Dementia 13 (1963)

Starring William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchel, Patrick Magee
Directed by Francis Coppola
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After her husband dies of a heart attack, a greedy woman conceals his death and schemes to convince his mother to write her into her will, while an axe murderer is getting ready to strike.

Francis (Ford) Coppola makes his debut as writer and director on this distinctive horror film, courtesy of producer Roger Corman, who shepherded a number of similar talents into future Hollywood players.  Set in Ireland and filmed there, this dark film doesn't really take advantage of the beautiful scenery, but it's certainly grim and suspenseful with an eerie score from Ronald Stein.  Luana Anders has a memorable part as the scheming widow in one of her best and most unique showcases.  I don't think Coppola is successful enough in keeping the killer's identity a mystery until the climax, but the movie is an efficient low-budget thriller that has some haunting images, particularly in the opening credit sequence.

The Last Man On Earth (1964)

Starring Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Umberto Raho
Directed by Sidney Salkow
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a deadly plague decimates the Earth, a scientist becomes the lone human survivor, forced to battle vampires for his survival.

The first film adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend, features American star Price, but in an Italian production, filmed overseas and with Italians making out the rest of the cast.  I felt the cinematography didn't take good advantage of the dark elements within the story, with little emphasis on shadow or tight shots to heighten the suspense.  Nevertheless there are many memorable images, from the stark abandoned streets to the ramshackle house Price's character, Robert Morgan, makes his base of operations, to Morgan dumping bodies in a fiery pit.  Troy Howarth told me he feels Price was miscast, and this is indeed a departure from his typical suave image, making scenes where he has to grab Danieli forcefully seem out of character.  The film is something of a landmark in undead cinema with the zombie-like vampires in decayed makeup easy to see as influential to later frightfests.  It's not all it could be, but it remains a dark and nihilistic tale, and to the filmmakers' credit, they don't sacrifice Matheson's bleak ending.

The Bat (1959)

Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton, Lenita Lane
Directed by Crane Wilbur
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A mystery writer and her friends are terrorized by a masked killer seeking a million dollars hidden in the mansion they are renting. 

Writer/director Crane Wilbur, who had a hand in two of Vincent Price's early horror films, House Of Wax and The Mad Magician, adapts the popular play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, and trades on Price's sinister mystique quite memorably, making this one of the more entertaining versions of the play.  He also manages to integrate the large cast into the story more successfully than previous adaptations, making the film easier to follow.  However, the elements from the story which supposedly inspired the creation of Bob Kane's Batman character are all but absent, with a rather drab costume and the elimination of the character's calling card.  Had Wilbur played these up they might have added more atmosphere and suspense.  It's still enjoyable in its own right with Moorehead a fine casting choice as author Cornelia van Gorder, and Gordon and Sutton providing dignified support in their roles as a police detective and a suspicious butler respectively.  The only thing that doesn't seem to fit is the jazzy theme music, which while a catchy tune, is a strong departure from the rest of Louis Forbes' score.

Last Woman On Earth (1960)

Starring Betsy Jones-Moreland, Antony Carbone, Edward Wain
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A shady business executive, his wife, and his lawyer, find themselves the last three surviving people on Earth after the planet's oxygen suddenly disappears on their trip to Puerto Rico. 

Screenwriter Robert Towne (who later won an Oscar for Chinatown), wrote the script, and plays the lawyer (under pseudonym Edward Wain) in this Roger Corman production, which was filmed back to back with Creature From The Haunted Sea, but couldn't be more different, although featuring the same principal actors.  A serious end-of-the-world drama, the film takes the idea of two men fighting over the lone remaining woman, and although the movie comes down to the idea of who will end up possessing her, the sexism of that approach is glaring but doesn't become overpowering.  I think that's due to Jones-Moreland's quality performance as a person who wants to take back her life, running away with Wain, not because she has to have a man, but because he's the better and less controlling option.  There's also some interesting ideas in Towne's screenplay I wasn't expecting concerning the real-life difficulties their characters would have to face.  I watched the version of this movie that was assembled for television, which featured added scenes filmed to pad out the running time, but unfortunately with Jones-Moreland having a completely different hair color, which they tried to negate by converting the film to black and white.  I've seen the original film in color, and it's a far better version, but it's interesting to see how they integrated the scenes.

The Amazing Mr. X (1948)

Starring Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, Richard Carlson, Donald Curtis
Directed by Bernard Vorhaus
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A grieving widow thinks she is ready to move on two years after her husband's death, but then meets a spiritualist who promises to put her in contact with his spirit.

This independent film, also known as The Spiritualist, which has elements of mystery, suspense, and horror, features many familiar faces in the cast, and I found it to be an effective small scale chiller with many memorable atmospheric moments.  Bey, better known for his parts for Universal in the early 1940s, is charming and mysterious as the film's spiritualist, whose act is revealed to us fairly early, before we discover there's more to the story than we expected.  Bari is fine as the young widow ready to give up on her new beau for a chance to reconnect with the old one, and has an independent spirit to her character rare in films of this period.  O'Donnell is a hoot as her younger sister, who tries initially to protect Bari from Bey but quickly falls for the dashing young man.  John Alton's photography is dark and moody, making fine use of shadow, and Alexander Laszlo's score smartly showcases Chopin's Prelude No. 4, providing an eerie complement to the visuals.  The film has fallen into the public domain and I've only seen it in scratchy prints, but believe there's a Columbia MOD disc out there that should be far sharper, and definitely worth checking out.

A Shriek In The Night (1933)

Starring Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, Harvey Clark, Purnell Pratt, Lillian Harmer
Directed by Albert Ray
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An undercover reporter tries to solve the murder of a wealthy man who plummets from the penthouse of his apartment building, but a rival reporter is also after the story.

This whodunit is of most interest for the presence of Rogers, who would soon rise to fame after co-starring with Fred Astaire in a highly regarded series of musicals, and she makes a more interesting lead here than most in the plethora of low budget mysteries that came out around this time.  I think the screenplay divulges some clues a bit too early and the film's absence of a music score is to its detriment, which could have added some much needed atmosphere to the mystery.  Still, it's fairly well written with some clever plot devices, and Rogers is engaging.

The Gorilla (1939)

Starring The Ritz Brothers, Anita Louise, Patsy Kelly, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi
Directed by Allan Dwan
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After being targeted for death by the unknown killer called The Gorilla, a wealthy man hires three bumbling detectives to protect his life.  

This mystery-comedy vehicle for The Ritz Brothers has its charms, and features a talented supporting cast, including horror stars Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill.  The film trades on their sinister personas and they are memorably photographed although neither have a particularly large role in the production.  Nonetheless there is a funny moment that made me chuckle where Lugosi holds up a coat as if he's going to strangle someone with it, as he later did in Invisible Ghost, but then lays it down on the lead actress's lap.  The Ritz Brothers' routines are for the most part not very amusing, and I found it rather surprising that supporting player Patsy Kelly, who excels as the mansion's easily perturbed maid, is given most of the movie's funniest lines, nearly stealing the movie from its featured stars.  While not among the best old dark house chillers, there's still enough of those elements to recommend it, including secret passages, a stormy night, and the fearsome titular ape who has a backstory right out of Edgar Allan Poe.

Monster From A Prehistoric Planet (1967)

Starring Tamio Kawaji, Yoko Yamamoto, Yuji Kodaka, Koji Wada, Tatsuya Fuji
Directed by Hiroshi Noguchi
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A publishing magnate sends a team to the South Seas to bring back unusual animals for his new theme park, but they return with a newly hatched dinosaur, whose parents are soon on its trail. 

Also known as Daikyoju Gappa, this movie came from Japan's Nikkatsu studio, who did not to the best of my knowledge make a lot of kaiju films, and I believe this may have been their first one.  The film is pretty derivative, as the plotline is reminiscent of Gorgo, and the movie is obviously following in the footsteps of Gojira and other Japanese monster films, but I found the production very enjoyable on its own merits.  The special effects, led by Akira Watanabe, are of fairly fine quality, with many of the miniatures the Gappa monsters destroy looking convincing, and the creatures' flight scenes well-executed.  The plot is pretty simplistic, and we've seen many similar characters in other kaiju productions, but good use is made of darkness and shadow to heighten the attack sequences, and the production values are on par with some of Toho's best work.

The Monster Walks (1932)

Starring Rex Lease, Vera Reynolds, Sheldon Lewis, Mischa Auer, Martha Mattox
Directed by Frank Strayer
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a scientist's death, his heirs meet at the man's home for the reading of his will, a house riddled with secret passages and a cage holding the scientist's fearsome gorilla. 

The presence of the gorilla brings a little novelty to this old dark house chiller, efficiently directed by Strayer, but on meager sets, and acted by a relatively no-name cast.  The presence of a more accomplished star would help matters, with Auer probably the most interesting member of the cast, and no one else having much of an impact.  I still found it enjoyable, with decent atmosphere, thanks to a howling wind and the shriek of the ape, although a music score would have probably helped matters, but it curiously lacks a true whodunit structure, with the murderer's identity being exposed relatively early and not as a great surprise.  There are still a few worthwhile plot twists to follow.  Also black actor Willie Best makes one of his early film appearances, credited as "Sleep N' Eat," and its unfortunately pretty much in line with his other stereotypical roles, without the quality of comic dialogue he would enjoy in some later films.

Tormented (1960)

Starring Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding, Joe Turkel
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After failing to save the life of an old flame threatening his pending marriage, a jazz pianist is haunted by the woman's vengeful ghost.

Bert I. Gordon's venture into ghostly horror has been ridiculed by some, with a number of scenes that have inspired campy humor, but the film benefits from Carlson's straight forward performance and a capable turn by Gordon's daughter Susan, as well as its memorable special effects.  Composers Albert Glasser and Calvin Jackson use jazzy themes in their score in a good pairing with the film's eerie moments, and George Worthing Yates' screenplay does a good job of advancing trouble for Carlson's character, while trying to cover up Reding's death.  I probably would have preferred for Gordon to employ a little more subtlety and atmosphere, and at times the film is slow-moving, but it's still one of the director's signature works, with the same quality of charm as we've seen in the rest of his filmography.

The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)

Starring Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller, Myrtle Vail
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A bumbling flower shop employee breeds a plant with an unhealthy appetite for human blood, and is soon urged by the plant to get it human bodies to consume.

The majority of people probably know the off-Broadway musical or its 1986 film adaptation, but probably don't know the story originated in this quickie horror comedy from producer/director Roger Corman and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith.  Despite the low budget and the more primitive special effects, this version holds up remarkably well, with a more macabre tone, and Haze in fine form as a less geeky but still sad sack Seymour with a goofy logic that he makes almost seem like common sense.  In filling the film with offbeat characters alongside Seymour, from the flower-eating Mr. Fouch, to the hypochondriac Mrs. Krelboin who mixes medicines into the meals she cooks, to the pain-loving dental patient (played by future legend Jack Nicholson), Griffith provides unconventional humor in unexpected places, much of which didn't end up making it into the musical.  That makes this a unique black comedy that doesn't deserve the obscurity heaped on it by its more famous adaptations.

The World Gone Mad (1933)

Starring Pat O'Brien, Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian, Louis Calhern
Directed by Christy Cabanne
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A wisecracking reporter uses unorthodox methods to find the men behind the murder of a district attorney, one of his dearest friends.

Pat O'Brien, known for his many Irish or Irish-American roles, and perhaps best for his portrayal of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, stars as one of the ubiquitous wisecracking reporters of the 1930s in this low-budget drama.  He's okay although he doesn't have the best of material to work with, nor enough talent behind the camera to showcase him, but those used to his later roles might find some enjoyment in his youthful appearance here.  In fact there's a plethora of character actors better known for their later films in the cast, including Neil Hamilton (Batman's Commissioner Gordon), as well as J. Carrol Naish and Louis Calhern.  The film was distributed by the short-lived Majestic Pictures studio, which is probably best known for their production of The Vampire Bat, and there's a scene where a couple of characters walk by some posters advertising that very movie.