Music:
Saturday, October 17, 2020
PODCAST: "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) and (1962) - Universal and Hammer Studios! - Halloween 2020 w/ SimonUK and Ryan
Music:
Hammer Watch: Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Watch Party Watch: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
Monday, October 12, 2020
Hammer Watch: Dracula - Prince of Darkness (1966)
Watched: 10/09/2020
Format: DVD
Viewing: Second
Decade: 1960's
Director: Terence Fisher
PODCAST: "The Wolfman" (1941) and "Curse of the Werewolf" (1961) - Universal/ Hammer Halloween 2020 w/ SimonUK and Ryan
Watched: Wolf Man 09/26/2020 Curse of 09/27/2020
Format: BluRay/ Amazon Streaming
Viewing: Unknown/ Second
Decade: 1940's/ 1960's
Director: George Waggner / Terence Fisher
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Hammer Watch: The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Watched: 10/04/2020
Format: Amazon Streaming
Viewing: First
Decade: 1960
Director: Terence Fisher
Sunday, October 4, 2020
PODCAST: "Frankenstein" (1931) "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) and "Curse of Frankenstein" (1957) - Halloween 2020 w/ SimonUK and Ryan
Format: Amazon Streaming, BluRay
Viewing: Third, Unknown, Unknown
Decade: 1950's, 1930's
Director: Terence Fisher, James Whale
Halloween and Horror
Not That Spooky Watch: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Watch Party Watch: Vampire Circus (1972)
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
FRIDAY WATCH PARTY: Vampire Circus (1972)
Time: 8:30 Central
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Watch Party Watch: Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974)
I kinda like this goofy movie.
Hammer had the not-all-that-bad idea in a post-James Bond era to frame a new character as one of the disaffected antiheroes that had made their way into film. I am certain this was intended to be the first of several films starring Captain Kronos, but Hammer studios was on the verge of collapse and wsn't able to continue the adventures of the good Captain.
The movie is also - I learned - part of the Karnstein vampire saga which began with an adaptation of the 1872 novel Carmilla starring Ingrid Pitt and retitled The Vampire Lovers. As an alternative to the Dracula films, Hammer had found new angles on the Karnsteins across 3 films in 1970 - 71 before the incredibly iffy return of Drac in 1972.
This film sees a vampire that haunts the woods outside a remote village. The local doctor calls in a friend from "the war", an expert swordsman who pairs with a Van Helsing-like expert in vampire affairs to root out and eliminate the fiends (and in Hammer, especially, the vampires are not just misunderstood weirdos or X-Men with a blood addiction). Kronos is Hammer's version of a bad-motherf@#$er - chain smoking his way through the film, rescuing a grateful Caroline Munro from her small-minded fellow villagers and bringing her along for the inevitable sex scene and to fawn over him throughout the movie.
For their part, the vampire is draining young girls of their youth and essence. Meanwhile, clues start mounting up pointing at the wealthy rich family in town.
All in all, it's pretty straight-forward stuff. Hammer was looking to get a bit more action-adventure with their movies and maybe push their aging cast of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as the leads for young film fans to enjoy. It's actually a good enough formula that a smattering of non-Dracula vampire movies of the past thirty years have borrowed the idea of cool vampire hunters, from Vampire Hunter D to Vampire$ and a bunch I'm not thinking of. But - Blade the Vampire Hunter appeared in Marvel comics a year before this movie arrived in theaters. Pretty wild. Something was in the air.
The movie does include some swordplay, but it never quite reaches Errol Flynn-ness. And maybe suggested a cantina scene to a certain Mr. Lucas.
There's no, like, deeper themes to the movie. It's pretty straightforward, sets up Kronos and his pal and what their adventures look like, and then mic drops. If you're looking for something that does some good genre bending and is clearly having a good time doing it, sure!
PODCAST! "Dracula" (1931) and "Horror of Dracula" (1958) - Halloween 2020 w/ SimonUK and Ryan
Watched: 09/11/2020 and 09/12/2020
It's Halloween! This year SimonUK and Ryan are taking on the classics of horror from not just one - but two studios! We're starting with a monster that really sucks - our dear old pal, The Count! Join us as we talk two great takes on Dracula - from Universal and Hammer Studios, respectively - that cemented the character in the collective imagination and which still continue to thrill! Let's talk creepy castles, alluring monsters and rubber bats!
Music:
Horror of Dracula Main Theme - James Bernard
Halloween 2020 Playlist
All the Halloween and Horror
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Watch Party for Friday: The Monster Squad (1987)
Day: 08/28/2020
Time: 8:30 Central
Amazon Watch Party Link HERE
Look, I get the skepticism - but this movie has a huge cult following, and that's not by mistake.
I was going to hold off for Halloween, but this leaves Prime at the end of the month.
Monster Squad is about a group of monster-movie fans who realize that Dracula, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a Mummy have arrived in their small California town to... well, it's not friendly.
It's got a great version of all the Universal Monster staples, some good storylines, and answers one question you never thought to ask!
And under the make-up are some cult-favorite actors. Guys, it's @#$%ing Tom Noonan as Frankenstein's Monster. And Duncan Regehr is AMAZING as Dracula. And you'll be amazed at who plays Wolf Man.
Written by Shane Black, directed by Fred Dekker - I think you'll enjoy it.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Kaiju Watch: Son of Godzilla (1967)
Watched: 07/08/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: First (all the way through)
Decade: 1960's
Director: Jun Fukuda
Between you, me and the wall, I have been kind of dreading getting to these Godzilla films. I'm not necessarily a fan of Minilla, but I understand his place. Some of my first exposure to Godzilla was via the 1970's cartoon series which included "Godzooky", a character intended to appeal to the youths who was a doofus time sink taking away minutes from Godzilla fights.
We're only 13 years away from the amazing work of the original Gojira by this point, but as happens when kids glom onto a character, all the edges were knocked off (see: Mickey Mouse or Batman by 1940). Godzilla is a big goof who people are afraid like maybe you'd fear a giant cow, and the introduction of "Baby Godzilla" in this context is mostly about giving kids an avatar to project what it'd be like to hang out with Godzilla and learn how to use your own atomic breath.
I've never really been one for this line of thinking - I never wanted to be Robin if I could be Batman. I suspect I at least kinda liked Godzooky as a kid. A funny Godzilla was probably pushing the right buttons for me. But there is nothing cute or particularly funny about Minilla. In fact, he's kind of grotesque.
he looks like shirtless, toothless, old, fat man who can't find his slippers |
Our story is that several scientists have come to a remote, supposedly empty island to work on a weather control experiment that will somehow assist with resolving world hunger. This island is a popular napping spot for Godzilla. It also contains mantises the size of a human. The experiment goes kooky and radiates the island and the mantii grow to Godzilla sizes. Minilla hatches from an egg and in his original form looks like a tadpole mated with a cow patty. Its revolting and you kinda root for the mantises to make short work of the abomination.
But Godzilla shows up and saves him.
There's also a giant spider on the island (who is a dick). And a fetching island girl who is the sole survivor of an archaeological expedition that went on way too long.
This is also one the doofiest designs for Big G. And I don't even know what they were thinking.
what if an alligator and avocado fell in love? |
Anyway - this is the era I've been bracing for as its "Godzilla, Friend to the Children" time, and I soon need to watch stuff like All Monsters Attack, which I have never successfully navigated.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Stop Motion Watch: 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Watched: 07/07/2020
Format: TCM on DVR
Viewing: third
Decade: 1950's
Director: Nathan Juran w/ special fx by Ray Harryhausen
These days The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) is most famous for being part of the line of films with stop motion special FX by Ray Harryhausen, the great miniatures expert who is the direct line between King Kong and everything through Jurassic Park.
I dunno. It's a lot of fun! But - you know - in the unlikely event someone shrinks your beloved down to a 4" action figure size, I do not recommending putting her in a tiny box and then shoving it down your pants. That's just weird, Sinbad.
Friday, July 3, 2020
Kaiju Watch: Godzila and Mothra - The Battle for Earth (1992)
Watched: 07/01/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: First (somehow)
Decade: 1990's
Director: Takao Okawara
Do you like pointless Indiana Jones rip-offs? Confusing plot twists that come out of nowhere? Psychics? and our friends, the Twins/ Fairies/ Cosmos? Sad Japanese people talking about how we're all boned anyway, because we're destroying our own environment? Disappearing mullets? Plot threads that begin, are very important, and left unresolved? Most of all - do you like MOTHRA?
Well.
Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992) is here to deliver the goods.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Tweetalong Watch: (Spawn of) Slithis (1978)
Watched: 06/26/2020
Format: Amazon Streaming
Viewing: First
Decade: 1970's
Director: Stephen Traxler
Literally nothing happens for 97% of the movie. I hated everyone in it but the woman named "Jeff". Well, I also liked the monster.
But it is a movie named not after a monster, but after radioactive mud. Which. Come on, guys.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Kaiju Watch: Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Watched: 06/17/2020
Format: Criterion BluRay
Viewing: 4th? - for whatever reason, I've seen this a few times
Decade: 1960's
Director: Ishiro Honda
This one I've seen a few times and very much remember watching it as a kid on some local UHF channel. However, I think watching it with Japanese language subtitled to English may have changed a few details. I swear I thought this whole movie took place on Mars.
It does not.
Friday, June 12, 2020
Kaiju Watch: Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster (1964)
Watched: 06/10/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: second or third
Decade: 1960's
Director: Ishirō Honda
This movie is straight up nonsense and is, therefore, ideal.
January in Tokyo sees 82 degrees temperatures and an encephalitis epidemic. People are all about UFO's. A Princess is seeking asylum from her small country in Japan because (a) there is an assassination plot afoot before she can be coronated and (b) everyone is wearing Elizabethan collars and it is a fashion nightmare. The Faeries are touring Japan and appearing on gameshows?
Anyway - we get way, way into the movie before there's even a hint of kaiju. Instead, there's a plot about the princess jumping out of her plane before it explodes and then appearing in Tokyo possessed by a Venusian and predicting calamity (see: Ghidorah). A reporter and her brother are stepping on each other's toes. There's a hit squad of 4 very hep cats after the princess.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Kaiju Watch: Rebirth of Mothra/ Mothra Returns (1996)
Watched: 05/20/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: First
Decade: 1990's
Director: Okihiro Yoneda
So, this movie was insane.
Rebirth of Mothra/ Mothra Returns (1996) arrived with those kind of groovy Godzilla films where they were re-doing the earlier movies in a 90's context, and decided to expand the franchise with some Mothra solo flix. It just happened to be directed by a second unit director who maybe wasn't quite ready for his own picture?
The first half has this weird vibe like an American kids movies of the late 80's - squabbling parents, a bratty younger sister maybe? But then enter the Twins/ The Faeries from prior Mothra appearances. And they HAVE NAMES. (Mona and Lora. Who figured?) They also have a gothed out sister who went evil who rides around on a tiny dragon.