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.

Night Of The Ghouls (1959)

Starring Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore, Tor Johnson, Valda Hansen, Johnny Carpenter
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Strange goings on at the house where a mad scientist once created monsters cause the police to send Lt. Dan Bradford to investigate, and he finds a phony spiritualist has set up shop there.

A quasi-sequel to Wood's Bride Of The Monster, this film was never released theatrically as per Wikipedia, Wood never paid off the film lab for the negatives, and it was only in 1984 that businessman Wade Williams paid off the fees and released the film on video.  It suffers from minimal sets, overacting by Wood regular Paul Marco as Kelton the cop, and being padded out with unrelated footage from Wood's unsold TV pilot, Portraits Of Terror, which also starred Moore.  Despite the movie's failings, I have to admit Moore, as detective Bradford, and Kenne Duncan as fake mystic Dr. Acula, give respectable understated performances.  The only times I actually laughed out loud were at Dr. Acula's weak gimmicks, a floating trumpet suspended from wires and a phony ghost walking across the stage accompanied by silly sound effects.  Wood's story here is fairly straightforward and although it's not a very good one, it was different enough from his other films to hold my interest, and you can tell he cared about this film.  Like his other efforts, I can critique it on one level, but enjoy it on another.