Reviews

The Devil's Messenger was a feature film cobbled together from three episodes of a failed TV series, "13 Demon Street" and later shot footage featuring Lon Chaney as Satan. Chaney offers a woman who committed suicide a chance to escape the horrors of hell if she agrees to run a few errands for him. That is how they tie everything in the film together, as she delivers items that are used in each story and is really the catalyst for the stories.

Story number one deals with a stressed out photographer in need of a break. He takes a vacation to the mountains, but lets his lustful ways get the better of him as he murders a woman he tries to make advances on. After he returns to the city, the woman suddenly appears in a photo he took. Every time he looks at the picture, the woman appears closer in the picture, as she is making her way towards him to take her revenge.

The next story is about a group of scientists who discover a woman frozen in a block of ice deep in a cave. One scientist becomes obsessed with the woman and will go to any length to free her and make her his own.

The final story concerns a man who has a series of dreams concerning his death. His doctor advises him to go to the building that is in his dreams, in hopes that this will bring him some sort of relief. Instead he finds a gypsy woman who has a vision regarding his death as well.

The series this movie derives from was another in a long list of Twilight Zone imitators that just didn't make it. Each story itself was solid and made with good production qualities. The performances were fine, and Chaney seemed to be having a good time in his role. Pick this title up if you happen upon it, as its a fine old horror film with a lot to offer.

So many people seem to believe that this was supposed to be a straight-up horror film. It is anything but that. Creature From the Haunted Sea is a broad farce first, a political satire second, and finally a horror film/creature feature third. In fact, the said creature in the title has barely a presence in this film at all.

Roger Corman obviously wanted to make a silly comedy with political undertones about the times, but always the businessman, he knew to throw in a monster and cool sounding title to bring in the ticket buying public. Folks need to realize when they watch this to not expect a nail biting thriller or blood curdling horror film. This is comedy all the way.

The film is about an American gangster who agrees to transport a couple of Cuban military officers and some of their men off the island after Castro's revolution. They also bring along a large part of the Cuban treasury. Also aboard the boat is an undercover spy for the American government, who is trying to figure out what all is going on. The gangster also has his girlfriend with him and a couple of hired hands, one of which is his girlfriends brother and the other a strange fellow who makes animal noises all the time. The gangster decides he would like the money the Cubans have brought along for his own and decides to bump them off one by one, blaming things on a local legend about a sea monster. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that the legend is true and there is really a sea monster.

The acting in this film is fine for what it is and the actors play their roles like they should. Its a Corman picture so you know its a cheapie, as the monster is one of the silliest looking creatures I have ever seen. I really didn't laugh at anything in the movie, though it caused me to elicit a small chuckle a couple of times. The picture moved along briskly enough and wasn't a bore, though it didn't thrill me either. My biggest gripe is that so many DVD companies who have released this try to pass it off as a serious horror film. Anyone expecting that will be sadly disappointed.

Not a terrible movie, but not what you would probably expect either.

This is the pilot for a TV series that didn't get picked up. It features a different telling of the familiar story of Baron Frankenstein and his monster. Well acted with good sets and fine production values, I'm surprised this didn't get a shot as a regular series. Features some stock footage from old Universal horror films, but if your going to use stock footage, that is perfect for this type of show. Was produced by Hammer Studios, who were famous for their own horror movies. Richard Bull, who was Mr. Olsen on Little House on the Praire, has a significant role in this show.

Well worth picking up, as this is part of many different public domain horror collections. I picked this up in Mill Creek's 250 movie Horror Collection, and this has been one of the big highlights. The quality of this print was very good, with clear audio and a nice picture.

I gave this 7 out of 10.

Cheap, low-budget all-black film about a woman returning to Jamaica to take control of her late father's plantation. Her half-sister plots against her in order to reclaim what she feels is rightfully hers.

I got this film in Mill Creek's 250 movie Horror Collection, but this really is not a horror film at all. There are some hints of the supernatural and voodoo, but this is mostly just a boring drama with a little comedy thrown in for good measure. There is only one white actor in the movie, as this film was targeted toward the black movie going population upon its release. One of the comedic characters is in particular offensive, being of the wide-eyed, scared of his own shadow type of black stereotype.

The acting in this film is down right horrible. The plot is dull and uninteresting and the film moves at a snails pace. It may only be 52 minutes long, but it goes on for an eternity. Even with the worst of films, I can usually find one good quality thing to say about it. This is one of the rare cases that I can not. Not even a so-bad-its-good type of film, you should avoid this borefest at all costs.