CRACK IN THE WORLD 1965 (OLIVE) BLU-RAY

A somewhat overlooked sci-fi gem.

Yes, I have reviewed this before, but I love this film and finally saw the Blu-ray edition from Olive.

Dana Andrews stars in this wonderful film as a scientist who is trying to harness energy from magma under the crust of the earth.

He plans to shoot a nuclear missile thru the crust in order to get to that treasured source. Kieron Moore is a young scientist who objects to the plan an tires to no avail to stop it.

At first all seems to go well, but then reports come in about severe earthquakes around the globe, and it is learned that a crack has started to develop around the world. A plan is put in motion to stop it.

Beautiful Janette Scott never looked lovelier than she does in this film. Her character is married to Dana Andrews who rejects her due to his illness and his work, and that is something I just don't get, but hey don't all these scientist types in these films neglect beautiful woman?

The Blu-ray is damn near flawless in picture and sound. The sound on this will really blow you away. If you love sci-fi films, I recommend this little gem. I feel sometimes it is overlooked and I don't know why. Check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

France Nuyen is 77, and Lane Davies is 66.

MISTRESS OF THE WORLD 1960 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Odd but enjoyable little film.

William Dieterle directed this obscure film about a Swedish scientist who has developed a top secret formula who is kidnapped by enemy agents.

The story takes us to many different parts of the world including Naples, Thailand and much more as agents seek to find the missing scientist.

His daughter is played by the very beautiful Martha Hyer and she does well as she did in every role she had. This is a color production and in some scenes the color is washed out, but that is no big deal.

Sabu is also on hand as the scientist's trusted partner who must take the secret formula to a very safe hiding place. Lots of gunfights and the usual espionage hi-jinks, but a very fun film that runs almost two hours.

Thanks to Sinister Cinema this can once again be unspooled for the masses.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Jaime Pressly is 39, Vivica A. Fox is 52, Peter Bogdanovich is 77, and Monique Gabrielle is 53.

GODZILLA 2000 (SONY) BLU-RAY

This review is the Japanese version of the film.

This film ignores all of the previous films and has Godzilla returning and battling a mysterious spaceship that actually turns out to be a weird looking monster from outer space.

The scenes of destruction are magnificent and very well done. The monster is again very cool looking and the battle of the monsters is breathtaking.

The Blu-ray from Sony has both the US and Japanese versions and it was the Japanese version I am talking about here. I saw the US version in theaters many years ago and was the only adult there.

The disc is excellent and the entire presentation is top notch. it's a pretty straight forward film and there is a small plot, but it's back to the Godzilla type films we all knew as kids. I can easily recommend this for and fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

David Warner is 75, Robert Fuller is 83, Roz Kelly is 74, Tina Krause is 46, and Scott Steiner is 54.

GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE 1989 (ECHO BRIDGE) BLU-RAY

Well structured Godzilla film.

This is a fun Godzilla film where the king of monsters fights a weird plant-like monster.

It starts when a scientist combines the cells of a rose with those of Godzilla and manages to create a monster the likes of which has never been seen before.

The plant monster is a great Toho creation and looks pretty good. It and Godzilla battle for world domination as Tokyo and most of Japan are destroyed.

This film has a lot of top notch special effects as only the Japanese can do them and it makes for a great time. This also has an interesting sub plot about terrorists who unleash Godzilla from his volcanic lair in order to force the Japanese government to give them a secret formula.

The character of psychic Miki Saegusa is also introduced in this film, and the character would follow in the next few Godzilla films.

The Blu-ray looks fantastic and the sound will blow you away. I can't see any Godzilla fan not having this in their collection. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Elizabeth Berkley is 44, Nina Axelrod is 61, and Lisa Gastoni is 81.

GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND 1978 (KRAKEN)

This was first reviewed here a couple of years ago and that was when I last saw it. Now I decided to kick off a mini series of Godzilla reviews with this one....one more time.

This has been hailed as one of the worst Godzilla movies of the 70's and I used to agree. However, over the years of watching this film I have grown more and more fond of it.

Alien cockroaches have come to Earth with the intent of taking over and they enlist the help of Ghidorah and Gigan to do just that.

The aliens use human disguises and are deceiving people by working on a monster theme park for children, which is actually a head quarters. Angorus and Godzilla come from monster island to fight the aliens and their monsters.

There is a ton of stock footage from other Godzilla films and that kind of hurts the movie if you've seen any other Godzilla movies. The alien sub plot is good and I like the idea of alien roaches.

The monsters are all cool, especially Gigan who makes his debut here. The actual title foe the film was "Godzilla Vs. Gigan" but it was changed for US release. The Blu-ray is stunning and much better than this film has ever looked.

This is something I would recommend to Godzilla fans only, but still a fun film, even if it has the infanous moments when Godzilla and Angorus actually talk!! Check it out.

Tomorrow I will be looking at one of two Godilla Blu-ray that I haven't discussed here before in that format.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Lupita Tovar is 106.

RAMBLINGS.....

As most of you have noticed, I haven't posted a lot of movie reviews here lately.

That will be changing soon I hope. My main supplier of titles has gone out of business and so now I have to find other sources. I will have the problem solved very soon.

I will be reviewing some Godzilla blu-ray's here shortly starting with a film I reviewed a couples of years ago an then a couple of new ones.

Thanks for all of your support, and comments. Things will be back to semi-normal here soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Linda Harrison is 71, Susan George is 66, Celeste Yarnall is 72, Lorna Gray is 99, and Suzanna Leigh is 71.

SCARECROWS 1988 (MGM)

Strange, but very interesting horror film.

A group of daring bank robbers hijack a plane and force the father and daughter to fly them to Mexico, but they have a serious problem when one of their own jumps from the plane with the 3 million dollars.

Bert lands in a field near a farmhouse and finds that is has a lot of scarecrows around. While his com-padres are looking for a place to land the plane, Bert finds the scarecrows are not what they seem. When the others land and start looking for him and the money, they get much more than they ever bargained for.

All of the horror takes place on one very long and dark night, and I have to admit that they scarecrows are some of the creepiest monsters I have seen in a movie for a long time. There are some gory shocks in this film and they are pulled off very well.

When this came out in 1988 it was ignored and yet it's actually one of the best horror films of the period. Director William Wesley was practically a one man show because he also produced and wrote the film.

If you want a good scare late at night, put this little thriller on and watch. I guarantee it will scare you or at least give you the willies. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Jennifer Lopez is 47, Lynda Carter is 65, Torrie Wilson is 41, Mark Goddard is 80, and Heidi Kristoffer is 34.

COMING ATTRACTIONS......

Some very good news for horror and sci-fi fans....

Shout Factory has announced many titles coming to Blu-ray starting in November and there are some long awaited films coming out.

The best in my opinion are Willard (1971) and it's sequel Ben (1972). These two films have been on my want list for a very long time. Willard has never had any kind of release in this country.

Other releases include Black Christmas (1974), Rabid (1977), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002). These are just some of the remarkable titles coming from a company that continues to surprise everyone.

The rest of the list includes Poltergeist 2 and 3, Slumber Party Massacre 2 and 3, Dreamscape, Dead Ringers and Dead Of Winter.

Looks like a good fall/winter lineup from Shout. More to come later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Charisma Carpenter is 46, Ronny Cox is 78, Lydia Cornell is 63, Gloria DeHaven is 91, and Erika Blanc is 74.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Erica Gavin is 69, Tisa Farrow is 65, Shawn Michaels is 51, and Mary Collinson is 64.

RIP BILL CARDILLE 1928-2016

A true legend has died.

The man who hosted Chiller Theater, Studio Wrestling and appeared in the original Night Of The Living Dead has died.

Bill Cardille was and will always be a Pittsburgh icon. Being a child in the Pittsburgh area was a real treat for monster kids in the 60's 70's and 80's as "Chilly Billy" would bring some interesting films to his TV show.

Cardille was also friends with filmmaker George Romero who put him in the original "Night Of the Living Dead" as a reporter and as himself.

With his passing an era of innocence and fun has ended. This makes me very sad. A friend is gone and I really don't know what else to say.

THE MIGHTY GORGA 1969 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

Thanks to the late, great Mike Vraney this film is saved forever.

It has been almost five years since I wrote about this film or saw it and I watched this the other day and figured it is time for an update.

Anthony Eisley is a circus owner whose show is slowly going bankrupt. A big corporation wants to buy him out and he refuses. He hears of a huge gorilla living in Africa and sets off to find him.

In Africa he meets a young woman in much the same trouble as he is and they form a partnership to find the giant gorilla called Gorga.

Eisley and Kent Taylor plus Scott Brady turn in ok acting performances, but the rest of the cast...oh my. Megan Timothy is April Adams and she flubs a lot of lines and what amazes me is that they didn't even cut those and do retakes!! After putting up with a lot of trekking thru phony African jungles we finally meet the tribe who worship Gorga, and what a pathetic lot they are.

They look more like Aztecs and their leader is played by the same actor who also plays a clown at the beginning of the film.And his delivery of lines is about as bad as anything I have ever heard. When we finally see Gorga it is very apparent that this is a dime store gorilla mask whose eyes never blink or move and is made of hard plastic!!

It only gets better. There is a titanic fight between Gorga and a prehistoric monster that easily ranks as the WORST monster fight in screen history. First you have Gorga and then you have a small plastic dinosaur and the filmmakers don't even bother to hide that fact. This part of the movie has to be seen to be believed!!

A friend named Scott Lawrence sent me this film on VHS many years ago when it ran on Elvira's Movie Macabre, and I will NEVER forget it. This movie is a laugh riot and that is not a slam. Director David Hewitt has made some interesting films, and this is probably my favorite.

If you haven't seen this wonder, I suggest you do soon. It is still available and waiting for you to find it. Be warned, you may never laugh so hard at a film as you do this one. The technical marvels of this film would fill a three page review so I will stop here.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Ike Eisenmann is 54, and Adrienne King is 61.

RIP LISA GAYE 1935-2016

Movie fans have lost another legend.

Lisa Gaye, the ever beautiful actress of such classic films as "Rock Around The Clock", "Shake, Rattle and Rock", "Face Of Terror" and "Night Of Evil" plus many more has passed away at the age of 81.

I have many of her film and TV performances on DVD and simply loved seeing her in anything. Her career started in 1954 with a small appearance in "The Glenn Miller Story" and ended in 1970 after appearing on "The Mod Squad" show. She retired after that to raise her daughter.

Gaye is survived by her sister, the equally beautiful Debra Paget. I really enjoyed her work and will miss her, but the legacy of the gorgeous Miss Gaye will live forever.

ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE 1960 (TREELINE)

Another film it has been a long time since I've seen it.

Rik Van Nutter stars as a newspaper man who is on a space journey with astronauts to get a story, and they treat him as a "parasite" as one of the crew members refers to him.

All seems to be going well until an runaway spaceship called Alpha Two enters the solar system with it's photon generators emitting enough heat to destroy the Earth.

After many ways to stop the ship has failed it falls on the reporter, named Peterson to try and get aboard the ship, disarm the generators and escape before suffocating from lack of air.

This is not too bad of a film, but it has fallen thru the cracks and has only appeared on numerous 50 movie sets and some companies like Sinister Cinema. This isn't a knock against any of these companies kind you.

I enjoyed seeing this again, and if you haven't seen it in a while check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Diana Rigg is 78, Lola Albright is 91, and Camille Keaton is 69.

PREHISTORIC WOMEN 1950 (TREELINE)

I haven't seen this film is ages.

Laurette Luiz stars as Tigri, a member of an all female tribe that sets out to find mates in this bizarre caveman/woman films from Alliance Productions.

Allan Nixon is Engor the leader of a small tribe of men who are out hunting one day and are suddenly captured by Tigri and her women.

A narrator holds the story together since there is basically no dialogue. There are no dinosaurs in this film but there is a Mammoth, a weird flying monster and Guadi, a huge man-monster that goes around capturing and killing the stone age people for no reason. Guadi is played by Johann Pertusson who in real life was an Icelandic actor who stood 7ft. 4in. and was popular in carnivals and such.

Most all of the cavewomen look like fashion models, but I wouldn't complain about that. Luiz does an ok job in the lead role as do Joan Shawlee, Judy Mandon and Mara Lynn.

All ends well with the men and women falling in love, getting married in a primitive ceremony and starting their own tribe. The film is unique as it is in color, which was usually reserved for bigger budgeted movies of the time. The print is ok, but sadly the night scenes are very dark and I do wish i could find a better print.

Just shut off your mind and watch this little film...you'll probably enjoy it. I know I did, and besides, Laurette Luiz has always been one of my favorite actresses. I wish her career had been bigger.