“Plan 9 from Outer Space” (originally titled “Grave Robbers from Outer Space”) is a 1959 American science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila “Vampira” Nurmi. The film bills Bela Lugosi posthumously as a star, although silent footage of the actor had been shot by Wood for other, unfinished projects just before Lugosi’s death in 1956. Continue reading “Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) [Science Fiction] [Horror]”
Tag: Horror
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) [Horror] [Sci-Fi]
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (also known as The Head That Wouldn’t Die) is a 1962 American science-fiction/horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. The film was completed in 1959 under the working title The Black Door but was not released until May 3, 1962, when it was renamed. The main plot focuses upon a mad doctor who develops a means to keep human body parts alive. He must eventually use his discovery on someone close to him, and chaos ensues.
The movie is about Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers), who saves a patient pronounced dead, but the senior surgeon, Cortner’s father (Bruce Brighton) condemns his son’s unorthodox methods and transplant theories.
While driving to his family’s country house, Cortner and his beautiful fiancée Jan Compton (Virginia Leith) get into a car accident that decapitates Jan. Cortner recovers her severed head and rushes to his country house basement laboratory. He and his crippled assistant Kurt (Leslie Daniels) revive the head in a liquid-filled tray. Jan’s new existence is agony, however, and she begs Cortner to let her die. He ignores her pleas, and she grows to resent him.
Cortner decides to commit murder to obtain a body for Jan. He hunts for a suitable specimen at a burlesque nightclub, on the streets, and at a beauty contest. She begins communicating telepathically with a hideous mutant, an experiment gone wrong, locked in a laboratory cell. When Kurt leaves a hatch in the cell door unlocked, the monster grabs and tears off Kurt’s arm. Kurt dies from his injuries.
Cortner lures an old girlfriend, figure model Doris Powell (Adele Lamont), to his house, promising to study her scarred face for plastic surgery. He drugs her and carries her to the laboratory. Jan protests Cortner’s plan to transplant her head onto Doris’s body. He tapes Jan’s mouth shut.
When Cortner goes to quiet the monster, it grabs Cortner through the hatch and breaks the door from its hinges. Their struggles set the laboratory ablaze. The monster (Eddie Carmel), a seven-foot giant with a horribly deformed head, bites a chunk from Cortner’s neck. Cortner dies, and the monster carries the unconscious Doris to safety. As the lab goes up in flames, Jan says, “I told you to let me die.” The screen goes black, followed by a maniacal cackle.
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Directed by Joseph Green, produced by Rex Carlton and Mort Landberg, written by Rex Carlton and Joseph Green, starring Jason Evers, Virginia Leith and Eddie Carmel.
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Source: “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 25 October 2016. Web. 22 November 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_That_Wouldn%27t_Die .
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The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy (1958) [Adventure] [Horror] [Science Fiction]
“The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy” (originally “La momia azteca contra el robot humano”) is an Mexican film directed by Rafael Portillo, starring Ramón Gay and Rosa Arenas. It blends elements of science fiction and horror. The film is the sequel to The Aztec Mummy and The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, both released earlier that year, and a large portion of the film consists of an extended recap of the first two entries in the series. The film is also known as “The Aztec Mummy Against the Humanoid Robot” or “Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot”.
The evil Dr. Krupp (Luis Aceves Castañeda), also known as “The Bat”, plots to steal a valuable Aztec treasure from the tomb of a centuries-old living mummy, Popoca (Angel di Stefani). Krupp builds a robot to defeat the mummy. Krupp’s former colleague Dr. Eduardo Almada (Ramón Gay) and associates work to stop the mad scientist from creating his robot.
The movie shows a notable lack of awareness of Mesoamerican civilizations, as it suggests the Aztecs practiced mummification and used hieroglyphics. In reality, they had no system of writing and practiced cremation and (more often) simple burial. It was the Inca civilization that practiced mummification, and the Maya who had a system of hieroglyphics. Also, the mummy is depicted in the Egyptian style (upright or lying on its back) rather than in the Inca style (hunched into a ball with its feet pulled to the body and its knees close to the face).
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Directed by Rafael Portillo, produced Guillermo Calderón, written by Guillermo Calderón (original story) and Alfredo Salazar (original story and adaptation), starring Ramón Gay as Dr. Eduardo Almada, Rosa Arenas as Flor Almada / Xochitl, Crox Alvarado as Pinacate, Luis Aceves Castañeda Dr. Krupp, Jorge Mondragón as Dr. Sepúlveda, Arturo Martínez as Tierno, Emma Roldán as Maria, the housekeeper, Julián de Meriche as Comandante Salvador Lozano, Jaime González Quiñones as Pepe Almada, Ángel Di Stefani as Popoca (the Mummy), Adolfo Rojas, Jesús Murcielago Velázquez as El Murciélago, Enrique Yáñez as Esbirro del Murciélago, Guillermo Hernández as Esbirro del Murciélago, Alberto Yáñez as Esbirro del Murciélago, Firpo Segura as Esbirro del Murciélago and Sergio Yañez as Esbirro del Murciélago.
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Source: “The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 5 April 2013. Web. 23 June 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robot_vs._The_Aztec_Mummy.
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Daughter of Horror (1955) [Film Noir] [Horror] [Mystery]
“Daughter of Horror” (also known in a slightly altered version as “Dementia”) is an American film by John Parker, incorporating elements of the horror film, film noir and expressionist film. It was produced in 1953, but not released until 1955.
A young woman awakens from a nightmare in a run down hotel. She leaves the building and wanders through the night, passing a newspaper man. The news headline “Mysterious stabbing” catches her eye, and she quickly leaves. In a dark alley, a whino approaches and grabs her. A policeman rescues her and beats up the drunken man. Shortly later, another man approaches her and talks her into escorting a rich man in a limousine. While they cruise the night, she remembers her unhappy youth with an abusive father, whom she stabbed to death with a switchblade after he had killed her unfaithful mother. The rich man takes her to various clubs and then to her noble apartment. As he ignores her while having an extensive meal, she tries to tempt him.
When he advances her, she stabs him with her knife and pushes the dying man out of the window. Before his fall, he grabs her pendant. The woman runs down onto the street and, as the dead man’s hand won’t relieve her pendant, cuts off the hand while being watched by faceless passerby’s. Again, the patrol policeman shows up and follows her. She flees and hides the hand in a flower girl’s basket. The pimp shows up again and drags her into a night club, where an excited audience watches a jazz band playing. The policeman enters the club, while the rich man, lying at the window, points out his murderess with his bloody stump. The crowd encircles the woman, laughing frantically. The woman wakes up in her hotel room, her encounters have supposedly been a nightmare. In one of her drawers, she discovers her pendant, clutched by the fingers of a severed hand. The camera leaves the hotel room and moves out into the streets, while a desperate cry can be heard.
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Directed by John Parker, produced by John Parker, Ben Roseman and Bruno VeSota (as Bruno Ve Sota), written by John Parker, starring Adrienne Barrett, Bruno VeSota (as Bruno Ve Sota), Ben Roseman and Angelo Rossitto.
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Source: “Dementia (film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 4 April 2013. Web. 29 May 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughter_of_Horror.
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Last Woman on Earth (1960) [Science Fiction] [Horror]
“Last Woman on Earth” is an American science-fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman. It tells the story of three survivors of a mysterious apocalypse which appears to have wiped out all human life on earth. The screenplay is by Robert Towne, who also appears in the film billed as “Edward Wain”.
Harold Gern (Antony Carbone), a successful businessman from New York who has been in a lot of legal trouble recently, is spending a holiday in Puerto Rico with his attractive wife Evelyn (Betsy Jones-Moreland), whom he married “between trials”. They are joined by Martin Joyce (Edward Wain), Gern’s friend and lawyer, who has come to discuss legal matters. Not in the mood to talk business, Gern invites him along on a boat trip during which all three try out some newly bought scuba diving equipment. When they resurface they realize to their astonishment that they are unable to breathe without using their oxygen tanks. They climb back into their boat and find Manuel, their servant, dead on board asphyxiated. Unable to start the engine, they row ashore. With 40 minutes worth of oxygen left they enter the jungle, where, due to the plants giving off oxygen, they can soon breathe normally again (and light a cigarette to calm their nerves).
Gradually it dawns upon the three that they might be the only survivors in the area, maybe in the world. They briefly speculate on what has happened (“an act of God … or bigger and better bombs”) but try to “keep that kind of talk to a minimum” and mainly concern themselves with becoming self-sufficient, for example by moving to a villa near the beach. The two men teach themselves how to fish as only animals that live in the water have survived but when they see insects again they realize that they must have survived inside their eggs. Accordingly, they feel that in the long run they will have to move North to a colder climate to avoid an insect problem and also problems with food preservation and to increase their chances of meeting other survivors.
Very soon the Gerns and Martin Joyce can no longer cope with the triangular situation. Although they still keep up appearances Evelyn is still wearing jewelry, and Harold Gern, a tie for their seafood dinners Martin points out to Gern that neither the latter’s marriage certificate nor his money mean anything any more. Evelyn feels attracted to the lawyer, who eventually tells her husband what he really thinks of him (“The way you made your money stank. And furthermore, Harold, you stink.”). After a short fistfight Martin pretends to be leaving the couple but at the last moment Evelyn hops into the car, and the two lovers drive off. Harold hotwires the other car and follows them. At the harbour another fight between the two men ensues during which Martin is fatally injured. The two survivors are left wondering where they will go or what they will do now.
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Directed by Roger Corman, produced by Roger Corman and Charles Hannawalt, written by Robert Towne, starring Betsy Jones-Moreland, Antony Carbone and Robert Towne (billed as Edward Wain).
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Source: “Last Woman on Earth” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 13 August 2012. Web. 31 August 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Woman_on_Earth.
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Attack Of The Giant Leeches (1959) [Science Fiction] [Horror]
“Attack of the Giant Leeches” is a low-budget 1959 Science Fiction film from American International Pictures. It was directed by Bernard L. Kowalski, produced by Gene Corman, and the screenplay was written by Leo Gordon. The film is in black and white, and runs for 62 minutes. It was one of a spate of monster movies produced during the 1950s in response to cold war fears; in the film a character speculates that the no-no leeches have been mutated to terrible giant size by atomic radiation from nearby Cape Canaveral.
This film was also called Attack of the Blood Leeches, Demons of the Swamp, The Demons of the Swamp, and War of the Giant Leeches.
In the Florida Everglades, a pair of larger-than-human, intelligent leeches are living in an underwater cave. They begin dragging local people down to their cave where they hold them prisoner and slowly drain them of blood. One of the first people to be so taken is the local vixen, Liz Walker, played by Yvette Vickers. After a couple of gratuitous displays of flesh (Yvette appeared as the centerfold in the July 1959 issue of Playboy), and some running around on her husband (Bruno VeSota), Liz finds herself a prisoner of the leeches along with her current paramour. Game warden Steve Benton (Ken Clark) sets out to investigate their disappearance. Aided by his girlfriend Nan Grayson (Jan Sheppard) and her father, Doc Grayson, he discovers the cavern. The monsters are finally destroyed when Steve, Doc, and some state troopers blow up the cavern with dynamite.
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Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski, produced by Gene Corman and Roger Corman, written by Leo Gordon, starring Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers and Jan Shepard.
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Source: “Attack of the Giant Leeches” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 12 June 2012. Web.16 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_giant_leeches.
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