DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE 1971 (KINO) BLU-RAY

Good Pete Walker mystery film.

I have read a lot of bad things about this film and after viewing it, I don't see what all the is about.

Sexy Susan George stars as Marianne, a young woman who is living in Portugal with her mother after the divorce of her parents. Her mother dies and she finds herself on her own and making a living by dancing in nightclubs.

She soon is on the run from local police and she meets a young man who gives her a lift. She marries a young man named Eli (Barry Evans) and all seems well again until her cruel father, known only as The Judge (Leo Genn) has her hunted down.

Marianne's sister Hildegard (Judy Huxtable) lives with her father and they want her brought back to their home before her next birthday. Why? Because they want to steal her inheritance.

This is a pretty standard crime drama that has been passed off as a horror film and maybe that is what everyone is upset over. I found the film to be a very interesting and somewhat twisted drama.

George is always very easy on the eyes and her life at the end of the film has been changed forever. It's a very noirish ending. The Blu-ray presents the film in a stunning transfer.

If you're a fan of George or Pete Walker, I recommend you see this film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jeffrey Combs is 66, and David Emge is 74.

THE TRYGON FACTOR 1961 (SINISTER CINEMA)

One of the oddest films I have ever seen.

Stewart Granger stars as Supt. Cooper-Smith of Scotland Yard in this weird mixture of British horror and German Krimi film.

After a mysterious murder Cooper-Smith is called to investigate the Emberday family who owns the mansion and nunnery in which the murder took place.

There are a lot of red herrings in this film and it seems Cooper-Smith runs into every one. He knows there is something going on, but he just can't put his finger on it.

It seems that the Emberday family, led by Livia Emberday (Cathleen Nesbitt) is plotting a robbery of millions of dollars of gold and they are being assisted by some very phony nuns.

Piece by piece Cooper-Smith starts to make sense of the entire case. The film sometimes plays like a comedy and is very light, but during other times it's straight out mystery or horror.

The rest of the cast includes Robert Morley, Diane Clare, Susan Hampshire, Sophie Hardy and Brigitte Horney. This is only available on a double feature disc with "An Angel For Satan" and it makes for a hell of a double feature.

If you like rare films then this is one for you and it comes recommended.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Heather Thomas is 63.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Dario Argento is 80, Angie Everhart is 51, Thordis Brandt is 80, and Luigi Cozzi is 73.

AN ANGEL FOR SATAN 1961 (SINISTER CINEMA)

This is a Barbara Steele film it has taken me forever to see.

This is a very rare title and I finally got to see it thru Sinister Cinema and their beautiful subtitled print. Hats off to Greg Luce for obtaining this one.

Steele plays two roles in this. She is Harriet, the shy and innocent daughter of a Count and then she plays Belinda, an evil woman who brings nothing but evil to a small village.

At the end of the 19th century a statue is brought up from a lake by a small Italian village, and the superstitious people believe that it will bring nothing but bad luck. A young sculptor named Roberto Merigi(Anthony Steffen) is brought in to redo the stature to it's former self.

He falls in love with Harriet, but soon Harriet begins acting very strange. She destroys most of the men in town thru lies and blackmail and some people believe she has become possessed by the spirit of the statue. Roberto has other ideas however.

I won't give the ending away in case you have never seen the film, but let's just say it's odd. Steele is beautiful as ever in the starring role and this is one of her best efforts.

The stunning black and white photography and slick camera movements make for a great visual when watching the film. It's a treat for any horror fan or Steele fan so I highly suggest you check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Raquel Welch is 80, William Devane is 81, George Lazenby is 81, and Scott Reiniger is 72.

HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD 1961 (KINO) BLU-RAY

This came out on Blu-ray a couple of years ago, and I finally got around to picking up a copy, and what a treat it is.

The great Mario Bava directed this fun film that never lets up for a moment.

Reg Park is Hercules, who must actually travel to Hades itself to get a magic stone that will cure his girlfriend from a curse put on her by a dark lord.

The dark one's name is Lico and Christopher Lee does an excellent job of playing the villain, as usual. There are so many interesting set pieces in this film including the vines filled with human souls, the huge rock-like monster, the golden apple in Hades and so much more.

Bava uses a wonderful array of colors including bright blue, red and green which really adds a bizarre look to the proceedings. There are 3 different versions of the movie on this 2 disc set, and I watched the US version. The dubbing is pretty good on this one even though it was odd hearing Lee in another voice.

The plot is simple, but I cannot see any fan of the genre not liking this fun little film that got an exceptional Blu-ray treatment. I have never seen the movie look or sound so good. This is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED DISC that I think you should purchase.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Patricia Tallman is 63, and Jennifer Salt is 76.

THE DEVIL'S HAND 1961 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Yes, I have written about this movie before, and I decided to write about it again in light of the brand new print from Sinister Cinema.

It's one of my favorite films ever since I saw it back in the days of "Nightmare Theater" on KCPX TV in Salt Lake City.

The plot is pretty basic. A man named Rick Turner (Robert Alda) keeps having dreams about a beautiful woman. Her name is Bianca Milan (Linda Christian). This causes Rick some trouble with his girlfriend Donna Trent (Ariadne Welter).

Thru the use of witchcraft, Bianca and her friend Francis Lamont (Neil Hamilton) get Rick to join their cult. Donna, meanwhile, is in the hospital with a mysterious malady.

Rick is seduced by Bianca and yet he knows something is going on inside the cult. He finally figures it out and decides to stop Bianca and her friends, but will it be too late?

The movie has an open end, but no sequel was ever made. I like this film a lot, as I dais before. The actors all do their roles well, and both leading ladies are very beautiful and easy on the eyes.

The rest of the cast includes Bruno VeSota, Jeannie Carmen, Gere Craft and Julie Scott. Now, I am talking about this film again because Sinister Cinema has turned out a gorgeous print of the movie. It's a widescreen print with stunning picture quality. I have never seen the film look better, and if you're a fan of the film you probably want to pick this up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Anitra Ford is 78.

RAMBLINGS...

With the recent death of the very beautiful and talented Lori Nelson, I found myself thinking about my genuine love for monster movies of the 1950's.

I love all kinds of movies as people can tell by reading this blog, but the 1950's is by far the best decade ever for horror and science fiction films. There are not too many that I don't like, if any. I seem to have a soft spot for all of them in one way or another.

When I was growing up there was so much to choose from on TV. On station KHQ from Spokane, I was treated to great films like "The Mole People", "Creature From The Black Lagoon", "The She Creature" and so much more. I read Famous Monsters Of Filmland and lost myself in the world of films.

I read way too many people who tear low budget 50's movies apart and that is something I can't do. Let me give you a few examples. The 1959 film "Giant Gila Monster" for example...It's not a great film, but it works on so many levels. I like the actors, the monster and just the small "feel" of the film itself.

My friends and I would see this on TV and have a great time with it. Why? Because it had a monster in it, and that was always cool. I look at this movie today with the same fondness I had for it back in the day.

Another favorite is "The Invisible Invaders" starring John Agar. I first saw this on KCPX TV from Salt Lake City on a show called "Science Fiction Theater" on a sunny Sunday afternoon during summer break from school.

I thought it was the greatest movie from that decade and I just couldn't get enough of it. Every time it was on I watched it. I even recorded the sound off of the TV one time and then put it in script form on my typewriter. Yes, that's how much I loved that film. I still do love it that much. Sure, it's cheap but what's not to love? You have invisible aliens from the moon taking over the bodies of dead humans.

It still resonates with me to this day. I still watch it as much as I can these days and have owned it on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray.

"Robot Monster" is another one. It represents to me the total innocence of childhood and the fact that I had and still have a very open mind when it comes to older movies. I still see nothing wrong with the movie. Yes, the entire premise is silly, but God, what a film!! When the book "50 Worst Films Of All Time" was released I was a bit disappointed that this film was included.

It's too easy of a target. I have seen many, many modern films that are a thousand times worse. When I saw this I was glued to it for the entire brief running time of 63 minutes. It enthralled me. It still does.

Another one that showed up a lot on TV in the summers of my youth was "Caltiki The Immortal Monster". It played almost once a month every summer for years on KWGN TV from Denver. I fell in love with it when I first saw it. The giant blob monster was scary as hell for me when I was younger.

There are so many films I had the very same reaction to. That fondness has turned to love in my later years and there are a lot of young movie "fans" who don't understand that. When I was growing up things for kids were so different. It was a MUCH safer world. I would be on my bike running around the neighborhood, reading monster magazines which were like Playboy to me meaning I was excited by pictures of monsters. Women would come later, of course.

I lived for TV Guide every week and perused thru the pages looking for weekend monster movies and the interesting thing is my mother nurtured my love for these films. She even let me stay home from school and watch "Them" on a local "Dialing For Dollars" morning movie once. She thought it was the greatest movie ever and I must say it has always ranked highly with me too. I will never forget that morning. How many of you had parents like that?

It seems the summers always had better movies and during one particular summer in 1974 I saw such classics as "Amazing Colossal Man", "War Of The Worlds", "The Deadly Mantis", "Day The World Ended" (with the beautiful Lori Nelson), "She Creature", and so much more from the wonderful 50's.

I remember vividly those memories of hot summer afternoons and evenings watching films like the above mentioned and hundreds more from other decades. I miss those times and I find with growing older it's harder to get time to watch as many movies as I'd like. The Saturday afternoon double features are memories I cherish and I wish I could find time to relive those memories with my DVD's and Blu-rays.

I recently retired from my job which I hated with a passion so maybe I can get the time to do those again. I say it again, it was a wonderful time, and sometimes I get a lump in my throat thinking of them and you know the real sad thing in all this is that kids today who spend half their lives on movie boards will never know what it was like being a "monster kid" in the 60's and 70's.

I sincerely hope some of you can relate to this as there aren't too many of us left. Long live 50's horror and sci-fi. It was and still is my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sandra Knight is 81, and China Lee is 78.

THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE 1967 (KINO) BLU-RAY

I was really surprised that this got such a great release.

This 1967 film has been unfairly maligned for many, many years by people who are too quick to write it off. The only prints I have ever been able to see of this film are rather dark and uncared for on various DVD sets and streaming video.

Robert Hutton stars as Dr. Curtis Temple a scientist who has theories about life in outer space. One night 9 meteors land in a farmers field in Cornwall, England and Temple and his crew is called in to investigate.

His assistant, Lee Mason (Jennifer Jayne) takes over when Temple's doctor tells him he cannot travel yet due to a recent which caused him to have a metal plate put into his head.

While the scientists are working on the fallen meteors a strange power emits from them and soon everyone is taken over by a strange alien intelligence. Before you know it they are asking for millions of English pounds for building and such. Temple goes to investigate for himself and finds everyone acting strange and some of his former friends attempt to shoot him.

After much investigating he finds Lee has been taken over by aliens, but Temple cannot figure out what they are doing. He makes the assumption that they are slowly invading the Earth, and this is made an even more credible thought when a plague sudden;y strikes the area and most of the people get sick and die from it.

Temple kidnaps Lee from the aliens and takes her to a friend of his named Farge (Zia Mohyeddin) and together they find a way to get rid of the alien inside of Lee. The three of them then attempt to discover that the aliens are really doing. They infiltrate the base and soon the sneak on a rocket ship that suddenly blasts off for the moon, which is where the invaders are hiding out.

Once on the moon they meet a being who calls himself the Master Of The Moon (Michael Gough). In a somewhat bizarre twist ending, it turns out they only want to repair their ships and go home to their own planet and die.

The film was done on an incredibly tight budget, but director Freddie Francis handles things very well and it comes off as a great pulp sci-fi film of it's era.

The film has a few humorous touches and a gorgeous 60's backdrop. The actors do their jobs very well and it's always nice to see Hutton and Jayne in any role. I grew up with both of them always in something on my TV. The rest of the cast includes Bernard Kay, Maurice Good, Luanshya Greer, and Diana King.

Now, as I said at the beginning of this review, I was very surprised at Kino bringing this to Blu-ray. I was even more surprised to find it was a gorgeous 4K transfer. It's nice when neglected gems like this finally get the treatment they deserve. I can't imagine this being a very big seller for Kino, but I am very grateful that they put it out and in such grand fashion.

I got this disc on sale from Kino a while back and finally got the chance to look at it. It's beautiful. I have always liked this movie anyway and I give it a very HIGH RECOMMENDATION. Check it out and see what you think.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joyce Holden is 90.