INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTERS 1966 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

A childhood favorite gets a gorgeous Blu-ray treatment from Criterion.

Nick Adams and Akira Takarada stars as two astronauts, Glen and Fuji respectively who land on a mysterious moon of Jupiter and discover a race of aliens living in terror.

What has therm living in fear and underground? Well it turns out that a monster they call Zero has made their lives a living hell for sometime. The monster they speak of is none other than King Ghidorah.

The aliens ask for permission to obtain Godzilla and Rodan to battle Ghidorah and in exchange they will give the Earth a cure for cancer. Earth agrees and they soon find that they have been duped and the aliens are going to use the monsters to conquer the Earth and rule it as a colony.

Top scientists and the astronauts try to find a way to fight the control the aliens have over the monsters, and eventually they succeed. This is a classic monster bash from 1965 and it wasn't released here in the USA until 1970 which was two years after star Adams was already dead. The US title is "Monster Zero".

This was the second Godzilla film I had ever seen as a child an it has remained a favorite ever since. It's a great 60's retro sci-fi trip and it also stars the gorgeous Kumi Mizuno who is unforgettable as the alien female in love with Glen.

The presentation from Criterion is excellent as always and the rousing opening music from Akira Ifukube is an all time classic. This Showa set is a top release of 2020. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Clint Eastwood is 90, and Brooke Shields is 55.

THE UNSTOPPABLE MAN 1961 (SINISTER CINEMA)

A very obscure film starring Cameron Mitchell.

He stars as James Kennedy, a very wealthy business man whose dealing with a lot of issues at work and also taking care of his young son.

His sister Helen (Lois Maxwell) takes the child for a walk one afternoon and two thugs role up in a car and kidnap the child. They of course have a ransom demand and Scotland Yard want Kennedy to let them handle the case.

Kennedy takes matters into his own hands and he, along with his staff track the kidnappers all over London. Kennedy has his own way of wanting to deal with the kidnappers, especially after they up the ransom demand.

He decides to use a fire throwing weapon on the criminals after he discovers where they are hiding out and keeping his son.

This is a short film, running only 68 minutes and it does hold your interest. I had never heard of this movie until I received it from Sinister Cinema. There isn't much information on this anywhere I can find.

I really love obscure films like this, and Sinister is the place to find a lot of them. If you enjoy oddball films, then you'll probably like this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Stephen Tobolowsky is 69, Ruta Lee is 85, and Jake Roberts is 65.

ASYLUM OF SATAN 1972 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

One of my favorite movies I finally got to see again after almost 12 years.

William Girdler directed this shot in Kentucky regional thriller about a very strange hospital.

A young woman named Lucina Martin (gorgeous Carla Borelli) is brought to a private asylum to be treated by a mysterious doctor named Specter ( Charles Kissinger). She has no memory of how she got there and immediately things get weird.

Nobody answers her questions and soon the patients start dying in strange ways. There is a mute man who is decapitated, a blind girl is killed when snakes are released in the pool she is swimming in and there are other deaths as well.

Lucina tries to find a way out and soon her boyfriend comes to the Asylum, and is met with hostility. He goes to an inspector with the police department and slowly starts to unravel the mystery.

It turns out the Specter is a devil worshiper and Lucina is being groomed to become a virgin sacrifice. The ending is an incredible twist that might have your jaw hit the floor.

This is nothing but fun drive in fodder and damn, Borelli is stunning to look at. The $50,000 budget really shows, but that is part of the charm of this kind of movie.

I hadn't seen this film since around 2008 and finally ran across it again. It was just as entertaining as the first time I saw it. Hard to find this film these days, but if you can, I would recommend you check it out. AND YOU HAVE TO LOVE THE TAG LINE FOR THE MOVIE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Anita Strindberg is 82, and Sirry Steffen is 82.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Carroll Baker is 89, Gladys Knight is 76, Kevin Van Hentenryck is 67, and Morgan Fox is 50.

A VIEW TO A KILL 1985 (MGM)

This film marked the end of Roger Moore playing the suave spy.

A lot of people are undecided if this was a good entry in the series, but I found it to be excellent.

The skiing opening sequence reminded me of the 1977 Bond gem entitled "The Spy Who Loved Me" and it is a well mounted sequence. With the discovery of a microchip on the body of a dead spy, Bond is lead into a very unusual case.

The microchip leads Bond to industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) who has a plan of taking over the entire world computer market by destroying Silicone Valley.

Zorin plans to do this by triggering the San Andreas fault and bringing about a huge earthquake. Walken's character of Zorin is made even more interesting with the fact that he is a product of Nazi genetic engineering and has high intellect but is also a psychopath.

Zorin's helper in his plans is also his lover called Mayday (Grace Jones) whose screen presence is unquestionably top notch. Mayday does turn on Zorin in the end after she comes to realize that he only used her to forward his plans.

This is not as bad of a film as people say, but everyone has their own opinion. The movie is fast paced, and the Golden Gate Bridge sequence is one of the best in any Bond film. The title song is sung by Duran Duran.

The rest of the cast includes gorgeous Tanya Roberts as a young woman trying to fight Zorin because she knows his plans, Patrick Macnee, David Yip and Allison Doody.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lee Mweriwether is 85, Linnea Quigley is 62, Natalie Neidhart is 38, and Eric Bischoff is 65.

GHIDORAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER 1965 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

One of my all time favorite Japanese monster movies!!

This is, of course, the first film appearance of the legendary title monster in Japanese monster cinema.

There are several interesting plots working at one time in the wonderful film from Toho Studio. A young woman named Naoko (Yuriko Hoshi) is working on a TV show about strange events in the 20th century. Her brother is a detective (Yosuke Natsuki) and he is assigned to protect a princess from a very small country who is coming to visit Japan.

The Princess (the very beautiful Akiko Wakabayashi) jumps off of her plane just seconds before it explodes and she is presumed dead. Very soon a mysterious woman claiming to be from Venus arrives and starts telling the people of Earth they are in danger. Naoko becomes interested and tries to interview her.

While all this is going on there is a meteor shower and several of the meteors make it to Earth. Also the small country which the Princess used to rule sends a group of assassins to Japan to make sure she is dead because the Venusian woman looks just like her. Before you know it one of the meteors breaks opens and gives "birth" to Ghidorah.

The Venusian woman tries to warn Earth that this monster also destroyed her planet and that they must fight or die. Two two fairies from Infant Island arrive and Mothra is the first to challenge the three headed dragon and gets whooped big time. Rodan and Godzilla join Mothra to fight for the Earth. In the meantime Detective Shindo is shot trying to save the Princess/Venusian.

Will the three Earth monsters get rid of Ghidorah? Will the assassins kill the princess? Damn I love this movie, especially in it's original Japanese version which is presented here from Criterion in a beautiful and very colorful print.

This is a textbook example of how the Japanese were making monster movies back in the glorious 60's. It has multi-level plots and plenty of monster fun. What more could a true monster movie fan ask for?? Monsters, assassins, aliens and a romance plot about a love that could never be. Yep, this is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED movie.

All of the Criterion Showa Godzilla films are presented in their original versions with subtitles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Pam Grier is 71, Stevie Nicks is 72, Ingrid Goude is 83, and Olivia Pascal is 63.

RIP BARBARA DARROW 1931-2018

A very belated obit here.

I just learned that actress Barbara Darrow passed away on August 26th, 2018 at the age of 86.

Darrow acted in many TV shows including :Peter Gunn", "Love American Style" and "Alcoa Theater". She is best remembered by genre fans for appearing in "Monster That Challenged The World" as the beautiful young woman who is killed by the monster when she decides to go swimming against her mother's wishes.

She also appeared in "Queen Of Outer Space.

THE DUMMY 1976 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Another highly impressive episode of the TV series "Beasts" from the BBC.

This is a tale of an actor who plays a weird looking monster called The Dummy. Bernard Horsfall stars as Clyde Boyd, a very troubled man whose never gotten over the fact that his wife and child were stolen from him by a fellow actor.

During the filming of another installment of the film series he sees that the actor he hates on the set and has a severe nervous breakdown. The director and producer try and calm him down.

Horsfall does a great job of portraying an actor who has had enough of life. After he has calmed down a bit and filming resumes he "becomes" the monster he is portraying in the film and kills one actor while everyone else flees the sound stage and locks him in.

The police are called, and that is when the fun really begins as they have to try and figure out how to capture the monster. Thorley Walters appears as an absent minded actor and the lovely Patricia Haines stars as Boyd's wife who almost is killed by her ex-husband now turned monster.

Nigel Kneal wrote to story of course and it's a great one. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good horror story with a human side and a couple of interesting twists.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Leslie Uggams is 77, Ann Robinson is 91, and Reiko Ike is 67.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sybil Danning is 68, and Macey Estrella is 30.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY 1981 (MGM)

Roger Moore again stars as James Bond.

In this film, Bond is sent to rescue a highly secret communications device which is called A.T.A.C.

This top secret system disappeared when a British spy ship was sunk, and it puts Bond into a rush because they it seems that the Russians are also trying to find the device.

Complicating matters even more is the fact that Bond is now getting the help of a beautiful woman named Melina (Carole Bouquet) after her Greek millionaire father is killed by an unknown assassin.

Bond and Melina constantly cross paths on this mission and she actually saves Bond on several occasions. This is an interesting 007 movie, but it can't hold a candle to many of the ones that came before it. It's got plenty of action and adventure, but sometimes I noticed that there were a few missed opportunities.

I believe that the most remembered thing from this film by more fans is the opening title song "For Your Eyes Only" sung by the gorgeous Sheena Easton. It also is nice to see so many faces from early British horror films in the cast.

Everything else aside, if you're a Bond fan as I am then you'll enjoy this entry and find it a passable time killer. The rest of the cast includes Topol, Lynn Holly Johnson, Julian Glover and Lois Maxwell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joan Collins is 87, Cyb Barnstable is 69 and Patricia Barnstable is 69.

RAMBLINGS...

It's good to be "The King."

Yesterday something very unique happened, and it was very interesting. I got home from work and was killing time on Facebook when I got a private message from an actress friend of mine.

She said a guy got ahold of her on FB and he said he was a fan of mine and had been trying to find me. He wanted permission to talk with me and wasn't sure if he had the right Kevin on FB.

I told her to let him know all was good and he could contact me. Less than five minutes later he and I were chatting. Seems he had been trying to find me for over 7 years!! He had seen my movies entitled "Macabre Tales" and "Tales Of The Damned" and fell in love with them, but he could never find them again after VHS died out.

He asked if I had a VHS copy of both as he collects very off the wall films and had been searching for so long. I just happened to have two master tapes left and figured what the hell, I'll send them to him. He offered to pay for them, but I don't need to money so I just said I'd send them.

I admit I have only talked to one other person that was this obsessed with my movies. We had a very good talk and he even called me "The King" of ultra low budget horror. That blew me away. But, that being said, I now have a few interviews coming up with the guy for his magazine and it is such a humbling experience being remembered by anyone.

It's good to know that after 22 years, people still love the junk I made and now he is seeking out everything I ever had anything to do with. I hope he enjoys them when they arrive and if I get the time, I'll post the interviews here when they come out.

It's good to be "The King"....lol.

GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA 1963 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

The 4th Godzilla film to reach the states.

This was the final film in which Godzilla was an enemy of mankind.

In this outing a violent storm washes a gigantic egg ashore and a Japanese corporation takes ownership of it in hopes of making millions of yen off of it as a tourist attraction.

A reporter, Ichiro Sakai (Akira Takarada) is trying to get a story about the storm and runs afoul of the corporation and it's corrupt owners. Meanwhile Godzilla and is threatening to again destroy Tokyo. Sakai and his photographer are asked by a pair of very small women for help in getting the egg back to where it belongs.

These two women are inhabitants of Infant Island. We and Sakai discover that the island has been all but destroyed due to heavy radiation and the people that live there are now very hostile towards the outside world. The island is also the home to a giant moth called Mothra, and it is her egg that has washed ashore in Japan.

Sakai takes a trip to the island and discovers that it's has many problems including heavy radiation and a few mutants running around. Mothra attempts to battle Godzilla. but is not strong enough.

Soon the egg hatches and twp giant caterpillars emerge and give Godzilla a run for his money. After a long battle the caterpillars cover Godzilla in a web and throw him off of a cliff.

The fairies and larvae head back to Infant Island and all seems quiet, at least until the next installment. The presentation is stunning on this film and it again looks better than anything else I have seen.

I can't see any Godzilla fan not liking this movie, or the entire set for that matter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbara Parkins is 78, and Marilyn Joi is 75.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE 1969 (MGM)

This is considered the "red headed stepchild" of James Bond films.

George Lazenby takes on the role of Bond when Sean Connery decided he no longer wanted to play the super spy.

In this outing Bond dates the daughter of a mob boss in order to infiltrate the highly secret headquarters of international crime lord Blofeld played by Telly Savalas.

The mob boss Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) arranges for Bond to meet his daughter Tracy (Diana Rigg) and after a bit of a rocky start they begin to fall for each other in a much deeper way than was expected.

Meanwhile Bond has infiltrated the Blofeld headquarters located in the Swiss Alps and soon learns of the insidious plans Blofewld has for world domination.

This movie is usually dismissed by Bond fans as being the worst, but that simply isn't true. Lazenby does well with the role, and the plot is a little bit different than other films in the series. It also shows a more human side to Bond, the side we have never been shown in his love for Tracy.

Ilse Steppat in the role of Irma Bunt is not soon forgotten, and it is her character that forever changes Bond when she kills his wife. Savalas does an excellent job as Blofeld and the rest of the cast includes series regulars Desmond Llewelyn as "Q", Lois Maxwell as "Moneypenny" and Bernard Lee as "M".

The others in the cast are Virginia North, Yuri Borienko, Catherine Schell, Julie Ege and Sylvana Henriques. If you haven't seen this film and you are a James Bond fan, you really should check it out and see something a little bit different.

RIP KEN OSMOND 1943-2020

Eddie Haskell has passed away.

Ken Osmond will always be known as Eddie Haskell from "Leave It To Beaver", how ever he had a somewhat interesting career outside of his role on that show.

His first credited role was in the TV show "Screen Directors Playhouse" in 1955. From then on he appeared in such TV series as "The Loretta Young Show", "Annie Oakley", and "Wagon Train".

In 1957 he landed the Haskell role and never looked back. He retired from acting and became a policeman until he was forced to retire after being shot three times at various times in the line of duty.

For those of us that grew up watching him as the smooth talking truant, Eddie Haskell, it is that legacy that will stay with us forever. Ken passed away on May 18th, 2020 at the age of 76. Just a couple of weeks shy of his 77th b-day.

KING KONG VS. GODZILLA 1962 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

This is the 3rd installment of Godzilla films from Toho.

This film was released in 1963 in the USA by Universal and they added new scenes as well as chopping the original movie up and adding several Universal library music tracks.

There is a Japanese version of the film as well, and it will be reviewed later as it is on the extras disc and it will be a while before I get to that one.

This entertaining entry is a clever take on TV advertising and the extent people will go to get ratings. After Godzilla sinks a US nuclear submarine in the Arctic and escapes from his icy prison, he heads for Japan.

In the meantime a famous TV show producer in Japan is trying to boost ratings on his show so he enlists two men to go to a small island named Odo to find out if rumors about a giant monster are true.

They do indeed find a monster there and it's, of course, King Kong and so they try and bring it back to Japan and are forbidden to do so. This leads to an epic monster battle in which Kong is the winner.

Director Ishiro Honda adds a lot of humor to the proceedings, and this really doesn't hurt the film at all. There are some great set pieces including the fight itself which includes a lot of pro wrestling moves such as arm drag takedowns and such. The cast handles the film well, and the US inserts aren't too bad this time around.

The print quality is the best I have ever seen for this film, and I suspect that is how every one of these Showa-Era Godzilla films will look from Criterion. A recommended gem of a monster movie. It was this film that finally had Toho make the decision of having a Godzilla movie every year. It made tons of money world wide.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Nancy Kwan is 81.

TARZANA THE WILD GIRL 1969 (SINISTER CINEMA)

What a bizarre yet fun film.

This is a rather interesting take off on the Tarzan legend with a new twist...well new at the time anyway.

Ken Clark stars as Glen Shipper, a hunter who is hired by a very wealthy man named Lord Donovan to find out if the rumors are true that his long lost daughter who everyone thought had died in an air crash with her parents 15 years ago is still alive.

Shipper takes up the expedition and soon we are off on a jungle trip. Also in the party is Doris (Franca Polesello) with whom Glen loves. They are beset by the usual jungle perils and after a lot of fist fights between Glen and other members of the party who want to turn back, they finally get a glimpse of Tarzana.

The gorgeous Femi Benussi is Tarzana who travels thru the jungle topless and has a strange power to communicate with the animals. She actually ends up following the expedition and in a rather amusing scene she tries on a blouse belonging to Doris and hates wearing clothes, much to the male viewers delight.

If you haven't seen this little gem yet, you should. It's nothing but escapist entertainment and Benussi is..well...delicious. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Diane McBain is 79.

RIP LISA SIMONE 1935-2020

Most of you probably don't remember this woman, but you have seen her before.

Her acting career lasted a scant 5 years, but she will always be remembered by many monster movie crazed kids as the young female lead in the 1959 classic "The Giant Gila Monster" and as one of the moon women in "Missile To The Moon".

She was born in Paris, France and her real name was Liliane Czajka. She was Miss France in 1957. Not much is known about her but she did leave her mark with 50's sci-fi film fans. She was 85.

10 YEARS HAVE GONE BY...

It's hard to believe so much time has passed so quickly.

On this day 10 years ago I started this little blog just to see what would happen, and now over 8000 posts later I am still here.

I want to say thanks to everyone who either follows this blog or just stops by to look at it. You're very much appreciated. How long will I continue this? I don't know at the moment, but if I ever decide to stop I'll post it here first, of course.

I still have a lot of movies to add to this blog. Some good, some bad, but all need to be posted about. Thanks again for your support over the years. My goodness, this is post number 8147!!!

REMEMBERING DONNA SUMMER

It was on this day in 2012 that we lost the "Queen Of Disco".

Donna was 63 when she passed away and a HUGE part of my music youth also died that day.

I have stated it before here that Donna was simply my all time favorite entertainer during the 70's and 80's. Her music still gets me thru almost every day and I never heard a song from her I didn't like.

I can't believe it has been 8 years already, but her legacy lives on, and will be with me until the day I pass away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Dawn Dunlap is 57, Joan Blackman is 82, and Deborah Dutch is 69.

GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN 1955 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

The follow up to the original Godzilla.

This fun little film was released in Japan in 1955 and proved to, again, be a financial winner.

A spotter of a Japanese fishing fleet has an accident and crashes on an island in the ocean. His friend comes to rescue him and they both find a couple of giant monsters battling each other.

When they arrive back home they inform the authorities and it turns out that Godzilla is alive and well, or at least another Godzilla and so is a strange beast called Anguirus.

Japan again rushes to protect itself from an attack by Godzilla, and they find they can lure him away from Osaka with flairs. This starts working, but the flairs actually draw Anguirus and so the two monsters battle and destroy most of Osaka.

There is an interesting sub-plot about the two pilots and the women they love and their bosses dedication to his employees. The music score isn't by Akira Ifukube this time and it kind of gets lost in the film, but it is not a detriment at all.

This movie was picked up by Warner Brothers in 1959 and pretty much destroyed. The title was changed to "Gigantis The Fire Monster" all of the music was changed to library stock and the dubbing was atrocious. It was from this point on that American audiences decided not to take Godzilla films seriously and they became targets for critics who said they were shoddy films.

With what I have stated above, this is the ONLY version to watch and Criterion has given it a beautiful presentation in their Showa-Era set. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Megan Fox is 34, Danny Trejo is 76, Janet Jackson is 54, and Jocelyn Lane is 83.