involves the efforts of a questionable scientist working for cosmetics magnate Susan Cabot, who is developing a new rejuvenating beauty cream derived from an enzyme secreted by wasps, intended to make women look eternally youthful. A vain woman obsessed with restoring her lost beauty, Cabot insists on being the first test subject. The solution proves remarkably effective at first, transforming her into a sultry raven-haired vixen...until she begins to take on the predatory traits of a giant female wasp, setting out on a nocturnal killing spree. Originally double-billed with The Beast from Haunted Cave, this cheesy monster mash inspired the less-amusing Leech Woman and was later remade for 1980s audiences (i.e., with a higher sex-and-gore quotient) as Evil Spawn. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Beast From Haunted Cave
Director Monte Hellman (who would later direct a young Jack Nicholson on two low-budget westerns) earned his low-budget wings on Filmgroup's bizarre fusion of hostage/crime thriller and big-rubber-monster flick -- a quirky juxtaposition employed to similar effect 35 years later in From Dusk Till Dawn. The story begins with a team of gold thieves hiding out in a ski resort cabin after a heist, taking two people hostage as they prepare to smuggle their loot across the Canadian border -- unaware of the giant, icky-looking spider-monster lurking in a nearby cave, which preys on anyone unlucky enough to stumble near its lair. The film's woodland exteriors add a richness lacking in the typical dusty desert settings of this film's genre contemporaries. The cobwebby monster is played by Chris Robinson, later the star of General Hospital. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Manster
Manster is a favorite among campy horror aficionados and for good reason as it is both unintentionally funny and genuinely creepy. A "Manster" is half-man, half-monster. To accommodate this set-up, the title character has two heads. Back in his single-domed days, the Manster was an American reporter (Peter Dyneley) assigned to interview a Tokyo-based scientist (Satoshi Nakamura). Alas, the scientist was off his rocker, and while experimenting with mutations, he turned the reporter into a double-header. Wait till you see the climax, with the hero battling himself on the edge of a live volcano. Though filmed in Japan, The Manster was based on a script by British producer George Breakston, and acted (if that is the word) entirely in English. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Night Tide
Writer/director Curtis Harrington does an admirable job working around the severe budget limitations of the 1963 psychological chiller Night Tide. Sailor Johnny (Dennis Hopper) falls in love with carnival-girl Mora (Linda Lawson), despite warnings that Mora is a "jinx" who has brought about the deaths of two previous suitors. Mora performs a mermaid act at the carnival, but to her it's no act: she believes herself the descendant of an underwater race that must kill by the light of the full moon to survive. One evening, Mora tries to kill Johnny, prompting his quick exit. He returns some time later to discover, all too late, that the film's real villain is the jealous carney owner (Gavin Muir). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Messenger
Satan sends his newest most seductive minion back to the earthly plane to search for new recruits in this horror compilation from an unsold Swedish television series No. 13 Demon Street that stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Devil. Each of the beautiful hellcat's victims dies in interesting ways, including the one who sent her to hell in the first place. He too becomes a worker for the big-D, who gives the couple the formula for nuclear weapons with the instructions that they are to pass it around. They do so and soon Hell is filled to the brimstone with tormented souls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Eegah!
Considered by many to be one of the worst films ever made, Eegah! is the story of a gigantic Neanderthal who has managed to survive into modern times living in California's Mojave desert, and who falls in love with and kidnaps the teenage girl who discovered him in a cave. A handsome young man (Arch Hall, Jr., the director's teenage son) proves to be her savior and while he and his rock & roll band play, the police shoot the caveman to bits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Sadist
If you want to truly be scared out of your socks, we strongly recommend the hellishly horrific low-budgeter Profile of Terror. Arch Hall Jr., heretofore the colorless star of such cheapies as Wild Guitar and Eegah!, is disturbingly convincing as a sadistic thrill killer. When three schoolteachers (Richard Alden, Marilyn Manning and Don Russell), en route to an LA Dodgers game, pull up at a deserted gas station, they are held captive by Hall and his wacko girlfriend Helen Hovey. Harboring a psychotic hatred of teachers, Hall gleefully torments his prisoners, killing Russell while the latter is on his knees, begging for his life. Every time we think that this film can't get any more agonizing, the insanely giggling Hall pulls off yet another outrage. By the time Hall faces his well-deserved demise, you'll be hard pressed not to jump out of your chair and scream "Get him! GET HIM!!!" Stunningly photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond, Profile of Terror may well be the greatest exploitation flick ever made (and we're taking into consideration Night of the Living Dead). The film is better known by its original title, The Sadist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Atomic Brain
This weird, morbid little sci-fi thriller stars Marjorie Eaton as a filthy-rich but decrepit old widow who has devoted much of her wealth to funding the dubious (to say the least) scientific research of Frank Gerstle, who has constructed a mad lab in the widow's basement in order to perfect a technique in which an infusion of atomic energy (or something) will enable him to transfer the widow's brain into a young and sexy physique. To this end, three subjects are solicited through a want ad (under the pretense of employing a housekeeper). The three young women, all of different nationalities (represented by horrendous accents), are subjected to the old woman's scrutiny, until she selects the prime candidate... as the others become fodder for the doctor's pet projects. Needless to say, things don't turn out quite as planned: people are burned, torn apart by man-beasts, and get their eyes ripped out -- one poor lass even winds up with the brain of a cat. This has a certain perverse charm and is competently directed (excepting some boring stretches) by Joseph V. Mascelli -- who, in spite of his work on this film and Ray Dennis Steckler's The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies, would later publish a well-known book on cinematography. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Long Hair of Death
In the 15th century, a young woman is accused of being a witch and committing a murder. She is burned at the stake. Years later, during a plague, she is revived by lightning. She returns to her village to prevent her daughter from marrying the man who actually committed the murder for which she was executed. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

The She-Beast
In this spooky Italian-Yugoslavian horror movie, a lovely English bride is possessed by the vengeful spirit of an 18th-century Transylvanian witch on her wedding night and creates all sorts of bloody mayhem for her hapless husband and others. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Sound of Horror
In this low-budget horror movie, Greek treasure hunters discover a nest of prehistoric eggs. They break an egg and accidentally release a deadly, invisible force that begins noisily shredding all humans in its path. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Manos, the Hands of Fate
A family vacation to Texas turns into a waking nightmare when they have a deadly run-in with Satanists fond of using human hands as sacrificial offerings. It's as grim as it sounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Terror Creatures from the Grave
An unfaithful wife is visited by medieval plague victims, who were summoned from their graves by her occult-expert husband. ~ All Movie Guide

The Phantom of Soho
In this mystery, a beautiful mystery writer helps a Scotland Yard detective look into the murders of several important business man. She solves the mystery before the cop and informs him that the killer's identity will be revealed in the last chapter of her newest book. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Kong Island
Bearing only a passing connection to King Kong -- and even that probably came to promoters as an afterthought -- this phenomenally silly Italo-Spanish sci-fi foolishness (originally titled Eva, La Venere Selvaggia) seems to have been conceived more as a vehicle for the frequently nude Esmerelda Barros. Barros plays Eva, a sultry jungle girl raised by apes, who is captured by a mad scientist (gangster-movie veteran Marc Lawrence) and his cohorts. The fascist-leaning loonies have been busily rounding up the island gorillas, planting electronic transmitters in their brains with the intent of creating an unstoppable remote-controlled army of robotic ape soldiers. To Eva's aid comes a lusty explorer (Brad Harris), whose intentions seem something less than noble. Eventually a disgruntled King Kong-like super-ape arrives to avenge his smaller kinfolk and stomp the daylights out of the evil homo sapiens. Silly but fun, in an Ed Wood sort of way. Also known simply as Kong Island and Eva the Wild Woman. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Night Fright
This obscure horror movie is a remake of an even more obscure horror movie, 1964's The Demon From Devil's Lake. The sheriff of a small Texas town investigates when a serial killer starts bumping off female students at a local college. He discovers that the murderer is not a serial killer at all, but a hideous monster, the result of a botched NASA experiment. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Attack of the Monsters
When nasty children-eating aliens invade Earth, it is up to Gamera to save the day. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The Amazing Transplant
Perhaps the most outrageous of cult director Doris Wishman's many forays into the sexploitation genre, this film begins with a nude woman playing a zither and just gets more bizarre from there. The woman's boyfriend, Arthur (Juan Fernandez) tries to have sex with her, but his fury at his own impotence drives him to strangle her to death. Arthur eventually receives a transplant of a dying playboy's estimable penis, but that doesn't stop his killing spree. Rape, murder, and lesbianism are the featured attractions in this horrific low-budget roughie, which features an early softcore appearance by porn legend Kim Pope. Wishman returned with The Immoral Three (1970). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The Murder Mansion
Three people, a couple and a young woman, get lost in a vicious fog and seek protection from the elements in an ancient, ghostly mansion. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman
The fourth film in the series, this movie follows the escapades of Count Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), a classy werewolf, who is brought back to life by an over-curious doctor. Once free, he finds himself struggling to overcome the vampiric Countess Waldessa (Patty Shepard), who has taken his young female friend captive. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave
Spaghetti Western veteran Antonio De Teffe (aka Anthony Steffen) stars in this delightfully tacky supernatural giallo from Italian filmmaker Emilio P. Miraglia. De Teffe plays Alan Cunningham, a titled nobleman who has just been released from a mental institution after a breakdown brought about by the death of his beautiful red-haired wife, Evelyn. Alan isn't quite right, and despite loads of helpful advice from his doctor and money-hungry cousin, can't stop picking up red-haired women and dragging them back to his castle dungeon, where his desire to punish his late wife's infidelity leads to some hallucinatory S & M murders. Eventually he meets the beautiful Gladys (Marina Malfatti) and quickly marries her, generating a good deal of anger among his greedy relatives. That's when members of his family start disappearing and the obligatory inheritance plot tightens around the deranged lord, raising the question of whether Evelyn is really dead after all. Miraglia directs with a somewhat plodding style atypical for the normally lively genre, but the film's cheese value is enhanced by a wonderfully schizophrenic score by Bruno Nicolai; an amusingly dotty production design; and enough sex, kinkiness, and violence to satisfy any giallo fan. Erika Blanc (aka Enrica Bianchi Colombatto) makes an impression as one of the strippers Alan brings to his dungeon, Alan's dead aunt (Joan C. Davies) is devoured by a cageful of hungry foxes, and the cast also includes familiar genre faces Umberto Raho and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Curse of the Headless Horseman
A young medical student named Mark (Marland Proctor) inherits a decrepit ranch/tourist attraction from his late uncle, and must turn a profit with the enterprise within six months in order to possess it fully. He invites his fiancee, Brenda (Claudia Ream) and a gaggle of their freaky hippie friends to start living on the property and brainstorm some ways to make "Callahan's Old West" a success. However, the ranch's caretaker, Solomon (B. G. Fisher) warns the kids that an eerie spectral presence haunts the area, a headless horseman who rides through the night seeking revenge for a deadly shootout that occurred at the ranch in 1928. Sure enough, the mysterious horseman begins appearing, splashing blood from a disembodied head over the frightened hippies and driving some to accidental deaths. When gold is discovered in the land the ranch occupies, suspicions arise that perhaps the headless rider isn't a ghostly presence at all. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Vengeance of the Zombies
In this spooky mystery, Scotland Yard embarks upon its most terrifying investigation that centers on a young girl's murder. Soon the hapless inspectors find London is filled with an army of the living dead raised by a vengeful madman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Moon of the Wolf
Filmed for television, this story concerns a series of killings in the Louisiana bayou. The sheriff on the case believes that a werewolf is behind the murders. The film was adapted from a book by Leslie H. Whitten. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Crypt of the Living Dead
This meandering, low-budget horror tale explores the vampiric origins of Hannah (Teresa Gimpera), once the wife of Louis VII, who rises from her crypt in the 20th century thanks to the meddling of an archaeologist (Andrew Prine) and his weird son (Mark Damon). Actually, it takes more than an hour for the filmmakers to get around to Hannah's awakening and remarkably brief reign of terror; the interim is wasted with a silly subplot involving a "Wild Man" who dispatches several superstitious villagers to ensure the vampire queen's safety. The film's atmosphere benefits from exotic locations (the film was originally produced in Turkey, then augmented with new footage by U.S. distributors), but the threadbare production values make for tedious viewing. Also known as Hannah, Queen of the Vampires and Vampire Woman. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Graveyard Tramps
In this "guilty pleasure" outing by B-budget director Denis Sanders (Shock Treatment), William Smith plays an FBI man investigating reports of a coven of "bee-girls" -- women who have taken on the characteristics of bees, and who kill men upon making love. A cute device throughout the film allows us to see the action from a bee's-eye view. The script, by no less than Nicholas Meyer, pokes gentle fun at the conventions of the cheapo-horror genre without ever stooping to cheap parody. Invasion of the Bee Girls was also released as Graveyard Tramps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Voodoo Black Exorcist
Voodoo Black Exorcist stars out like a rewrite of The Mummy. Some 30 centuries ago, an African prince was entombed alive for stealing another man's woman. Flash-forward to the present; the prince's body is exhumed by archaeologists. Within seconds (or so it seems), the corpse revives, killing everyone who crosses his path. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride
The final installment in Hammer Studios' Dracula series is also the least interesting of the lot. A fairly direct follow-up to Dracula A.D. 1972, this sequel finds the Count (Christopher Lee) developing a potent strain of bubonic plague which he and his devil-worshipping disciples plan to release from 1970's London to wipe out nearly all life on earth. His efforts are challenged once again by the dedicated Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), leading to a rather uninvolving climax. Despite the always-welcome presence of Lee and Cushing, this installment plays too flagrantly with the time-honored Hammer Gothic formula, giving Dracula actual dialogue and surrounding the leads with a dull, amateurish supporting cast -- with the possible exception of Joanna Lumley (later of BBC-TV's Absolutely Fabulous). This also marked Lee's final performance as the Count and signaled the beginning of the end for Hammer's horror heyday. Also known as Satanic Rites of Dracula and Dracula is Dead and Well and Living in London. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Werewolf of Washington
After being unknowingly inflicted with the bite of a werewolf while on a visit to Europe, White House press secretary Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) begins to turn into a deadly beast by night, terrorizing Washington D.C. and presenting a very deadly threat to the President. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Don't Look In The Basement!
One of the first of several horror films with "Don't" leading the title, this gory low-budget thriller takes place in an experimental hospital for the criminally insane, where the pioneering director allows several patients to act out their twisted fantasies (which involve necrophilia, paranoia and popsicles). When a new staffer shows up, things start to go haywire -- beginning with the bloody axe-murder of the doctor himself and leading to a total takeover of the asylum by its most dangerous inmates. The acting is horrendous, the sound is incoherent and the color is so cheap-looking that some theaters were issued black-and-white prints... but somehow the intrinsic sleaziness generated by the threadbare production manages to lend it a remarkably suitable ambience. Instead of vanishing into obscurity, this quirky little potboiler became a staple on the early-70's drive-in circuit, thanks to Hallmark Films' frequent double-bill bookings with Wes Craven's Last House on the Left (even borrowing the logline "Keep telling yourself: It's only a movie...") and Mario Bava's Bay of Blood. Some video versions are missing most of the graphic violence from the original cut. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Vampires' Night Orgy
This Spanish horror film (which has developed a cult following among Eurotrash enthusiasts) follows a group of itinerant workers who travel to a small village where they've been told domestic workers are in great demand. However, when their bus driver dies along the way, several begin to suspect that something odd is going on, and while the new arrivals are welcomed with open arms, enough seems amiss that many of the group are certain of foul play. As it turns out, the newcomers have every right to be suspicious, as they've been lured into a village populated entirely by hungry cannibals and thirsty vampires. Orgy of the Vampires was directed by Leon Klimovsky, who also helmed several of Paul Naschy's werewolf outings, with Jack Taylor in the leading role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

El Buque Maldito
This is the third installment in Amando de Ossorio's "Blind Dead" series featuring the legions of the undead Knights Templar -- a sect of medieval monks who were executed in the 15th century for their occult practices and who periodically rise from their tombs to torment the living. This chapter puts the Templars on a ghostly Spanish galleon (which looks like it was built from a ship-in-a-bottle kit), cloaked in perpetual fog and roaming the seas in search of victims. When two bikini models are set adrift as part of a sporting-good chain's publicity stunt, they are seized by the flesh-eating ghouls. The company's frantic CEO sets out in his yacht to find them, accompanied by the head of the modeling agency, one of the models' friends, and an expert on Templar lore. They eventually collide with the galleon, whereupon the meandering plot finally gets down to business. The blind, slow-moving zombies shamble up from below decks and wait patiently, as always, for their shrieking, flailing victims to stumble into their clutches. This is one of the creepier entries in the series, making good use of the confined, fog-shrouded sets (presaging very similar scenes in John Carpenter's The Fog), and only wavers during long shots of the cheesy-looking model ship. The shock ending is also remarkably effective. Followed by the final chapter, Night of the Seagulls. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Legacy of Blood
The only real novelty in the videotaped 90-minuter Legacy of Blood is its having a largely black cast going through the motions of a plotline that had previously been performed to death by white actors. Moses Gunn stars as Joe Mattingly, a supposedly respectable insurance agent. Short of cash, Joe utilizes the services of a loan shark. Now he's deeply in debt, and time is running out to make good his loan; perhaps a little life-insurance scam is in order. Legacy of Blood was originally telecast in 1974 on the ABC late-night anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Legend of Bigfoot
Notorious Bigfoot researcher Ivan Marx journeys from Arizona to the Artic Circle in order to brush up on folklore regarding the elusive woodland creature and perhaps even capture the hirsute recluse on camera. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Rattlers
A herd of chemically altered rattlesnakes become fearsome killers in this made-for-TV chiller. The tale is set in the Mojave Desert and centers upon Sam Parkinson, a noted zoologist, who has come to investigate a series of strange deaths that began with two dead children found near their parents' campsites. Sam is accompanied by Ann, a photographer who make an appalling discovery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Savage Weekend
This is a relatively early entry in the slice-n-dicer genre that while made in 1976, was not actually released until the early '80s. Like most of the subsequent slasher flicks, the terror begins when a few horny couples head out to a remote location for fun and frolic. Unfortunately, their sexploits are interrupted by a homicidal maniac wearing a mask. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sisters of Death
When five sorority sisters gather together for a reunion, they discover that the deadly secret they share has come back to haunt them. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Snowbeast
In this made-for-television chiller, an enormous and angry Bigfoot launches a campaign of death and destruction against the skiers who have disturbed its home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rituals
When five MD colleagues go camping up in the northern woods they encounter a crazed killer, turning their vacation into a nightmare. This one definitely borrowed heavily from the successful film Deliverance. ~ All Movie Guide

Slave of the Cannibal God
Susan Stevenson (Ursula Andress) and her brother, Arthur (Antonio Marsina), travel to New Guinea in the hopes of finding her husband, who has gone missing for three months. The pair encounter anthropologist Dr. Edward Foster (Stacy Keach), who agrees to lead a jungle expedition in search of the missing man. As mantraps and other jungle dangers slowly whittle away the search party, Foster becomes convinced that Susan's husband is somewhere on the tiny coastal island of Roka, home to the sacred island of Ra Ra Me. En route to the mountain, the party is captured by the Puka, a Stone Age tribe long considered extinct. Foster reveals that the tribe is cannibalistic, having been captured and forced to consume human flesh years before. This gruesome news, however, pales before Susan's discovery of her husband's fate -- a fate that will surely befall the entire party if they are unable to escape. ~ Paul Gaita, All Movie Guide

Enigma Rosso
Italian screen legend Fabio Testi stars as a young police detective investigating the brutal sexual assault and murder of a young girl discovered near the edge of the city limits. Later, after discovering a luxury villa in which the murdered girl's friends entertain a group of powerful local businessmen, the detective discovers that the frightened girls have been intimidated into silence. As the detective sets out to question the girls, he quickly discovers that someone is willing to kill in order to keep their dark secret. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

War of the Robots
In this sci-fi adventure, two of Earth's brightest scientists find themselves abducted by aliens, desperate to save their world from certain death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mama Dracula
In this parody on vampire movies, a countess must bathe in virgin blood to keep her youthful appearance. Unfortunately, a good virgin is hard to find these days as her sons, who kidnap prospects from a local fashion boutique, soon discover. She also has a doctor working on developing synthetic blood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Blood Tide
It will come as quite a shock to discover the venerable James Earl Jones and Jos� Ferrer slumming in this Greek-lensed ultra-cheapie about a legendary sea creature aroused from centuries of sleep off the shores of a Greek island by an opportunistic American archaeologist (Jones). It seems the beastie's legacy is well known by some of the island's old-timers (namely Ferrer), including the part about appeasing the monster with a virgin sacrifice -- namely the alluring Deborah Shelton. The exotic locations and the presence of the gruff Jones (who apparently saw this as a paid vacation) lend a great deal of production value, but apparently Jones' salary came out of the filmmakers' special-effects budget -- because the feared creature of ancient legend looks like a sock puppet! This film is also known as Red Tide and Demon Lake. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Tenebre
Dario Argento leaves a distinct and bloody impression with this Italian horror film that took the slasher genre to graphic new limits at the time of its release. Novelist Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) jets into Rome to promote his new book. Simultaneously, a killer obsessed with Neal begins a brutal series of murders that are followed by cryptic notes to the author. Inspector Germani (Giuliano Gemma) questions Neal, who then begins his own investigation into the bizarre case with the help of his assistant, Anne (Daria Nicolodi), and local youth Gianni (Christian Borromeo). Neal and Gianni follow leads to the home of a TV talk-show host (John Steiner), who is axed to death in front of Gianni while Neal is knocked unconscious. As they close in on the killer, flashbacks show the killer's murderous beginnings and an obsession with red shoes. Meanwhile, Neal's publicist, Bullmer (John Saxon), is revealed to be having an affair with the author's ex-lover, Jane (Veronica Lario), making them both potential suspects. Inspector Germani insists that Neal leave town, but even when he does, the killer strikes again, knifing Bullmer in broad daylight. At the same time, Gianni returns to the home of the dead talk-show host and recalls an important detail about the murder. However, he is strangled before he can tell anyone. At her apartment, Jane is brutally slain just as Inspector Germani arrives to discover the murderer's identity, along with the shocking, twist-filled truth behind the entire case. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Phenomena
Declared "my most personal film" by Italy's premier horror director Dario Argento, this production marked the director's return to the eerie thematic territory he pioneered in 1977 with the horror classic Suspiria. Much like that film, Phenomena conforms to the logic of nightmares. Jennifer Connelly stars as Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of an American film star, who enrolls in a prestigious Swiss boarding school under the tutelage of the prudish Mrs. Bruckner (played by frequent Argento collaborator and former beau Daria Nicolodi). Possessing a unique telepathic gift, Jennifer is capable of communicating with insects on an instinctive level, often while sleepwalking. This trait soon brands her a "freak" among her snooty classmates but makes her a valuable asset to entomologist Dr. MacGregor (Donald Pleasence), who is currently employing the innate forensic skills of insects to aid police in tracking a serial killer targeting the boarders at Jennifer's school. As Jennifer's tiny friends (including the corpse-hunting Sarcophagus Fly) guide her closer to the murderer's lair, everything from MacGregor's revenge-driven pet chimpanzee to Bruckner's monstrously disfigured son figure into the mix, providing not one but three shocking endings. Shot in English and re-dubbed for various European markets, this graphic thriller was released in drastically edited form as Creepers in the U.S. and England; Argento's original cut runs 110 minutes. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Don't Open Till Christmas
In this run-of-the-mill horror film, it is the Christmas season, and derelicts who need money for food and/or booze get jobs playing Saint Nick in the city's department stores. An insane killer has taken a strong dislike to these Santas and either violently does them in or disfigures them in very ugly ways. A Scotland Yard detective (Edmund Purdom, also the director) has been assigned to capture the serial killer, but when he is unable to get results fast enough, he is replaced by Sgt. Powell (Mark Jones). The list of suspects includes the Scotland Yard detective, a reporter who happens to be on the scene just after one of the crimes is committed, and another fellow who was also around for several of the attacks and is indirectly related to one of the victims. The puzzle will hopefully be solved while some Santas (Father Christmas in England) are still around. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Prisoners of the Lost Universe
This low-budget film is about a scientist (Kenneth Hendel) and two other people (Kay Lenz and Richard Hatch), in the wrong place at the wrong time, who are transported to another world in another dimension when an earthquake occurs just as the scientist is experimenting with his "matter" transmitter. As the transmitter beeps and flashes, the trio end up in the strange world of Vonya (which looks very much like the African plains where this film was shot, and where everyone speaks English). Their main objective is to escape back to Earth, but in the meantime, they have several comic-book style villains to handle, of course. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Night Train to Terror
This unusual horror anthology mixed edited-down versions of one unreleased feature and two previously released films (Death Wish Club and The Nightmare Never Ends) with newly shot wraparound footage to create a surreal combination of crazed plotting and grindhouse gore. The framing device consists of God and Satan on a train full of breakdancing teenagers telling each other stories about humans. The first story focuses on an institute for the mentally ill that is really a cover for a black market organ-harvesting operation. The second story focuses on a man who falls for a woman who is part of group of people that attempt suicide for fun. The final story tells the tale of a group of mortals who attempt to stop Satan from returning to earth to begin the apocalypse. Each episode combines deranged plot twists with heaping helpinds of sex and violence, resulting in a film that plays like a lysergic and deranged variant on comparatively sedate horror anthologies like Creepshow. Night Train to Terror didn't enjoy a great deal of box-office success, but has gone on to enjoy a lengthy life on home video, where it continues to astound (and confound) viewers with its blood-spattered weirdness. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Spare Parts
In this grim and gory horror outing, a remote hotel is but a facade for a human abattoir where the guests are butchered and their body parts sold on the black market. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hands of Steel
In a complex sci-fi tale set at some point in the not-too-distant future, an evil industrialist named Francis Turner (John Saxon) has created Paco Querak (Daniel Greene), a cyborg who is 70% robot and 30% human. Paco has been programmed to murder a blind ecologist whose environmental activism does not sit well with Turner's bottom-line motivation. But once he is set up to do his job, the 30% human component in Paco only permits him to injure the ecologist, not kill him. With the local police (and eventually just about everyone else) after him, Paco detours to Arizona to look for his true identity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Death by Dialogue
Teenagers find an old movie script from an abandoned film project and learn the terrifying reasons it was scrapped in this horror outing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Version Details

Languages/Sound

Eng

Screen Formats

Black & White

Chapters

Disc #1, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The White Gorilla/The Long Hair of Death
1. Scene 1 [12:00]
2. Scene 2 [11:52]
3. Scene 3 [19:50]
4. Scene 4 [18:11]
1. Scene 1 [25:26]
2. Scene 2 [21:34]
3. Scene 3 [23:29]
4. Scene 4 [23:39]
Disc #1, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Condemned to Live/The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave
1. Scene 1 [18:39]
2. Scene 2 [16:48]
3. Scene 3 [24:16]
4. Scene 4 [22:05]
1. Scene 1 [15:35]
2. Scene 2 [17:45]
3. Scene 3 [14:54]
4. Scene 4 [16:49]
Disc #2, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Devil Monster/The Head
1. Devil Monster: Play Scene 1 [14:50]
2. Devil Monster: Play Scene 2 [15:48]
3. Devil Monster: Play Scene 3 [16:37]
4. Devil Monster: Play Scene 4 [16:49]
1. The Head: Play Scene 1 [15:07]
2. The Head: Play Scene 2 [23:20]
3. The Head: Play Scene 3 [27:48]
4. The Head: Play Scene 4 [24:39]
Disc #2, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Chloe, Love Is Calling You/Crypt of the Living Dead
1. Scene 1 [21:21]
2. Scene 2 [22:40]
3. Scene 3 [19:53]
4. Scene 4 [21:16]
1. Scene 1 [11:32]
2. Scene 2 [14:46]
3. Scene 3 [14:03]
4. Scene 4 [13:20]
Disc #3, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Phantom of Soho/The Ape Man
1. Phantom of Soho: Play Scene 1 [19:28]
2. Phantom of Soho: Play Scene 2 [20:34]
3. Phantom of Soho: Play Scene 3 [25:06]
4. Phantom of Soho: Play Scene 4 [26:24]
1. The Ape Man: Play Scene 1 [16:45]
2. The Ape Man: Play Scene 2 [15:47]
3. The Ape Man: Play Scene 3 [16:10]
4. The Ape Man: Play Scene 4 [14:51]
Disc #3, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - A Walking Nightmare/The Sadist
1. Scene 1 [19:57]
2. Scene 2 [28:54]
3. Scene 3 [25:28]
4. Scene 4 [17:28]
1. Scene 1 [10:56]
2. Scene 2 [15:18]
3. Scene 3 [13:39]
4. Scene 4 [20:53]
Disc #4, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Night Fright/Scared to Death
1. Night Fright: Play Scene 1 [13:43]
2. Night Fright: Play Scene 2 [20:15]
3. Night Fright: Play Scene 3 [24:06]
4. Night Fright: Play Scene 4 [17:15]
1. Scared to Death: Play Scene 1 [14:30]
2. Scared to Death: Play Scene 2 [18:48]
3. Scared to Death: Play Scene 3 [18:03]
4. Scared to Death: Play Scene 4 [16:33]
Disc #4, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Sound of Horror/The Man With Two Lives
1. Scene 1 [23:56]
2. Scene 2 [26:58]
3. Scene 3 [20:21]
4. Scene 4 [18:02]
1. Scene 1 [14:36]
2. Scene 2 [15:58]
3. Scene 3 [15:50]
4. Scene 4 [16:10]
Disc #5, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - War of the Robots/Hands of Steel
1. The War of the Robots: Play Scene 1 [25:35]
2. The War of the Robots: Play Scene 2 [27:15]
3. The War of the Robots: Play Scene 3 [27:03]
4. The War of the Robots: Play Scene 4 [19:58]
1. Hands of Steel: Play Scene 1 [20:15]
2. Hands of Steel: Play Scene 2 [21:11]
3. Hands of Steel: Play Scene 3 [25:06]
4. Hands of Steel: Play Scene 4 [26:46]
Disc #5, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - One Frightened Night/Vampire's Night Orgy
1. Scene 1 [20:26]
2. Scene 2 [22:30]
3. Scene 3 [18:39]
4. Scene 4 [16:50]
1. Scene 1 [14:26]
2. Scene 2 [16:05]
3. Scene 3 [19:57]
4. Scene 4 [14:56]
Disc #6, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - A Strange Adventure/The Werewolf of Washington
1. Scene 1 [18:54]
2. Scene 2 [20:48]
3. Scene 3 [27:15]
4. Scene 4 [21:54]
1. Scene 1 [18:18]
2. Scene 2 [15:06]
3. Scene 3 [20:45]
4. Scene 4 [14:04]
Disc #6, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Island Monster/The Rogues Tavern
1. Scene 1 [17:38]
2. Scene 2 [18:23]
3. Scene 3 [23:33]
4. Scene 4 [25:17]
1. Scene 1 [19:47]
2. Scene 2 [21:29]
3. Scene 3 [13:26]
4. Scene 4 [12:57]
Disc #7, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Silent)/Terror Creatures From the Grave
1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Play Scene 1 [14:42]
2. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Play Scene 2 [18:36]
3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Play Scene 3 [17:40]
4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Play Scene 4 [15:51]
1. Terror Creatures From the Grave: Play Scene 1 [18:43]
2. Terror Creatures From the Grave: Play Scene 2 [21:08]
3. Terror Creatures From the Grave: Play Scene 3 [21:04]
4. Terror Creatures From the Grave: Play Scene 4 [20:49]
Disc #7, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Evil Brain From Outer Space/The Devil Bat
1. Evil Brain From Outer Space: Play Scene 1 [19:29]
2. Evil Brain From Outer Space: Play Scene 2 [22:06]
3. Evil Brain From Outer Space: Play Scene 3 [20:08]
4. Evil Brain From Outer Space: Play Scene 4 [16:23]
1. The Devil Bat: Play Scene 1 [15:12]
2. The Devil Bat: Play Scene 2 [14:03]
3. The Devil Bat: Play Scene 3 [20:58]
4. The Devil Bat: Play Scene 4 [17:44]
Disc #8, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Amazing Transparent Man/The Bat
1. The Amazing Transparent Man: Play Scene 1 [9:46]
2. The Amazing Transparent Man: Play Scene 2 [18:46]
3. The Amazing Transparent Man: Play Scene 3 [15:52]
4. The Amazing Transparent Man: Play Scene 4 [12:47]
1. The Bat: Play Scene 1 [19:44]
2. The Bat: Play Scene 2 [21:47]
3. The Bat: Play Scene 3 [22:39]
4. The Bat: Play Scene 4 [21:29]
Disc #8, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Crimes at the Dark House/The Phantom Creeps
1. Crimes at the Dark House: Play Scene 1 [18:51]
2. Crimes at the Dark House: Play Scene 2 [19:47]
3. Crimes at the Dark House: Play Scene 3 [15:01]
4. Crimes at the Dark House: Play Scene 4 [14:14]
1. The Phantom Creeps: Play Scene 1 [18:50]
2. The Phantom Creeps: Play Scene 2 [19:05]
3. The Phantom Creeps: Play Scene 3 [19:06]
4. The Phantom Creeps: Play Scene 4 [21:13]
Disc #9, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Ghost Walks/The She-Beast
1. Scene 1 [21:18]
2. Scene 2 [17:28]
3. Scene 3 [20:40]
4. Scene 4 [19:09]
1. Scene 1 [15:00]
2. Scene 2 [15:43]
3. Scene 3 [19:18]
4. Scene 4 [14:13]
Disc #9, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Curse of the Headless Horeseman/The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
1. Curse of the Headless Horseman: Play Scene 1 [15:24]
2. Curse of the Headless Horseman: Play Scene 2 [16:13]
3. Curse of the Headless Horseman: Play Scene 3 [19:36]
4. Curse of the Headless Horseman: Play Scene 4 [27:09]
1. The Crimes of Stephen Hawke: Play Scene 1 [15:31]
2. The Crimes of Stephen Hawke: Play Scene 2 [14:47]
3. The Crimes of Stephen Hawke: Play Scene 3 [19:40]
4. The Crimes of Stephen Hawke: Play Scene 4 [18:16]
Disc #10, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Devil's Partner/Shock
1. Devil's Partner: Play Scene 1 [14:23]
2. Devil's Partner: Play Scene 2 [18:59]
3. Devil's Partner: Play Scene 3 [20:01]
4. Devil's Partner: Play Scene 4 [19:31]
1. Shock: Play Scene 1 [15:16]
2. Shock: Play Scene 2 [14:34]
3. Shock: Play Scene 3 [19:01]
4. Shock: Play Scene 4 [20:26]
Disc #10, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Manos: The Hands of Fate/Murder in the Red Barn
1. Manos - The Hands of Fate: Play Scene 1 [16:30]
2. Manos - The Hands of Fate: Play Scene 2 [13:29]
3. Manos - The Hands of Fate: Play Scene 3 [16:02]
4. Manos - The Hands of Fate: Play Scene 4 [22:33]
1. The Murder in the Red Barn: Play Scene 1 [18:17]
2. The Murder in the Red Barn: Play Scene 2 [15:46]
3. The Murder in the Red Barn: Play Scene 3 [11:15]
4. The Murder in the Red Barn: Play Scene 4 [13:18]
Disc #11, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Manos: Never Too Late/The Manster
1. Never Too Late: Play Scene 1 [15:37]
2. Never Too Late: Play Scene 2 [14:15]
3. Never Too Late: Play Scene 3 [19:00]
4. Never Too Late: Play Scene 4 [17:52]
1. The Manster: Play Scene 1 [15:03]
2. The Manster: Play Scene 2 [16:32]
3. The Manster: Play Scene 3 [22:13]
4. The Manster: Play Scene 4 [19:00]
Disc #11, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Manos: Teenage Zombies/The Devil's Messenger
1. Teenage Zombies: Play Scene 1 [15:14]
2. Teenage Zombies: Play Scene 2 [19:03]
3. Teenage Zombies: Play Scene 3 [16:51]
4. Teenage Zombies: Play Scene 4 [19:02]
1. The Devil's Messenger: Play Scene 1 [15:49]
2. The Devil's Messenger: Play Scene 2 [14:52]
3. The Devil's Messenger: Play Scene 3 [18:56]
4. The Devil's Messenger: Play Scene 4 [21:05]
Disc #12, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Manos: The Bowery at Midnight/Midnight Shadow/Torture Ship
1. The Bowery at Midnight: Play Scene 1 [14:50]
2. The Bowery at Midnight: Play Scene 2 [13:48]
3. The Bowery at Midnight: Play Scene 3 [16:37]
4. The Bowery at Midnight: Play Scene 4 [16:17]
1. Midnight Shadow: Play Scene 1 [15:04]
2. Midnight Shadow: Play Scene 2 [13:32]
3. Midnight Shadow: Play Scene 3 [12:33]
4. Midnight Shadow: Play Scene 4 [10:54]
1. Torture Ship: Play Scene 1 [11:38]
2. Torture Ship: Play Scene 2 [12:22]
3. Torture Ship: Play Scene 3 [14:22]
4. Torture Ship: Play Scene 4 [10:23]
Disc #12, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Manos: Night of the Blood Beast/Tales of Frankenstein/The Devil's Daughter
1. Night of the Blood Bat: Play Scene 1 [15:36]
2. Night of the Blood Bat: Play Scene 2 [15:06]
3. Night of the Blood Bat: Play Scene 3 [17:45]
4. Night of the Blood Bat: Play Scene 4 [14:27]
1. Tales of Frankenstein: Play Scene 1 [6:24]
2. Tales of Frankenstein: Play Scene 2 [7:46]
3. Tales of Frankenstein: Play Scene 3 [5:30]
4. Tales of Frankenstein: Play Scene 4 [7:19]
1. The Devil's Daughter: Play Scene 1 [11:40]
2. The Devil's Daughter: Play Scene 2 [14:41]
3. The Devil's Daughter: Play Scene 3 [13:22]
4. The Devil's Daughter: Play Scene 4 [11:38]
Disc #13, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Horros of Spider Island/The Wasp Woman
1. Scene 1 [22:03]
2. Scene 2 [17:07]
3. Scene 3 [19:02]
4. Scene 4 [16:26]
1. Scene 1 [17:10]
2. Scene 2 [17:03]
3. Scene 3 [20:42]
4. Scene 4 [17:31]
Disc #13, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - White Pongo/The Creeper
1. Scene 1 [16:10]
2. Scene 2 [17:48]
3. Scene 3 [18:39]
4. Scene 4 [19:06]
1. Scene 1 [19:10]
2. Scene 2 [21:11]
3. Scene 3 [24:25]
4. Scene 4 [24:45]
Disc #14, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride/Moon of the Wolf
1. Scene 1 [19:21]
2. Scene 2 [20:59]
3. Scene 3 [22:27]
4. Scene 4 [24:12]
1. Scene 1 [17:55]
2. Scene 2 [19:58]
3. Scene 3 [21:10]
4. Scene 4 [15:00]
Disc #14, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Blood Tide/The Brain Machine
1. Scene 1 [20:09]
2. Scene 2 [18:43]
3. Scene 3 [23:39]
4. Scene 4 [20:39]
1. Scene 1 [17:43]
2. Scene 2 [20:11]
3. Scene 3 [21:13]
4. Scene 4 [21:45]
Disc #15, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Sisters of Death/Savage Weekend
1. Scene 1 [19:39]
2. Scene 2 [20:50]
3. Scene 3 [20:07]
4. Scene 4 [26:21]
1. Scene 1 [19:40]
2. Scene 2 [22:31]
3. Scene 3 [22:16]
4. Scene 4 [21:21]
Disc #15, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Atomic Brain/The Snow Creature
1. Scene 1 [14:47]
2. Scene 2 [19:38]
3. Scene 3 [15:35]
4. Scene 4 [14:47]
1. Scene 1 [19:32]
2. Scene 2 [15:45]
3. Scene 3 [20:05]
4. Scene 4 [15:18]
Disc #16, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Kong Island/Bride of the Gorilla
1. Scene 1 [18:37]
2. Scene 2 [25:22]
3. Scene 3 [22:16]
4. Scene 4 [17:48]
1. Scene 1 [18:44]
2. Scene 2 [17:13]
3. Scene 3 [15:53]
4. Scene 4 [13:15]
Disc #16, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Creepers/Don't Open Till Christmas
1. Scene 1 [20:39]
2. Scene 2 [20:57]
3. Scene 3 [18:30]
4. Scene 4 [22:47]
1. Scene 1 [22:47]
2. Scene 2 [19:13]
3. Scene 3 [21:41]
4. Scene 4 [22:35]
Disc #17, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Snowbeast/Horror of the Zombies
1. Scene 1 [22:08]
2. Scene 2 [22:26]
3. Scene 3 [18:20]
4. Scene 4 [22:36]
1. Scene 1 [24:46]
2. Scene 2 [20:21]
3. Scene 3 [21:27]
4. Scene 4 [22:51]
Disc #17, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Mama Dracula/Murder Mansion
1. Scene 1 [21:44]
2. Scene 2 [22:12]
3. Scene 3 [22:15]
4. Scene 4 [24:50]
1. Scene 1 [22:53]
2. Scene 2 [19:13]
3. Scene 3 [19:02]
4. Scene 4 [22:41]
Disc #18, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Trauma/Unsane
1. Scene 1 [21:06]
2. Scene 2 [20:29]
3. Scene 3 [19:35]
4. Scene 4 [23:01]
1. Scene 1 [22:30]
2. Scene 2 [26:34]
3. Scene 3 [18:49]
4. Scene 4 [22:16]
Disc #18, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Vengeance of the Zombies/Voodoo Black Exorcist
1. Scene 1 [21:23]
2. Scene 2 [22:25]
3. Scene 3 [21:21]
4. Scene 4 [21:39]
1. Scene 1 [22:13]
2. Scene 2 [18:43]
3. Scene 3 [17:48]
4. Scene 4 [24:50]
Disc #19, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Strangers of the Evening/A Passenger to Bali
1. Scene 1 [15:02]
2. Scene 2 [21:40]
3. Scene 3 [13:30]
4. Scene 4 [15:17]
1. Scene 1 [17:22]
2. Scene 2 [9:41]
3. Scene 3 [17:30]
4. Scene 4 [14:42]
Disc #19, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Invasion of the Bee Girls/Eegah
1. Scene 1 [22:12]
2. Scene 2 [19:08]
3. Scene 3 [22:33]
4. Scene 4 [22:19]
1. Scene 1 [20:02]
2. Scene 2 [24:32]
3. Scene 3 [25:34]
4. Scene 4 [20:11]
Disc #20, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - The Werewolf vs. Vampire Women/Spare Parts
1. Scene 1 [20:23]
2. Scene 2 [19:29]
3. Scene 3 [20:15]
4. Scene 4 [21:10]
1. Scene 1 [27:55]
2. Scene 2 [23:09]
3. Scene 3 [26:55]
4. Scene 4 [26:02]
Disc #20, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Death By Dialogue/Legacy of Blood
1. Scene 1 [22:30]
2. Scene 2 [23:37]
3. Scene 3 [22:53]
4. Scene 4 [20:54]
1. Scene 1 [23:12]
2. Scene 2 [22:09]
3. Scene 3 [19:19]
4. Scene 4 [24:49]
Disc #21, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Attack of the Monsters/Phantom Express
1. Scene 1 [18:04]
2. Scene 2 [20:39]
3. Scene 3 [21:52]
4. Scene 4 [19:15]
1. Scene 1 [19:16]
2. Scene 2 [13:10]
3. Scene 3 [16:31]
4. Scene 4 [16:02]
Disc #21, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Night Train to Terror/Night Tide
1. Scene 1 [23:30]
2. Scene 2 [22:14]
3. Scene 3 [29:10]
4. Scene 4 [18:15]
1. Scene 1 [18:06]
2. Scene 2 [26:52]
3. Scene 3 [18:25]
4. Scene 4 [21:29]
Disc #22, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Don't Look in the Basement/Prisoners of the Lost Universe
1. Chapter 1 [24:03]
2. Chapter 2 [22:51]
3. Chapter 3 [19:05]
4. Chapter 4 [23:09]
1. Scene 1 [25:32]
2. Scene 2 [22:19]
3. Scene 3 [22:23]
4. Scene 4 [23:57]
Disc #22, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Rattlers/She Gods of Shark Reef
1. Scene 1 [18:10]
2. Scene 2 [26:07]
3. Scene 3 [17:31]
4. Scene 4 [17:53]
1. Scene 1 [19:32]
2. Scene 2 [15:50]
3. Scene 3 [15:12]
4. Scene 4 [12:06]
Disc #23, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Nabonga/Beast From Haunted Cove
1. Scene 1 [15:25]
2. Scene 2 [19:55]
3. Scene 3 [21:08]
4. Scene 4 [14:43]
1. Scene 1 [18:31]
2. Scene 2 [16:15]
3. Scene 3 [17:23]
4. Scene 4 [19:54]
Disc #23, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Beast From Haunted Cave
1. Scene 1 [13:56]
2. Scene 2 [14:27]
3. Scene 3 [17:04]
4. Scene 4 [16:00]
1. Scene 1 [16:04]
2. Scene 2 [16:30]
3. Scene 3 [13:18]
4. Scene 4 [16:02]
Disc #24, Side A -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - House of Danger/House of Mystery/The Legend of Bigfoot
1. Scene 1 [13:53]
2. Scene 2 [20:42]
3. Scene 3 [14:03]
4. Scene 4 [15:48]
1. Scene 1 [18:01]
2. Scene 2 [11:08]
3. Scene 3 [16:30]
4. Scene 4 [12:36]
1. Scene 1 [18:34]
2. Scene 2 [15:47]
3. Scene 3 [20:20]
4. Scene 4 [19:51]
Disc #24, Side B -- Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack - Slave of the Cannibal God/House of Secrets/Midnight Phantom
1. Scene 1 [22:02]
2. Scene 2 [20:45]
3. Scene 3 [19:29]
4. Scene 4 [18:24]
1. Scene 1 [17:15]
2. Scene 2 [17:51]
3. Scene 3 [13:07]
4. Scene 4 [20:00]
1. Scene 1 [15:41]
2. Scene 2 [8:39]
3. Scene 3 [15:58]
4. Scene 4 [18:56]

Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack [24 Discs]: AMG Review
AMG

Includes:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

The Bat (1926)

Phantom (1931)

The Midnight Warning (1932)

Strangers of the Evening (1932)

The Phantom Express (1932)

The Ghost Walks (1934)

House of Danger (1934)

Chloe (1934)

House of Mystery (1934)

Condemned to Live (1935)

The Great Manta (1935)

Murder in the Red Barn (1935)

One Frightened Night (1935)

The Midnight Phantom (1935)

The Crimes of Stephen Hawkes (1936)

The Rogue's Tavern (1936)

The House of Secrets (1937)

Never Too Late to Mend (1937)

Crimes at the Dark House (1939)

The Phantom Creeps [Serial] (1939)

Pocomania (1939)

Midnight Shadow (1939)

Torture Ship (1939)

The Devil Bat (1941)

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

The Living Ghost (1942)

The Man With Two Lives (1942)

The Ape Man (1943)

Nabonga (1944)

White Pongo (1945)

Shock! (1946)

Scared to Death (1947), MPAA Rating: NR

The White Gorilla (1947)

Studio One: A Passenger to Bali (1950)

Bride of the Gorilla (1951)

Island Monster (1953)

The Snow Creature (1954)

Tales of Frankenstein (1954)

The Brain Machine (1955)

A Strange Adventure (1956)

Evil Brain From Outer Space (1956)

The Devil's Partner (1958)

She-Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

Teenage Zombies (1958)

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

The Head (1959)

Horrors of Spider Island (1959)

The Wasp Woman (1959), MPAA Rating: NR

Beast From Haunted Cave (1960)

The Manster (1961)

Night Tide (1961)

The Devil's Messenger (1962)

Eegah! (1962)

The Sadist (1963)

The Atomic Brain (1964)

The Long Hair of Death (1964)

The She-Beast (1965)

The Sound of Horror (1965)

Manos, the Hands of Fate (1966)

Terror Creatures from the Grave (1966)

The Phantom of Soho (1966)

Kong Island (1968)

Night Fright (1968)

Attack of the Monsters (1969)

The Amazing Transplant (1970)

The Murder Mansion (1970)

The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman (1970), MPAA Rating: R

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave (1971), MPAA Rating: R

Curse of the Headless Horseman (1972)

Vengeance of the Zombies (1972)

Moon of the Wolf (1972)

Crypt of the Living Dead (1973), MPAA Rating: PG

Graveyard Tramps (1973), MPAA Rating: R

Voodoo Black Exorcist (1973)

Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1973), MPAA Rating: R

The Werewolf of Washington (1973)

Don't Look In The Basement! (1973), MPAA Rating: R

The Vampires' Night Orgy (1973), MPAA Rating: R

El Buque Maldito (1974)

Legacy of Blood (1974)

The Legend of Bigfoot (1975)

Rattlers (1976)

Savage Weekend (1976), MPAA Rating: R

Sisters of Death (1976), MPAA Rating: PG

Snowbeast (1977)

Rituals (1978), MPAA Rating: R

Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), MPAA Rating: R

Enigma Rosso (1978)

War of the Robots (1978)

Mama Dracula (1980)

Blood Tide (1982)

Tenebre (1982), MPAA Rating: R

Phenomena (1984), MPAA Rating: R

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1984)

Night Train to Terror (1984), MPAA Rating: R

Spare Parts (1985)

Hands of Steel (1986), MPAA Rating: R

Death by Dialogue (1988), MPAA Rating: R

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a towering landmark film in cinematic history; it had a profound stylistic impact on much of German cinema before WWII, it was the progenitor of the moody chiaroscuro look of 1940s film noir, and, according to Siegfried Kracauer in his seminal book From Caligari to Hitler, it was a harbinger of the rise of Naziism. Originally scripted as a bizarre fever dream about the sick soul of Weimar Germany, Caligari had a prologue and epilogue added over the objections of screenwriters Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz that explained the tale as the ramblings of a madman. Though its political subtext may have been subordinated, its artistic achievements remained potent. Marked by off-kilter sets, lighting, and costumes, the visual style of Caligari brilliantly fuses into a seamless exterior projection of the narrator's demented interior state of mind. The acting is similarly stylized, featuring striking performances by Werner Krauss as the sinister Dr. Caligari and Conrad Veidt as his somnambulist plaything. The international success of Caligari spawned a series of Expressionistic films, including such prominent works as Der Golem (1920), Nosferatu (1922), and Metropolis (1927). Its canted grotesque look has proven a major influence on such diverse directors as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kenneth Anger, and Tim Burton. In spite of its age, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a hypnotic masterpiece that still manages to unnerve and provoke. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The Bat
No reviews available.

Phantom
The Phantom is played for laughs, and with that in mind the film is actually much better than its tattered reputation. The usually doltish Guinn "Big Boy" Williams is quite good as the enterprising hero and silent serial queen Allene Ray, in her final film, manages to deliver her few lines with some conviction despite the fact that sound had supposedly destroyed her career. Through it all runs veteran bogeyman Sheldon Lewis, in the mix for no other apparent purpose than to give the audience the expected chills. Contrary to popular wisdom, Lewis does not play The Phantom of the title, the killer instead proving to be the least expected among the cast members. Director Alan James also supplied the screenplay under his real name, Alvin J. Neitz. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Midnight Warning
According to an oft-told tale, a young man disappeared without a trace during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Decades later, Alexander Woolcott penned a story for the New Yorker, "The Most Maddening Story in the World", which itself became the genesis for a 1947 novel and a 1951 British film, both entitled So Long at the Fair. And just like the later and much better-known Dirk Bogarde thriller, The Midnight Warning's main attraction is its confounding mystery. Spencer Gordon Bennet, in one of his infrequent departures from serials, does a fine job directing a ramshackle cast of B-movie regulars that includes the confusingly named William "Stage" Boyd (a moniker given lest anyone should mistake him for the handsome silver-haired matinee idol of the same name) and, in a rare non-villainous performance, Hooper Atchley. Leading lady Claudia Dell, according to Bennet, was so inexperienced that she actually knocked herself unconscious performing a fall in the quite scary mortuary sequence. The traumatic episode remains clearly visible in the film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Strangers of the Evening
No reviews available.

The Phantom Express
No reviews available.

The Ghost Walks
No reviews available.

House of Danger
With an ad campaign that promised far more than it could deliver, this stage-bound melodrama suffered from having been produced by Sam Efrus, a Poverty Row entrepreneur who never met a corner he wouldn't cut. Thus, both the shipwreck and the concluding car chase, inserted to add some much-needed production value, are of the grainy, non-matching stock footage kind so favored by companies like Peerless. House of Danger is actually not bad, it's just too reminiscent of a great many early sound thrillers from rival companies such as Monogram, Tiffany-Stahl, and Sono Art-World Wide. Director Charles Hutchison was a silent era serial star and not too adept at character delineation, but, happily, the veteran cast had done this sort of thing many times before and could pretty much take care of itself. Producer Efrus, incidentally, suffered the tort of having his name misspelled "Ferus" in the onscreen credits. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Chloe
No reviews available.

House of Mystery
No reviews available.

Condemned to Live
Returning to both the theme and locations of his earlier The Vampire Bat (1933), director Frank R. Strayer is at it again but in much more stately fashion. Where the earlier excursion into the macabre zipped by with commendable speed, Condemned to Live takes its sweet old time to get from point A to the inevitable point B, an exercise in tedium that offers a modern audience plenty of opportunity to admire such classic sets as the Hunchback of Notre Dame's bell tower, the famous Castle Frankenstein, the Middle European village and other Universal landmarks, some of whom remain attractions to this very day. The acting and dialogue is early talkie cumbersome and Ralph Morgan amply demonstrates why he never became as popular as brother Frank. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Great Manta
No reviews available.

Murder in the Red Barn
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn was the most popular melodrama of the Victorian stage in England. It was based on a true crime story from 1827 that had excited the public imagination in a way that no murder case would until the advent of Jack the Ripper. The historic Maria Marten was a lower class opportunist who'd had trysts with several men before setting her sites on William Corder, the scoundrel scion of a reasonably well-to-do farming family a couple of years her junior. She and Corder had a child out of wedlock - her third - which mysteriously disappeared, as did Maria Marten herself shortly after. After Marten's stepmother - just one year older than Marten - reported having dreams about Marten having been murdered and buried in the Red Barn, a local landmark, Marten's body was discovered there. After a very humiliating and public trial, Corder was hanged. The theatrical property of Maria Marten was not a single play, but an entire repertoire of anonymous plays about the case, the earliest staged while Corder yet lived. These were seen everywhere from fairground peepshows to low class penny gaffs to legitimate theater; it is said that all of these versions taken together makes Maria Marten the most frequently performed entertainment in nineteenth-century England. Over time, some characterizations were changed; Corder became an older man of means and Maria Marten a basically virtuous girl whose interest in Corder was an inexplicable caprice that led to her downfall. Maria was provided with an alternate suitor of a somewhat lower class than herself, her stepmother rebranded as a proper mother and her father upgraded from molecatcher to a village squire or clergyman. The messy business of the baby and of the stepmother's dreams - ultimately adjudged too supernatural an element - dropped out of the story. This film version, produced by George King as an independent and released in the UK by MGM's English subsidiary, was the first one in sound and the fifth film version of Maria Marten overall. Veteran English actor Tod Slaughter made his entrance into the Edwardian theater and, from the early 1920s, made a career playing Victorian-style villains in South London melodramas; by the time he made his film debut with Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn, Slaughter was fifty years of age, a legend of the stage and had already appeared in this play countless times, though not always in the prime part of Corder. Slaughter is the main reason to watch the film now; although he is often described as "over the top," his performance in Maria Marten is surprisingly nuanced. He clearly understood something about psychosis and moves seamlessly from callous indifference to remorse, from being just a normal fellow to irradiating pure evil and mixing it all up in a very skillful and effective way, not to mention very much enjoying playing the bad guy. The other players are professional and adequate, but none make quite the impression that Slaughter does, though Eric Portman delivers a strong and assertive performance as the gypsy Carlos; he would much later serve as one of the "Number Twos" in the original TV series of The Prisoner. Despite utilizing the framing device of the staged introductions and never moving too far from the stage milieu in which the show was so comfortably popular, the film never seems static and there are occasional artistic visual touches, though these are very brief; one wonders what this could have been like had Carl Theodor Dreyer directed it. English censors could be fairly heavy handed when came to American horror films, but American censors took the hatchet to Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn, reducing it by the equivalent of a full reel; some state-based censor boards cut it back even further. It is in such a drastically shortened version that the film is circulated on DVD and video, yet even in its truncated state, Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn is still highly watchable entertainment which transcends the boundaries of Victorian stage melodrama while still documenting one of the key works of the genre and benefits greatly from the one great actor at its core. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide

One Frightened Night
Mascot Pictures was the leader in not only serials but in serial "cheats," the device wherein the masked villain is played by one or more of the innocent cast members until revealed as someone totally different in both stature and bearing. The tradition carried over to the studio's feature films, of which One Frightened Night remains one of the best. Here, tall Ted Mapes, a well-known stuntman, impersonates the mystery villain when not portrayed by smallish bandleader Roger Pryor, who was enlisted by producer Nat Levine from a neighboring production. When the mask finally falls, however, the real culprit is revealed to be quite a different actor altogether. Nobody, least of all the juvenile audience of the day, complained of this or other such incongruities as having a secret room, sealed off for decades, emerge complete with modern 1935 light fixtures. Or having a seemingly torrential downpour fail to leave a single wet drop on humans or flora. Screenwriters Stuart Palmer and Wellyn Totman had obviously seen such legendary "haunted house" chillers as The Cat and the Canary several times and One Frightened Night continues the tradition of mixing murder melodrama with comedy and doing it quite well. As always, the policemen are denser than fog, housekeepers hatchet-faced, and one of the inevitable heirs, Wallace Ford, wisecracks at the ready. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Midnight Phantom
No reviews available.

The Crimes of Stephen Hawkes
No reviews available.

The Rogue's Tavern
No reviews available.

The House of Secrets
No reviews available.

Never Too Late to Mend
No reviews available.

Crimes at the Dark House
No reviews available.

The Phantom Creeps [Serial]
No reviews available.

Pocomania
No reviews available.

Midnight Shadow
"Here, in certain communities, the life of which is found nowhere else in all the world, these people of darker hue have demonstrated their abilities in self-government by the orderly processes of law of which they are capable when unhampered by outside influence." Thus reads a rather patronizing foreword to this otherwise modest little whodunit produced and directed by George Randol, a purveyor of all-black entertainment. The mostly white crew behind Midnight Shadow may have harbored loftier goals, but the result of their labors is much more Hollywood than the introduction would suggest -- and technically no worse than many a low-budget job from Monogram or even Republic Pictures. Oddly, though, the comic relief characters here, played by Richard Bates and a delightful Buck Woods, come across just as stereotypical as, say, Mantan Moreland or Willie Best in their more mainstream efforts. Clinton Rosemond, in contrast, offers a strong portrayal as the murder victim and minor roles are well acted by the likes of Napoleon Simpson and Ruby Dandridge, the mother of star-crossed lead actress Dorothy Dandridge. Although not an important film in the African-American oeuvre, Midnight Shadow, which was filmed at rental stages in Hollywood, remains a modestly entertaining mystery thriller of the old school. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Torture Ship
If the plot of Torture Ship sounds bizarre, it should -- it was lifted from a Jack London story entitled A Thousand Deaths, published in 1899, that is even nastier, about a shipwreck survivor who drowns at sea and is revived by his own estranged father, as part of a series of experiments in which the young man is killed, and reanimated numerous times, until he takes steps to destroy his tormentor. Starting from that material, director/producer Victor Halperin, who had previously made two deeply atmospheric exercises in the macabre, White Zombie and Revolt of the Zombies, added the element of criminals on the run. The entire mix is unsettling more than horrific, lacking the dark, enveloping visuals and mood of White Zombie. There is horrific stuff happening here, and a tone of menace and doom throughout, and when Talbot's character is briefly "zombie-fied" it is very unsettling. There are also moments of humor that shouldn't fit in a Halperin movie, but here they make the action easier to take, as when one of the hoods accepts the offer of food from a woman captive, and then remembers that she was sent up for poisoning people. Additionally, the presence of several bizarre yet familiar faces among the criminals, including Skelton Knaggs, and Stanley Blystone as the first-mate, make this a strange and diverting (if not exactly "entertaining") thriller for old movie buffs. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The Devil Bat
No reviews available.

Bowery at Midnight
Bowery at Midnight is simply a bad movie, but for those of us who revel in campy horror pics, it's worth watching. Truth to tell, it barely fits into the "horror" genre, placed there mostly because of the presence of the great Bela Lugosi and a Zombie subplot that seems to have been grafted onto the film as a result of Lugois's participation. Otherwise, Bowery is pretty much a crime thriller, albeit not a particularly good or convincing one. Lurid and melodramatic, Bowery's script doesn't make much sense and is totally unbelievable and is filled with wince-inducing dialogue. It does, interestingly, throw in a few tidbits of sociological interest, but the dramatic aspects of the script are strictly from hunger. Wallace W. Fox's direction is of the "get the shot and move on to the next one" variety; it's not good, but it has a certain efficiency and innocence that's some how appealing. The cast handles its cheesy chores in typical fashion, with the exception of Lugosi, who manages to rise above the material, even while playing down to its baser instincts. He makes even the most ludicrous moments enjoyable, and frequently fascinating. Again, Bowery is not anything like a good movie -- but it's much more entertaining than other films that are technically much better. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

The Living Ghost
No reviews available.

The Man With Two Lives
Produced by the A.W. Hackel unit at Monogram at an even lower budget than the company's usual parsimonious expenditure, The Man With Two Lives manages to entertain to an almost startling degree. The main reason is a good performance by Edward Norris, a grade-Z movie star but one with a certain style and panache. Norris is effective both as the charming socialite and as the revived but highly antisocial alter ego. It is Dr. Frankenstein meets Mr. Hyde -- or something like that, the movie never really makes up its mind -- and the fact that Norris manages to stay afloat remains impressive. The supporting actors were all old hands at this sort of thing and included leading lady Marlo Dwyer, who had been known as Wilma Francis when performing chorus duties at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Ape Man
The Ape Man is for many a made-in-camp-heaven classic; for others, it's a sorry waste of a talented actor whose typecasting doomed him to a sad life. If one can forget that horror star Bela Lugosi was forced to forego his considerable talent and appear in dreck such as this and that this contributed to his early death, it's easy to have a ball at Ape Man. This is, clearly, one of the worst horror films ever made. Inept is too kind a word for the writing and directing. It's almost as if writer Barney A. Sarecky was trying to prove something, perhaps that it is indeed possible to write a screenplay at one sitting, with your eyes closed, creating dialogue only by drawing it blindfolded from a goldfish bowl filled with random sentences cut from "The Big Book of Cliched Sentences." Director William Beaudine's work is atrocious, as is typical of this reviled hack, with no imagination or interest evident at all. The acting, even by the talented Lugosi is at best substandard. All of which, if one is in the right mind, does mean that Ape can be a hoot, especially the ending, which seems to have wandered in from a Tex Avery cartoon. For camp mavens, it's a treat; for Lugosi fans, it's an ordeal. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Nabonga
No reviews available.

White Pongo
No reviews available.

Shock!
Shock is a mid-level thriller that, while never approaching greatness, is certainly entertaining enough. One part "suspenser," one part psychological thriller and one part film noir, Shock doesn't totally satisfy whatever genre it's put in, but it's hard not to get caught up in the very mechanical twists and turns of its plot. Hard, but not impossible -- those who demand logic and believability will throw their hands up at a number of the blatant manipulations that screenwriter Eugene Ling engages in. But director Arnold L. Werker seems to be having so much fun with this little cat-and-mouser that many viewers will overlook the deficiencies in the screenplay. Besides, there are a number of moments -- such as the early dream sequence -- that work much too well, and the tension as the film nears its climax is very effective. Too, Shock has the wonderful Vincent Price turning in a delicious, yet not hammy, performance. It's early in Price's career, and he hasn't turned to the blatant (if enjoyable) scenery chewing that some of his later roles brought out in him; his work here is careful and thought out, even when he goes for an extreme moment. All in all, Shock is an undemanding, lurid little flick that's more fun than it really should be. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Scared to Death
No reviews available.

The White Gorilla
No reviews available.

Studio One: A Passenger to Bali
No reviews available.

Bride of the Gorilla
The premise of Bride of the Gorilla is so goofy that one approaches it expecting a campy laugh-fest -- and why not? It's hard to pinpoint why exactly, but a man turning into a wolf is by nature an intriguing and interesting idea, while a man turning into a gorilla is by nature simply nutty. That's not to say that the latter idea absolutely cannot be the basis for a good horror flick, but it is to say that the idea requires a lot more work just to be acceptable, let alone good. Gorilla doesn't do the work, but what's much more damaging is that it doesn't even have fun with its silly premise. Indeed, Gorilla takes itself awfully seriously, with the result that it comes across as dull, dull, dull. Yes, viewers may find themselves chuckling a little during the first fifteen minutes or so of ponderous dialogue, leaden acting and sluggish direction, as well as the budget-conscious sets and flat photography. But the humor peters out rather quickly, and boredom sets in. Tom Conway manages to keep our interest most of the film, and Lon Chaney, Jr.'s quirkiness has some appeal. But aside from appreciating that he's in much better shape than he was as Perry Mason, there's little to recommend in Raymond Burr's performance. Barbara Payton, meanwhile, is a sheer delight to look at, but as an actress, she doesn't impress as much. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Island Monster
No reviews available.

The Snow Creature
No reviews available.

Tales of Frankenstein
No reviews available.

The Brain Machine
No reviews available.

A Strange Adventure
No reviews available.

Evil Brain From Outer Space
No reviews available.

The Devil's Partner
The Devil's Partner is a low-budget black-and-white rural horror film with an unusual story line. Although it's more soap opera than shocker, there are several goat sacrifices, a wino is trampled by a Satanic black horse, and Nelson performs wacko rituals on a blood-smeared hexagon. Byron Foulger steals the show as an easily spooked wino, and director Charles R. Rondeau (The Girl in Lovers' Lane) keeps things interesting throughout. Not bad at all. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

She-Gods of Shark Reef
No reviews available.

Teenage Zombies
No reviews available.

Night of the Blood Beast
No reviews available.

The Head
No reviews available.

Horrors of Spider Island
A plane crash strands eight showgirls and their manager Gary (Alex D'Arcy of The Prisoner of Zenda, 1937) on a seemingly deserted tropical island. Despite their discovery of a corpse hanging in an oversized spider's web, the ladies blithely busy themselves with bouts of sunbathing and skinny-dipping, while Gary traverses the island. His exploration earns him a bite from an enormous spider, which transforms into a slavering creature with a newfound appetite for dancers. While the primary purpose of this German-made oddity is to show scantily clad women imperiled by a decidedly male beast, it's also attractively photographed, and several scenes (most notably, Gary's first post-bite attack, and his final flight through a swamp) deliver a frisson not usually found in nudie-cutie/monster movie hybrids (e.g., House on Bare Mountain, 1962). Pacemaker Pictures distributed the film in the United States, first as an adults-only feature under the title It's Hot in Paradise, and later, in a slightly "cooler" print under the Spider Island moniker, which played as part of a double bill with 1959's The Fiendish Ghouls (aka Mania). Image Entertainment and Something Weird Video's DVD is the uncut Paradise version, and includes a trio of spider-themed stripper/cheesecake shorts, as well as an eye-popping gallery of exploitation poster art. ~ Paul Gaita, All Movie Guide

The Wasp Woman
Considering the strange and terrible fate of the lead actress -- Susan Cabot apparently lived her own nightmare and was eventually killed by her increasingly browbeaten son -- The Wasp Woman takes on an added poignancy that obviously wasn't intended by the film's cheapskate producer-director, Roger Corman. Here is yet another creature flick hampered by a ludicrous monster costume -- nothing more than a Halloween mask, really -- not quite as bad as it could have been but not very good either. Cabot herself does well enough as the youth-obsessed heroine/villainess and the film does attempt to address both the increasing paranoia regarding aging and science run amok. But the cheesy special effects (if you can call a rubber mask and a couple of claws "special effects") and lack of any kind of budget betray the good intentions. Typical of Corman, the supporting roles are well cast (including the stunning Lynn Cartwright as a Brooklyn-accented secretary) and an attempt to turn modern office life into a sort of Grand Guignol melodrama works at least part of the way. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Beast From Haunted Cave
No reviews available.

The Manster
No reviews available.

Night Tide
Feeling somewhat like a Val Lewton film, Night Tide is an imperfect but haunting venture that lingers in the mind for days after viewing, like a dream that won't quite let you go. Director Curtis Harrington is playing with genres, mixing romance and thriller and flirting with horror, and the end result doesn't quite come together as he might desire -- probably because Night Tide was created for the low budget exploitation market, and so there are certain contrivances that are foisted upon it. But Harrington directs the film with such skill, taking careful advantage of the opportunities when he can get beneath the surfaces of the genres and hint at psychological depths, that most will forgive Tide for its flaws. Some may also find the film a tad slow, but the pacing is necessary to create the ethereal moodiness that Harrington is trying for and so often succeeds in capturing. Credit must also be given to David Raksin's excellent score, a definite plus. Fans of Dennis Hopper may be very surprised by his performance here; unlike in many of his later "psychotic" performances, Hopper's work here reveals how gentle and tender he can be. It's a totally believable performance, and essential to the film's effectiveness. There's also strong work from Linda Lawson and Gavin Muir, and Harrington is also fortunate to have Vilis Lapenieks on hand to provide very atmospheric camerawork. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Messenger
No reviews available.

Eegah!
No reviews available.

The Sadist
No reviews available.

The Atomic Brain
No reviews available.

The Long Hair of Death
No reviews available.

The She-Beast
No reviews available.

The Sound of Horror
No reviews available.

Manos, the Hands of Fate
Manos, the Hands of Fate is the sole production of Hal P. Warren, an El Paso fertilizer salesman who wrote, directed, and starred in this peculiar low-budget horror story. A stuttering, staggering sort of film, Manos stupefies the viewer with an odd, timeless pace thanks to innumerable continuity gaps and awkward editing. While a painfully amateur production all the way, the damaged technical aspects are matched with an illogical and confusing story that lends a sort of dreamlike frisson that only sublimely wretched films can provide. What might have been just one more curiosity in the junk room of cinema history is given life by John Reynolds, whose performance as the bizarre caretaker "Torgo" is so eccentric that he's worth recommending on his own. Reynolds twitches, sways, and fidgets so incessantly that his movements appear choreographed, like an extended pantomime piece. His enormous knees and clumsy gait are never explained, but his glassy eyes, paranoid demeanor, and overall itchiness make him stand out amongst an otherwise indifferent cast. This addled obscurity actually earned a few play dates back in the day but was generally met with derision by audiences, and misfortune followed in its wake (including Reynolds' suicide). After sitting on the shelf for decades, it was resuscitated by the snarky comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which roasted Manos, the Hands of Fate in a popular episode. As a result, video and DVD copies have kept this charming little epic in circulation far greater than the rural Texas drive-ins for which it was meant. Seek out the original, non-ironic version first for an utterly unique cinematic experience. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Terror Creatures from the Grave
No reviews available.

The Phantom of Soho
No reviews available.

Kong Island
No reviews available.

Night Fright
No reviews available.

Attack of the Monsters
No reviews available.

The Amazing Transplant
No reviews available.

The Murder Mansion
No reviews available.

The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman
No reviews available.

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave
Anyone who knows their giallo fare knows that The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave is one of the most famous titles in that genre's history. That said, it never quite lives up to the hype: despite a memorably odd premise, the script never quite coheres and loses track of its most intriguing plot threads (like the source of its main character's psychosis) as it goes about its sleazy business. The story also falls into a lull around its midsection, and Emilio Miraglia's direction, though stylish, isn't pace-conscious enough to gloss over this flaw. As a result, The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave isn't as feverish or shocking as it should be. Still, Euro-trash fans might want to check this out for its hefty doses of kink, including a stripper who uses a coffin in her act and Lord Cunningham's erotically charged flashbacks to his wife's infidelity. It also boasts a spooky castle setting and a stunning gothic/lounge score by Bruno Nicolai. In short, The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave might make acceptable fodder for giallo fans but isn't as memorable as its reputation suggests. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Curse of the Headless Horseman
There are few that will be able to derive any pleasure from Curse of the Headless Horseman, a tedious, apparently improvised mess concocted to fill space on a double feature bill with 1971's Carnival of Blood. Leonard Kirtman is the director responsible for both films; while Carnival is a marginally better structured film, both pictures share endless babbling dialogue that has nothing to do with the story being told and characters who are privy to plot points that they never witnessed and could not have known about. In Horseman, Kirtman (directing here under the name John Kirkland) lets a gang of interchangeable hippie kids cavort before the camera, stealing bits from Billy Jack and singing Bob Dylan songs without crediting their source. The horror elements are added like an afterthought, and are hardly threatening. The horseman is never responsible for anything other than soiling some tie-dyed shirts with blood, and it's fear (and in one instance, LSD) that drives the victims to run blindly in front of trucks and have heart attacks. In a laughable attempt to secure a "name" for the film, Warhol Factory groupie Ultra Violet receives prominent billing for a brief, pointless scene as a wealthy French woman interested in buying the ranch. Her fifteen minutes were officially over after this appearance. Kirtman switched gears after making his two boring thrillers and got into the pornography business, directing many films under the name Leon Gucci. In epics like Deep Rub and Female Athletes, the director proved to be as inept as ever, but at least learned to include enough of the expected "action" to keep the audiences' interest. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Vengeance of the Zombies
No reviews available.

Moon of the Wolf
Moon of the Wolf is a relatively routine werewolf tale, distinctive only for its ersatz Cajun flavor. Located deep in bayou country, Marsh Island is a place where class divisions run deep, and as a setting it provides ample excuses for slightly steamy soap opera confessions of secret pregnancies and family curses. General Hospital's John Beradino is right at home here as the small town's doctor, and he's one of several reliable character actors who make up the familiar, professional cast (including Royal Dano, Geoffrey Lewis and Bradford Dillman). Still, Moon of the Wolf is a low impact made-for-television production that only hardcore werewolf aficionados will enjoy, a poor man's mixture of Tennessee Williams and lycanthropy. This is the kind of film where the sheriff casually discusses the details of an ongoing case with a woman he hasn't seen since junior high, even though she's the sister of a main suspect. Such logical shortcomings go unredeemed by either action or special effects, culminating in one of the saddest crepe-hair werewolf makeup jobs on record. Dillman is nicely unctuous as an arrogant old-money Southern gentleman and there's a brave attempt to pin a medical explanation on the man-beast's transformations, but it's not enough to save Moon of the Wolf from irrelevance. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Crypt of the Living Dead
No reviews available.

Graveyard Tramps
Supposedly sexy sci-fi for the discriminating cinemaphile, Invasion of the Bee Girls has been credited with a knowing satirical bent solely because of the relatively distinguished minds behind its creation. Don't be fooled by the hype. This low-brow psychotronic classic is no smarter or dumber than a host of equally exploitative bottom dwellers. It is, however, an entertaining piece of trash that scores high with a good, solid cast, a creative concept and straightforward delivery of some utterly silly action. William Smith is at his square-jawed best as the two-fisted hero, Anitra Ford is all smarm and ice as the villainous queen bee and familiar character actor Cliff Osmond delivers a surprisingly subtle performance as the overworked local sheriff. Slumming in the sexploitation cesspool are screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (Time After Time, Fatal Attraction and a few Star Trek movies) and director Denis Saunders (respected for documentaries A Time Out of War, Soul to Soul and Czechoslovakia 1968); perfectly comfortable in the sleazy milieu is cinematographer Gary Graver, who shot footage for directors as diverse as Al Adamson and Orson Welles. While celebrity critics Siskel and Ebert were right to recommend Invasion of the Bee Girls as a "guilty pleasure," its cinematic worth isn't much higher than many films the duo dismissed outright. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Voodoo Black Exorcist
No reviews available.

Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride
No reviews available.

The Werewolf of Washington
No reviews available.

Don't Look In The Basement!
No reviews available.

The Vampires' Night Orgy
No reviews available.

El Buque Maldito
The Knights Templar take to the high seas in this third installment in Amando De Ossorio's infamous Blind Dead film series. The production is obviously low-budget -- particularly when you are forced to see the same foggy shot of a Spanish galleon that is an obvious miniature -- but it is still amusing and occasionally chilling fun for fans of the series. While De Ossorio's original film was a scary shocker, the sequels attempted increasingly outrageous tactics to please viewers. For its part, El Buque Maldito combines elements of vampire films with those of The Exorcist, which was released a year earlier and was to inspire dozens of lesser films such as this one. The best is when a meteorological professor suddenly reveals his knowledge of "exorcism" by burning a homemade cross to chase the zombies back into their caskets. The graphic elements have been toned down quite a bit (there's a tame lesbian sequence and very little gore) and the ghouls are not nearly as threatening this time around (hardly any have swords), but the shipboard setting provides an interesting new venue for the Templars. There's also a well-designed shock ending that provides a fitting climax for the galleon's survivors. As with all of his Blind Dead films, De Ossorio comes up with a good concept that is weakened by screenwriting gaffs such as ludicrous plot turns and inane characters who appear unable to think with any degree of logic. Then again, since they only serve as victims for the ghouls, it doesn't make much difference. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Legacy of Blood
No reviews available.

The Legend of Bigfoot
No reviews available.

Rattlers
No reviews available.

Savage Weekend
No reviews available.

Sisters of Death
No reviews available.

Snowbeast
TV director Herb Wallerstein leads a cast of second-rate reliables on a leisurely walk through creature feature territory. Scripted by Joseph Stefano (Psycho, The Outer Limits) with help from real-life Bigfoot "expert" Roger Patterson, Snowbeast transparently restages Jaws on the slopes of Colorado with a yeti standing in for the Great White. Every base is touched at least once, so we're given a festive "Winter Carnival" that no one wants to cancel, a trio of crusaders whose warnings go ignored, and a camper van taking the place of the Orca. Robert Logan (Across the Great Divide), Yvette Mimieux (The Black Hole), and Bo Svenson (Walking Tall, Part Two) make for an unlikely love triangle, but a lot of early energy is spent drumming up interest in unrequited romance and a failing marriage. It's all tossed aside with a handshake once the beast starts leaving corpses in the snow, rendering this feeble stab at character development moot. Svenson muses over the "Bigfoot controversy" while soaking in a steaming outdoor pool, dating Snowbeast for anyone who remembers the proliferation of bogus Sasquatch documentaries in the mid-'70s. There's a good reason why the monster is never shown for more than a few fleeting seconds; no matter how good the special effects are, it's hard to get scared by anything that fluffy and white. As a result, yeti films have never been wildly popular, and Snowbeast is one of the weaker entries into an already tepid horror subgenre. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Rituals
No reviews available.

Slave of the Cannibal God
Director Sergio Martino's contribution to the Italian cannibal horror-adventure cycle of the early to mid-'70s is a rung or two below the vomitus excesses of the subgenre's most unpleasant entries, Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox. It's still a graphic and unpleasant film, with all the noxious trademarks intact: gratuitous violence, real-life atrocities committed against live animals, and an uncomfortably imperialist attitude towards underprivileged peoples. But Martino tempers the blow with professional direction and lush cinematography, and the presence of Stacy Keach (an infrequent star of Italian exploitation in the '70s) and Ursula Andress (whose undraped frame, still impressive in her forties, is on display in several scenes) helps add touches of much-needed class and skill to the proceedings. But professionalism and class aren't what fans of these films are looking for, and exploitation fans may be somewhat disappointed by the film's sluggish pace and lack of suspense or dread, something that despite their hideousness, both Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox had in spades. By contrast, Mountain of the Cannibal God comes across as a sort of grisly Boys' Own adventure -- nasty, but also somewhat quaint with its old-fashioned cursed mountains and white goddesses. Anchor Bay's widescreen DVD presentation is uncut and retains about four minutes of graphic sexuality (including a genuinely shocking moment of faux bestiality) missing from most American prints. It also includes a 12-minute featurette on the making of the film, as well as the original Italian trailer and bios on Martino, Keach, and Andress. ~ Paul Gaita, All Movie Guide

Enigma Rosso
No reviews available.

War of the Robots
No reviews available.

Mama Dracula
No reviews available.

Blood Tide
No reviews available.

Tenebre
One of Dario Argento's best thrillers, this horror film has gone on to cult status due to its shocking, bloody style and twist-filled story. Available in America for many years in only a badly cut version titled Unsane, Tenebre tells the story of an American novelist (Anthony Franciosa) whose P.R. trip to Rome to promote his latest tome becomes tied to a series of slayings. The murders -- slashing, stabbing, axing, and strangling among them -- are extremely graphic, but are enacted in a stylish manner that makes them all the more disturbing. Such startling visuals are the film's finest point, and credit goes to both Argento and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli for this aspect. One particularly strong shot has the killer putting out a bare light bulb by running a razor blade through it. Another great shot (later used on the U.S. video box cover) lingers on a murdered woman who is left with her head dangling through a shattered window pane. Most memorable is a sadistic flashback by the killer in which three youths hold him down while a woman forces her high heel into his mouth. The script is a simple murder-mystery that does a good job of throwing the audience off track and keeping things suspenseful as each potential suspect is knocked off. The film's final reel is easily one of the bloodiest ever made and features a couple of great surprises. Performances are generally dull, but they don't take much away from the film's horror impact. The unmistakable score was performed by members of the group Goblin, who performed under their last names due to legal issues. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Phenomena
Bugs, blood, and rock & roll are the orders of the day in this creepy-crawly shocker from Dario Argento. Jennifer Connelly plays a teenager with a gift for communicating with insects -- a talent that comes in handy when she is sent to a Swiss boarding school where a killer has been slaughtering the students. Definitely not for the squeamish, Phenomena contains a series of bold, bloody special effects that are graphically captured by cinematographer Romano Albini. Among the best is the opening sequence in which a girl is stabbed on the observatory deck of a waterfall. The butchery amidst the natural beauty provides a chilling visual contrast while the camera holds on to a tremendous shot of the girl shattering a glass partition. The story, written by Argento and Franco Ferrini, is basically a twist on the serial killer formula, but it is effective because of the filmmaker's great sense of style and suspense. The revelation of the killer is well done and is just one of many fantastic shocks included in a scary, extended climax that features a pit of decomposed bodies, a decapitation, a monstrous mutant-child, a deadly insect swarm, and a razor-wielding monkey. In true Argento style, many scenes are backed by a heavy metal soundtrack that includes Iron Maiden and Motorhead, among others. Connelly has certainly grown as an actress since Phenomena, but her striking looks help to carry her performance. Donald Pleasence is excellent to watch, as always, although he is murdered in rather boring fashion considering Argento's talent for creative murder scenes. The costumes were done by Giorgio Armani. Version reviewed is the full 110-minute original cut. The bloodless U.S. version is titled Creepers and runs only 82 minutes. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Don't Open Till Christmas
Now here's a twist to the Christmas horror genre -- have the serial killer be killing Santa Clauses instead of the other way around. Sadly, that's just about the best thing Don't Open Till Christmas has going for it. This is routine slasher filmmaking 101 here; with little regard for thrills or for the most part, inventive kills. Actually, there's one scene that the movie has garnered slight fame for -- that being the castration scene, which is indeed a brave scene to shoot, even if it tends to come off more silly than stomach-turning. Edited with a herky-jerky style that makes the extra added gore scenes even more evident than they ever should be (the unfinished film sat on the shelf for years before being retooled for release), Don't Open Till Christmas is a laborious exercise to live through, no matter how unapologetic one's horror tastes are. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Prisoners of the Lost Universe
No reviews available.

Night Train to Terror
No reviews available.

Spare Parts
No reviews available.

Hands of Steel
Though the cyborg theme suggests a Terminator knockoff, Hands Of Steel is actually a late entry in Italy's early 1980's cycle of post-apocalyptic action flicks. It's a decent time-killer for b-movie fans, with a surprisingly involved storyline that mixes in some unique plot detours (for instance, a couple of arm wrestling competitions!) along with the expected adventure stuff. The southwestern setting gives it a unique flavor and Sergio Martino (using the pseudonym of "Martin Dolman") does a decent job of delivering plentiful action on a shoestring budget: his best moment might be a scene where the hero has to fend off gun-toting assassins while also fighting a pair of disguised cyborgs in close quarters. In terms of acting, former soap star Daniel Greene is a bit stone-faced as the half-robot hero but that seems oddly appropriate for the part. He's also given nice support from a cast of Euro-cult stalwarts: Janet Agren makes a suitably sultry love interest, George Eastman steals a few scenes as a truck-driving bad guy and John Saxon does his usual professional job as the main industrialist villain. The end results are frequently silly (it takes the police a really long time to figure out they're hunting a cyborg).but never dull. In short, Hands Of Steel is strictly for the b-movie audience but they're likely to enjoy its low-budget fun. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Death by Dialogue
No reviews available.

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Horror Classics: 100 Movie Pack [24 Discs] - DVD

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