The Jungle Captive (1945)

Starring Otto Kruger, Vicky Lane, Amelita Ward, Phil Brown, Jerome Cowan
Directed by Harold Young
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A biochemist kidnaps the body of the Ape Woman in order to prove that the system he's developed can restore the dead to life. 

A followup to both Captive Wild Woman and Jungle Woman, the picture features a completely new cast, notably replacing Acquanetta with Vicky Lane as Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman.  Unfortunately, there's little more to learn about her character as afforded in the screenplay, which makes her effectively brain-dead, and although Lane spends much more of the film in her monster makeup than Acquanetta ever did, she doesn't do much besides grimace and clench her teeth.  The film's most interesting addition is the henchman played by Rondo Hatton, the real-life victim of acromegaly who capitalized on his distorted features in a handful of films like this one.  He's not as well used here as in his other pictures, but still makes a menacing impact.

Jungle Woman (1944)

Starring Acquanetta, Evelyn Ankers, J. Carrol Naish, Samuel S. Hinds, Lois Collier
Directed by Reginald LeBorg
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A prominent psychiatrist admits at an inquest into the death of Paula Dupree that he killed her, and recounts the fantastic story of the woman who was once an ape.

In this sequel to Captive Wild Woman, Acquanetta returns as Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman, and speaks, after being completely silent the first film.  Although her voice is as exotic as her appearance, she isn't given enough dialogue to offer any insight into her character and spends most of the movie outside her monster makeup, making her stiff movements stalking her victims much less effective.  J. Carrol Naish gives a good performance as the benevolent Dr. Fletcher, and the screenplay cleverly inserts him into the background of the climax of the first film to introduce him, but by beginning the movie with Paula's death, the screenwriters rob the story of some needed suspense.  In short, this could have been a much better film, but what was filmed is still somewhat enjoyable and sets up the next sequel.

Captive Wild Woman (1943)

Starring Acquanetta, John Carradine, Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, Lloyd Corrigan
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A mad scientist kidnaps a circus gorilla for his experiments and succeeds in transforming it into a human woman that savage animals still fear.

We have here one of the few female Universal monsters, the Ape Woman, a statuesque beauty played by Acquanetta who reverts into a half-human beast when her savage instincts take over in a pretty fearsome makeup.  You'll have to leave your disbelief at the door when watching this film, but if you do, it's a fun enough monster movie.  The screenplay seems written around grainy footage of animal tamer Clyde Beatty from an earlier film (1933's The Big Cage, per Wikipedia), and new scenes with Milburn Stone standing in for Beatty don't match up well with that footage, although the animal action, featuring ferocious lions and tigers is superb.  Acquanetta who stays mute throughout the film fares better here than in her later speaking roles, and John Carradine brings the appropriate intensity to the role of the distinguished but evil scientist.  The film is probably most notable for its director, Edward Dmytryk, who according to Wikipedia, later became an Oscar-nominee and was blacklisted during the 1950s.

Phantom Lady (1944)

Starring Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Aurora, Thomas Gomez
Directed by Robert Siodmak
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a civil engineer is convicted of murdering his wife, his lovely assistant takes it upon herself to track down the woman who could provide his alibi.

A very effective thriller from Siodmak, one of the best directors of film noir in the 1940s, the picture boasts first rate photography from Woody Bredell, skillful editing from Arthur Hilton, and wonderful use of sound, with Raines' footfalls dominating a memorable sequence in which she trails a suspect.  A more famous scene finds Raines visiting a small room where a jazz band plays, with actor Elisha Cook's energetic drumming underscoring his lustful pursuit of the beauty.  Although the script and the performances don't stand out quite as much, it's a unique mystery well-tailored around Raines.

I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)

Starring Michael Landon, Yvonne Lime, Whit Bissell, Tony Marshall, Dawn Richard
Directed by Gene Fowler, Jr.
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A teenager with a volatile temper reluctantly goes to a psychiatrist for help, not realizing the doctor has plans to regress him into a savage beast.

Better known today as an early starring vehicle for Michael Landon, before his many hit series on television, this was the first in a series of horror films with teenage monsters by producer Herman Cohen, which Wikipedia indicates were very successful.  Each of those films featured young people used as the subject of horrible experiments by twisted adults, and were built on themes of conflict between teenagers and grownups similar to those that permeated films like The Blob and Invasion Of The Saucer Men.  As for this movie, Landon's violent tantrums are a bit over the top, but it's an entertaining feature with a very good creature makeup, dominated by Landon's fearsome fangs.  Bissell is good as the villainous scientist, and would virtually repeat the same role in Cohen's I Was A Teenage Frankenstein.  I also enjoyed the casting of Vladimir Sokoloff as a janitor (from the Carpathian mountains!) who warns werewolves are real in his colorful accent.

It Conquered The World (1956)

Starring Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef, Sally Fraser, Russ Bender
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A physicist dissatisfied with the state of the world is contacted by an alien intelligence from Venus, whom he agrees to help take over the Earth for the benefit of humanity.

Although often ridiculed for its low budget and less than convincing alien creature, I've always found this picture to be a fun science fiction thriller, buoyed by terrific performances by Beverly Garland and in particular Lee Van Cleef, whose intensity as the determined physicist anchors the film.  Van Cleef, per Wikipedia, went on to to a distinguished career playing a series of villains in notable westerns, culminating in his role in Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.  Corman paces scenes tightly and efficiently and although the Venusian may elect more laughs than genuine horror, it's certainly unique and memorable.

The Magician (1926)

Starring Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, Firmin Gemier, Ivan Petrovich, Gladys Hamer
Directed by Rex Ingram
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a terrible accident that injures her spine, a beautiful sculptress falls in love with her doctor after he saves her from being crippled, but a sinister magician also has designs on her.

Ingram's silent horror film hasn't had the reputation of classics like The Phantom Of The Opera or Nosferatu, but is still worth checking out for its dark imagery and hero-heroine-villain triangle which continues to be echoed in horror films up to the current day.  Wegener is well-cast as the villainous magician, as with his close-set eyes and giant face, he has a formidable screen visage, which served him well when playing the titular creature in The Golem.  The film is based on a story by English author W. Somerset Maugham, who per Wikipedia is probably best known for Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge.