The Woman Eater (1958)

Starring George Coulouris, Robert MacKenzie, Norman Claridge, Marpessa Dawn, Jimmy Vaughn
Directed by Charles Saunders
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A scientist brings back from Africa a mammoth plant that consumes young women and dispenses a life-giving fluid, with aims on using it to become master of life and death.

Coulouris, familiar to most audiences from his role in Citizen Kane, is really slumming here in a slow-moving sci-fi thriller that focuses mostly on his character's abduction of women and throwing them to the plant again and again.  There's a housekeeper character he's given up any affection for, as well as a young maid (Quatermass 2's Vera Day) he eventually targets for a new relationship, but not much meaningful is done with them, or his native assistant.  I enjoyed Edwin Astley's music score, which has some eerie highlights for the experiments, but goes silent a bit too often.  The film overall isn't terrible, but could use a lot more elements of interest to keep the viewer engaged, as my friend Dan Day Jr. also indicated he had a hard time getting through it.

Blue, White And Perfect (1942)

Starring Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes, Helene Reynolds, George Reeves, Steven Geray
Directed by Herbert I. Leeds
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Michael Shayne promises his fiancee he'll give up detective work for a less dangerous career, but after starting a job at an aircraft plant, he stumbles across a diamond-smuggling plot.

We have here another enjoyable entry in the Michael Shayne series of films for Fox, with a good balance of humor and grim goings-on.  Nolan is as always fun to watch, and Hughes returns as his long-suffering girlfriend, ready to hurl breakables at him when he uses her for his own ends.  Among the guest cast this time around is future TV Superman, George Reeves, who pours on the charm as a man with mysterious motives aboard a ship Shayne pursues the smugglers aboard.  It's a shame that the talented Reeves was typecast and met with such an unfortunate end, as he's quite enjoyable here.  Reynolds and Henry Victor admirably round out the principals, along with plenty of familiar character actors in small parts, including Mary Gordon taking a break from playing Sherlock Holmes' Mrs. Hudson to essay Shayne's landlady.  The mystery is well-concocted, combining Shayne's domestic investigations with some international intrigue, making the film well worth your time.

Flash Gordon (1936)

Starring Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson, Frank Shannon
Directed by Frederick Stephani
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Young hero Flash Gordon and beauteous Dale Arden travel aboard Dr. Zarkov's experimental rocket ship to the planet Mongo, where they encounter Mongo's tyrannical leader, Ming the Merciless.

The first screen adaptation of Alex Raymond's popular comic strip, a 13-chapter movie serial, the production can't come close to matching Raymond's fantastic visuals, but director Stephani sure gives it one heck of a try, with rear-projected giant lizards, subterranean monsters, cities underneath the sea and suspended in the sky, and flying hawk-men and rocketships.  He's aided by a cast that fits the material well, with Crabbe a strong man of action, looking great engaging in swordplay and wrestling his opponents.  Rogers has strong chemistry with Crabbe, and is probably Arden's most beautiful portrayer on film, although her screams and faints and dependence on Crabbe to rescue her would not go over well with modern feminists.  Middleton is a masterfully evil Ming, and Lawson has a meaty role as Ming's attractive but conniving daughter, lying and scheming to win Flash for herself.  There's also good turns by Shannon as the brilliant Dr. Zarkov and Jack Lipson as the boisterous King Vultan.  The music score, mostly assembled from stock cues from the Universal library, is a fun and spirited one, which also well-describes the serial itself, one of the most entertaining in the genre.

Dragonwyck (1946)

Starring Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A farmer's daughter in 1800s Connecticut is invited by her wealthy cousin to live at his ancestral estate and take care of his daughter, but after falling for him, she learns the wicked truth about him. 

Based on a novel by Anya Seton, Mankiewicz and 20th Century Fox turn the property into an impressive film drama, led by ravishing actress Tierney and excellent cinematography by Arthur Miller, and a fine supporting cast, with Huston and Langan definite standouts.  However, the film's chief showcase is Price, portraying a dual nature with genteel manners and dialogue, as well as selfish and cruel caddish behavior, which my friend Troy Howarth points out mirrored his later horror roles for American International Pictures.  There's even a bit of a foreshadowing towards those roles in a brief supernatural subplot in the film.  The clash between Price's character Nicholas Van Ryn, a Dutch patroon lording over farmers in early New York, and his settlers, as well as the cruelty shown by Van Ryn to his wife who copes by devouring sweets, and his daughter, who hardly knows her father, give us all the evidence that Van Ryn is not to be trusted, and it's a little surprising that Tierney's Miranda never catches on despite plenty of warnings.  Nevertheless Tierney is convincing as an innocent too captivated by her new lifestyle to notice.  Other elements worthy of notice are a featured role for the famed Jessica Tandy as a handicapped and outspoken personal maid for Miranda who draws Van Ryn's ire, and the disappearance of a couple of characters without explanation in Mankiewicz's screenplay.  Still, this is a fine production and a clear stepping stone in Price's career towards his later successes.

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)

Starring Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset
Directed by Sidney Lumet
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, traveling aboard the Orient Express, is called upon to solve the murder of a man also aboard, who's connected to a famed kidnapping five years earlier.

A fascinating and entertaining adaptation of Agatha Christie's famed novel, the picture is brought to life by an all-star cast in a high-class production.  In addition to the famed actors listed above, there's appearances by Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Michael York, George Coulouris and more.  Such a large number of famed principals, and egos on the set, can backfire on a film like this, but Finney, playing Poirot with a boisterous energy, dominates the film and maintains our interest in the mystery, despite the picture's long running time.  Lumet also keeps things moving briskly, and Geoffrey Unsworth's photography is convincing in taking us back to a vintage time, as does Richard Rodney Bennett's waltz-like score.  I enjoyed the film very much, and the entire cast and crew acquit themselves well.

The Brides Of Dracula (1960)

Starring Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur, Freda Jackson, David Peel
Directed by Terence Fisher
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After she unknowingly frees a vampire from his mother's chateau, a French student-teacher accidentally unleashes him on her school, but an intrepid vampire hunter is on his trail.

We have here a sequel in name only for the most part to 1958's Horror Of Dracula, as while Cushing most welcomely returns as Dr. Van Helsing, Christopher Lee's Dracula is replaced by Peel, presumably a vampiric victim of the undead Count.  So although we don't have the clash of Cushing and Lee to look forward to again, Peel acquits himself admirably, even if he won't make anyone forget Christopher Lee.  However, there's still plenty of action for Cushing's vampire hunter to engage in, and Monlaur makes a lovely victim for Peel's Baron Meinster, with a sweet persona, an attractive accent, and vivid wide-open eyes of fright when captured in closeup.  Malcolm Williamson's score doesn't compare with James Bernard's in the previous film, but it is still finely structured, and offers a rousing noble theme for Cushing's Van Helsing I very much enjoyed.  Between cinematographer Jack Asher and production designer Bernard Robinson, there's a striking color scheme on display, also making this film wonderful to look at.  Director Fisher balances the action and suspense marvelously, and gets good performances out of his actors.  Lee's presence is definitely missed, but this film is still a favorite of mine.

The Astounding She-Monster (1957)

Starring Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan, Marilyn Harvey, Jeanne Tatum, Shirley Kilpatrick
Directed by Ronnie Ashcroft
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Gangsters holding a debutante and a geologist hostage in a mountain cabin have their plans upset by a female from outer space, who's invulnerable and has a lethal radioactive touch.

Ashcroft, who worked on some of Ed Wood's films and according to IMDB was assisted by Wood on this one as an uncredited consultant, delivers a film that's not very good, but is not completely unwatchable, thanks to Clarke being solid enough as the geologist and Gene Kauer's music having an eerie quality.  Detriments include poor sound recording in a number of scenes, probably necessitating the creepy narration of an also uncredited Scott Douglas.  Also, most of the plot line (minus the alien) is lifted from the classic Humphrey Bogart film Key Largo, with Duncan playing a cruel gangster toting around a boozy moll while trying to cash in on the kidnapping of a wealthy young woman.  Outside of Clarke and perhaps Duncan, no one really resonates in their roles, and as the alien, Kilpatrick never speaks.  The filmmakers try to make the most of her presence by clothing her in a very skintight outfit and double exposing the film to make her appear part energy, but for the majority of the film, she's captured in unimaginative scenes walking through the woods.  To top it off, the ending of the picture, where the alien's purpose on Earth is revealed, doesn't really jibe with the rest of the movie.  Still, I find things to enjoy about this movie every time I watch it, even if it is a turkey.

House Of The Gorgon (2019)

Starring Caroline Munro, Martine Beswicke, Veronica Carlson, Christopher Neame, Georgina Dugdale
Directed by Joshua Kennedy
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young woman travels with her mother and her best friend to the village of Carlsdadt to reunite with her fiancee, but the village is beset with mysterious killings by a pair of legendary monsters.

Joshua Kennedy's ultimate tribute to Hammer horror is one of his best films, and in my opinion his masterpiece, enhanced by the casting of a quartet of thespians who originally appeared in films for the legendary British studio: Caroline Munro, Martine Beswicke, Veronica Carlson, and Christopher Neame.  Munro's daughter, Georgina Dugdale, also impresses as Isobel, the virginal young woman facing a horrific fate, who refuses to give up and leave despite multiple warnings.

The production, funded by an Indiegogo campaign, is Kennedy's most impressively mounted, with a Texas banquet facility lushly decorated to stand in for the environs of Carlsdadt, including a train station, a tavern, and the castle where most of the action takes place, enhanced by paintings of actors from the past productions of Hammer and other classic horror films.  Exteriors of the village and the castle (using the same building that stood in for Dark Shadows' Collinwood) are superb and help support the imagery of the film's world.

I do not think it would be a major spoiler to reveal that Munro and Beswicke are the film's villains, playing the Gorgon sisters, whose characters are wonderfully reimagined from Greek mythology, as not simply creatures turning their victims to stone, but predatory monsters stalking their prey.  It's never really explained what drives the sisters to seek out victims, but this is a fresh and unique take on the classic legends.  Both actresses are excellent, with a meaty role Munro sinks her teeth into, and Beswicke's vamping recalls her roles in a number of past Hammer productions, which I know are among Kennedy's favorite films.

At this point, I should offer full disclosure as I was a backer of the Indiegogo campaign, and have a friendship with Kennedy and a number of other people involved in the production, and also contributed a background voice to the film.  However, I truly believe in everything I'm professing about the movie, and how it stands out not just from Kennedy's past releases, but also compared to other films of the genre.

Veronica Carlson, playing Isobel's mother, a clearly long suffering grand dame leaning on an unfortunate drinking habit, has some wonderfully acted scenes etching out her character, and becomes the driving force in the film standing up to the fearsome villainesses, and she is wonderful, a nice reversal on her past performances as victims of Dracula and Frankenstein in the Hammer classics.

Christopher Neame, co-star of Hammer's Dracula A.D. 1972 as the vampire's acolyte Johnny Alucard, portrays Father Llewellyn, the priest driven by fear into hiding from the evil that threatens his parish, but who regains his courage and joins the battle against the evil sisters.  He gives a layered and textured performance in the role, showing the audience his torment as well as the vestiges of the pride his character has largely sacrificed.

Georgina Dugdale is charming and a definite asset to the production as Isobel, who is no shrinking violet, but a strong young woman ready to help her fiancee overcome the evil influences he's under, and ready to right matters to preserve her future happiness.

Kennedy himself plays her fiancee, in another fine brooding performance of his own, but never stealing the limelight from his wonderful cast, who has a standout scene watching a funeral from a rooftop, clad in black cape and hat, as well as a memorably tense encounter with Isobel when overcome by the power of the dark sisters.

Supporting roles are filled in by many past Kennedy regulars, including his father Gus as a drunken tavern patron shaken by the loss of his daughter, Marco Munoz as the hunchbacked bartender, Jamie Trevino as Isobel's friend and traveling companion, Tom Pearson as a kindly Gorgon victim, and Dan Day Jr., Mark Holmes, and many others as villagers of Carlsdadt.  There may not be many British accents among them, but they play their roles effectively and efficiently.

Mitch Gonzales provides some cinema magic in animating the snakes of the Gorgons, but before we get to see them, there are many well-staged attack sequences in which the victims are effectively bathed in a frightening green light, courtesy of the production's lighting designer, Rosa Cano.  She efficiently adds in a number of other hues as well throughout the film that set a horrific tone, and mask absent scenery.

One of the production's strongest assets is the original score composed by Reber Clark, which recalls moments from James Bernard's scores for Hammer and adds tension and suspense at key times throughout the film.  I believe this is the first fully-realized score for one of Kennedy's films, and it's a  very strong piece of work that uplifts the picture whenever needed, and I positively love the main title.  The photography by Martin Torres and Joshua Kennedy is also very well done, as is Derek Koch's sound mixing.

I haven't mentioned any of the Hammer references in the film, and there are a plenty from the swirling leaves familiar to those with Terence Fisher's Hammer work, Dugdale's wearing of a brown cloak with a fur-lined hood, echoing Barbara Shelley's raiment in a sequence in The Gorgon, and the inclusion of lines of dialogue and visual cues and shot selection recalling past Hammer pictures.  There are undoubtedly many more.

Do I have any criticisms of the film?  At times, I hoped for something that would bring us as an audience more into the village of Carlsdadt, perhaps a sequence with our main characters walking through the city streets and having people shut and bolt their windows.  Such a scene would probably have been beyond Kennedy's financial means however.  I would have also liked to see more exploration of  what drove the Gorgons' predatory attacks.

Nevertheless, on a limited budget, Kennedy has worked wonders, even more amazingly when you consider the fact that he completed principal photography for the film within seven days.  He's not only created a tribute and a testament to Hammer horror, he's provided a worthy showcase for some of the studio's talent that we're lucky to have still with us, and most of all, given us an entertaining film worth revisiting again and again.

Buried Alive (1939)

Starring Beverly Roberts, Robert Wilcox, Paul McVey, Ted Osborne, George Pembroke
Directed by Victor Halperin
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A convict coming up for parole finds his chances ruined when he comes to the rescue of a trustee of the prison in a bar fight and is railroaded by a shady reporter at the scene.

Despite the film's title, it's not a horror film, nor is anyone buried alive, but what it is is a taut prison story with some melodramatics, well directed by White Zombie's Victor Halperin.  It has the look and feel of a poverty row production, although a high class one, and has the cast and crew one would expect from such a studio, and was released by the forerunner of PRC.  The story is jam packed with characters and subplots before we even meet Wilcox, our principal hero, with no less then three of the prison trustees in love with the nurse, the man who throws the execution switch torn by his nightmarish duty, and a brutish inmate modeled after Lenny from Of Mice And Men threatening a violent escape.  Halperin does an admirable job of keeping things balanced, and gets good performances from his cast, especially Pembroke as the tormented executioner, and Wheeler Oakman as the hissable villain of the film.  Although Wilcox, as the privileged prisoner who finds his hopes dashed, gives a fairly one-dimensional performance, I found the movie as a whole a very worthwhile watch for me.