For lovers of movies from the silent era to modern day with an emphasis on horror, sci-fi, exploitation, WIP, westerns and anything of the fantastic and bizarre. THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO BOB WILKINS, GEORGE ROMERO, ALAN FREED, ROGER CORMAN, HELGA LINE, CAROLINE MUNRO, JOHN FREDRIKSEN, JOHN ZACHERLE, CLEO MOORE , ROSALBA NERI, ERIKA BLANC, FEMI BENUSSI, SHIRLEY CORRIGAN, ROSANNA YANNI, MIRTA MILLER, KARIN DOR, BARBARA BOUCHET, MAMIE VAN DOREN, BARBARA STEELE and, of course, CASEY KASEM.
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Saturday, May 17, 2025
THE LONE WOLF IN LONDON 1947 (TUBI)
Gerald Mohr helms the title role as Michale Lanyard.
Lanyard is a reformed criminal known as the "Lone Wolf". This time he is involved in the theft of two very valuable gems that were being held in a Scotland Yard vault.
The police think Lanyard is responsible, but they cannot prove it. He must fight to prove he is not guilty and that proves to be much harder than he thought.
There are plenty of suspects in this tale of murder and double cross. Mohr comes across well as Lanyard and he plays off of everyone very well. His banter with both leading ladies, Nancy Saunders and Evelyn Ankers is top notch and fun.
This Columbia feature is one of a long line of movies about the "Lone Wolf" and to me it's one of the best, but then again I haven't seen too many of them.
If you're a fan of quickly paced "B" movies and mysteries you'll enjoy this.
The rest of the cast includes Queenie Leonard, Alan Napier, Denis Green, Eric Blore, Richard Fraser and Frederick Warlock.
Friday, May 16, 2025
LOOPHOLE 1954 (WARNER ARCHIVE)
Interesting and well made film noir.
Barry Sullivan stars as a bank teller named Mike Donovan whose life is turned upside down after he discovers that his till is short by $49,990 on a Friday afternoon after a bank audit.
Donovan is arrested and questioned by the police and an insurance agent named Gus Slavin (Charles McGraw). Donovan goes thru every type of questioning and finally the police decide he is probably innocent, but Gus has other ideas.
Donovan is fired from the bank and several other jobs thanks to Gus. Donovan and his wife Ruthie (Dorothy Malone) are forced to move to a much cheaper apartment and tighten their finances.
Mike finally lands a steady job with a cab company run by Pete Mazurki (Richard Reeves) who refuses to listen to Gus. Mike takes it upon himself to find the real thief. After much leg work Mike spots the culprit. His name is Herman Tate (Don Beddoe).
This puts Mike and Herman in a dangerous cat and mouse game with the money. Tate has a woman with him named Vera (Mary Beth Hughes). Vera is nothing but a cold blooded snake who will do anything to keep the money and Tate under her thumb.
This is one of the few film noir that actually ends on an upbeat note. I have to say that Sullivan usually carries the movies he is in, but in this case he is overshadowed by both McGraw as the brutal Gus and Hughes as the femme fatal Vera. She is as evil as any woman seen in films like these.
Any fan of the genre should see this. The rest of the cast includes Dayton Lummis, Joanne Jordan, Don Harvey and John Eldridge. RECOMMENDED!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Pierce Brosnan is 72, Megan Fox is 39, Danny Trejo is 81, Debra Winger is 70, Janet Jackson is 59, Jocelyn Lane is 88, and Pamela Manning is 64.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
RIP JOE DON BAKER 1936-2025
A very good character actor has died.
I was introduced to Baker in a 1965 episode of "Honey West" and then it seems like I saw him in everything. His acting credits include over 80 TV shows and movies.
His credits include "Guns Of The Magnificent Seven", "Junior Bonner", "Walking Tall", "Mitchell", "The Outfit", "Shadow Of Chikara" ( a personal favorite), "Living Daylight" "Goldeneye".
I cannot think of a single thing I didn't enjoy seeing him in.
Joe Don Baker passed away on May 7, 2025 at the age of 89.
BENEATH THE OLD DARK HOUSE 2022 (SCREAM TEAM) BLU-RAY
This recent release is pretty darned good, and better than most new movies.
It's a horror anthology with three tales of terror. The first involves a very odd customer in a Mexican eatery who is stalking a beautiful waitress named Kari (Kaila Spargo).
He manages to kidnap her with the intent of keeping her, but he kills her instead and then gets his just rewards. The second tale is a cross between "Monkey's Paw" and countless "creepy doll" thrillers.
A gorgeous woman named Brie Kelly (Christy Johnson) inherits a farmhouse from her late grandmother. She meets with the attorney who represented her grandmother and gets the keys to the house. He is a creep and she quickly parts company with him.
While cleaning up she finds a very evil looking doll that will grant three wishes to the owner, at least according to the paper with the doll. Brie makes the mistake of saying she wishes her grandma was still alive and that the lawyer should drop dead.
Both wishes come true, but the ending is something that is totally unexpected. This is by far my favorite of the three stories. The final episode concerns a witch hunter seeking out a suspected witch in modern times after his daughter disappears.
Brinke Stevens stars in this episode and the ending of the tale brings about the only gore effect in the movie. I personally am glad they toned down the gore.
This effort also has a wrap around tale where a character known as Coffintooth (Jared Michael Miller) has kidnapped a young woman and tied her to a chair to make her watch all three tales.
This is a low budget effort, but the cast and director, Matt Cloude did the best they could with what they had, and it does make for a rather entertaining horror film.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. You should check it out.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG 1934 (WARNER ARCHIVE)
This was the first time the character of Perry Mason ever appeared on the big screen, and Warren William handles the role very well indeed.
The plot surrounds a seemingly crazy man who visits Perry's office one day complaining about a dog that has been howling constantly for the laast two days.
The next day the man disappears and the dog and his owner are murdered. Thus gets Perry's attention and he looks into the bizarre goings on.
There are lots of twists and turns in this complex movie and that really holds the viewers interest. Perry allows a young woman named Bessie Foley (Mary Astor) to be arrested for the murder, but he knows more than the police so he tells her to be patient.
The rest of the cast includes Allen Jenkins, Grant Mitchell, Helen Trenholme as Della Street, Dorothy Tree, Addison Richards and Frank Reicher.
If you haven't ever seen one of these fine Warner Brothers mysteries, I recommend you do so very soon. This story by Erle Stanley Gardner was also used in the 50's TV series starring Raymond Burr as Mason.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
THE WIND 1986 (ARROW) BLU-RAY
This filmed in Greece thriller left me wanting so much more.
Meg Foster stars as a writer of mysteries and murder tales named Sian Anderson. Her husband, John does not want her to go to Greece to write her new story, but she thinks being apart for a while will do them both good.
When she arrives she meets the owner of the house where she will spend the night. His name is Elias Appleby (Robert Morley), and he proves to be a somewhat pompas ass.
However, Sian's real problem begins when she meets the handyman named Phil (Wings Hauser) who turns out to be a homicidal maniac. Hauser plays these kinds of roles so well, it's easy to believe he's actually like this in real life.
A cat and mouse game of survival ensues between Sian and Phil, and while I wont give away the ending, I will say it takes its toll on both parties.
The film is well done, but it really lacks in some departments. Hauser and Foster are great, but the story has a hell of a lot of holes in it, and as is so overplayed in 80's horror, evil can never be stopped. I get tired of that formula.
The Blu-ray presentation is perfect and I do applaud Arrow for getting this one out so more people can see it.
Monday, May 12, 2025
CRIME DOCTOR'S STRANGEST CASE 1943 (TUBI)
This is the second in the Crime Doctor series of films.
Warner Baxter stars as Dr. Robert Ordway, now a doctor and once a criminal. He helps gimsellf and the police in solving mysterious cases, much like this one.
Lloyd Bridges is Jimmy Trotter, a young man working as a personal secretary for a very wealthy man. Trotter has a criminal past but was cleared of the crime of poisoning his former employer.
The man Trotter works for now is killed in the same way and it seems that someone is trying to frame Jimmy for the crime. Ordway helps Jimmy prove his innocence, but along the way he comes across some very odd red herrings and a lot of plot twists.
This is a very entertaining murder mystery and I have to admit it's the first "Crime Doctor" film I have ever seen. If you're a mystery fan you'll want to see this.
The rest of the cast for this fine Columbia thriller includes Barton MacLane, Lynn Merrick, Gloria Dickson, Jerome Cowan, Reginald Denny and Rose Hobart.
I hope I get the chance to see more of these films. I caught this on streaming, but have not been able to locate them on DVD or Blu-ray.
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