2016 Halloween Horror Month
The rules are simple. 31 days. 31 horror movies. None that I have ever seen before and from all walks of the genre. I will judge the success of the month by my rating average, and give a best and worst for the month. The criteria of those titles is entirely subjective and the results of the impression each movie left with me. This is not indicative of their quality though that may play a factor in their score.
To explain their rating a bit, if a movie is so bad that its on the verge of being painful, it would fall somewhere within the 1-3 range. The 4-6 range is for movies that are not good but still watchable to good movies that have left little long lasting impression. 7-10 are movies I enjoyed to love.
To explain their rating a bit, if a movie is so bad that its on the verge of being painful, it would fall somewhere within the 1-3 range. The 4-6 range is for movies that are not good but still watchable to good movies that have left little long lasting impression. 7-10 are movies I enjoyed to love.
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- DirectorDan TrachtenbergStarsJohn GoodmanMary Elizabeth WinsteadJohn Gallagher Jr.A young woman is held in an underground bunker by a man who insists that a hostile event has left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable.Goodman is a great dane of a man, unassuming at first but a terror when he is agitated. I wish I could say better of the movie. They make the realization that he is dangerous too early or didn't have enough to stretch the between then and the conclusion or something went wrong as the movie keeps going for too long. The ending is so dis-congruent with the rest of the movie that it feels tacked on to tie in with Cloverfield. It wasn't necessary and cheapens the film as a whole.
- DirectorWilliam Brent BellStarsLauren CohanRupert EvansJames RussellAn American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.Better than I anticipated. The doll looks fantastic, creepy when circumstances come into play but still something organic. It wouldn't be strange to see it in a child's room. The big reveal is wonderful towards the end but its a shame that they didn't really have anything to do after it. Fortunately, there isn't much time left to fill.
- DirectorDaniel HallerStarsBoris KarloffNick AdamsFreda JacksonA young man visits his fiancée's estate to discover that her wheelchair-bound scientist father has discovered a meteorite that emits mutating radiation rays that have turned the plants in his greenhouse to giants. When his own wife falls victim to this mysterious power, the old man takes it upon himself to destroy the glowing object with disastrous results.Boris Karloff doing HP Lovecraft. Its a shame that Lovecraft's work rarely translates to the big screen, especially The Color Out of Space, and Die Monster Die is not an exception. The "monster" is underwhelming, like someone just wrapped Karloff in tinfoil, and strays from the incorporeal being that feeds on its surroundings to radiation.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsCharles LaughtonBela LugosiRichard ArlenA mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.A classic mad scientist movie, its probably the best rendition of HG Wells book as much as he'd hate to admit it. I was disappointed with Lugosi's limited role in spite of getting top billing and he was so heavily covered in makeup it rendered him unrecognizable but what little time he had was some of the best scenes in the movie. The Panther Woman was also very good, her portrayal of an innocent and simple minded beast woman comes as a shock considering it was her first movie with no prior experience.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsThomas JaneMarcia Gay HardenLaurie HoldenA freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.Wonderfully Lovecraftian, it quickly became one of my favorite films of the month. The special effects are very well done, the insects look appropriately realistic yet otherworldly and the dense mist makes even the more alien creatures more tyrannical and unsettling. The acting is superb, especially out of Melissa McBride, and the conclusion is one of the best, hard hitting finales of any movies.
- DirectorRoger CormanFrancis Ford CoppolaJack HaleStarsBoris KarloffJack NicholsonSandra KnightA young French soldier cut off from his unit is beguiled by a mysterious woman, whom he learns is the wife of the local Baron - and that she seemingly died twenty years earlier.The travesty that must be seen. Campy fun, the plot makes no sense and the acting is atrocious. Whether its Helen explaining her motivations or the discovery of the baron's past, there is plenty to make you shake your head in confusion. It is a wonder how this was never a Mystery Science Theater episode, it is prime for ridicule.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsKirk DouglasJohn CassavetesCarrie SnodgressA former CIA agent uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from a shadowy secret government agency.A thriller and follow up to Carrie, I can't really say I have much of a strong opinion on this one. It isn't egregious but nothing really stands out about it either. The special effects are pretty decent and the acting is good but the casting seems off. Everyone looks older than they should be, Kirk Douglas looks like he should be a grandfather and Andrew Stevens looks like he already should have already graduated college. It also doesn't help that Douglass wasn't in the best of shape, his body is starting to sag and the beach scene opening is an eyesore. Its hard to take it as a horror movie but Netflix is kind of *beep* for them nowadays so...
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie HarrisClaire BloomRichard JohnsonHill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.A ghost story with excelent atmosphere to make up for the lack of an actual haunting. They hear the bumps in the night, see the scribbled messages on the wall, and are left with the mystery as to the whereabouts of the investigator's wife but there is no actual ghost to be seen. It easily falls under the category of an evil house movie, there is no known spirit that haunts the place but the house itself beckons the heroine to it. Seeing her slowly be driven mad makes it feel especially tragic however as it toys with the one thing that she wants more than anything. To be wanted.
- DirectorT.L.P. SwicegoodStarsWarrene OttJames WestmorelandMarty FriedmanAn undertaker and his two friends, who are restaurateurs, make business by going out on town and killing people; the restaurateurs use body parts for their menu, the entrepreneur buries the rest.The most manic movie on the list, it really has no idea what it wants to be and is its own worse enemy because of it. It starts out as a slasher as the three villains brutally stab and dismember a woman but then cuts to the leader of the trio, the undertaker Mort, performing slapstick at her funeral. There are moments of black comedy, his companions selling leg of lamb (the first woman's leg) but most of the humor is light in tone. The mixed signals end up hurting each other, the villains don't come off as threatening because of their lighthearted hijinks nor are they all that funny when they play the Three Stooges after committing such heinous acts. It also doesn't help that the bumbling police aren't that funny, even the protagonist, as far as I could stretch the term, is no Frank Drebin.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingMichael ColesIn 1974, Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing investigates a satanic cult on behalf of Scotland Yard, only to discover a plot by Count Dracula to commit global genocide.Late Hammer wasn't great but I can't say this was all together terrible. It plays like a crime drama rather than a vampire flick as the police are investigating the works of a satanic cult with high profile members. It just so happens that one of them s Dracula. Lee pretending he wasn't Dracula was a novel idea for the first standoff with Cushing's Van Hellsing but there is a problem. It makes it so he doesn't really have a part until late, other than a scene where he turns a policewoman into one of his brides, the lead star doesn't have much presence until around an hour in. Dracula isn't like a lot of monsters like the mummy or the creature from the black lagoon, he has a great deal of personality to play off the rest of the cast. The fact that they took such a big gamble as to hide him as long as they did is commendable but flawed. It is perhaps too late in the series to pull such a trick, if they had tried this in the first Dracula sequel it would possibly have a better effect but by now its running stale.
- DirectorHerk HarveyStarsCandace HilligossFrances FeistSidney BergerAfter a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.Another high ranking movie, this movie does atmosphere better than the vast majority of modern movies. Done on the cheap, it is costuming that steals the show. The haunting figure that stalks Mary Henry is simply in design but effective in his usage. He shows up for only short periods of time never saying a word but that he was always around the corner and always watching. He is an upsetting character and catching him looking in through the window or sitting in the lobby chair sends shivers down your back. The twist has aged over the years but its still has some impact.
- DirectorMario CaianoStarsBarbara SteelePaul MullerHelga LinéA woman and her lover are tortured and killed by her sadistic husband. The pair return from the grave to seek vengeance.Meh all the way around, nothing terrible but not great. Barbara Steele was really slumming it in this one, 5 years since Black Sunday she still looks great but the cinematography doesn't do her many favors. As the deceased Muriel she looks great but once she starts playing the role of her sister Jenny she looks much older. Perhaps its the blonde hair, tied up in a bun or hanging loose, it makes her kind of look like a witch rather than the meek protagonist she is supposed to be. She looks better with black hair, especially to the end with her hair covering her scars. She looks amazing in these scenes, withered but still alluring, but then they introduced her sanding next to the ghost of her lover who in comparison looks lazy. Like they threw some blood on him and ripped his shirt before calling it a day. This is made all the more embarrassing when she reveals her disfigurement which looks so much more intricate. Most of the movie is really plodding, Jenny who has just been released from an asylum starts dreaming of her dead sister while her new husband, Muriel's widow, is trying trying to drive her mad. Unfortunately, neither of them are that clever with their manipulations, Muriel just tells her to kill her husband while he plants evidence to make her question her memories. There is little build and its all just boring.
- DirectorMassimo PupilloStarsMickey HargitayWalter BrandiLuisa BarattoA photographer and models go to an abandoned castle to shoot some sexy covers for horror novels. Unbeknownst to them, the castle is inhabited by a lunatic who believes himself to be the reincarnated spirit of a 17th century executioner.Its a mediocre slasher movie with a bevy of bubbly beauties that get bumped off in some unintentionally comical ways. While one man is burned alive and one woman is placed in an iron maiden, there is still an overly elaborate spider web and mechanical spider. The villain is kind of pathetic. After breaking up with his girlfriend, who is among the girls, he discovers the body of a deceased murderer and takes on his persona as the Crimson Executioner. He is the Green Lantern of serial killers. This actually is a very apt comparison, the whole movie feels like a comic book with its goofy premise, cartoon characters, and superhero structure with the muscular hero saving the day from the super powered villain. Its some campy fun but not all that memorable.
- DirectorAlbert BandStarsRichard BooneTheodore BikelPeggy MaurerCemetery director Robert Kraft discovers that by arbitrarily changing the status of plots from empty to occupied on the planogram causes the death of the plots' owners.a decent psychological horror movie with its share of flaws. Robert Kraft is forced to tend to a cemetery by the traditions of his family but finds that by placing the wrong colored pin into the plot map he has the power to kill people. He then has to cope with the weight of the responsibility of such authority as the map slowly grates at his sanity. The map is a great representative of his crumbling mental state, it grows bigger and more oppressive the madder he gets until it takes up the entire screen. Its a shame that the movie can't keep the momentum however, it tries to give a more mundane explanation that just doesn't make sense with a second of thought.
- DirectorPaul LeniStarsMary PhilbinConrad VeidtJulius MolnarWhen a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.It was a pretty interesting romantic horror movie the way of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Freaks. The smile is the mark of the monster in this film, from Gwynplaine's disfiguring Glasgow grin to the vile smile of the true monster, the jester Barkiphedro. It is a sign of cruelty, something to make the audience squeamish when they look at the two characters. While for the hero it is the cruelty inflicted upon him, for Barkiphedro it conveys his penchant for evil. An excellent movie for those who can watch silent films.
- DirectorTi WestStarsSara PaxtonPat HealyKelly McGillisDuring the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.Probably the contender for biggest let down, this is far from a four star movie. Its essentially two stories scotch taped at the center, a quirky comedy up front and a horror movie in the rear, but they don't feed into each other well. The first couple acts are entertaining and I'll admit they make the characters more interesting later on but as to the actual haunting it is sorely lacking. We are told the ghost's identity but not much else and are then told of three more that are trying to protect them but they never show up. When the latter half gets underway, we are then given evidence that what we know of the ghost is wrong. A man shows up and leaves a suicide note in the ghost's room addressing his deceased wife, but the ghost was jilted on her wedding day when she killed herself. It gets creepy but there is no satisfaction with it, like looking at shadows in the dark.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsMia WasikowskaJessica ChastainTom HiddlestonIn the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.Its a good movie, I can't really say it isn't. Its just kind of misleading. I saw the ads and assumed it was a ghost story but then heard the discourse about it and knew it wasn't but I think it could still fit as a decent Christmas horror movie. I say that because they kind of remind me of A Christmas Carol, where they serve a second purpose other than just scaring people. The ghosts are real and they are very stylized and good looking but they aren't the focus of the movie. It is instead the plot to murder Edith Cushing by her new husband and sister that is the main focus while the ghosts try to warn her of their insidious past. They still provide some scares but it is the tension between Edith and her sister in law that drive the tension. The problem is, I don't particularly care for Mia Wasikowska. No matter her role, there is something about her that irks me that I can't quite place that keeps me from liking her characters. This isn't any different, while Edith is put through hell I just couldn't empathize with her.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.Every bit as good as it's English counterpart. While Bela is the better Dracula, it was always Renfield that stole the show and the Spanish version is not much different. Only with even more Renfield. Thirty minutes longer than the English version, it uses the time to expand on parts, like explaining how a new vampire is created. In a bit of passing dialogue, Mina makes note that the Count forced her to drink his blood as well, providing just a little bit more lore not seen in the Lugosi version. A fan of classic horror movies would do themselves a service to watch this version as well and it is available on the anniversary release from 2006
- DirectorHajime SatôStarsTeruo YoshidaTomomi SatôHideo KôThe survivors of a plane crash in a remote area are attacked by blob-like alien creatures that turn their victims into blood-thirsty vampires.Some good old Japanese miniatures. Like an episode of Thunderbirds in the middle of your Scifi monster flick. Time was not kind to this movie, all of the old special effects techniques are as hokey as possible. Obvious dummies being thrown off cliffs, closeups on rubber faces as the alien makes its way inside, and cheap makeup render any chills ineffective but in a way has some old world charm. I rather enjoyed the camp of a mannequin falling off a cliff with arms at right angles. The story has the very simplistic Japanese aestheitic of not really caring about motivation. Aliens are dicks, and they are here to give everything a proper dicking. The slimy little blobs are an amicable threat, they are small enough to avoid discovery and possess hosts quickly, but the vampires they create are as threatening as your neighbors pug. Their bite is less Dracula and more your awkward first time getting a hickey. They aren't really sure what they are doing but your just too embarrassed to say something. The cast of characters are pretty diverse and lead to the biggest conflict of the movie, which was pretty well done. A terrorist, bomber, psychologist, extraterrestrial biologist (ha), war widow and politician with his aide and wife must somehow coincide to survive but their inability to get over themselves keep putting them at odds. The ending is kind of weak, they had their heart in the right place but the ship that crashed and forgotten about was walking distance from the freeway. They probably could have seen the spaceship's lights from the road, how could they really have not been discovered ten minutes after touching back down? Albeit there were reasons, but there was still a period of time in which a rescue team should have found them.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.I was pleasantly surprised yet again. After The Innkeepers, I was apprehensive when I saw the glowing reviews but I can't say I can argue with its high scores. It's slow admittedly, but I tend to like slow horror movies more but more importantly, it feels genuine. Time and work went into researching New England folklore and it creates a very lifelike plot set in the early colonial days of America. I'm still going to make fun of the title however. The VVitch.
- DirectorKazui NihonmatsuStarsShun'ya WazakiItoko HaradaShin'ichi YanagisawaWhen a crew of scientists returns from Mars with a sample of the space spores that contaminated their ship, the sample escapes and grows into an enormous, rampaging beaked beast.Its a giant monster with deely boppers on its head, any negative criticism I can give seems in ill faith. Giant monster movies tend to get ridiculous, The Cyclops manages to lift the entire shot off screen for instance, but its hard to take this giant chicken lizard seriously. This thing doesn't even have the right to dream it was on Godzilla's level, it can aspire to be Gamera tops. But that is the charm of giant monsters I suppose. I got some entertainment out of this.
- DirectorDamiano DamianiStarsJames OlsonBurt YoungRutanya AldaA dysfunctional family moves into a new house, which proves to be satanic, resulting in the demonic possession of their teenage son.A decent evil house film that turns into an awful demonic possession story. The special effects are grotesque, the throbbing boils and Danny's stomach caving in are well done but it hardly makes up for the bad pacing. It goes too hard from the start, there is no build to a ghost or its intent, and then runs out of steam. Once they take Danny out of the house the movie slows to a crawl until he returns for a woefully disappointing exorcism scene.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingLorna HeilbronA Victorian-age scientist returns to London with his paleontological bag-of-bones discovery from Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately, when exposed to water, flesh returns to the bones unleashing a malevolent being on the scientist's family and friends.Not one of the best collaborations between Cushing and Lee, the story is long winded and the monster is built for far too log. Cushing finds a giant skeleton on an expedition to New Guinea and believes it to be of an ancient evil deity when he discovers flesh forming on its finger after he accidentally spilled water on it. An hour and a half later, it will be fully revived but in the mean time we are stuck with a story about viral madness. Cushing uses the blood from the phallic looking finger in a jar to create an antidote for madness and gives it to his daughter only to find that the serum doesn't work. There is a side story of his brother losing a dangerous patient in his asylum but it doesn't go anywhere. The framing device can't salvage this one.
- DirectorPeter DuffellStarsJohn BryansJohn BennettDenholm ElliottAn anthology of four horror stories revolving around a mysterious rental house in the U.K.An interersting albeit faulty anthology with an unfortunate title. The cast is great, a litany of terrific English actors that all meet their ends at the hands of an evil house in fitting ways. Each protagonist have an underlying flaw, an obsession for the macabre, that is reflected back towards them and prooves their undoing. The problem with the title? There is no blood. Rated PG, it kind of gets stuck between audiences. The stories aren't juicy enough for older horror fans but the themes are too mature for younger audiences, leaving the movie in a state of limbo.
- DirectorGordon HesslerStarsVincent PriceAlister WilliamsonChristopher LeeAristocrat Julian Markham keeps his disfigured brother, Sir Edward, locked in a tower of his house. Sir Edward occasionally escapes and causes havoc around the town.I love me some Vincent Price but he has been in many a better horror movie than this. His brother, disfigured by voodooists in Africa, goes on a killing spree trying to get revenge for his subsequent incarceration and later vivisepulture, only he is perhaps too meticulous. He racks up a small body count before his death which is a little disappointing with his super villain backstory and visage. Dawning a red hood, which looks great, he just isn't deranged enough to match with bigger horror villains. Though his end is quite cruel, perhaps too cruel considering the fact that most of his actions were targeted to his conspiring murderers. As for his brother, their animosity was all a matter of ill fortune but that he is so far apart from his brother's vendetta it wastes Price's talents. He is in constant search for his brother after he discovers he is still alive but it took so long to actually discover what happened in Africa that it hurts the revelation that he was culpable.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsNobuko MiyamotoShingo YamashiroNokkoA TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.I loved this movie. I loved the Japanese 80s hair of the heroine. I loved the obvious green screen and cheesy special effects. I loved the old fashioned practical effects ghost. The gore, the puppets, this movie was as good as the game that released with it was influential. While shooting a documentary on a lost mural of a painter in his abandoned, cursed house, the crew of five are beset by the spirit of his bereaved wife's ghost that dwells in the shadow. The encroaching darkness that burns the flesh is threatening as all hell, even the lights can't pierce through it and shatter. Its a wave of death that there is no way to defend yourself from and no way to escape. But its the ghost at the end that is the best part. A burned corpse with the faces of infants trying to escape from under its skin, its skin stretches as they push in ways CGI never can. And the expressions. This thing is so wonderfully expressive, it goes through so many emotions its hard to think of it as robotic. This is easily takes a spot as one of the best movies this Halloween.
- DirectorEugenio MartínStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingAlberto de MendozaWhile on the Trans-Siberian Express, an anthropologist and his rival must contain the threat posed by the former's cargo: a prehistoric ape which is the host for a parasitic life-form.This was rather fun as Cushing shakes off his often dreary characters that I am more accustomed to. Shot after the death f his wife, his character is given most of the more comical lines and he delivers them well. One of my favorites beng the allegation that he or Christopher Lee's character being the monster for him to reply "Monster? We're British." He delivers the line with lighthearted indignation that is neither too harsh nor meek. Telly Savalas also hits his character perfectly. A Russian officer, he delivers his lines with such gleeful malice like he gets no better joy than serving his country as a mad dog. Unfortunately, he doesn't get nearly enough screen time. The monster looks good but it to doesn't show up often, it is killed in its first altercation but continues to possess new vessels to continue its devilish work. It isn't until he possesses the monk that he becomes his most ominous character however. The monks long hair hanging over his glowing red eyes makes him look especially evil as he dispatches the Russian Army. Effect wise, they look good albeit cheap. The glowing eyes don't look real but still have some charm to them and the brains, their folds ironed out as their memories are stolen, look goofy. Its a decent campy movie deserving of a bigger cult following.
- DirectorMarco SerafiniStarsAna Caterina MorariuLorenzo FlahertyAngelica CinquantiniThis was pretty bad. A lot of nothing on top of nothing with a terribly unsatisfactory conclusion. The ghosts are trying to possess, I guess it isn't exactly clear what that means, two children in the charge of a Duchess. They do this by kind of standing there. Not quite menacingly. There are no effects, they just show up in scenes and disappear after a cutaway until the very end where he fazes into the scene lazily. Tension is really not there, its just the Duchess repeating herself over and over with no real game plan at the final confrontation. The backstory for the ghost was incredibly lazy as well. He whipped all the female staff in the Duke's absence and then got killed. No one knows who, how, or why and I suspect neither does the screenwriter. It was something that could have been explored but it was wasted on talks about evil and the introduction of another character that can see the ghost but has no real part in the story other than for it to be told to him. They tried to do a horror movie but it played like a Downton Abbey Halloween special.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJonathan HazeJackie JosephMel WellesA clumsy young man working at an impoverished flower shop discovers that the strange plant he has been nurturing has an insatiable appetite for blood, forcing him to kill to feed it.Its a bit dated but still an interesting watch. Falling more into comedy, the sense of humor may not apply to more modern sensibilities but I enjoyed it. There are dismemberments but it isn't all that gory. Its more like Halloween decorations than a real body. I'd recommend it to classic movie fans but a younger audience I would give it more thought.
- DirectorGareth EdwardsStarsAaron Taylor-JohnsonElizabeth OlsenBryan CranstonThe world is beset by the appearance of monstrous creatures, but one of them may be the only one who can save humanity.The good American Godzilla movie still disappoints. They seem to have some understanding of the kaiju, that he is a force of nature and punishment for science run amuk, but seem to have forgotten a big part of what makes Godzilla movies great. Seeing Godzilla. He has put on considerable weight this time through and unlike what the good people of Tumblr will defend, he does not seem proud of it. It takes an hour for him to make his appearance and even then he spends most of the movie hiding in fog, smoke, darkness, whatever is around. They even somehow glossed over his first fight with the male Muto, instead focusing on Brody, the human whose name isn't in the title. The "apex predator" lets his prey escape then swims after him with an entourage of American aircraft carriers, kind of like Goldberg being led to the ring surrounded by policeman. If he is so tough, why does he have a security detail? There are a ton of errors that are made in this movie that it plays as a fun game trying to find them all. Can a tugboat carry a megaton warhead far enough away not to kill everyone in San Francisco and a helicopter in five minutes? Can a suspension bridge maintain complete rigidity under the weight of tanks and civilian vehicles after losing both its suspension cables? Can civilian electronics withstand an EMP better than hardened military devices? Is monster sex rubbing a nuclear warhead on your egg sacks? No, no, no, and what? Just about every Brody scene in this movie make no god damn sense, he just kind of shows up, asks o do something, then somehow tags along in a bunch of missions where he somehow cheats death like the NAVY's Evil Knievel. None however surpass the scene where he is helping transport a warhead by uncovered train an scouts ahead. There is pitch blackness, floating tanks, a monster that may be walking on its side as you see only one set of eyes through the planks of the bridge they are lying on, and a sudden locomotion fire that happened while the monster is hovering around them. When we finally do get to see the monsters duke it out for real, it isn't very exciting. They double team Godzilla but just throw glancing blows the entire time that he sells like a WWE Diva. The Muto are very limited in how they fight, with no projectiles and very lanky arms, at least Gigan had grenades and a buzz saw belly. After two scenes of them over handing Godzilla a couple times each, he manages to kill the male while the female is distracted and even that failed in comparison. He swat it into a building with his tail, what is essentially the feeling each other out phase of every other Godzilla movie. How was their first fight a draw when it has such a glass jaw? The female's death makes up for it, Godzilla puking atomic breath down her throat until her head burns off is wonderfully gratuitous and essentially a Mortal Kombat finisher.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingAndré MorellChristopher LeeWhen a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.A classic Sherlock Holmes story gets the Hammer treatment. Its a shame they didn't do more, this was a very good outing for the horror company. Peter Cushing knew the character and it shows. Every line of dialogue he says is fitting and the mannerisms and dress are perfect. Its no wonder he played the role so many times after this.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsNobuko MiyamotoShingo YamashiroNokkoA TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.Giving it an average score of 6.3, this was a very good month of movies. There were plenty that stood out as strong contenders for best movie. The Mist, Dracula, and The Haunting were very high in the rankings but couldn't quie wrestle the top spot. That went to the Japanese movie Sweet Home. Practical effects and grotesque imagery made it well worth the watch. Worst was much easier, The Turn of the Screws was a travesty and had all the excitement of fresh paint chipping.