DEAD AND THE DAMNED 2011 (INCEPTION)

An interesting mix of two genres.

I have seen many westerns mixed with horror and sci-fi, and for me it most always works. This ond did as well.

A bounty hunter named Mortimer (David A. Lockhart), after killing several people in the opening gunfight scene decides to go after an Indian who is accused of raping and killing a woman.

He buys a beautiful blonde named Rhiannon (Camille Montgomery) from a man whose business it is to sell women as wives or whores. Mortimer tells her she is free but he takes her out to the middle of nowhere and ties her to a stake as bait to bring out the man he is hunting.

Mortimer captures his man and while all three are on the way back to town, they are attacked by several bloodthirsty monsters! While Mortimer was out seeking his bounty, a couple of men brought a strange rock into the small town and the fumes from the rock killed and then revived everyone in town as a flesh eating zombie.

Mortimer and his Indian captive and Rhiannon must fight for survival against an army of the walking dead.

This is a very low budget film that tries really hard to be a great film. It's not great, but it is a good one. I liked it a lot, and it moved along well. The acting may be a bit stiff, but it's still enjoyable and Camille is both beautiful and acts her part very well.

If you want to see something different, check this one out and see what you think. I believe this was followed by a sequel!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Natasha Henstridge is 51, Barbara Bouchet is 81, Pat Priest is 89, Miko Mayama is 86, and Gaylen Ross is 75.

SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM 1963 (LIONSGATE)

This is the Spanish language version of the Mexican classic.

I hadn't seen this version in years, and to let you know , it's not different from the US version except for the dialogue.

Dr. Karol (Claudio Brook) is having his assistant kidnap people to use in his experiments to create an army of monsters. His plans are, of course, thwarted by Santo.

This movie is a lot of fun and there are shades of "House Of Wax" and other films in the plot. In the American dubbed version our hero is called "Samson" and this was due to the fact that Americans didn't know who Santo was at the time.

Anyway, Santo fights the mad doctor Karol and even tangles with his mutant monsters. If you're a Mexican horror movie fan you should see this movie. Either version is fine and the picture quality on this print from Lionsgate is very good.

The rest of the cast includes Norma Mora, Roxana Bellini, Ruben Rojo, Juan Garza and Nathanel Leon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Halle Berry is 59, Jim Wynorski is 75, Lucinda Dickey is 65, and Candace Hilligoss is 90.

HUNTERS OF THE GOLDEN COBRA 1982 (TUBI)

Good time waster from Antonio Margheriti.

David Warbeck stars as Bob Jackson, an American soldier nwho teams with Captain David Franks (John Steiner) to find an ancient relic.

The relic is the Golden Cobra, and it is said to have supernatural powers. The movie opens with Jackson and Franks chasing a man who has stolen the golden cobra. Jackson ends up in a jungle and is almost killed by a savage tribe that is led by an white woman.

Flash forward and the two get back together to find the cobra at the request of several top government officials. They meet a man named Greenwater (Luciano Pigozzi) and his gorgeous neice Julie (Almanta Suska). The four of them try and find the legendary cobra, and there is a very good plot twist towards the end of this movie.

There is plenty of action and adventure and the film becomes more fun as it goes by, and the cast handles things very well. I don't know too much about Almanta Suska. She is a beautiful woman and has a dual role in this film, but she didn't have a very long film career.

If you enjoy Italian action films you might enjoy this. It was shot in the Philippines and in Rome and it has been called an Indiana Jones rip off, but who cares. It's good fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kevin Tighe is 81, and Gretchen Corbett is 80.

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS 1948 (SINISTER CINEMA)

A unique and forgotten film that deserves so much more attention.

Director Lance Comfort brings us a wicked tale of an even more wicked woman. The movie opens with a group of women in a small Irish village talking amongst themselves about how much they dislike Emily (Siobhan McKenna).

This young woman apparently has men falling all over her and the local women cannot stand that. They talk to the local minister who, from what we can gather, also wants Emily, but he talks to her and she leaves town after visiting a carnival and scarring a young man after acting in self defense.

Emily arrives at a small farm and works as a cook. She manages to seduce all of the men there as well, but this time there are several murders.

Now what is really odd is that Emily is not what one would call a "knockout" seductress, but watching her you know there is something there, and from what we are told in the dialogue of the film, men just cannot resist it.

This is a well made thriller that is an almost perfect blend of horror and film noir. The performances are all very good and the dark rainey countryside serves the movie well.

I really recommend this fine thriller and you'll never guess the ending to it until you see it. The rest of the cast includes Barry Morse, Anne Crawford, Honor Blackman, Maxwell Reed, and Grant Tyler.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

George Hamilton is 86, Sam J. Jones is 70, Elizabeth Sheperd is 89. and Jennifer Bishop is 84.

BRIDE FROM HADES 1968 (RADIANCE) BLU-RAY

A great Japanese ghost story.

This is also known as "Peony Lantern" and has a very simple plot turned into an excellent 85 minutes of horror.

On a warm summer night during the Obon festival a teacher named Shinzaburo (Kojiro Hongo) meets a beautiful woman named Otsuyu (Miyoko Akaza).

He is a lonely man and he really falls for her and after a short time he finds himself infatuated and falling in love quickly. However, as we find out later, she is a ghost.

The scenes where Otsuyu and Shinzaburo are sharing time together are very eerie and effective. He sees her as a beautful woman, while his nosey neighbor sees her as a corpse.

The photography is beautiful and captures the essence is 16th century Japan very nicely. The story moves along well and has a lot of creepy moments. The ending is shocking, but not in the way you think.

Recommended for any horror fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Judy Brown is 81, and Tomi Lahren is 33.

MISSION MANILA 1988 (IMAGE)

This gets a pretty low rating where ever I look this up, and while it's no classic, it isn't that bad.

Larry Wilcox is Web a former drug addict and CIA agent who must travel to Manila in order to rescue his brother from the criminal underground.

Web is attacked by thugs as soon as he arrives and then he teams up with a former girlfriend named Maria (Tetchie Agbayani) and finds out where the crime lord lives and hangs out.

His brother hasn't been seen in a few days and nobody claims to know where he is. Web meets a woman he met on the flight to manila names Susie (Robin Eisenman) and discovers that his brother was plannning on marrying her and has told her nothing but lies.

Susie decides to help Web and he warns her it can be very dangerous. Things start to spiral out of control and there are some interesting plot twists. I was very let down when the beautiful Susie was shot in the head by a sniper.

This was a "what the hell" moment that really caught me off guard.

No too shabby of a film, in my opinion. The rest of the cast includes Sam Hennings, Al Mancini, Maria Isabel Lopez, Willie Williams and Jack Daniels.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Arthur Roberts is 87.

UNKNOWN ISLAND 1948 (MYSTICAL POPCORN)

It's been years since I saw this wonderful, undrrated film.

This is a fun movie about an explorer, Ted Osborne (Phillip Reed) and his finacee Carol Lane (Virginia Grey) seeking an island where prehistoric monsters still live.

They hire Capt. Tarnowski (Barton MacLane) to take them to the island. Tarnowski has heard of this island due to the ramblings of a drunk named John Fairbanks (Richard Denning) who claims to have barely escaped with his life.

When they arrive on the island, they all discover that the tales are true and now they find themselves fighting for survival. When I wrote about this many years ago on this blog I never mentioned the performances. I will do so now.

MacLane is excellent as the brutal Captain who is always making fun of Fairbanks and his stories. I know people aren't supposed to laugh at this, but I couldn't help it. MacLane was always good in any role, and here he really shines.

Denning does his usual good job as a drunk who is reformed when he finds he is going back to the dreaded island. Virginia Grey is always a treat to watch.

The monsters are weird looking and not very convincing, but they do have a certain appeal, at least for me they did. Ray Corrigan plays a giant gorilla that kills Tarnowski, and it's a wild looking monster.

I like the Cinecolor process as well. It gives it an otherworldly look. The print quality is excellent and if you like monster movies then I suggest you see this 1948 wonder.

The rest of the cast includes Snub Pollard, Dick Wessel, Dan White and Phil Nazir.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sam Elliot is 81, Gillian Anderson is 57, Rhona Mitra is 49, Lexi Kaufman is 34, and Candace Glendenning is 72.

I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN 1957 (MYSTICAL POPCORN)

Simply a great movie!!

It has been over 12 years since I first wrote about this movie on this blog. I managed to get a very nice print of the film from a small company. Yes, it's a bootleg, but it's the only one that will ever be available.

Whenever I watch a movie from this era it's like going home again, or catching up with old friends I haven't seen in years. Whit Bissell stars as Dr. Frankenstein who is visiting the USA and trying to explain to scientists some of his theories.

They dismiss him so he and his assistant, Dr. Karlton (Robert Burton) take on the task of building a body from scratch that Frankenstein thinks will make him world famous.

Frankenstein is very cold blooded as his fiancee Margaret (Phyllis Coates) soon discovers, and she pays for it with her life. The movie comes to a great climax as the creation turns on it's creator.

This is an excellent 50's horror from AIP with great set pieces and even better make-up. Once seen, the monster is never forgotten. It has become somewhat iconic in the world of horror films.

The rest of the cast includes Gary Conway as the monster, George Lynn, John Cliff, Marshall Bradford, Angela Austin and Russ Whiteman.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you can find it. One of the greatest.