CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953)
Article #510 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-7-2002
Posting date: 12-31-2002

Astronauts land on the moon to find a race of hostile cat-women.

This is one of those movies that is supposed to be so bad it’s fun to watch; I only wish it were. As it is, many of the enjoyable bad movies have a certain amount of inspiration that makes them quite watchable; this one seems so totally uninspired that one wonders why they bothered. It’s supposed to be in 3-D, but it seems as if barely a third of the movie was actually shot that way. The dialogue is horrible, but not due to misguided inspiration; rather, it feels like it was trotted off by someone who was more interested in paying the rent that week than in making any sort of statement. What can you say about a movie that can’t even work up the energy to actually shoot its action-filled ending rather than having it all happen offstage? Maybe they didn’t want to bother changing the camera set-ups or going through that tedious process of editing the scenes together. Whatever the reason, this movie is just dull and dreary, and is probably the worst of the all-female-civilizations-in-outer-space movies (an admittedly rather pallid lot).

THE CAT PEOPLE (1942)
Article #509 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-6-2002
Posting date: 12-30-2002

A woman believes that she is under a curse that will cause her to turn into a panther and kill her husband.

I would have to say that, with the possible exception of James Whale, Val Lewton remains the horror movie maker whose work I have most consistently enjoyed throughout the years. With the sole exception of GHOST SHIP, I have watched all of his horror movies repeatedly over the years (and the only reason GHOST SHIP remained an exception was that I never got a chance to see it until recently). This does not mean that I love each of his films equally; it’s merely to say that all of his work bears repeated viewings.

Sadly, CAT PEOPLE remains a bit of a problem for me. Though it is exquisitely and superbly crafted, full of brilliant and memorable moments, and in many ways a better movie than ISLE OF THE DEAD, THE LEOPARD MAN, THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE or THE SEVENTH VICTIM, if I were given the choice on any given day I would probably opt for any of those last four. It’s difficult for me to say why this is; while I’m watching the movie, I’m in constant admiration of the skill and craft that went into it. I just never quite move past the stage of admiration; the movie remains somewhat distant and never really comes to life for me. This may be a very personal thing; movies rely on images, and people react to images in very distinct and individual ways; a resonant image for one person may leave another one cold. Sadly, this movie does not resonate with me (despite the fact that there are details in my life that would lead you to think that it would be resonant indeed).

So this movie remains one of those that has always eluded me somewhat. Maybe someday it will not; it’s a movie that could very well hit home if seen at just the right time and in the right frame of mind. I hope that day comes.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)
Article #508 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-4-2002
Posting date: 12-28-2002

A woman who miraculously survives an automobile accident finds herself haunted by a spectral figure.

The occasional sloppy voice dubbing is the biggest clue here that the budget was fairly low on this eerie little cult classic; it is so exquisitely directed throughout, though, that it is no surprise to discover that the people involved in this project had plenty of film experience, even if this was their first stab at a feature. They worked for Centron, which specialized in industrial and educational shorts. One of the versions of this movie had an opening sequence with Herk Harvey talking a little about the movie, and though I don’t remember the exact quote, it appears he was trying to make a movie that crossed Cocteau and Bergman; it was obviously an ambitious movie, and it succeeds beautifully; the sequences where the heroine loses aural touch with the world and becomes invisible to all around are as frighteningly unsettling as can be. This is one of my favorites, and one I’m capable of watching again and again; it is one of the saddest, most moving, and most beautiful horror movies ever made.

THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY (1940)
Article #478 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-6-2002
Posting date: 11-29-2002

Scotland Yard investigates murder on the grounds of an English manor in which victims are found strangled with Indian scarves.

This movie was based on a stage play by Edgar Wallace; the fact that it is a stage play will indicate that the movie will be a little stage bound, but the fact that it’s by Edgar Wallace makes it more interesting. Overall, it’s not a bad little movie; I found the first half kind of confusing as it was a little difficult to sort through the characters, but things work themselves out in the second half well enough. It’s only very marginally in the bounds of horror, and this is largely due to the fact that one of the characters is really mad, though to say any more beyond this would give away too much. It was directed by George King, who, if my memory serves me correctly, was the director responsible for a great many of the Tod Slaughter movies. I do wonder why the above title was used; one of the alternate titles is THE SCARF MURDER MYSTERY, which is a lot more interesting and descriptive.

CABIRIA (1914)
Article #457 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-15-2002
Posting date: 11-8-2002

Cabiria is the daughter of a Roman nobleman who is separated from her family during an eruption of Etna, and ends up taken prisoner by pirates and sold as a sacrificial slave. She is rescued, and then becomes a slave to a Carthaginian princess.

This Italian film is only marginally fantastic cinema; it’s inclusion is probably due to some slight science fiction content at one point (Archimedes designs a mirror weapon designed to set fire to the Roman fleet), and to its role as the granddaddy of all sword-and-sandal movies. It’s also the first appearance of the character of Maciste, here the powerful and loyal slave of a Roman who is committed to the rescue of Cabiria; he is for all practical reasons the real hero of the movie. The whole story is told as a backdrop against the wars between Rome and Carthage, and there’s some amazing spectacle; my favorite moments include the whole scene within the temple of Moloch (the set is absolutely stunning), and a scene where the wall of Carthage is scaled via a ladder made of soldiers and their shields. This movie was apparently highly influential on D. W. Griffith and inspired at least partially his work on INTOLERANCE. By itself it is a wonderful example of how far cinematic storytelling technique had progressed, and it still holds up just as well today; if a scene by scene remake were made today, I’m not sure anyone would notice the difference, other than the addition of sound and color.

THE CRAZY RAY (1925)
Article #452 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-10-2002
Posting date: 11-3-2002

The watchman on the top level of the Eiffel Tower discovers that everyone in Paris is frozen in place.

According to the information that appears at the top of this movie, Rene Clair felt that French Cinema had gotten off the track and made this little film as an antidote to that problem. There’s really not much to it, but it manages to be quite amusing enough to fill its short running time. Clair would go on to direct several other interesing fantasy movies, and would eventually direct AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

THE CRAWLING EYE (1958)
(a.k.a. THE TROLLENBERG TERROR)
Article #425 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-14-2002
Posting date: 10-7-2002

Strange deaths are occuring on the Trollenberg mountain. An investigator from the United Nations shows up to look into the situation.

This British science fiction thriller has some of the feel of a Quatermass movie; like them, it was also based on a TV serial. It’s actually quite good, though the direction is a little stodgy and the special effects suffer quite a bit towards the end of the movie. The creatures are some of the most disgusting things this side of FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, and maybe I should count my blessings that the special effects aren’t any more convincing than they are. There’s a nice sense of depth to the story; some of the characters have definite histories with each other, and one can see that this might have made for a very interesting TV series. The most memorable scene is a real humdinger; it’s the opening scene of the movie, and was later parodied in an episode of the cartoon “Freakazoid”.

CAPTIVE WOMEN (1952)
Article #424 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-13-2002
Posting date: 10-6-2002

Mutants and Norms battle for supremacy in a post-apocalyptic future.

The first five minutes of this movie feature extensive nuclear bomb footage and endless philosophizing narration, which goes on for another minute and a half after the title credits are finished rolling; obviously, they wanted to make sure we got the message. What follows is pretty standard fare; it could serve equally for a Sword & Sandal epic or a caveman movie, except there’s a lot of speechifying about mutants being people, too. It’s not particularly good, but it is entertaining enough, with Robert Clarke and William Schallert on hand for those seeking familiar faces. What is most interesting is that is may be the first primitive-civilization-after-the-apocalypse movie, a genre that would really thrive in the eighties, but was fairly rare at this point of time. It’s not the first movie to take place after a nuclear war (that would be FIVE), but it’s the first one to conceive of a whole society after the war. As such, this movie, minor as it is, has a place in the history of science fiction cinema.

CURSE OF THE UNDEAD (1959)
Article #401 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 4-20-2002
Posting date: 9-13-2002

When a woman’s father and brother die, she holds the unscrupulous rancher next door responsible, and hires a killer to deal with him. She is not aware that the killer she has hired is a vampire.

This may be the most successful merging of the western and horror genres, a combination that is uneasy at best. The problem with this mixing of genres is that both types of movies have their own sets of myths, and they don’t mix easily; for one thing, the western feels most at home in full daylight (at least it seems so to me), while horror movies thrive at night. Making the vampire a hired gun is one of the best ideas in the movie; this would be an ideal profession for a vampire who is immune to normal bullets, and consequently he doesn’t require a fast draw to be effective. For the most part, the movie effectively walks that thin line of being both a western and a horror movie, and though some may scoff at the very concept, it’s certainly better than BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA. There are a few problems: the music in the soundtrack could use a bit more subtlety, and some of the acting early on is hysterical, but I think it comes across well enough despite a certain uneasiness to the proceedings.

CULT OF THE COBRA (1955)
Article #397 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 4-16-2002
Posting date: 9-9-2002

Six soldiers are caught sneaking into the temple of a cult of cobra-worshippers, and are cursed. After they return to the States, they begin dying one by one, and it’s all tied to the presence of a mysterious woman.

The first twenty minutes of this movie, in which the soldiers visit the temple, is the best and most exciting part of the movie; even the temple dance is better than you might expect, though it doesn’t look at all like a native ritual dance. Unfortunately, the movie becomes singularly dull once the action moves to the States; there are too many scenes of scared animals, too many long sequences where we’re supposed to be on the edge of our seats waiting for something to happen, and too many long talky sections which slow the pace to a crawl. Though it’s admirable that they try to give the mysterious woman some dimension, it really doesn’t work because we never achieve any intimacy with the character; the movie tries to have it both ways and ends up having it with neither. The cast includes Richard Long, Faith Domergue (the trailer finally helped me to figure out how to pronounce her last name), and David Janssen.