Monster From The Ocean Floor – A great 1950s sea creature movie

 

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Roger Corman's first produced film, Monster From The Ocean Floor (1954), is a tightly directed and entertainingly low-budget creature feature. The man behind the camera, director Wyott Ordung, is also responsible for writing the 1953 monster classic – Robot Monster. Ordung also plays the role of Pablo, a Mexican native to a small coastal town whose citizens believe in a sea creature who emerges from the depths of the ocean to murder some of the villagers.

Julie Blair, played by shapely blonde beauty Anne Kimbell, is enjoying some rest and relaxation at the ocean when she encounters a Mexican boy who tells a story of his father being abducted by a sea creature near an ocean cove. Blair dismisses the boy's story as a wild imagination. Blair also encounters a handsome marine biologist named Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade) who invites her on board his boat to discuss his work in marine biology. Dunning navigates the ocean in his small self-propelled mini submarine. Blair hitches a ride on top of the submarine to get to Dunning's boat.

Blair soon becomes intrigued by accounts of local villagers claiming to witness a sea monster. She goes to Pablo (Wyott Ordung) to hear his account of the sea creature. Pablo says the sea creature first appeared around 1946, about the same time that nuclear tests were being conducted in the ocean. A villager named Tula (Inaz Palange) claims the sea creature abducted her beloved dog Alfredo, leaving the dog's collar behind on the beach.

Tula convinces Pablo that in order for the sea creature to leave the villagers alone, a human sacrifice to the creature is necessary. She suggests that Blair be the next sacrifice to the creature. Pablo fails twice to offer Blair as a sacrifice to the creature. He first drips some of his own blood into the ocean to attract the creature as Blair is under water swimming. He fails a second time by draining oxygen out of Blair's scuba tank.

The underwater sequences in this film are quite well done for a low-budget film and appear to not employ stand-in actors or stock footage to replace the main actors. We see a number of scenes of actress Anne Kimbell swimming with her scuba gear in the ocean, and it is obvious that it's her and not a stand-in actor. Actor Stuart Wade also appears to be doing his swimming sequences at the end of the film, instead of a stand-in actor.

Animated sequences of the sea creature in the ocean seem to match quite well with the footage of divers in the water. The sea creature looks a bit similar to the eye creatures in The Crawling Eye (1958, aka The Trollenberg Terror), with his outstretched tentacles and cyclops appearance. Dunning steers his mini submarine directly into the eye of the creature. Blair manages to hook a chunk of the sea creature onto her boat anchor and uses it as proof to Dunning that the creature exists.

Every time I watch Monster From The Ocean Floor, I can't help but think of the 1975 classic – Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. Although Jaws is a much bigger budgeted film and is listed as one of the best films of all time, Jaws borrows some of its plot from a film like Monster From The Ocean Floor. Writer Peter Benchley may have been thinking of low budget films such as Monster From The Ocean Floor when he wrote Jaws in 1974. Bigger-budget Hollywood films often borrow many elements from low-budget science fiction and horror films.

Jonathon Haze, an actor who would go on to star in a number of Roger Corman films, plays the role of Joe – a Mexican fisherman whose friend is the first victim of the sea creature in the film. Haze is best known for his hilarious role of a florist – Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors (1960).

Monster From The Ocean Floor played on a double bill in drive-in movie theaters with the 1952 film – The Queen of Sheba. Although the film was not well received by many critics, Monster From The Ocean Floor is significant because it was the start of Roger Corman's career as a low-budget auteur and launched him into the realm of directing. Happy viewing.

Steve D. Stones

Night of The Blood Beast – Aliens Impregnate Space Traveler

Review by Steve D. Stones

With titles like Hot Car Girl (1958), Attack of The Giant Leeches (1959) (aka The Giant Leeches), Blood and Steel (1959) and this 1958 film – Night of The Blood Beast, how could any cult movies viewer of forgotten low budget gems not want to be a fan of director Bernard L. Kowalski's films? These lurid titles are enough to attract the attention of any obscure movie fan.

A young astronaut, John Corcoran (Michael Emmet), loses control of his space rocket while en route back to earth. He crashes near Walker's Pass in Florida, where the spacecraft was launched. A photographer, Donna Bixby (Georgianna Carter) and technician Dave Randall (Ed Nelson), arrive on the scene from a nearby space agency tracking station to investigate the damages. The two discover a large hole in the side of the spacecraft as if something forced its way out, and Corcoran lying dead inside the spacecraft. Bixby photographs the wreckage for future investigation.

Astronaut Corcoran's body is brought back to the space tracking station in Florida for an autopsy performed by Dr. Alex Wyman (Tyler McVey) and his assistant Dr. Julie Benson (Angela Greene). Although his body appears to be deceased, his blood pressure and heart rate appear to be normal for a living person. A blood sample from his body reveals strange, abnormal cells that show he is infected with something foreign. Dr. Benson and Corcoran were engaged to be married, so Benson is very emotional about his death.

Later that evening, an unseen creature attacks and kills Dr. Wyman by decapitating him and suspending his body in a medical examination room. Astronaut Corcoran comes back to life at the time of Wyman's death, and the group immediately thinks he's responsible for killing Dr. Wyman.

After an x-ray of Corcoran's chest reveals alien embryos impregnated in his body, the strange creature that killed Dr. Wyman bursts into the room again to communicate with the group, but Randall and Steve Dunlap (John Baer) fire shots at the creature, forcing him to flee the room. The entire room becomes engulfed in flames.

The space tracking station has lost all communications with the outside world. Electrical power has also been knocked out. Randall, Dunlap and Bixby leave the station to track the creature and to discover the source of what knocked out their radio communications. While tracking the creature, Bixby is attacked as Randall and Dunlap fire shots over the creature's head. The creature flees once again.

In a third attempt to track the creature, Corcoran pleads with Randall and Dunlap to not meet the creature with violence, but instead attempt to communicate with it. Randall and Dunlap agree to Corcoran's plan, but are still skeptical, so they take along Molotov cocktails to saturate the creature with gasoline and to ignite him with flames. The group tracks the creature to a nearby cave, where it communicates to the group its plans of an alien race coming to earth to dominate. Corcoran kills himself at the cave to prevent the birth of the alien embryos in his chest.

Night of The Blood Beast had an original working title of Creature From Galaxy 27, and was produced by Gene and Roger Corman. Director Kowalski was only 28 years old at the time he directed the film. The film played on a drive-in double bill with another Roger Corman produced film – She Gods of Shark Reef (1958). She Gods is a complete yawn-fest compared to the superior Night of The Blood Beast.

Watching this film, I can't help but think that perhaps director Ridley Scott may have been inspired by at least the story of Night of The Blood Beast when he created Alien (1979). Many sources report that Scott received most of his inspiration from Mario Bava's – Planet of The Vampires (1965) and perhaps Edward L. Cahn's film – It! The Terror Beyond Space (1958).

The Alexander Laszlo music of Night of The Blood Beast was also featured in Kowalski's 1959 film – Attack of The Giant Leeches. Laszlo's score can also be heard in the 1950s TV space adventure – Rocky Jones - Space Ranger and the 1959 drive-in hit - Beast From Haunted Cave.

Most exterior shots were filmed at Bronson Canyon caves at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. This location was also used in many other cult classic films of the 1950s, such as Unknown World (1951), Robot Monster (1953), The Day The World Ended (1955), I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958) and Teenage Caveman (1958). Speaking of Teenage Caveman, the creature costume used in Night of The Blood Beast will make an appearance in Teenage Caveman.

Night of The Blood Beast would certainly make an excellent double-feature with Kowalski's other lurid sci-fi adventure – Attack of The Giant Leeches. Happy viewing.

Attack of The Giant Leeches – Terror In The Florida Everglades!

Review by Steve D. Stones

Here's another awesome Blu-Ray double feature put out by Retromedia – Attack of The Giant Leeches (1959) (aka The Giant Leeches) with Teenagers From Outer Space (1959). Both prints of the films are in excellent quality. Produced by Roger Corman and his brother Gene, Attack of The Giant Leeches was directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and features the bizarre organ music of Alexander Laszlo. The film also features July 1959 Playboy centerfold – Yvette Vickers. A skim budget of $70,000 was all it took to produce this B-movie masterpiece.

A swamp hillbilly from the Florida Everglades named Lem Sawyer (George Cisar) encounters a strange creature in the swamps while poaching for wildlife. Sawyer fires several shots from his gun into the creature, but is unable to stop the creature as it swims away. Later that evening, Sawyer reports this incident to his swamp buddies at Walker's General Store. His buddies laugh at him and don't believe his wild story.

That same evening, Dave Walker (Bruno VeSota), owner of Walker's General Store, confronts his wife Liz (Yvette Vickers) for being bossy with him and for prancing around the store while scantily dressed in front of his swamp friends. Liz appears to be bored with the marriage and does not listen to a word Walker says to her.

Unknown to Walker, Liz has the reputation of being the town harlot. Liz leaves Walker's store for a date with Lem that night. During the date, Lem and Liz are attacked by the same creature that Lem confronted with his gun. Lem is killed by the creature as game warden Steve Benton (Ken Clark) arrives in time to save Liz.

Refusing to learn from the attack, Liz continues her harlot ways by parking in a car by the swamp with Cal Moulton (Michael Emmet) as the two kiss and make out on a blanket. Dave Walker catches the couple in the act and threatens his wife and Cal with a shotgun. Walker becomes angry with the couple and orders that they walk out into the swamp where they are attacked by giant leeches and taken to an underground cave. Walker later hangs himself in jail because the local authorities believe he was responsible for killing Liz and Cal.

After two poachers are attacked in their boat and taken by the giant leeches, a search party led by game warden Benton searches for the two poachers and Liz and Cal. Dr. Grayson (Tyler McVey) suggests to his daughter Nan (Jan Shepard) and Benton that perhaps giant leeches are living in a cave under the swamp and are responsible for all the missing persons reports. He recommends that a charge of dynamite be placed in the swamp to bring the leeches to the surface. Benton refuses to go with this plan, stating that it's his job to preserve wildlife and that perhaps the four victims could still be alive in a cave below the swamp.

Although Benton threatens to arrest Dr. Grayson if he's seen in the swamp with explosives, Grayson and his daughter Nan place a charge of dynamite in the swamp. The bodies of the two poachers and Cal float to the surface as angry Benton arrives at the scene. Grayon's theory about an underground cave proves to be correct when an autopsy reveals that the bodies had only been dead for a few short hours. Liz Walker's body is yet to be found.

Benton and a diver go into the water with spear guns to kill the giant leeches after Liz's body comes to the surface from a second dynamite charge. Watch carefully for scuba tanks poking out of the giant leech costumes as they confront Benton and his diver companion in the water. Overall, the appearance of the giant leeches is quite effective.

It's interesting to note that Attack of The Giant Leeches played on a double-bill on the drive-in movie circuit with director Roger Corman's film – A Bucket of Blood (1959). In 1960, the film later played on a double-bill with Corman's – House of Usher (1960). Attack of The Giant Leeches remains in the public domain because its copyright has never been renewed. A remake was made in 2008. I have not seen the remake, but I've heard from several sources that it's not very good.

Director Bernard L. Kowalski also directed another great cult classic – Night of The Blood Beast (1958) which also stars Michael Emmet and Tyler McVey. The bizarre organ music by Alexander Laszlo used in Attack of The Giant Leeches was first used in Night of The Blood Beast.

Sadly, actress Yvette Vickers' mummified body was found in her home in April 2011 by a neighbor. She was 82 years old at the time of her death. Autopsy reports suggest that she may have been deceased for a year or more before her neighbor discovered her body. Her July 1959 Playboy photos were taken by cult director Russ Meyer. She can be heard giving audio commentary with film historian Tom Weaver on the 2007 DVD release of Attack of The 50 Foot Woman.

For further information about Attack of The Giant Leeches and other American International Pictures films, see the excellent and exhaustive book – American International Pictures – A Comprehensive Filmography (2019 McFarland) by author Rob Craig. I consider this book to be one of my most cherished film encyclopedias in my personal library. Happy viewing!

Beast From Haunted Cave, a review

Review by Steve D. Stones

Retromedia Entertainment has put out a beautiful Blu-Ray print of Beast From Haunted Cave (1959) on a double-bill with The Wasp Woman (1959). Both films were produced by director Roger Corman's fledgling company – Film Group. The Blu-Ray of both films also includes additional scenes added to both films to pad out the length for television broadcasting. This Blu-Ray is a great nostalgic collectible, since both films played on a double-bill at drive-in movie theaters when they premiered.

A Chicago businessman named Alexander Ward (Frank Wolf), his secretary Gypsy Boulet (Shelia Caroll) and two of Alex's employees – Marty (Richard Sinatra) and Byron (Wally Campo) arrive at a mining ski town in South Dakota during the winter ski season. Alex, Marty and Byron plan to blow up the town mine, known as the Broken Boot Mine, to create a diversion so they can rob the town's Administrative Building payroll office to steal gold bars in a safe.

Alex employs ski instructor Gil Jackson (Michael Forest) to teach his employees how to ski. Gil is unaware that the group plans to rob the local Administrative Building. The group expresses an interest in skiing to Gil's mountain cabin. Gil is also unaware that the group wants to hide out in the cabin after the robbery. In the meantime, the group is staying in the ski lodge until the day of the robbery.

The night before the robbery, Marty takes the local bar waitress named Natalie to the Broken Boot Mine to plant explosives. While in the mine, an unseen creature attacks the couple and takes Natalie to another location on the mountain. Marty rushes back to town to tell his boss Alex about the incident and tells him a monster killed Natalie. Alex does not believe him, despite Marty describing a giant egg of the monster in the mine.

The next morning, the explosives ignite, killing one old man in the mine. As the town's attention is diverted to the mine explosion, Alex, Marty and Bryon crack the town payroll safe and steal two gold bars each. When they return to the ski lodge, they meet Gil and Gypsy at the top of the ski hill. The group spends the day skiing to Gil's mountain cabin.

While on route to Gil's cabin, the group sets up an overnight camp. Venturing outside of the camp, Marty encounters the creature from the Broken Boot Mine as the rest of the group is sleeping around a campfire. Marty also witnesses the body of cocktail waitress Natalie cocooned to a tree from the monster. He fires several shots at the creature and awakes the rest of the group. Realizing no one will believe him, Marty tells the group he saw nothing.

The group arrives at Gil's cabin the following morning and meets Gil's housekeeper named Small Dove. Tensions begin to weigh heavy on Gil as he realizes his guests are up to something. Alex appears to not appreciate Gil's hospitality and the two get into a fist fight. Gil and Gypsy become romantically attracted to each other and decide to sneak away from the group to a nearby haunted cave.

In the haunted cave, Small Dove has been taken by the monster and cocooned to the cave wall. Alex, Marty and Byron have traced Gil and Gypsy to the cave and are attacked and killed by the monster as they enter the cave. It is in these final scenes that the viewer gets to see the full view of the monster. Previous scenes only show parts of its body, such as a tentacle reaching out to strangle a victim.

The music used in this film can also be heard in another low-budget Corman gem – Attack of The Giant Leeches (1959). Actor Michael Forest went on to star in The Outer Limits and Star Trek TV series. Actor Frank Wolf's most famous appearance on the screen is of playing an Irish landowner named McBain who is gunned down by Henry Fonda and his henchmen in the 1968 Italian western masterpiece – Once Upon A Time In The West.

The director of Beast From Haunted Cave, Monte Hellman, went on the direct two other great cult classics – The Shooting (1966) with Jack Nicholson and Two Lane Blacktop (1971) starring James Taylor. Hellman was also an executive producer for Quentin Tarantino's first film – Reservoir Dogs (1992). Happy viewing! 

American International Pictures – A Comprehensive Filmography - By Rob Craig

Review by Steve D. Stones

It's often been said that you can't judge a book by its cover. It's also been said that you can't judge a book by its movie. If you've ever read a film analysis book by Rob Craig, you know his books deliver both in their content and their colorful cover designs. His analysis of forgotten films and underground cult directors is well researched and well written. Craig treats these often forgotten films and their directors with great respect. Craig never resorts to giving aggressive pot shots to any of the films he writes about, unlike some film critics and historians I won't mention here.

In the introduction to his latest book – American International Pictures – A Comprehensive Filmography (McFarland 2019), (800-253-2187) Craig makes it clear that this book is meant as an analysis of AIP films and their television product, and not intended as a history of the company or a biography of the company's founders – James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. The Amazon link is here.

The sole purpose of this project, according to Craig, is to gather as comprehensive a listing of all film product that AIP was involved in marketing, which includes – all AIP theatrical releases, films and series released to television through AIP, and to chronicle all product released through one of AIP's subsidiaries or satellite companies. The list of AIP's satellite companies is quite long.

Also in the introduction, Craig mentions what he considers to be one of the most unique and interesting products offered by American International TV, which was a series of eight original productions by Texas cult filmmaker – Larry Buchanan. These productions were released under the “Azalea Pictures” banner in the 1960s. The films include – The Eye Creatures (1965), Zontar, The Thing From Venus (1966), Creature of Destruction (1967) and In The Year 2889 (1966) – all remakes of 1950s films. This is a topic which is no stranger to Craig, since he discussed the Azalea films at great length in his awesome book about director Larry Buchanan (The Films of Larry Buchanan – A Critical Examination – 2007 - McFarland ).

Many of my all time favorite low-budget films are discussed in Craig's latest book, such as: A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Screaming Skull (1958), The Phantom Planet (1961), Planet of The Vampires (1965), The Pit & The Pendulum (1961), The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy (1959), and the Mexican import – Santa Claus (1959). It's great to see Craig give a positive nod to Santa Claus. I was beginning to think that my co-blogger Doug Gibson and myself were the only two human beings on the planet to appreciate Santa Claus and all its bizarre charm.

Craig's latest book reminds me a lot of Michael Weldon's – The Encyclopedia of Film (1983 Ballantine), only Craig's writing gets into much greater details of the films he discusses. One of his most interesting reviews in the book is for A Bucket of Blood (1959). This is one of his longest reviews.

Released Halloween 1959 and directed by Roger Corman, A Bucket of Blood is considered a horror comedy that comments on the then “beat culture/beat generation” of the 1950s. Craig mentions the film as being ahead of its time, since straight-forward horror films had played themselves out by the end of the 1950s. A Bucket of Blood brought a fresher point of view as a spoof and parody of horror films and beat culture while at the same time keeping a cynical tone.

Craig mentions that he views Little Shop of Horrors (1960), a film made by Corman shortly after A Bucket of Blood and one which has some similar plot points, as the far more superior of the two films. Although I'm a fan of both films, I'm not sure I agree with Craig's analysis of Little Shop of Horrors as being a much better film. While it may be true that actor Dick Miller incoherently mumbles many of his lines in the film, portraying him as a doofus, as Craig points out, this does not detract from Miller's character as a struggling coffee house worker and artist. In fact, in my view, it greatly adds to his lonely, shy, and backwards character that helps to reinforce the stereotype of the “struggling genius artist.” A Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors make great companion films.

For further reading of Craig's work, refer to his excellent book on director Ed Wood: Mad Genius – A Critical Study of The Films (McFarland 2009), Gutter Auteur – The Films of Andy Milligan (McFarland 2012) – and his equally awesome book on films of 1957 – It Came From 1957: A Critical Guide To The Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (McFarland 2013). Also refer to the above mentioned book on the films of Texas director Larry Buchanan. Happy reading.

The Tower of London -- Vincent Price chews the scenery

Review: Tower of London

By DOUG GIBSON

Wow, I absolutely love this low-budget 1962 gothic adaptation of Shakespeare (well, sort of) that stars Vincent Price as the mad wannabe king Richard who goes around slaughtering anyone who gets in his way, all the while dealing with those voices in his head and derisive laughter only he can hear.

It's directed by Roger Corman, who can stretch a budget as far as it can go without snapping. The black and white adds to the grim mood. There are some chilling scenes. A young maiden is tortured to death on a stretching rack. A man is murdered when a cage with a hungry rat is placed over his head. The scenes of a climatic battle that leads to Richard's death are from the 1939 Tower of London, a fine adaptation starring Boris Karloff.

I want to spend a little time on star Vincent Price's performance. A characteristic of Price's is he can be truly evil while keeping his tongue in his cheek. In Tower, he is clearly mad, and carries a confused, pained expression on his face. It's excellent acting. The audience almost wants to feel sorry for a suffering madman doomed to defeat, but he's simply too evil to care about. Although most critics deride the final battle scene where Price is superimposed over stock footage of battles, I like it. It adds to the hallucinatory atmosphere of Richard's madness.

A great film, easy to find on TV or buy. Also stars Michael Pate, Joan Freeman and Sandra Knight. It's fast-paced at 79 minutes. You can watch the trailer above.

Little Shop of Horrors (1960) – A Humble Flower Shop On Skid Row

Review by Steve D. Stones

If you're a fan of director Roger Corman, you can't help but recognize the plot similarities of his 1960 film – Little Shop of Horrors to his 1959 film – A Bucket of Blood. Both films are great fun and make an entertaining double feature.

Actor Dick Miller, who played the struggling coffee house waiter and sculptor in A Bucket of Blood, plays a floral shop patron who eats flowers by sprinkling salt on them. Myrtle Vail, who played Miller's annoying landlady in A Bucket of Blood, is also cast in this film, only this time she is Seymour Krelboin's hypochondriac mother. 

Pay close attention for an appearance by very young Jack Nicholson as Wilbur Force.

Seymour Krelboin, played by Corman regular Jonathan Haze, works as an incompetent floral shop clerk owned by Yiddish owner Gravis Mushnik (Mel Welles). Mushnik blames Krelboin for his slow business, even though it is located in a run down part of town known as skid row. He threatens to fire Krelboin for the slow business. Krelboin pleads for his job by telling Mushnik that he has invented a unique plant by crossing a butterworth plant and a Venus fly trap. He believes this new plant will attract new customers to the flower shop.

Krelboin brings the plant to the shop and names it after Mushnik's daughter – Audrey (Jackie Joseph). Mushnik and Audrey are pleased with the plant and Krelboin is able to keep his job. Audrey is greatly flattered that Krelboin would name the plant after her, so she gives him a kiss and the two become very close and eventually engaged. The plant begins to look unhealthy, so Mushnik once again threatens to fire Krelboin if he cannot nurse the plant back to life.

That evening Krelboin pricks his finger and accidentally flicks blood on the Audrey Jr. plant. The blood brings the plant back to life. The plant even talks to Krelboin by saying “feeed me!” and “I'm hungry!” Krelboin eventually pricks all his fingers to provide blood for the plant. This makes for a funny scene when Mushnik asks about the cuts on all ten fingers and Krelboin tells him it is from ten bee stings.

Krelboin feeds the plant body parts of a town drunk, a prostitute he accidentally kills, and his murdered dentist – Dr. Forbes. The plant grows bigger and bigger with each feeding. This begins to greatly concern Mushnik, who witnesses Krelboin feeding body parts to the plant one evening when he returned to the shop. The growing plant catches the attention of the Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California and two giddy teenage girls who want to purchase a thousand dollars worth of flowers from the shop for a high school parade float.

When the chairwoman of The Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California arrives one evening to give an award to Krelboin for this plant, some of the buds open up on the plant to reveal the heads of victims fed to the plant. Krelboin then flees the shop. Two police detectives named Fink and Smith chase after Krelboin through a tire factory and toilet accessories warehouse.

Like the ending of A Bucket of Blood, Krelboin returns to the scene of the crime and offers himself as a sacrifice to the Audrey plant by killing himself inside the plant. Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) in A Bucket of Blood also returns to his scene of the crime and hangs himself in his apartment where he made sculptures molded from his murdered victims.

Both Paisley and Krelboin in both films are shy, quiet, constantly hounded by their boss, and later paid great attention to by the opposite sex for creating something unique. Both characters are also investigated by police detectives and chased through warehouses at the end of the film.

It's interesting to note that director Corman completed this film in only two days, which was a record for him at the time. He quickly utilized sets from another film that were soon to be torn down. Budget estimates for the film range from $22,000 to $100,000 according to Danny Peary's book – Cult Movies (Gramercy Books – Random House 1981). The film was later remade in 1986 as a big budget musical starring comedian Steve Martin in the role of a dentist named Orin Scrivello. This 1986 version also has a strong cult following of fans. Happy viewing!

Science fiction, fantasy and horror; all from 1957

Review by Steve D. Stones

It really didn't occur to me that many of my favorite low-budget science-fiction films were released in 1957, until I read Rob Craig's awesome book - It Came From 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films  (McFarland - 2013 - www.mcfarlandpub.com - 800-253-2187). If you are familiar with Craig's writing, you know he is no fan of big budget, Hollywood produced science-fiction films. He loves the more creative, thought provoking films made on a shoe string budget by smaller studios. Director Roger Corman is an example of this. Craig gives an interesting analysis of Corman's 1957 releases, such as Attack of The Crab Monsters and Not of This Earth.

In 1950s America, the Cold War was a hot topic, the expansion of the Military Industrial Complex was underway, a grandfatherly figure and war hero - Dwight D. Eisenhower - was in the White House fulfilling his conservative agenda, and the space race had also just begun. Science-fiction entertainment of the 50s reflected all of this, as Craig points out in his book. The 1950s, with its robust economy and birth of the "baby boomers," was truly a decade which bred consumerism and a hope to fulfill "The American Dream."

One of Craig's more interesting reviews of a 1957 film is his review of From Hell It Came, a favorite of mine, produced by Jack and Dan Milner. This film breaks from the stereotypical 1950s portrayal of the woman as homemaker and bearer of children. A woman scientist and feminist named Terry, played by beautiful Tina Carver, is pursued by a male scientist, Tod Andrews. Andrews suggests in one scene that she should be like "normal women" by getting married to him, having children and settling down as a house wife. Carver rejects his suggestion, and feels it is a lifestyle she could not be a part of. As she says in a scene from the film "I live by my intellect!"

Like From Hell It Came, Roger Corman's - Attack of The Crab Monsters also focuses on a group of scientists living on a Pacific atoll while conducting research, only this time the scientists are not necessarily trying to impose an Imperialistic agenda on natives. The scientists discover that one of the giant crabs is pregnant. Craig gives a Freudian analysis of the giant crabs, with their raised frontal limbs and large mouth opening, as the opening of a vagina ready for intercourse, particularly in the missionary position. Their teeth devour the penis of any male who dares enter. A strange, yet humorous analysis of the giant crabs.

If you have read much of Craig's writing, you know he is often critical of what he calls the "phallo-centric" and "patriarchy" of male dominance in popular culture. He often relates his subject matter to the patriarchal dominance of men in culture and cinema. He makes this clear even in his book about Texas director Larry Buchanan - A Critical Examination.

Craig even references the male erection in relation to the subjects of the films he discusses, such as the giant architectural monster in Kronos, who sprays his electrical energy as if it is sperm erupting from a penis. Craig sees the giant walking tree in From Hell It Came, known the Tabanga, as a walking penis who enforces his male agenda on its creators.

Don't forget to read Craig's conclusion at the end of his book. It is here that he opens up on his views of the Star Wars and Alien franchises, calling them brain dead serial junk which act as propaganda to encourage a perpetual state of war. It is safe to say that fans of Star Wars would not take too kindly to his analysis, but perhaps many Star Wars fans would also have no desire to see any of the low-budget films Craig so passionately writes about.

Craig's analysis of Star Wars may be more of a frustration of film viewers favoring special effects and swash buckling action over a more thoughtful, intellectual approach of lower budgeted science-fiction films. I see his point, and I agree with him, for the most part. However, there is no denying the impact of Star Wars on science-fiction cinema and popular culture.

For further analysis of Craig's views on big budget, Hollywood produced films, see Andrew J. Rausch's and Charles E. Pratt, Jr's 2015 book - The Cinematic Misadventures of Ed Wood. Craig is interviewed in the book and makes a great case for the importance and entertainment value of Ed Wood films. Like Rudolph Grey, Craig is an expert on all things Ed Wood.

For further reading of Craig's works, see his other excellent books - Ed Wood: Mad Genius - A Critical Study of The Films (2009), Gutter Auteur: The Films of Andy Milligan (2012), and The Films of Larry Buchanan - A Critical Examination (2007). I am anxiously waiting for his latest project about low-budget director Jerry Warren to be released. It couldn't come out soon enough for me. Happy reading.

The New Poverty Row: A history of low-budget hustling for film dollars

Review by Doug Gibson

I enjoyed Fred Olen Ray's book, "The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors," McFarland, 1991. Published 25 years ago, it's still for sale by its distributor. 

FOR is a very talented writer. I always enjoyed his articles and letters in my old Cult Movies magazines. When he wrote this he was still a low-budget filmmaker, with a decade-plus of experience, trying not so much to break through as a director, but as a filmmaker who could take his product and make money. Hence his efforts to distribute with American Independent Productions.

FOR feels a kinship with his subjects, and for the era, a few years before the Net changed research, what we have are seven superbly researched, of various essay lengths, profiles of FOR and six other low-budget filmmakers who tried to increase profits through self-distribution. They are:

-- Jerry Warren, Associated Distributors Productions, Inc.

-- Roger Corman, Filmgroup

-- David L. Hewitt, American General Pictures

-- Sam Sherman, Independent-International Pictures

-- Lawrence H. Woolner, Dimension Pictures

-- and Fred Olen Ray with AIP

Much has been written about Corman, but FOR manages to provide the future legendary low-budget filmmaker's struggles to create his own distribution dollars. Filmgroup lasted a few years but the margins, even for the most minutely budgeted films, were tiny or non-existent. The best parts of the Corman chapter are the accounts of making tiny-budgeted films in Puerto Rico. It's also interesting to learn that many films grabbed for revision by low-budget directors/producers came from behind the Iron Curtain. Queen of Blood was one.

Warren, as FOR explains with affection, was the type who just wanted a film in the can; forget the quality, sell the sizzle. What's most interesting about Warren is that the films he cobbled and mangled for release, usually with the stately Katherine Victor, were likely better in their original versions.

Sherman and Woolner represent the types of filmmakers in the last decade of big-screen-only features. Like Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman, they were interested in pushing the boundaries of what could be shown on the big screen. Whether it was a mix of gore and sex, such as Blood Island films or Al Adamson's horror opuses, or just plain sex, with nurses or stewardess films, they were sold to drive ins with teens and young adults glancing at the screen in between make out sessions. Sherman and others were also great at mixing movies, taking Movie A, adding much of Movie B, and throwing in a dash of Movie C. Not surprisingly, they would often remix the movie, change the title, and presto, have a new release. Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, which played on TV last Halloween season, is a great example of a blended movie. The Shermans and the Woolners, or their successors, finally threw in the towel when the majors begin to mimic them; think Friday the 13th and Porky's.

Hewitt was my favorite chapter, maybe because even today there's so little out there about the guy who helmed The Mighty Gorga, The Wizard of Mars, or my favorite, Gallery of Horrors, and a couple of other films. He also distributed the neglected gem, Spider Baby. (Only in this world could Spider Baby be the second big-screen offering to micro-budget bores Gallery or Gorga!) It's fun to learn that Gallery's ineptitude is partially caused by producers with financial pull nixing Hewitt's idea to film it as a type of comic book -- and this was at least 15 years before Creepshow!

FOR's chapter is very personal and describes how he learned the basics of filmmaking just by doing it and learning from mistakes. From the first, one learns that you almost always won't make money from distributors if you're a low-budget filmmaker. FOR understands that and recounts his experiences without pity, and sometimes with wry humor. His first film cost about $12,000 and featured Buster Crabbe. I really enjoy FOR's passion for the old genre stars, and his efforts to have them in his films. He's been so prolific the past 35 years, directing in just about every genre.

FOR has many, many anecdotes, and they make for great reading. The old "stars," Carradine, Chaney Jr., were used by so many poverty-row directors for a day and later hyped on ads with promises that the films can never live up to. The New Poverty Row is filled with old movie stills and ads of distinct marketing pitches. It's amusing to see one film's ads under different titles. FOR also is very frank in his assessments of many of the films. He's quick to pan the films he feels deserve that label.

An underlying, subtle theme to this book is its featuring the low-budget filmmakers-cum-distribution hustlers who were in the business during the quarter century before VHS became big and basically threw low-budget filmmakers away from the big screens and into living rooms with the direct-to-video labels. (I know that was a very cumbersome sentence. I may edit it some day). That sell-it-for-home-use strategy still exists today with DVDs and online/cloud video, which now threatens the existence of the DVD market. The cycle of film challenges for dollars continues. 

FOR's book, already detailing a now-gone era of low-budget filmmaking, is a treasure for genre film fans. Read it. If you don't want to pay $25, it can be purchased used. I bought mine for a few dollars. It was an old copy that was once in The City University Library in London!

Book review - Hazel Court: Horror Queen (An Autobiography)

Review by Steve D. Stones

First, I'd like to thank my loving aunt and uncle for presenting this book to me as a Christmas gift in 2014. I feel very fortunate to have the book in my collection because it is not sold in the United States - and traveled from Court's native country of England to end up in my hands. The book was published by Tomahawk Press in Sheffield, England in 2008.

Court takes the reader on a chronological journey of her life from her birth in Birmingham, England, to the loss of her first love during the time of World War II, to her motion picture stardom, her marriage to director Don Taylor and on to her accomplishments as an artist and sculptor studying in Pietrasanta, Italy. Her sculptures have gained some international recognition over the years.

American audiences best know Court from her appearances in several Roger Corman films of the early 1960s - based on Edgar Allan Poe stories - such as Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque of The Red Death (1964). Masque of The Red Death is regarded as Corman's greatest film - and Court certainly adds to the greatness of the film - even after burning an upside down cross above her right breast in one scene.  Corman's films have given Court the reputation of  a "Scream Queen." 

Before acting in Corman's films, Court was cast in a number of Hammer Studios films in England, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959). That same decade in the 1950s, Court starred in a low-budget sci-fi film that has gone on to earn international cult status - Devil Girl From Mars (1954). Court says she gets lots of fan mail because of this film.

Court also has the distinction of being the only actress who has ever starred with all of horror films' leading men at the time - Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Ray Milland, Peter Lorre and Christopher Lee. She says working with these great male actors was a pleasure, and each treated her with great respect and professionalism.

Court enjoyed a successful TV career in America - starring in such big hit TV shows of the sixties - such as Bonanza, Rawhide, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Director Graham Baker gave her a small walk on role in Omen III (1981) that she was not cast for - thinking no one would recognize the aging Court. Fans immediately poured out fan mail after seeing her on screen in Omen III after a long lapse in appearing in any films.

The biggest message the reader gets from reading Miss Court's book is that she has a very positive, upbeat personality - and never has anything negative to say about anyone. Her tone is as attractive as her good looks. Even those who have encountered her seem to have a very positive image of her.

An example of this is when Court met Winston Churchill in his garden as he was speaking to some of his goldfish. Instead of speaking of Churchill in a negative way for this peculiar behavior, Court sees this experience as part of Churchill's great genius.

Her daughter, Sally Walsh, penned the forward of the book and tells the story of her and Hazel accidentally hitting a policemen with their car on the way to Buckingham Palace. Instead of citing Court for reckless driving, the officer asks for her autograph - claiming he was a big fan. He then told Court that she could hit him with a car anytime - according to Walsh.

The book is filled with 200 beautiful, rare photos of various stages of Court's career from many of her film and TV productions. Some have never been published, and one is a topless photo of a scene cut from the American print of The Man Who Could Cheat Death.

Court passed away in April of 2008 at her Lake Tahoe residence in California. May her films live on for fans in generations to come. 

The Haunted Palace is better-than-average Vincent Price

The Haunted Palace, 1963, 85 minutes, American International, directed by Roger Corman. Starring Vincent Price as Charles Dexter Ward/Joseph Curwen, Debra Paget as Ana Ward, Frank Maxwell as Ian/Dr. Willett, Lon Chaney Jr. as Simon Orne, Leo Gordon as Edgar Weeden/Ezra Weeden and Cathie Merchant as Hester Tillinghast. Schlock-Meter rating: 7 stars out of 10.

By Doug Gibson

This is a better-than-average Vincent Price AIP 1960s offering. It offers chills, atmosphere and good direction from movie legend Corman. The story concerns a mild mannered man (Price), who moves to the mysterious town of Arkham with his wife (Paget) to inhabit a creepy castle, or palace. The townspeople, a forbidding, brooding, suspicious group except for one doctor (Maxwell), react in panic after they discover Price's character (Charles Dexter Ward) resembles an evil ancestor (Joseph Curwen) who was executed by Arkham residents long ago.

It isn't long before Price begins to take on the personality of his evil ancestor, much to the terror of his lovely wife, whom he begins to treat very roughly. With some assistance, the now evil Price (possessed by Curwen) spends much of the film extracting revenge from the descendents of the townspeople who killed him, and trying to resurrect to life a long-dead love (Merchent).
The film boasts a lot of atmosphere. Including aging horror great Lon Chaney Jr. was a casting coup for Corman. As an evil henchman of Price, he doesn't have much to do, but he lends a spooky credibility to the film just with his presence.

The title The Haunted Palace is from Edgar Allen Poe, but there's no resemblance to the story. Indeed the plot is from an H.P. Lovecraft short novel, The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but even then, the story only touches briefly on Lovecraft's plot. As is often with a Lovecraft tale, the sinister town of Arkham is the setting. Fans of Price will really enjoy this film. He's at his best. Others will find it an excellent sample of AIP's 60s horror offerings.

Attack of The Giant Leeches – Swamp Trash Entertainment

By Steve D. Stones

Miss July 1959 Playboy centerfold Yvette Vickers stars in this 1959 low-budget pot boiler produced by Gene and Roger Corman. Vickers is type-cast as a town tramp unfaithful to her overweight store keeper husband – Bruno VeSota. Vickers played the same role in Attack of The 50 Foot Woman (1957). She shows off her sexy legs by rubbing them with lotion in an opening scene meant to grab the attention of the male viewer.

Local rednecks living near a swamp in the Florida Everglades are being killed off one by one by giant leeches who hide in underwater caverns. A game warden, played by Ken Clark – who looks like he just stepped off the front cover of GQ Magazine, tries to determine the cause of local deaths in the swamp.  With the help of his girlfriend and her father, Clark discovers that a handful of giant leeches living in the swamp are responsible for capturing and killing locals who poach the swamps. Two of the victims are Vickers and her lover, who were lured into the swamp when VeSota discovered the two making out near the shore.

Despite its low budget and lurid subject matter, Attack of The Giant Leeches (aka The Giant Leeches) manages to be a fun little movie to watch. Bernard Kowalski’s direction is solid and the actors seem to do a serious, convincing job. The only thing unconvincing is the giant leech costumes, which are obviously divers with scuba gear poking through the leech costumes. A Wade Williams print of this film cuts out the opening sequence of a swamp poacher shooting a rifle at a giant leech while the credits roll to the Alexander Laszlo score - the same music used in director Kowalski’s 1958 film – Night of The Blood Beast. 

Sadly, actress Vickers was found dead in her Beverly Hills home in the spring of 2010. A neighbor crawled in through her home window after no one had heard from her in months. Her mummified corpse had been sitting in a chair for over six months. A sad ending for a beautiful woman who had great promise as an actress. She will be greatly missed by her fans. See Attack of The Giant Leeches with Vickers’ other film – Attack of The 50 Foot Woman. Happy Viewing!!

Teenage Caveman – Corman’s Least Effective Film

By Steve D. Stones

The problem with most cave men movies is that they portray women as curvaceous cuties with make-up and well groomed hair, and men with barbershop haircuts and Harvard accents. Roger Corman’s 1958 film – Teenage Caveman is difficult to take seriously because of this problem. Actor Robert Vaughn even called it “the worst movie of all time,” and never includes it on his resume of films he has starred in. The one thing going for Teenage Caveman is that it uses the bizarre monster costume seen in Bernard Kowalski’s 1958 film – Night of The Blood Beast.

Vaughn plays a bored teenager (in case you didn’t know already, even though he was well into his 20s when this film was made), who breaks the law of his tribe and wanders beyond the river in search of “the God whose touch kills.” In his first attempt, the tribe sentences him to death, but does not follow through with the sentence. Vaughn tries a second time, and confronts the monster known as “the God whose touch kills.” The monster is killed and revealed to be a caveman from another tribe in a costume attempting to scare off Vaughn’s tribe from traveling beyond the river.

When the monster is unmasked, Vaughn discovers a book inside the costume with images from the 20^th century, such as a picture of an atomic explosion, the United Nations building in New York, and two military men shaking hands. We then realize that Vaughn and his tribe are not prehistoric men, but surviving members of a post-holocaust, post-nuclear war society. Maybe that accounts for their clean cut haircuts and fluent use of the English language?

Some accounts of this film have suggested that its original title was – I Was A Teenage Caveman, to cash in on the success of the 1957 Michael Landon film – I Was A Teenage Werewolf. However, no one has ever been able to verify this claim. In his autobiography – How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood & Never Lost A Dime, director Roger Corman mentions that the original title of Teenage Caveman was Prehistoric World, and was shot at Bronson Canyon above Los Angeles in just ten days for $70,000. The sequences of prehistoric monsters fighting each other is taken from an early 40s caveman movie – One Million B.C.  Happy viewing!!

The Last Woman On Earth – Another Corman Quickie!

By Steve D. Stones

Actress Betsy Jones-Moreland gets caught in a love triangle in The Last Woman On Earth. She, her crooked husband obsessed with money and a young lawyer go scuba diving off the coast of Puerto Rico. When they surface from the waters of the ocean, they discover that the oxygen has been pulled out of the earth’s air, causing everyone to die. They survive by drawing air from their scuba tanks. Soon, the earth’s air returns, and the three are left to a world of dead bodies and decay. Jones-Moreland decides she has an attraction for the young lawyer (Edward Wain), and a battle to win her heart ensues between the husband and the lawyer.

Director Roger Corman had the reputation of quickly creating several films back to back to save time and money. He often employed many of the same actors and crew from film to film. He filmed The Last Woman On Earth back to back with Creature From The Haunted Sea. That film also featured beauty Betsy Jones-Moreland, Edward Wain (aka Robert Towne) and Anthony Carbone. Edward Wain is actually screenwriter Robert Towne, who went on to write the screenplay for Academy Award winning – Chinatown, starring another Corman stock actor – Jack Nicholson. Four years later in 1964, an Italian production crew created – The Last Man On Earth, starring Vincent Price, based on Richard Matheson’s book - I am Legend.

Sinister Cinema in Medford, Ore., sells a color print of The Last Woman On Earth in which at least two scenes are missing that can be seen in the black and white print, of which a YouTube print is shown above. These missing scenes show Betsy Jones-Moreland with much darker hair. I suspect the two missing scenes were edited from the color print because the change in hair color was apparent to viewers. Enjoy!!

The Wasp Woman – The Original “Bee Movie.”

By Steve D. Stones

The Wasp Woman proves that beauty is only skin deep. Its message is a universal truth that all of us must confront – we all get old, lose our youth and beauty, and eventually die. There is no magic potion for maintaining youth and beauty forever. Any attempt to find it proves to be disastrous.

A young woman (star Susan Cabot) who heads a cosmetics firm wants to find the fountain of youth and beauty. She employs the help of a crack-pot scientist who extracts enzymes from queen wasps to compound in a royal cosmetic jelly. The scientist first conducts experiments on various animals to see if the jelly can make them young again. His experiments prove successful on cats, dogs and hamsters. Now his task is to inject Janice Starlin, the cosmetics mogul, with his youthful serum.

The process is very slow going. Janice sees no changes in her appearance, even after weeks of injections. Soon, she begins to see her features become youthful again. In a company conference, she becomes the talk of the meeting, shocking her colleagues with her youthful appearance.  Three of her colleagues, however, are greatly concerned for her safety.

The injections begin to go wrong, changing Starlin into a murderous wasp faced creature. She murders a snoopy colleague and a night janitor in the scientist’s laboratory. In a fight with one of her female colleagues, she is flung out the window of her high rise office, falling to her death.

The most intriguing aspect of The Wasp Woman is the feminist message that we should all accept and cherish who we are on the inside and not worry about what we look like on the outside. If our friends, peers and family truly love and accept us for who we are, we really don’t need to waste any time worrying about how youthful and good looking we may or may not appear on the outside. True beauty lies in a person’s heart and mind. Janice Starlin’s vanity in The Wasp Woman ultimately becomes her undoing.

Actress Susan Cabot starred in a number of director Roger Corman’s low-budget films, such as Viking Women and The Sea Serpent (aka The Saga of The Viking Women & Their Voyage To The Waters of The Great Sea Serpent), Sorority Girl, War of The Satellites and Machine Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson. Cabot passed away of an apparent homicide in Encino, California on December 1986 at the age of 59.

A Bucket of Blood – Roger Corman’s low-budget masterpiece

By Steve D. Stones

Director Roger Corman has a reputation for creating quickie exploitation themed films made on a shoe-string budget and filmed in a matter of a few days. His film – A Bucket of Blood is no exception. Bucket of Blood is often referred to as the precursor to another Corman masterpiece – Little Shop of Horrors. Both films star Dick Miller.

A lonely coffee house waiter named Walter Paisley, played by Miller, can’t seem to fit in at The Yellow Door – a swanky beatnik hangout that displays local art, music and poetry. One day he accidentally stabs the land lady’s cat while trying to cut a hole in his apartment wall. He discovers a way to grab attention at The Yellow Door by molding clay around the corpse of the cat to create realistic sculptures. His next victim is an undercover narcotics cop who follows Paisley to his apartment to bust him for heroin.  Patrons of The Yellow Door praise Paisley for his artistic genius and hail him as a great sculptor.

One sassy patron however is not convinced of Paisley’s talents. Paisley follows her home to ask for a nude posing session to sculpt her figure.  Paisley murders the beautiful woman, then his next clay masterpiece and first nude is set in motion. Beatniks at the coffee house arrange for an exhibition of Paisley’s sculptures and invite art critics and collectors.

At the exhibit, a patron discovers the flesh of the murdered woman showing through the molded clay. The patrons realize that Paisley’s work is a fraud and chase after him for the murders of the victims used in his sculptures. He completes his greatest masterpiece by smearing himself in wet clay and then hangs by a noose from a rafter in his apartment.

Actor Dick Miller played the character Walter Paisley in at least five films. His cult status was further solidified when James Cameron cast him as a gun store clerk in The Terminator. His character of Walter Paisley is seen as a janitor in the 1988 horror classic – Chopping Mall. He played a flower shop patron in Little Shop of Horrors who eats flowers sprinkled with salt. Happy Viewing!!