GREATEST AMERICAN HERO SEASON ONE (MILL CREEK)

William Katt stars in this great little sci-fi/comedy/action show about a school teacher given a red flying suit by aliens which will help him fight misjustice in the world.
This is the plot to the tv show in a nutshell, but it is far more entertaining than that. Watching Katt learn to fly after he has lost the instruction book is always fun and co-stars Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca add just the right flavor to this early 80's tv hit that lasted two years.
Season one is only 8 episodes long, but everyone of those episodes is far more entertaining than most ANYTHING on tv these days.
If you are so inclined, check out this show, both seasons, and relive the fun of what good television was.

RIP

Tony Curtis passed away on Sept. 29th at his Las Vegas home, he was 85. He is remembered for many things and many roles, but I remember him best for the film noir classic "Sweet Smell Of Success" the adventure classic "Son Of Ali Baba" and the horror film "The Manitou".

He is the father of actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

A well respected actor who shall be missed. The AP and all of the other state controlled media will tell you his early films are forgettable, but we must remember that the people that write such things are nothing but educated fools.

REVIEWS

I am finishing up some tv shows for review here soon as well as trying to get movies watched and life lived.

BIRTHDAYS FOR SEPT. 29TH....

Erica Eleniak turns 41, Jerry Lee Lewis turns 75, Steve Forrest turns 86 and Anita Ekberg is 79.

SHARKTOPUS

In my opinion this was one of the best movies of it's kind I have seen in many years. It has everything including nice looking women, lots of action and a very cool monster.
The plot has been done to death, but that does not matter as long as it works, and this works very well.
Eric Roberts creates a genetic mutation between a shark and an octopus and then trains it to go after Somali pirate ships, but during a test for the impatient Navy it breaks loose and spreads terror along the California coast and then heads to Mexico.
One of the coolest monsters ever, the Sharktopus actually comes on land a few times and what a sight. I loved this film. Roger Corman and Julie Corman have topped themselves in movies made for the Syfy channel.
When they replay this film I highly recommend it.

TODAY'S PIC .......

A foreign poster for Godzilla Vs. The Smog Monster. Gotta love the theme song "Save The Earth".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Hillary Duff who turned 23 on Sept. 28th, also on this day Sylvia Kristal turned 58 and actor William Windom turned 87.

ELLERY QUEEN

Finally the 1975-76 television show Ellery Queen Mysteries has finally been released by E1 and Universal. Simply the best mystery show EVER on TV in my opinion. I will be reviewing this sometime in the future after I have finished all the episodes.

RIP

Actress Gloria Stuart who appeared in such classic films as Invisible Man and Old Dark House passed away on Sept. 26th at the age of 100.

A nice long life and a very classy lady whose last film appearance was in the 1997 film Titanic.

TODAY'S PIC .......

This is a scene from Horrors Of The Black Museum.

MORE BIRTHDAY WISHES TO.......

John Zacherly the greatest TV horror host ever turns 92 on Sept. 27th and also celebrating on this day are Don Cornelius (Soul Train) who turns 74, and Shaun Cassidy who turns 52.

RIP

Jorge Gonzalez who was 7' 6" and weighed 405 pounds. He was on the Argentina Olympic Basketball Team and then went into pro wrestling as "El Gigante in WCW and the in WWE as Great Khali.

He never really grasped the wrestling profession but was a headliner most of his two years in the business.

He passed away at the age of 44 today, September 26th in a hospital in San Martin, Argentina from complications from diabetes.

ROGER AND JULIE CORMAN HONORED ON 9/24/2010

Click on this link and read all the cool stuff including info about Machete Maidens, a documentary about all the films made in the Phillipines. Wow!!
http://blog.originalalamo.com/2010/09/07/5442/

TODAY'S PIC .......

The great poster for the 1958 sci-fi classic It! The Terror From Beyond Space.

BIRTHDAYS FOR SEPT. 26TH.....

Martine Beswick (Perhistoric Women 1967) turnes 69, Olivia Newton John is 62, Lynn Anderson (Rose Garden) is 63 and Christina Milian is 34.

SHARKTOPUS AIRES TONIGHT!!!!!!

The Roger Corman film Sharktopus aires tonight at 9 PM eastern on Syfy.

THE CYCLOPS ( SINISTER CINEMA)

Gloria Talbott, James Craig and Lon Chaney are three of four people who travel to a hidden mountain region in Mexico looking for Talbott's lost fiance, only to find he has been transformed into a misshapen giant by radioactivity.
Bert Gordon directed this classic example of 50's monster movies. Great saturday afternoon fun with so-so effects and classic Albert Glasser music.
Recommended!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Mark Hamill who turns 59 on Sept. 25th and the Heather Locklear who turned 49 and Catherine Zita Jones who is 42.

GAMERA VS. JIGER (SHOUT FACTORY)

Expo 70 is threatened by a giant monster after an idol is taken from a small island and set up at the Expo. Gamera fights the monster known as Jiger and sometimes referred to as Monster X and is almost defeated by having the monster lays eggs inside of the giant turtle!!
Pretty cool stuff with lots of monster battles and destruction. Available on the disc with Gamera Vs. Guiron from Shout Factory.
Again, gorgeous color and widescreen and available in both Japanese language with subtitles and english dubbed.

TODAY'S PIC .......

Some of the monsters in William Grefe's Sting Of Death!!

GAMERA VS. GUIRON ( SHOUT FACTORY)

Two children are taken in a spaceship to a far away star which is home to two female aliens who plan to eat the brains of the children. Gamera to the rescue as he fights the aliens' protector guiron, a rather bizarre looking monster that looks like a very sharp knife, in fact at the beginning of the film he slices up Gyaos into many pieces. This scene has been cut out of every release of this film until now!! You gotta see it to believe it.
Shout Factory brings us another great Gamera double bill in excellent widescreen and beautiful color. This movie is on the disc with Gamera Vs. Jiger, which I will discuss later.
A highly recommended disc for fans of the Gamera serise.

RIP

One of the greatest singers of the modern times, Eddie Fisher, passed away on Sept. 23rd from complications from hip surgery. In the early 1950's Fisher was an Icon to millions of teenage girls who loved his music and bought his records. He married Debbie reynolds in 1955 and one of their two children was actress Carrie Fisher.

A great singer has been lost. He was 82

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Joan Jett who turned 52 on Sept. 22nd, Debbie Boone turned 54 and Shari Belafante turned 56.

GAMERA VS. VIRAS ( SHOUT FACTORY)

This is probably the most juvenile Gamera film about two young boys who are kidnapped by aliens in a weird looking spaceship ruled by an octopus-like monster with a bird beak named Viras.
The children help Gamera defeat the aliens and all is well for the earth again. Lots and lots of stock footage pad this one out. The print is presented in widescreen and gorgeous color by our friends at Shout Factory.
I hope they keep this trend coming. Excellent addition to your DVD monster movie collection.

WELL WELL WELL

It seems that someone who shall remain nameless on the Retromedia Board has chosen to make a particular conversation a little personal with the snide crap. It NEVER ceases to amaze me how film makers of little minds, and there are MANY, who have nothing in their brain attack people with name calling.
How I destest modern day filmmakers.

TODAY'S PIC .......

the poster for Rattlers, a great little horror flick.

CONGRATULATIONS....

To my New Orleans Saints for defeating San Francisco on Monday night 25-22. They are now 2-0 and only 8 teams are undefeated in the NFL after week 2.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

It seems that Synapse is celebrating their 100th release with the film Vampire Circus which will be released by the end of the year in a Blu Ray/DVD combo pack and I have just been told that the previous mention of the Green Slime coming to DVD is confirmed for Oct. 26th in WIDESCREEN!!!! What a great year for genre films.

GAMERA VS. GYAOS (SHOUT FACTORY)

Kudos to Shout Factory for turning out more Gamera films in gorgeous widescreen and with very vibrant colors. A people eating, flying monster that emits a lazer from it's mouth comes to life and threatens Japan and it's Gamera to the rescue.
These films are geared towards children but do have a lot of appeal for adult here in the states as well. People my age grew up watching this kind of stuff on TV. Shout was even kind enough to include the original AIP TV music at the very beginning of the film. The films are available in Japanese and English language. This film is on a double feature with Gamera Vs. Viras, which I will write about later.
Highly Recommended!!

GREEN SLIME!!!!!!

Warner Archive will be releasing The Green Slime to DVD and I will keep you posted as to when this will happen. I am hoping it is widescreen.

MORE SHARKTOPUS!!

I have seen several clips of this film and can easily say it has to be one of the best films of it's kind made this year!!!Another Corman masterpiece.

SHARKTOPUS!!!!!!!!

On Saturday September 25th the Syfy channel will premier the latest Roger Corman film entitled Sharktopus starring Eric Roberts in thi stale about a half Octopus half shark monster that is terrorizing the ocean.

My God, Roger even has a small part in the film!!! The man is a modern genius.

Go to http://www.syfy.com/ for more information.

AMERICAN TOP 40 THE 80'S

This weekends edition of AT 40 the 80's takes us to 9-25-1982 when Fleetwood Mac sang of "Gypsy", Kim Carnes was a "Voyeur", Joan Jett & The Blackhearts asked "Do You Wanna Touch Me", Paul McCartney said "Take It Away", Survivor saw the "Eye Of The Tiger and much, much more. What a year.

AMERICAN TOP 40 THE 70'S

This weeks edition of AT 40 the 70's is from 9-25-1971 which was a time when Bobby Russell hated "Saturday Morning Confusion", Al Green was "Tired Of Being Alone", Donny Osmonds pleaded "Go Away Little Girl", The Stampeders loved a "Sweet City Woman" and much, much more.

TODAY'S PIC .......

This is a poster for a very underrated film called the Neptune Factor.

STAR CRASH (SHOUT FACTORY)

Simply one of the best releases of the year!!! The sexy, gorgeous, lovely, sexy, sexy, and did I say sexy Caroline Munro is Stella Star a space thief who is hired by the Emperor of the Universe to find his lost son, whose ship was attacked by an evil count named Zarth Arn.
This is a fun film with special effects that are sometimes well done and sometimes crude, but only so because of time limitations and budget problems and no, that is not a criticism. Joe Spinell is the over the top Zarth Arn and Christopher Plummer is the Emperor. Marjoe Gortner is along as Stella's partner in crime Akton and the always sexy Nadia Cassini is the queen of the Amazons.
Shout factory has given us a two disc set with more goodies and suprises than you would ever imagine for a film like this. Stephen Romano gives us a few different commentary tracks and one is very interesting in that he states that actress Candy Clarke dubbed Caroline Munro's voice which was done for reasons i just cannot figure out.
The discs also include an interview with director Luigi Cozzi and an 75 minute interview with the always lovely Munro who talks about her career and Star Crash. it is so refreshing to hear an actress talk about her work with love rather than the usual bitching and griping so many modern day actresses do. She loves her movie as much as her fans do!!
GET THIS DVD SET!!!! It is a must for fans of the film and science fiction in general. if that isn't enough to see it to you just imagine caroline in her black thigh high leather boots and black leather bikini. SOLD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

David McCallum who turned 77 on Sept. 19th and Adam West who celebrated 82 on that day as well. And on the 20th JoAnna Cameron (Isis) turned 59.

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (SHOUT FACTORY)

Another tip of the hat to Shout Factory for bringing this classic back to DVD in a new widescreen format and in it's UNCUT international version which contains things not seen in the previous DVD release or anywhere for that matter.
Doug McClure stars a s a fisherman who is living in a small town that is suddenly under attack from mutant salmon monsters that are determined to breed with the women on a small fishing village. Vic Morrow is the town bigot who blames the local Indian population for all the trouble and lovely Ann Turkel is a female scientist who actually created these monsters in the first place.
Barbara peeters directed the film but didn't put in any of the boobs and blood that showed up later after Roger Corman said it would improve the film, and it does even if you don't want to admit it.
The extras include interviews with Corman, actress Cyndi Weintraub and many behind the scenes people. The extras also include long missing footage found in the MGM vaults of many more women being attacked by these monsters.
The most bizarre scene in the film as far as I am concerned is one where a young man and his wooden dummy are in a tent on the beach with a very lovely young woman whom he is trying to get her to take her clothes off. The dummy seems to have a life of his own!!
Highly recommended film!!

PIRANHA (SHOUT FACTORY)

From their ever growing line of Roger Corman Classics comes this excellent flick about mutant piranha killing everything in sight. Bradford Dillman stars as the man who is trying to stop the killer fish from swimming into a summer camp lake and a resort. heather Menzies co-stars as his lady love and helper.
Everything about this movie works, and works well. the fish are a sight to behold, and the supporting cast of Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski and Barbara Steele are all very, very good.
Shout factory bring this to us in a great wide screen version.
Easily, one of the best releases of the year, I cannot wait to see what else Shout has to offer us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Anne Francis who turned 80 on Sept. 16th, also to Ed Begley, Jr, who turned 61 and Jennifer Tilly who turned 52.

TODAY'S PIC .......

This is from the 1961 zombie film The Dead One which is available on DVD as Blood Of The Zombie.

THE ANIMAL WORLD (WARNER ARCHIVE)

Finally this rare documentary from Irwin Allen comes to DVD. This is a standard film about animal and insect life but everyone remembers it for the 12 minute segment with dinosaurs animated by Ray Harryhausen and Willis O' Brian.
These segments are outstanding and make this film a real winner. Fun, educational and amusing I hughly recommend this great little DVD release.

STAR CRASH OUT TODAY!!!!!!

Super sexy Caroline Munro stars in this classic Italian film that is a Star Wars rip off but still one of the best films of it's kind ever made!!!!!!

TODAY'S PIC .......

The great poster art and comic book cover art for Creepshow!! One of the best movies ever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

My favorite James Bond Villian "Jaws" played by Richard Kiel who turned 71 on Sept. 13th and singer/actress Joey Heatherton who turned 66 on Sept. 14th.

SONY ON DEMAND

Well it seems that Sony is getting into the Burn-On-Deman business by offering a lot of cool titles for $19.95 per movie. Titles include Jungle Moon Men, Night The World Exploded, 27th Day and many, many more. Check them out.
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/columbiaclassics/the-films/?filter=mod

SEE, I TOLD YOU SO

It seems like on of the best video companies ever is going out of business, and that is Code Red. I knew it was going to happen. very sad indeed.

RIP......

Actor Kevin McCarthy passed away on Sept. 11th at the age of 96. He died of natural causes. McCarthy starred in such plays as Death of A Salesman. His portrayal in the 1951 film earned him an Oscar nomination. He is probably best remembered by genre film fans for appearing in the 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and 1981's The Howling, also the 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and 1978's Piranha.

A true class actor and always the gentleman.

All I can say is thanks kevin for making my movie memories great ones. RIP.

TODAY'S PIC .......

A great pic of the brain sucking monster from Fiend Without A Face.

A NEW BOOK...

A new book is out for all you Night Of The Living Dead fans. it's called... Night Of The Living Dead, Behind the Scenes Of The Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever Made and it's by Joe Kane.
This is a fascinating book that covers almost everything you have ever wanted to know and then some. It includes to original screenplay by John Russo. I highly recommend this book.

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (TRI STAR)

When this very well made Japanese monster fest was released in 1992 it caused some controversy because it was portrayed as anti-american which was a silly claim and forced the film to be held from release here in the US for a while.
Time travelers from the future come to earth to take Godzilla away with them, but they also plan to unleash King Ghidorah in his place in order to destroy Japan of 1992 for being a greedy country.
The special effects are top notch as always and I highly Recommend this film for all Godzilla fans.

TRACK OF THE VAMPIRE (MADACY)

This was my first introduction to patchwork filmmaking. This Roger Corman produced film is a patchwork of at least two different films and it is held together by footage shot by director Stephanie Rothman and Jack Hill.
An artist is actually a vampire who stalks and kills those women that he paint. Very odd, but well worth a look and a cast which includes William Campbell, Sig Haig, Linda Saunders and Sandra Knight.

ATOMIC SUBMARINE (CRITERION)

I love this great little 50's sci-fi film from director Spencer Bennett!! An atomic submarine is sent under the arctic ice to find out the cause of several disasters involving ships and subs being destroyed. What they find is a cyclops-like alien in a living space ship that is planning an invasion of earth.
Arthur Franz stars along with Brett Halsey, Tom Conway and Dick Foran as the sub crew and scientists and sexy Joi Lansing has a small part as a young woman that Franz spends time with only to be told his leave in cancelled.
Simply a great movie with a great cast and monster.

TODAY'S PIC .......

A zombie eats a leg in this scene from my film Tales Of The Damned.

TERROR WITHIN (CONCORDE)

Excellent flick about some of the last survivors of a chemically induced plague who must live underground and fight hideous mutants they call gargoyles. Andrew Stevens and George Kennedy head the cast but it is the monsters that are a sight to behold.
This Roger Corman produced film features incredibly ugly and vicious monsters known as gargoyles with their hideous skin and huge jaws and many, many sharp teeth are the real stars. Good action sci-fi film that really delivers the goods. Recommended!!

ROBO VAMPIRE (VIDEOASIA)

Weird offbeat film about drug lords fighting the police and a policeman who is shot and killed an brought back to life as a robocop who, besides fighting the drug lords also happens to fight a bunch of hopping vampires who have been returned to life.
The action is non-stop action and is actually two movies edited into one feature which makes for a lot of confusion. If you like chop socky efforts and hopping vampire movies, I have to say this is for you.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Just released from Warner Archives are the following:
The System (1953) film noir starring Frank Lovejoy and Joan Weldon
This Side Of The Law (1950) Tense thriller with Viveca Lindfors and Kent Smith
Betrayed (1944) Film noir that made Robert Mitchum a star and directed by William Castle.
The Gangster (1947) Excellent film noir starring Barry Sullivan.
High Wall (1947) Film noir gem starring Robert Taylor and Audrey Totter
Bunco Squad (1950) crime drama starring Dante The magician
Animal World (1956) Finally available!!!!!! This irwin Allen documentary on prehistoric times features some of the best film work of master animator Ray Harryhausen!!!

Visit http://www.wbshop.com/ for details. Click the Warner Archive link once you get to the site.

CHAINED HEAT 2 (NEW LINE)

An in title only sequel to the original , this stars Brigette Nielsen as the warden in a women's prison in the Czech Republic who has women framed for smuggling drugs so she can have more inmates for her protitution ring. The judge that does the sentencing is a sadist who enjoys torturing the women in his secret little room in the jail.
I have read a lot of negative press on this film, but it really has everything this kind of picture should have.
Paul Koslo is the crooked American Embassy worker who is involved with prostitution as much as the warden. I worked with Paul on Heaven's Gate and he is an interesting man, and has he had a varied career.
Recommended.

ALONE IN THE DARK (IMAGE)

There is a Ewe Boll film out by the same name and that one is a piece of junk, this is the real deal directed by Jack Shoulder and starring Martin Landau and Jack Palance as two of the four insane people who escape from an asylum when the power goes out and go on a killing spree in a small town and finally end up at their doctors house where the terror really begins.
Donald Pleasense stars as the head of the Asylum and sometimes he proves himself to be worse than the inmates. Landau and Palance were just coming off of co-starring in another great little film called Without Warning and the play about the same characters here.
A great movie with some genuine scares. it is rather hard to find on DVD, but if you find it keep it and watch it over and over. Recommended!!

TODAY'S PIC .......

The original poster for one of my all time favorite films, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein from 1957.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Actress Susan Blakely turned 58 on September 7th and Angie Everhart turned 41, Gloria Gaynor turned 61, Dario Argento turned 70 and Alan Steel (Hercules) turned 75.

RAMBLINGS....

Just wanted to throw something out here for everyone. I just wasnt to know your opinion about people who have nothing good to say about new releases coming to DVD. In the years since the internet things have changed a lot.
When VHS was king I remember when some cult films were anounced as "coming soon" there was an air of excitment in the air by people who had never seen them. Now with the advent of the internet it seems the "Fan Boys" have taken over and every new released that is genre related they bitch and hollar about.
"There aren't enough extras" or some such garbage spews from their limited vocabularies. It seems these people are NEVER happay about new releases and always complain.
Is this true, or is it just me? Are today's "fans" too spoiled by all this high tech crap to fully appreciate some of these great little films coming to DVD even if they don't have tons of extras or are in HD?? Leave your comments and I will answer you here. Thanks.

TODAY'S PIC .......

This is the poster for Foxy Brown starring lovely Pam Grier.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Looks like Severin will be releasing the rare classic Crucible Of Terror on Oct. 12th. This has been out on VHS many times, but always in terrible, cut bootlegs. This is taken from the only known uncut 35mm print loaned to Severin from the Bodmin Moor Coven!! This stars Mike Raven a former DJ and occultist in England who wanted to be a horror star so badly, but it never did work out.
This is the film in which Raven is most remembered for. Here he plays a sculptor who is insane as he becomes obsessed with the perfect female model and this leads to sex, sorcery and bloody murder. If you like 70's horror this is the ticket.

TODAY'S PIC .......

Some of the bizarre aliens in the Mexican film Ship Of Monsters.

MIGHTY PEKING MAN (MIRAMAX)

What a treat!! A giant ape man is captured in the jungle and brought to Hong Kong along with a sexy blonde whom he cares for and who was just a child when her parents died in a plane crash. Evelyne Kraft plays the blonde and the rest of the cast in unknown to any of us here in the US unless you follow Shaw Brothers films, which I do.
The effects are not up to par with Toho, but this is still and incredible and fun film that shouldn't be missed. Check it out and you'll not be disappointed. Much like King Kong in the ending.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) who turned 37 on Sept. 5th, Raquel Welch turned 70 the same day and Bob Newhart turned 81.

FLYING SAUCER (IMAGE)

This is the first film about flying saucers and for that it is historic. Independent actor/producer Mikel Conrad stars as a reporter sent to uncover the story of a flying saucer that has been sighted flying around the world.
He ends up in Alaska and finds Russians also looking for the saucer. The film is very slow moving at points and hard to watch, but it can be fun if you have 72 minutes to kill.
It is worth a look since it was the first film dealing with a topic that would dominate sci-fi films for the rest of the decade.

LOGAN'S RUN (WARNER)

Odd but interesting film about a future society where people must end their life at 30 at a bizarre ritual called Carrousel where they are supposedly reborn.
Michale York stars as Logan 5, a sandman authorized to terminate runners fleeing Carrousel. He finds himself in a tight spot when he turns 30 and must also flee, but there is a neat twist to all of this that I will not spoil for those of you who haven't seen the film.
Jenny Agutter stars as Logan's girlfriend and Peter Ustinov is an old man they discover living in the workld outside their domed city.
This is an effective and poetic film. Check it out sometime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Beyonce Knowles who turned 29 on Sept. 4th.