INVASION (1966)
Article #1546 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-8-2005
Posting Date: 11-5-2005
Directed by Alan Bridges
Featuring Edward Judd, Yoko Tani, Valerie Gearon

When an old man in his car accidentally hits a man in a strange uniform, he brings the injured man to a hospital. Upon discovering that the injured man is an alien, the staff and residents of the hospital find themselves trapped inside by a force field.

I blow a little hot and cold on British science fiction and horror. I feel they pay a lot of attention to detail, and as a result, they tend to move a little slower than their American counterparts. Sometimes this makes their movies more intriguing, and sometimes it makes them more tedious. Fortunately, this is one of the movies that falls into the former category. It’s fascinating to watch the various parts of the story fall into place; in particular, I love the way the movie illustrates the momentary failure of electricity that marks the arrival of the aliens, and the way the interesting character relationships pull your attention to some points of exposition. The movie does remind you of several other science fiction movies; the idea of humans being caught up in a chase among aliens for a criminal popped up in THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (and would also pop up in THE HIDDEN), the alien being hit by a car reminds me a little of INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, and the fact that for most of the movie one alien is a hospital patient recalls the opening of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. All in all, this one is very effective; only a disappointing ending drags it down.

INQUISITION (1976)
(a.k.a. INQUISICION)
Article #1545 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-7-2005
Posting Date: 11-4-2005
Directed by Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy)
Featuring Jacinto Molina, Daniela Giordano, Monica Randall

A trio of witch hunters arrive in town to ply their trade. While this is happening, the daughter of the magistrate agrees to sell her soul to the devil for the ability to take vengeance on the man who killed her lover.

The only Paul Naschy film I’ve covered to this point is THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN, and even giving consideration for its poor dubbing, I was not impressed by either the movie or Naschy’s performance. This marks the first time I’ve seen him playing someone other than El Hombre Lobo, and I have no problem with him in this one. Here he seems to have the real charisma of a horror star, and on a purely physical level (i.e. recognizing the parts of his performance that bypass the poor dubbing), I can sense real emotion and feelings in his character. This is a good thing; I find myself now looking forward to how he handled his other roles.

The movie itself is also fairly effective. It’s in familiar territory involving witch hunters and witches, but I think there’s a little more to this one than CRY OF THE BANSHEE, for example. It has its problems, of course; some of the nudity feels unnecessary and pandering. The torture and violence is unpleasant, and even shocking at times, but at least the movie doesn’t appear to be primarily about sadism. It even manages to make you care about some of the characters, which is quite a trick when you consider how unsympathetic practically all of them are. I mean, is it really possible to choose between an evil that hypocritically believes it is good and one that sincerely believes it is the evil it is?

THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS (1959)
Article #1544 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-6-2005
Posting Date: 11-3-2005
Directed by Russ Meyer
Featuring Bill Teas, Ann Peters, Marilyn Wesley

After finding himself tempted by several sexy women during his job, an everyman character begins to fantasize about seeing them naked.

I’m going to reiterate at this point that my criteria for picking these movies is based on their inclusion in books that claim to be covering the genres of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction. This movie is listed in John Stanley’s “Creature Features Strike Back”, and the blurb claims the the Mr. Teas of the title takes a drug that allows him to see through clothing. I’m afraid Mr. Stanley and I haven’t seen the same movie. Mr. Teas takes no such drug; he merely fantasizes, and that really isn’t the same thing. Those drawn to the movie under the belief that there’s a fantastic theme here are advised to pass this one by.

Still, I do feel compelled to say that this is the best nudie I’ve seen to date. Granted, I’ve seen very few, and I really have no intention on becoming an expert on them, so take that for what you will. It is also the first Russ Meyer movie I’ve seen, and though this is considered a lesser work of his, I can see his appeal beyond just the ogling factor. The fact of the matter is that there is a wicked sense of humor at play here. He seems to be taking a bit of a satirical jab at those who would watch the movie, but would make some excuses for doing so. While watching three nubile young beauties romping around in the water without a shred of clothing, the narrator talks endlessly about things like the history of bathing, which was considered unhealthy at one point in history. Also consider that many of the times when Mr. Teas fantasizes about seeing women naked, he also fantasizes himself not paying attention to the fact that they’re naked, which is a fairly witty broadside at a certain type of hypocrisy. Let’s face it; there is something to be said for a director that can actually make a nudie interesting.

I DRINK YOUR BLOOD (1970)
Article #1543 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-5-2005
Posting Date: 11-2-2005
Directed by David E. Durston
Featuring Bhaskar roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, Rhonda Fultz

When a gang of Satanist hippies rapes a girl and force-feeds LSD to an elderly man, a young boy seeks revenge on them by injecting their meat pies with rabies. The hippies go crazy and embark on a killing spree.

“2 Great Blood-Horrors to Rip Out Your Guts!” screamed the adds when the double feature I DRINK YOUR BLOOD / I EAT YOUR SKIN made its way around the drive-in circuit. I’ve already covered the second feature, a lame zombie flick that certainly didn’t threaten your guts in any way. This one comes a lot closer to the type of movie that would be expected by those who were attracted by the promotional phrase. I think the gorehounds would probably be satisfied, though I’m not sure; the DVD claims that this is the uncut director’s version, which had to be cut to receive an ‘R’ rating, so how much of what I saw was actually seen by audiences back then, I don’t know. In it’s present form, it’s a bloody piece of nastiness, somewhat effective, and it hints somewhat at later movies such as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and the works of David Cronenberg (particularly RABID). Ultimately, however, it’s a variation on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I’ve also heard it said that the movie might be a comedy, though that’s hard to say; the movie is extremely silly at times and has some laughable dialogue and acting, but I suspect any comedy is unintentional. Animal lovers will surely want to keep away; I suspect some of the scenes involve the real slaughter of animals.

THE INHERITANCE (1947)
(a.k.a. UNCLE SILAS)
Article #1466 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-20-2005
Posting Date: 8-17-2005
Directed by Charles Frank
Featuring Jean Simmons, Katina Paxinou, Derrick De Marney

The young heiress of a vast fortune finds herself under the guardianship of her Uncle Silas, who has evil plans for obtaining her fortune.

Given the above plot description, and taking into account that the plot involves an elaborate deception, an evil governess, drugged wine and a locked area of a mansion with a secret, we’re definitely in Tod Slaughter-style melodrama territory; in fact, this movie could have been easily adapted for Slaughter with him playing Uncle Silas. That movie would have been a lot of fun, but I think it would have lacked some of the nicer points of this one, which takes itself a little more seriously than your average Slaughter opus. It’s not a horror movie, but by tapping in to its strong Gothic roots, and by shooting several of the scenes with a gloomy and forbidding atmosphere, it has the feel of a horror movie on occasion; there are spooky cobweb-filled passages and a frightening face in the window just for starters. It also has fine performances from all, with special mention going to Katina Paxinou, whose hard-drinking French governess character is unsettlingly creepy. It takes a while to get rolling, and some of the pacing is awkward, but it builds up to a truly satisfying climax. One thing I’m sure of, though; if Slaughter had played the character of Uncle Silas, the end of the movie would have changed drastically, as Slaughter would most likely have never performed the final act of that character in this movie.

ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN (1940)
Article #1412 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-25-2005
Posting Date: 6-24-2005
Directed by Charles Barton
Featuring Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson, Robert Wilcox
A secret agent is framed for murder and sent to an island run by a sadistic fiend.

This movie belongs to the prison genre of movies and is only marginally a horror movie. The horrific content consists entirely of the fact that our villain goes more and more insane during the length of the movie. However, since our villain is Peter Lorre, it should give a little satisfaction to horror fans. Other than that, it’s pretty standard fare. Still, I do have a couple of comments to make. First, I’ve noticed that Peter Lorre’s degree of madness is directly proportional to the degree of sleepiness in his vocal delivery. The second is that his phobic fear of monkeys is a clear demonstration that he too has seen FORBIDDEN JUNGLE. Director Charles Barton would go on to direct several movies for Abbott and Costello.

IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING (1949)
Article #1359 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-3-2005
Posting Date: 5-2-2005
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Featuring Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas

A chemistry professor develops a liquid that, when rubbed over any object, will cause it to be repelled by wood. In order to make money to marry his sweetheart, he gets a job as a pitcher on a baseball team, and uses the substance on baseballs to help them win the pennant.

So what happens every spring? Don’t let the title, the romantic opening song, nor the pictures of amorous animals frolicking with each other during the opening credits fool you; as far as this movie is concerned, the love bug is not causing the illness of choice at this time of the year, it’s baseball fever. Sure, it has a love story in it, but that’s largely a plot device to get Ray Milland pitching a string of no-hitters. As I’m not a fan of sports, I don’t have a lot of use for sports fantasy films like this (though technically it is science fiction), but this one is well done, has great special effects and a good running gag (everyone thinks the liquid is hair tonic and keeps borrowing it; it works well enough at first, but when they try use a wooden brush on their hair, it makes them look like Moe Howard). Most of all, it’s well acted by all concerned, especially Paul Douglas as the team’s catcher. And I’m especially happy that it doesn’t contain a single kidnapping subplot.

On a side note, I always like talking about coincidental similarities between movies I watch in close succession, and the last six movies I’ve seen have a startling array of plot similarites. Here’s a list.

1) I’ve seen two movies which feature musical numbers interspersed with human sacrifices. (HELP!, HER JUNGLE LOVE)

2) I’ve seen two movies in which a liquid is concocted in the laboratory that is used to help the local sports team. (Baseball in IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING, Football in HOLD THAT LINE).

3) I’ve seen two ghost stories that open with conductors leading an orchestra (HALFWAY HOUSE, HOUSE OF DARKNESS).

4) I’ve seen two Ray Milland movies. (IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING, HER JUNGLE LOVE).

5) I’ve seen two movies which feature scenes of a man being shrunk down to less than his usual size. (HOLD THAT LINE, HELP!)

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for Alan Hale Jr. (Skipper on “Gilligan’s Island”) as a college baseball player.

THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944)
Article #1314 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-19-2004
Posting Date: 3-18-2005
Directed by Ford Beebe
Featuring Jon Hall, Leon Errol, John Carradine

An escaped lunatic bent on acquiring his rightful share of a fortune finds himself betrayed, but seeks revenge against his enemies when a doctor turns him invisible.

This would be the last of the invisible man series by Universal (other than a couple of encounters with Abbott and Costello). It is not a sequel to any of the other movies as far as I can tell, despite the fact that the main character’s last name is Griffin. It’s likable enough and fun to watch, but it is probably the least of the series. I think its main problem is that it’s a bit muddled. It attempts to recapture that combination of comedy and horrific suspense that was the earmark of the first movie in the series, but whereas that movie balanced the elements in such a way that they played off of and enhanced each other, here we just have suspense scenes giving way to comic scenes giving way to suspense scenes etc…without really building to an organic whole. Still, the cast is colorful enough; I’ve never been a big fan of Jon Hall, but I do enjoy seeing Leon Errol, John Carradine, Evelyn Ankers, Halliwell Hobbes, Skelton Knaggs and Ian Wolfe. On the down side, I think Gale Sondergaard (one of the great character actresses of all time) is wasted here; she isn’t given near enough to do, and practically vanishes from the second half of the movie. It’s not one of Universal’s best, but it’s far from an embarrassment.

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)
Article #1194 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-21-2004
Posting Date: 11-18-2004
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Featuring Marshall Thompson, Shirly Patterson, Kim Spalding

A rescue mission to the planet Mars picks up the sole survivor of the first expedition, and (unbeknownst to them) a very hungry resident of the planet.

This movie is often cited as the source of Ridley Scott’s ALIEN, though I tend to consider that coincidence; the idea of a monster loose aboard a spaceship isn’t so uniquely unusual that I find it quite plausible that two different writers could come up with the idea independently. ALIEN is obviously the better movie; the acting and character development are a vast improvement, the dialogue is crisper and less labored, and the monster is something far more complex than a man in a rubber suit. Nonetheless, this movie can lay claim to one thing that ALIEN can’t; it remains the sole movie that I have ever seen that actually scared me so badly I couldn’t sleep that night, and that’s no mean feat. Watching it again many years later, I still find it fairly effective; the scene where the first body is discovered stuffed up a duct is memorable, as is the condition of the bodies after It has had its way with them. It has its flaws, I’ll admit; for one thing, I don’t think it’s particularly smart to have storage areas where nothing is tied down, nor would I recommend that crew members shoot off firearms inside the rocket. However, I will never forget the moments when the movie gave me the heebie-jeebies; seeing the monster dragging around one of the dead bodies, watching the man with the broken leg desperately trying to fend the creature off with an acetylene torch, and (for me, this was the clincher) watching the creature pound his way through the hatches that separated the various levels of the ship. Knowing that the monster was capable of doing this was what convinced me that there was literally no place to run. At any rate, if we were all allowed one movie from our childhood to remain free from the more mature criticism of our adult minds, this would be the one I would pick.

INCUBUS (1965)
Article #1193 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-20-2004
Posting Date: 11-17-2004
Directed by Leslie Stevens
Featuring William Shatner, Milos Milos, Allyson Ames

A succubus tires of luring tainted souls to their deaths, and seeks a real prize for the prince of darkness; a good man. When her target (a man named Marc) proves the stronger of the two, she considers herself “defiled” by his love, and resurrects an incubus to exact revenge.

The idea of shooting a movie in the artificial language of Esperanto seems rather gimmicky at first. However, there’s something quite otherworldly about this allegorical fantasy that makes the decision seem appropriate; it makes the events feel as if they take place in a distant country, and it would feel that way everywhere (unless you happen to get a crowd together that actually speaks Esperanto). I found it quite engaging, poetic and eerie; it feels somewhat like a Bergman movie, though it was shot in the USA. The movie does tend to split people into two camps; those that like it and those that hate it; me, I found it unique and satisfying. Director Leslie Stevens had been the executive producer for “The Outer Limits” before he made this movie, and William Shatner would shortly go on to “Star Trek”.