Reviews

A mash-up of the '30s and '40s mad scientist genre, with some movie serial feel from that era, with a bit of '60s Mario Bava erotic slasher stuff thrown in. In other words, Astro Zombies has a lot going on, but it doesn't add up to much.

The espionage angle doesn't help, but it does give us the best character, a sleazy (commie?) agent, Satana. She pretty much steals the show, strutting about in Elvira-esque costumes, killing enemies and flunkies that don't follow her orders.

The mad doctor/scientist not only has a slap-dash lab in a basement, he's got a trollish assistant. That guy's job is fetching corpses for the doctor's experiments; which consist of a mish-mash of solar energy, radio control, brains and body parts, to create the skeletal-faced zombies.

The gore is fairly tame; the sexy stuff a bit looser, and we're definitely in the drive-in dungeon realm. There's even enough gun-play to satisfy the action/adventure crowd.

Actually, the zombies are pretty cool, and determined dudes at that. But it's hard to figure what the director intended, as stuffing someone in an electrical panel, running around with a flashlight stuck to your head, and setting up a toy robot battle are just weird scenes to take in.

Plus, as others have said or implied, the plot is underdeveloped for the run-time, making us wait through too many long scenes until Satana does something interesting.

The last thing that this movie needed is the words of wisdom at the end. What emotions are they talking about? Numbness? Boredom?

This could've been much more interesting with about ten or so minutes chopped out of it, and adding more scenes showing the zombies run amok.

Nowhere near as bad as Beast of Yucca Flat or Eegah, this probably good to watch with Plan 9 From Outer Space.

This is surprisingly good. Ventriloquist's dummys are a great horror device, and Hugo the dummy doesn't disappoint. He starts off a bit strange, and he gets much stranger before he's done. The odd thing is he's actually a good guy.

As an imprisoned soul, no less. He manages to turn the tables on his "master," the ventriloquist Vorelli. All the while the intrepid Mark works to figure out just why Hugo is no mere dummy, while trying to save his girlfriend Marianne from Vorelli's fairly creepy clutches.

Mark's unraveling of the Vorelli/Hugo mystery drives the plot, as Marianne spends half the movie in a trance-like state; Mark thinks he can expose Vorelli by using Marianne as a lure, but they underestimate the hypnotist's powers.

Since we're to infer that there's something supernatural going on, Vorelli remains an enigma. Had he succeeded with literally spiriting Marianne away, she'd be transmutated into a doll just like Hugo.

All of this takes place with suitably eerie scenes, and the story convincingly sets up a bizarre backstory of postwar Berlin as a sort of ortherworldly crucible. Vorelli's character exudes the sinister, as there's no doubt that he's evil embodied.

One nagging thought occurs, though. Why has it taken Vorelli over fifteen years to make another doll after trapping Hugo? His motive would seem to have an evil logic: trap an appealing woman's soul into a doll, declare her dead, and inherit her fortune, and repeat the plan...so, why wait?

Nonetheless, Devil Doll does a lot with its premise, has solid performances, and a an intricate, if imperfect plot. Well-worth a look.

Surprisingly watchable sci-fi/horror from near the end of the golden age of this genre. The premise of an astronaut's arm returning to earth to strangle people seems slightly ludicrous; but substitute what in a previous generation would've been a mad scientist's experiment gone wrong for a hapless lunar expedition's cosmic plague, and it makes enough atomic-age sense.

The set-up is pretty tense NASA-style mission control gone bad. Then, the segue to a cool couple finding the remains of our lunar hero on a California beach drives the plot into a murder mystery that plays out with some suspense, as the innocent guy who is somehow possessed by the hand's power (actually, most of an arm too) is accused first of killing his landlady, then a few other apparent murders.

The convergence of the egg head scientists from Washington with the local sheriff plays out well too. There's plenty of grey area about who's right and who's responsible for the stranglings. We know more than the sheriff and even the scientists, but even the young guy possessed by the alien doesn't understand what's happened to him.

There's some very effective comic touches--when the protagonist's body, presumed to be dead, rises up in the ambulance the medics are dumbfounded. They thought he was a corpse. This foreshadows the very end, when the same two guys have to transport the evil hand; this time they sabotage the entire plot.

The movie maintains a chilling atmosphere, has some engaging performances, and relentlessly builds toward its clever ending. Very underrated, and definitely worth a look.

Pretty good crime/sci-fi stuff. The Nazi element works as well, but the escaped German scientist is actually not such a bad guy compared to the criminal mastermind, who uses radioactivity to reanimate the corpses of fellow criminals to avenge their prosecution.

The lab has enough machines and gizmos to lend some suspension of disbelief to the re-animation process. In fact, the movie starts out with a bang as one of the zombies takes out a rival gangster. Obviously, the police are mystified for quite a while; they can't figure how dead guys are assassinating people on both sides of the law.

Once they're convinced that radiation explains the mystery, the movie loses its tension somewhat. Then it's just a matter of pinpointing the lab, which ought to be easy, considering thecomplete police and military resources.

Nonetheless, the zombies are quite wild and ruthless. When the good guys actually confront the zombie horde, theure indestructible. Only blowing up all the machinery in the lab nullifies their power.

This is nicely-done for the most part, and is plenty entertaining, especially the first half.

A well-crafted alien invasion movie. The alien is a parasite that takes over an astronaut's body. When his ship crash-lands back to earth, he survives, but seems zombie-like.

Gradually, though, he mutates, as the alien life force grows stronger. He breaks out of the hospital and goes on a homicidal rampage. The second half of the movie is reminiscent of a film noir; dark deeds follow the mutant's trail as it lurks around in the London night.

Just as the danger builds toa panicky level, it's electrocuted while hanging on scaffolding inside Westminster Abbey. By that time all traces of the man are gone--it's become what looks like a giant octopus.

The cast gives such good performances that suspension of disbelief holds throughout. This seems pretty much as we would imagine a story of an alien life form let loose in a big city to play out.

There's even a quaint scene with a little girl inviting the still somewhat human-looking astronaut to her pretend tea party; this actually becomes an horrific moment, as we see this guy is less sentimental than Frankenstein's monster.

Although the scientific explanations are fundamental to support the plot and theme, there's maybe too much talking amongst the other main characters during the interval that the astronaut is stuck in the hospital.

The beginning is superb--not wasting any time developing a sense of amazement and bewilderment; it just lags a bit before the mutant livens things up again.

Great stuff--well-worth watching.

There's a lot going on here, and it happens very quickly. Before most movies of this type have even shown signs of an alien spaceship, we've got this ovoid thing on the ground in a remote area, from which a monster slithers its way out to attack locals.

A lot of hip kids get devoured, at a cool hootenany picnic, a swingin' dance, and then at a swell lover's lane. An army detachment along with some cops eventually take it down with bullets and a hand grenade.

A second monster, apparently locked up in the spacecraft, gets loose, but is wiped out when the sheriff's car rams it. We learn that the requisite scientist, who's also becomes a victim, figures out that the creatures have come to Earth to gather biological information about us.

Unfortunately, the data has been transmitted to their base or planet: what happens when the aliens return? That's the cliffhanger that we end with.

Quite a lot of thought went into The Creeping Terror--the pacing is relentless, and the monster is everywhere. That's both good and bad, though.

Obviously, the monster is a guy (or two?) in a gigantic termite (?) costume. It kind of plods along on fairly obviously human feet, dragging the bloated stern section with it, consuming people--mostly women--who pretty much push their way into its yucky mouth.

Despite the very low budget, this movie isn't all that bad. The youth culture aspect works maybe too well, as two guys fight over a girl at the dance--at the exact moment that the monster shows up--and then continue the fight.

Although the monster moves awkwardly, it does manage to look disturbing. Also, I had to admire one part of the lover's lane scene, in which it looked as though the monster rolled a car over, twice. It was no toy car, unlike the props used in similar scenes from much fancier movies.

Though the viewer can laugh at the hokey monster, the intrusive narration, and the misfit soundtrack, this isn't nearly as bad as the abysmal rating would suggest.

It's got everything that a classic-era sci-fi movie usually offers, just not very well-done overall.

Deceit and greed rule the night in this clever noir. We literally jump right in to this plot, as a body falls out the window of a burning apartment. It's a morgue stiff, an imposter for Sam, who plans to score $50k from his life insurance policy. He'll disappear to the East coast while his wife Edna stays in L. A. to collect.

But Edna is actually in love with Ray; so they're gonna cash in. After all, Sam is officially dead. Things get more complex as Sam's son Tom, unwilling to believe that the fall was an accident, hires a dapper private detective. That Clifton Webb-esque character wants in on the money as well.

He sets about hustling and blackmailing whoever he can. Meanwhile, Sam, intentionally kept out of the loop by Edna, shows up. When he finds out about Ray, he kills him. After some further conniving, Edna kills Sam, but herself falls to her death.

This all happens in a little over an hour; the tension and passion keep building, offset to some extent by well-placed verbal barbs from the enjoyable detective. It's like having Vincent Price give a decorous but macabre commentary to remind us that we're not playing at cops-and-robbers.

The only disappointment might be that the ending is a bit too neat; Edna dying in the same way as the fake death that started this trail of crime seems reaches for a level of mythology. Otherwise, this is one worth staying up for. Very entertaining.

Nothing like the Victorian Era for the interplay of science and superstition. Add the Gothic atmosphere and a bit of Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe touches of the inventive and the macabre, and we've got a very entertaining horror/sci-fi movie.

Machinery that manifests and potentially captures the soul (the asphyx) has Sir Hugo and his colleague Giles completely fascinated. After a boating accident in which Hugo's son dies, Hugo discovers an oddity in the crude film he was making of the holiday scene.

The device itself, looking like a movie projector crossed with a jukebox, admirably suits this brassy era of inventions. Fittingly, they experiment at the lower end of the food chain by capturing a guinea pig's soul, then move on to a condemned criminal, and wind up planning to immortalize themselves as well as Chrisitana, Hugo's daughter and Giles' fiancee.

The suspension of disbelief gets some testing, as I can't figure how the soul, as a spirit, can be physically captured, but I guess this aspect has some internal logic. After all, the asphyx operates as a ghost, whom we know are creatures with a definite attachment to a particular place.

The asphyxs themselves are pretty creepy-looking transparent apparitions, floating about like so many demons. I'm reminded somewhat of 1959's The Tingler, in which the creature is a physical being that's activated by fear; here the creature/spirit activates just before death. The asphyx has the bonus that, once captured, the 'host' person becomes immortalized.

Unfortunately, there's no peaceful path to death, as Hugo gets electrocuted in order to bring on the asphyx, which actually works ok. But, for some strange reason, Chrisitana's beheading goes wrong, so that she remains merely beheaded, and not immortalized. That leads to the denouement, in which Giles, bitter over Christina's death, sabotages his own transformation, so that he's literally blown up.

There's a very clever ending scene, with Hugo wandering around in modern times, sort of like a harmless vampire, still trying to die, still sporting the equally immortal guinea pig.

The Asphyx is slow at times, but actually benefits from many of the talky scenes, as Hugo and Giles wrestle with the ethical issues in their decidedly edgy enterprise.

One of the most unique premises in the horror genre. How many severed conjoined twin movies can there be? And the action is relentless, the tone horrid and campy at the same time, set in a lurid gritty urban jungle.

Let's face it: the mutant guy is a great monster. Plus he's got built-in motivation to be a killer. Who doesn't he hate? It's scary-funny enough just to look at him, but when he does anything, it's an event.

Like sitting on the toilet, lying in bed, or wreaking vengeance. The only scene we don't get is him deployed in the bar; he's there once, but chilling in the basket. I'd love to see all those scuzzy bar flies get the freak of their lives if mutant guy hoists himself onto a bar stool looking to slam a couple beers.

An extra bonus is the tantalizing end--you just know the good old boys will be back. Thus the well-deserved sequels. If the viewer is gore-phobic, rest assured that, although there's plenty of violence, the creep factor is much worse than the blood.

I pretty much stay away from post-'70s horror, but Basket Case is not to be missed. Highly recommended.

Very good suspenseful doomed romance with fatal complications. It starts off as a creepy older guy/younger girl affair, and ends up with a bit of a body count.

Usually films of this type degenerate into stalking simple-minded revenge plots, but here the unfortunate infatuation of the doctor and his friend's daughter, which does reach a brick wall when she's murdered, immediately shifts into noir territory. The romance itself is quite believable because both the girl's amped-up crush and the doctor's vulnerable state-- triggered perhaps his wife's on the verge of giving birth--though stereotypical, play out with sensitivity.

Instead of a lynch mob mentality automatically blaming the ex-boyfriend, he's pretty much exonerated from her murder right away. Interestingly, the doctor has deeply implicated himself even though he's only guilty of not looking out for her.

That's doubly ironic, because his over-attention to her in effect resulted in his backing off just when he should've been there for him. The pool guy is a great red-herring character; he clearly suspects what the doc is up to with the girl, but nothing ever comes of it.

The green jacket (bit of evidence) we think must be the doc's, but, very unexpectedly, it belongs to the ex-boyfriend's dad. That revelation leads to the surprising climax car chase; but it's the scene between the two suspects, which immediately preceeds the vengeful chase, that's a fine bit of high-stakes bargaining with the devil.

Both guys are morally compromised, but the attorney is the murderer; even so, it's clear that he never intended to kill her. I sort of wished that they would indeed reach an agreement, as I had a few shreds of sympathy for him.

But he turns out to be a complete loose-cannon. Another strange element is the newspaper guy's accidental death. The videotape incriminating the doctor seems to be the ultimate bloody red flag; when he burns it, we're left thinking that it's not the end of it, but it is.

The good performances really make this work. All the essentials are there for a Hallmark movie, but this transcends melodrama. Very rewarding viewing experience.

Very spooky teen horror. It's got old-fashioned charm mostly due to the clever premise, convincing haunted house atmosphere, and, mostly, because of the believably adventurous but innocent kids.

Having a main character who wants to write horror discover a legendary book in the local creepy old house works effortlessly to set up the plot. As one kid after another goes missing, the tension builds until the featured ghost, Sarah, manifests with suitably macabre touches to the final scenes.

The scarecrow entity does more than enough to thrill the viewer; maybe it's a bit overdone, as it seems to be unstoppable. On the other hand, Sarah, the 'author' of the tales, indirectly works through Stella, the would-be writer; Stella takes over for the last tale, which breaks the ghostly presence.

In a way, this works as a coming-of-age tale for Stella, as she begins sort of as a geek at loose ends, but, through a lot of travail, winds up with a lot more confidence.

Although the Halloween 1968 setting resonates for me, as it puts me at high school age, I don't see any reason for it. Maybe it helps keep the plot in focus; we don't have to sit through watching the characters constantly messaging each other. Still, there has to be a walkie-talkie available...

This is a fun movie--I think younger people would like it, as well as those of us who usually have to look at least fifty years back to find horror that's scary without being just horrible.

Unique premise for this golden age of science fiction movie. Dimensionality is a puzzling, abstract concept, but it's handled here with some inner consistency that provides just enough suspension of disbelief.

The early scenes of the brother scientists conducting ever more fantastic experiments creates a nice sense of anticipation. Where are we going with this seemingly magical power? By the time we're done, we've been treated to a bit of a crime mystery, as well as a supernatural gloss to cover what science can't.

Capping a pretty lively second half, the ending s bizarre, but also makes sense, as the protagonist's escape into the fourth dimension doesn't mean that he won't be dead in the 3-D world he left behind.

Unfortunately, we've got to wade through what's admittedly a decent melodrama subplot to derive some payoff from all of those experiments. There's a touch of the sensational when our guy picks up a woman in a bar; one kiss and she ages enough to be her own grandma.

I do enjoy this lurid diet of horror alongside the gee-whiz techie stuff, plus the film noir element, as our guy becomes essentially a serial killer, lurking around in the bushes. The morphing of the scientist's role is reminiscent of the Jekyll/Hyde idea, or even a Dr. Frankenstein character.

The ability to blend genres in 4D Man shows that well-developed characters give more facets and angles to a plot. Despite taking way too long to flesh out the main plot, this is an interesting and thoughtful sci-fi movie.

A well-conceived premise, and an eerie location for this haunted house mystery. The last fifteen minutes or so are full of creepy happenings and surprises.

As others have said, there's elements of House on Haunted Hill here, complete with a character who has a passing resemblance to the earlier movie's hag-like caretaker. Unfortunately, House of the Damned has a pacing problem.

For such a short movie, it takes way too long (c. Forty minutes) for anything remotely menacing to happen. Any more jingling of keys (including the notorious 13th) and flickering of lights would've driven me nuts.

The movie redeems itself in the last few scenes. First the macabre, and nicely-done ghostly bits, then the completely unexpected denouement. It's the sort of explanation that's as convincing as it is bizarre, even sad.

Bear with the lazy middle part, let the atmosphere envelop you, and hang on for the ending.

Very compelling crime drama with Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel as low-rung gangsters in New York City's Little Italy. This is definitely character-driven, as the plot is simple, yet repetitive and rather predictable. The on-location atmosphere might as well represent the other main character. In fact, despite DiNiro's Johnny and Keitel's Charlie spewing out excitement, threats, absurdities, and a intense, though limited emotional range, there's a documentary aspect to the film.

Others have commented on the music; it does add a lot of flavor. But in addition to the striking contemporary tunes, I heard more than a little of the previous generation's doo-wop. I suppose there's a certain timeless quality to ethnic enclaves: we might as well be in Italy. The layers of tradition are thick, and shown with magnificent care. But the customs, language, formalities, even the splendor of these well-dressed men, often in swanky surroundings (despite the general squalor on the streets), seem to just be a facade of culture.

After all, these guys are all criminals. Uncle Giovanni (Cesare Denova) is treated like royalty; he is, in fact, the local crime boss. Actually, Charlie is something of an oddity; we get the feeling that he can't stand his life. But he's literally a fish out of water away from the claustrophobic bars and ugly streets--the one foray outside the neighborhood, at the beach with Theresa (Amy Robinson), finds him uncomfortable with nature. His attempt to save Theresa's cousin Johnny from loanshark Giovanni motivates the plot.

Why Johnny doesn't just leave town is a good question. But look: Charlie, a much more stable personality, is a homebody himself. A better question, as many have noted, is Charlie's obsession with helping Johnny. That guy is the epitomy of a loser; he even boasts that Giovanni is to blame for his predicament--doesn't everyone know that Johnny is a flake (nicely called a "mook" here)? It might make some sense if Johnny and Theresa had a close bond.

But nobody really likes him; he's merely tolerated. Charlie has a bit of a messiah complex: he thinks he can fix Johnny, or at least the small problem of an insurmountable debt. But Charlie latches on to the nutjob Johnny until there's no room for more than a fatal lurid end. All of these guys live by their wits; so much so that it seems Keitel, the smartest of all the hoods, never stops talking. For the most part, that works for him.

The flip side of banter is fighting. The bar fight scene, over (what else?) a debt, is one of the best scenes. It's wild, pretty brutal, and, ironically, very funny. After raisng hell, the bartender acts like it was no big deal, and pays off the cops; after a little regrouping they just start the fight all over again. Life is a game, a bet, a challenge; at the end of the day, you laugh it off. But lurking under all the neighborhood camerraderie is genuine danger.

The last sequences with the shooting and car crash couldn't be more raw and brutal. All of the cajoling, sporting, respectful talk, the mask of a shared culture and tradition, just falls away. In the end, there's just two groups of hoods. The not-so-good guys lose. It might've been more interesting--and logical--if Charlie just abandons Johnny. Then maybe we could have a guilt-ridden Charlie going after his uncle.

Nevertheless, this a gripping film. Excellent performances certainly lift it above the meagre plot. A must-see for DiNiro and Keitel fans, and crime drama watchers as well.

Good premise for this noir-ish drama of a wrongly-accused woman defended by her attorney fiancee for a mobster's death. Actually it's Steve (Tom Conway) who causes the club owner Vic's (Robert Armstrong's) fatal shooting; their confrontation was related to a bit of blackmail. Are incriminating pictures worth a campaign contribution? (Steve is running for D. A.). We'll see.

It's almost always bad news when the female lead (Martha O'Driscoll as Georgia Gale) works in a club--seems that all clubs in movies are run by mobsters. Georgia was unlucky enough to discover Vic's body; plus she picked up the smoking gun. No surprise that the bad deed goes down at the club, in Vic's office. The odd thing is that Steve was defending himself when Vic pulled the gun on him; it went off when it was wrenched out of Vic's hand. Steve tells the D. A. (Addison Richards) what really happened, but he doesn't buy it. Unfortunately, it sounds too neat--his client can't have killed the guy because he did. So, Georgia goes to trial.

Strangely, Vic's brother Frankie (Steve Brodie) comes up with a strategy to get Georgia off--there was a witness to the shooting. Literally an eaves-dropper, Joan (June Clayworth). She's Vic's undercover agent, technically Steve's secretary. We see that Frankie stands to gain by making Steve happy: with Georgia off the hook, Steve will give up the pictures that show the hoods' cozy relationship with corrupt cops and politicians. Back to the trial.

So, Steve gets Joan to testify. But not without some fireworks. The hoods try to shoot her when she's on the verge of spilling the beans. When things settle down, she paints herself into a corner by giving up clues that could've only be known by an eye witness. So, it's clear that not only is Georgia innocent, so is Steve; he didn't shoot anybody. There's a cutesy touch added; they'll both be back before the judge: this time to get married. The end.

What an excellent production. Every element fits like clockwork: a good cast giving us interesting, believable characters, a logical plot with some unexpected angles, very sharp pacing, good atmosphere, and a breezy, even madcap tone. More a crime drama than a film noir, Criminal Court is entertaining on all counts.

Bette Davis plays two sides of the same vindictive role here: she's wealthy sister Maggie, lording it over destitute sister Edie. Not for long though. Maggie has just buried her millionaire husband with a blase lack of mourning; but, despite her inheritance, she won't spring for a couple months rent for Edie. What to do? Kill the creepy cheapskate..

Sounds a bit extreme, but Edie learns that Margaret's petulant widow act isn't just posing--she'd faked pregnancy to con her husband into marrying her. She's just an ordinary golddigger. And a black widow, as we see. Turning the knife, so to speak, Edie has Maggie read the suicide note that will surface after Edie kills her.

Since they're twins, it's plausible that Edith can assume Margaret's identity; who's going to miss the down and out poor relation? Once the deed is done, it passes as a suicide. There's even a rationale for that--hasn't Margaret's husband just died? But, of course, Edith has to pass herself off as Maggie with more than identical looks. Things get complicated with boyfriend Jim (Karl Malden, playing a cop, a further complication). She fools him for the most part; but then there's Margaret's gigolo Tony (Peter Lawford).

Tony gets sort of flung at Maggie/Edie at a friend's (Jean Hagen as the supremely trashy Didi's) party. He's not only pushy, relentless, and annoying--he's suspicious. What is she distant? She smokes? The dog likes her? Both the emotional and the banal clues are significant when taken together.

Eventually, Tony realizes that Edie can't be Margaret; ironically at about the same time that Edie figures out that Margaret and Tony conspired in arranging the husband's death (by poisoning). That sets up a superb set of double blackmail. A further edgy detail--Margaret's murdered the day of her husband's funeral.

Tony knows that Edie is masquerading as Margaret, and that means she's murdered her sister; but Edie knows that Tony is good for his part in Margaret's husband's murder. The two killers are in effect stuck with each other. They can dangle the other's skeletons in the closet. Tony has the useful idea that they should just go away together; neither murder has aroused suspicions, so best to leave it that way. The problem is, of course, that obnoxious, needy Tony is about as good a companion as a jail cell.

The resolution is that Edie ends up sicking the massive dog on the pesky Tony. So, all of a sudden he's out of the picture. That works. But, the plodding, steady Jim, having scoped out Tony and his pad, correctly deduces that Tony and Maggie did the deed to the late husband. So, Edie gets set up for Maggie's crime. Absolute irony. What makes it worse is Jim's ever-loyal conviction that Edie couldn't have betrayed him, even after she confesses.

Oddly, she accepts the guilty verdict, and the death row sentence with remarkable composure. In a sense, she has got she always wanted: Jim's love and devotion. It's left to Jim to pick up the pieces: in a sense, he's the one who has lost the most. The only one of the main characters to not be a manipulative jerk, his integrity assured that he survives, but it doesn't prevent him from suffering.

All of the performances are great, the plot and pacing go together well; we hardly notice the long run time. Dead Ringer has a clever premise, carefully built suspense, and some surprises as well. An excellent thriller, well-worth watching.

Treasure hunters in Greece find something more exotic than gold. Cocoanut-sized eggs, a mummified Cro-Magnon man, and more. Pretty much nothing's good about prowling around in caves in movies of this sort. I'd think that their dynamite blasts were a bit problematic too; but the three gold-diggers, Dr. Pete Asilov ,(James Philbrook), his niece Maria (Soledad Miranda) and Stravos ( Francisco Piqued), just stand by. They're soon joined by Andre, Pete, Rodman, and Sofia (Antonio Casas, Arturo Fernandez, Jose Bedalo, and Ingrid Pitt).

At the homestead, there's planning...and dancing "we danced to bullets the way they dance to music" (referring to WWII, I suppose). Makes for some local color--not Greek, because well, it's a Spanish production. More squabbling about the treasure. Meanwhile, the mummy gets some attention (Pete says it dates back to the Siege of Troy, not exactly Cro-Magnon days). Anyway, back to the cave. There's a bit of a subplot in which the housekeeper, Calliope (Lola Gaos), a local, thinks the party's disturbing ancient spirits. Well, here's a skeleton--of the guy who buried the treasure?

Finally, we hear something approach Stavros; a weird shriek surrounds him, as if he's being attacked. Indeed, he's torn apart, but we don't see what did it. His screams bring the other guys; they also hear what seems to be the cries of a monster. A bit later, thy try and white wash the incident. Hey, it was just a heart attack."so he hacked himself to death too?," Good point. We're talking a million dollar treasure--casualties, so what? Calliope has an idea that locals murdered him (either to guard the treasure, or because they just don't like outsiders).

There's more discussion of the treasure: but they agree to retreat to Athens in the morning. Sofia and Maria consider which guy likes them the most, etc. Dutifully, Calliope goes outside to fetch water--she's attacked. Now the suspense ramps up, as the creature is stomping around, shrieking at, and pounding on the house; the remaining people huddle inside--will it break in? No.

But, not content with surviving, and proving that the allure of the gold is too strong, Pete goes out, stocking up on dynamite on his way back to the cave. He survives long enough to set the charge, then he, too, is ripped up. The others congregate there. Let's get least pick up Calliope's body, huh? Well, when everyone was gone, the creature tore stuff up in the kitchen. Is it daylight yet? Must be, as everyone's fixing to leave. I'll bet the truck doesn't start--of course it won't. Are we going to get to see this creature? I hate to be technical; but they could push start the Land Rover.

Finally, the critter's back in business--in the house. Why don't they just run off? They think of that; at least to lure it away by one of them taking off. The injured guy says he'll stay, and the others should escape. Eventually they spread a huge amount of gunpowder near the house; but it rushes into the pile they have to fall back, throwing axes at it. That wounds the thing. The Land Rover starts; their getaway is short-lived, however. It's on the vehicle's roof! Except for the wounded Dorman, they all flee. He selflessly pours out a gas can and ignites it, killing the monster as well as himself. The end.

This was entertaining stuff. The premise is solid: caves are places of mystery and adventure; especially in the environs of ancient legend and myth. The greedy interlopers, fueled by the promise of easy money, make the quintessential protagonists. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't amount to much until the second half. The egg is literally a throwaway item, the mummy never figures in anything, and the monster never actually reveals itself. It's scary nonetheless, as its invisibility lends another dimension to the fright factor--hence the witness of the title.

The treasure hunters are remarkably careless; holing up in the house isn't much smarter than their continual trios to the cave. It might've been better to compress the time frame; the long night of waiting and enduring the monster's attack saves the movie from the earlier, more casual tone. There's a good story here, but it's only partially shown. That's because the action's obscured by meandering talky stuff and tantalizing red herrings, and because we should get a pay off by seeing the monster at the end.

Though well beyond what I consider to be the classic era of sci-fi (c.1950-1965) The Alien Factor uses a familiar '50s premise of the genre: an alien spacecraft crashes in a rural area, and then weird stuff starts happening. Actually, as the credits roll, we start from outer space. Quickly, though, we zero in on a lover's lane, and a couple necking in a car. They're rudely interrupted by a monster; the big trash heap kills the guy and scares the girl away.

The cops bring the guy's body to a rural clinic--the victim's been lacerated, you know, the marks don't look like they're from any known animal. The girl's in shock. The most discordant thing so far are the cop cars--a Chevy Nova and a VW bug. Anyway, the focus so far is how the guy, Rex was killed. At that point, two things happen: a glowing bunch of lights appears around someone's feet, and a screw-loose guy rides along a dirt road on a motorcycle.

Is this jumble of lights doing something to this guy? Reassembling or inhabiting him it seems. There's another lover's lane couple; the woman goes off in the bushes, and comes on a clearing; we see the glowing human next to a spacecraft. At least, this geometric wedding cake on stilts purports to be a craft of some sort. She sees the trash heap alien and flees...right into the path of the motorcyclist. He goes to check on the woman, but splits. The trash heap stands over her, but retreats when her boyfriend shows up.

Back at the quasi hospital, "something is not quite right." Some alien goo surrounds Rex's wounds. Edie (Mary Mertens), a journalist, calls to ask about Rex. The local guys, meeting at a bar (where else?) figure to help find the "animal" that killed Rex. More or less like a posse, they comb the woods for whatever it is. Ahh, it's another monster--about the size of the trash heap, this creature has sort of metallic scales. It kills the guys. Next thing, there's something invisible creeping up on a guy in the sticks. It sort of consumes and inhabits him. Now, some kids playing.

They find the latest victim; looks like his face has been frozen up by a fire extinguisher. The doctor's got a fancier name for it--basically he's dehydrated. The Sheriff (Tom Griffith) is so blase, it's almost funny; but at least, after five murders, he's calling in the State Police. Oh, boy, another bar scene! There's a sort of tribute-English band, which seems a throwback to the '60s, but I guess no one's particular. I'm thinking some of these folks are on the alien menu. Yes, a drunk guy walking home with eerie, spacey music replacing the rock sound.

He's even reading a monster movie book...in a room done with a lemon, lime, and orange '70s palette. He's got a gun, and skulks die to the basement. Unfortunately, the trash heap monster lies in wait, and attacks him. Next day, an astronomer calls on the mayor (Richard Dyszel). That worthy wants to keep the murder issue on the back burner; the bad press might mess his development project. A meteor (we know it was the model kit spacecraft) landed; the astronomer (i.e., the "crackpot") might be of assistance. Might he be able to track the killers?

Well, the mayor and Mr. Crackpot (Don Leifert) go out in the rough terrain the next day. Spacey music means we're in the presence of monsters. Aha! They find a crashed spacecraft. It's different from the one we saw earlier. They come upon yet another alien: it's white-haired, ghoulish, corpse--like. Again, we see the strange lights, which seem to pass between the alien and one of the guys. Thanks to some alien telepathy, the Crackpot learns that it was transporting other alien species when its craft crashed "non-thinking animal forms" except for one, the invisible one, which is intelligent and dangerous.

"Well, I guess we should call in the Army for something like this." Oh, no, no problem, Mr. Crackpot has a better idea. He has "special equipment." The mayor actually agrees to let the Crackpot a couple of days to deal with the menace; then we might call for help. The mystery is how he can kill the things. Well, meanwhile it seems that Edie's run out of gas while driving through the woods. Nope, she's going to take on the critters with the gas can. Sure enough, they run into the scaly creature. But it's prevented from attacking them by some internal short-circuit. It's the Crackpot's doing: he burst it's brain with a high-pitched sound. Nice going.

Turns out it was indeed covered with sçales, but they're not metallic; the creature's a form of insect. For some reason, the sheriff's not impressed by result. Isn't this method cheaper than calling in the Army. Well, now it's just a matter of using sound to kill the rest of the things. The mayor seems to have visitors at his place. It's the shaggy trash like monster! He wipes out the mayor. Then he pursues the sheriff and a woman. Her screaming sort of helps; these guys don't like big sounds. The deputy shows up; Zachary (he olde Crack)they shoots it with a dart gun. The poison-tipped dart kills it.

"It's been like a crazy nightmare" says the Sheriff, a bit obviously. Turns out, Zachary is something of an imposter. Edie finds him in the alien-infested woods squaring off with the now-visible killer alien it's a truly frightening lizard like thing with bulging red eyes. It looks like Zachary is toast, but, in fact, it dies. Zachary however, has been transformed (or always has been) an alien. In the dim light, she can't quite make out his humanoid form. He's been sent to wipe out the nasty creatures, but the invisible "Lemoid" destroyed his human form. When he does reveal himself, she's hysterical. The Sheriff shows up and plugs him. The end.

This is interesting for a number of reasons. The simple is literally fleshed-out by a variety of monsters; all of them fairly unique. The 'Lemoid" thing is the best, but the dying corpse--like alien is spooky in it's horror-movie way. The heap thing and the scaly insect creature aren't so great (the heap is clearly a guy walking on stilts). But how many movies of this type have as many monsters? The rationale for the visit to earth is the usual crash; but the purpose is completely different. These are the creatures of creatures; in effect, bad guys with really bad guys. It's a bit confusing, as the Lemoid is supposed to be the mindless brute, but in fact, all of them kill.

Another cool device is having Zachary's character as 'one if them.' While it's fairly common to have an alien possession theme, it's worked out differently here. He's just a guy. Then, little by little, he draws suspicion on himself. So the mystery we're not too surprised where he's got all the alien insider knowledge gives way to his exposure in a timely fashion. It makes complete sense that he, unique, would know how to kill the other aliens. As implausible as it is to follow a stranger's advice when there's a gigantic emergency; let's just say it's on the level of the spiritualist who knows how to deal with troublesome ghosts.

The acting is decent, but there only seem to be two moods: indifference and hysteria. Obviously a low budget production, Alien Factor does well to put the emphasis on the monsters. It's tough to get over the styrofoam spaceship; the crash-landed one looks much more realistic, why even show the first one? Despite the slow pacing, and some budget-induced short cuts, we've got some cool variants on the traditional aliens-on-the-loose movie. Definitely worth a look--if only for the monsters.

A unlucky scientist, Dr. Gilbert McKenna (Robert Clarke), gets exposed to radiation. Instead of dying, he mutates; but in a Wolfman sort of way. He turns into a monster in daylight (the inverse of the Wolfman's m.o.). Meaning that Gil has to skulk around in the daytime; otherwise he's got some awkward situations on his hands--err, claws. For example, picking up a pretty girl, Trudy (Nan Peterson, a Marilyn Monroe-style beauty) at a bar and taking her to the beach is complicated by the fact that he has to split before dawn.

Otherwise, her cool guy turns out to be the Sun Demon. Fortunately, he's got his assistant Ann (Patricia Manning) and mentor Dr. Bucknell (Patrick Whyte) looking out for him. Ann has to literally talk him out of hiding in a dark closet. Bucknell can't do much for him; at least not right away. They do have a plan. But, in the meantime, they don't want him to prowl around, even at night. He starts reminiscing about Trudy, though.

Sure enough, smitten by her, he gets up at night. She's hanging out at the bar with her sketchy looking boss. When he goes there he walks into a trap; the thugs beat him up. Instead of taking him to the hospital, she takes him home. That's dumber than him going out in the first place. Inevitability, her boss/manager goon drops by. And pulls a gun on him. Dumb goon makes him go outside: Gil, now the demon, throttles him. He gets away, but not before scaring the stuffing out of a bunch of kids. And killing their dog.

He breaks into the office/home, and frightens Bucknell, Ann, and another colleague. Back indoors, he's just Gil again. But the cops come calling; he drives off, clipping a cop outside. He's more or less losing it--even as Gil. A police dragnet is closing in. We see a nice domestic scene: a mom welcomes her little girl back from school...when the kid goes out to play...she wanders into a dark shed. A likely hiding place for a Sun Demon. Or, a hideout for a strange man.

She promises not to tell mommy about the hungry man in the shed. Kind of quaintly, she inadvertently let's on about him to her mom. A pretty tense scene, as the mom calls the police; but the girl runs off to the shed. He's run outside, toting the girl. She gets away. Obviously, though Gil's demonized once again. Now it's a police pursuit on foot. Hiding inside another shed he ambushes and kills one of the cops (don't know why he didn't change back to normal in the shade there).

The apparently final chase is up a water or fuel tower. Once again he overcomes the pursuing cop. To the very top of the tower we go: a final fight with another brave cop. This guy manages to plug the Demon twice. The demon falls to the ground dead. Ann cries out. The end.

This was interesting in that there's a crime drama subplot. Trudy and her mobster boss/boyfriend lead to a seedy series of fights, muggings, hoods and bar scenes. And, the rather drawn-out police stake-out, with Gil on the run, also plays like a crime thriller. The movie starts quickly with Gil already exposed to the radiation. There's no build-up, or even much explanation of what the experiments were about. That's fine--but then it slows down a bit. The crime drama aspect actually keeps the movie from losing our interest.

This is watchable, but not very satisfying. Might have been more cohesive without the sci-fi/horror premise. Why can't Gil be just a scientist who's, say, engaged to the steady Ann, but falls for the cool Trudy, only to take on an underworld of trouble with her? That's a whole different movie, though.

Back to the sci-fi theme: the creature itself is indeed hideous, in a Creature From the Black Lagoon brand of creepy. Not so much in the baggy skin around the arms, but the head is great. Despite some disparate elements, this is worth a look.

A giant mutant spider? Well, we've got a high school science teacher, teenagers, the '50s--now it's stating to make sense. Professor Art Kingman (Ed Kemmer), Carol (June Kenney), and boyfriend Mike (Eugene Persson), their parents, and the Sheriff (Gene Roth) have to deal with the menace. Let's see how it works out.

We start with a cool spider web design as background for the credits; eerie music accompanies. Then, a deserted road, a guy in a pickup--why is this victim always a guy in a pick-up? Actually it's Carol's dad; the mutant spider attack does him in. Then, a sunny scene downtown, as Mike chats up Carol. At the high school, in Kingman's class. Anyway, after school, they take a friend's hot rod to go looking for her dad.

They find a rope like material stretched across the road. And evidence of a crash; and his wrecked truck, tumbled down the hill. No dad. Oh, man, there's an abandoned cave nearby--must be something dangerous in there. This was filmed in Carlsbad Caverns, so this is some cool cave. The next thing is that they discover... remains. A couple of skeletons that is. Then they fall into a net; something sticky about this net, though. They hear an odd animal sound.

"Mike! What is it!?" Well, that's our spider. Didn't have to wait long to see the monster--and it looks appropriately realistic and menacing. An actual tarantula? Next thing, they meet up at Mike's place with the Professor. They're story is cock-eyed as they used to say. But the professor is more convincing with the sheriff; a search party for Carol's dad is in the works. Pest control comes along with DDT. The party goes over the wrecked truck, and enters the cave.

Then we get the obligatory disbelief from the sheriff that anything is amiss. But Carol screams: among the skeletons we see her dad's corpse; it's shriveled up hideously. Then they see the web. Pretty much makes a convert of the sheriff and his boys. Do they spray the area with DDT, which brings on he old spider. It takes care of the deputies. In time honored false sense of security, they think it's dead, no more danger. But the "egghead's" think there could be more of them.

Meanwhile, they've got the 'dead' spider on display at school. As if on cue, one of the spider's legs moves. Oh, it's just an involuntary spasm or something. Somewhat naively, Carol still wants to retrieve the bracelet she lost in the cave. Back at school, the cool cats are frustrated; they've got to get into the rec room to set up for band practice, but the spider's in there. Some of the guys are apprehensive, but they start their rehearsal. Then the drama class comes in, hoping to start their thing.

Hey, these drama kids can swing, Daddy-O! The spider too...yes, it comes out of its stupor: it's alive! The janitor frantically calls the professor; too late. Ok, the sheriff's on it. Meanwhile, Mike and Carol whiz back to the cave. By now, the spider's loose on the town. The Civil Defense siren wails-- literal panic in the streets. Only now does the sheriff call for outside help. But the lines are down. The path of destruction is pretty convincing. The crying baby, the wrecked cars, etc.

And then, yet another stock item: the old cantankerous guy who's hi-tailing it outa there 'cause of that durn-fool critter (he's driving a '39 Dodge, ancient even by 1958 standards). The upshot of this is they figure the spider's about to cruise down the Professor street. Sure enough, it lurks like King Kong outside their house, scaring his wife and baby. Art slams the car into it, stunning it. He lures it away from town. Doubling back, he checks in on the family and their smashed up house.

The lingering problem is the anxious couple looking for the missing jewelry. They go yet deeper into the cave: found it! But we know that that means the spider's going to reappear. Uh, oh, the old guy's still in the vicinity. The long-distance lines are still down. Oh man, the deputy who'd gone for help in the motorcycle is brought in: shriveled corpse #2. The old guy says that the spider's back of the cave (he doesn't know that the teens are there too). Everyone has the same idea at the same time: blow up the cave entrance to trap the spider inside.

The denouement here is going to see the 'kids' rescues while the spider's trapped. But these lovebirds are lost in the cave. Dummies! The only plot tidbit that's heaped on is that they find a skeleton whose one time human left a cryptic note on the wall fifty years before. The crew from town arrives; the teens find their way. Replying dynamite at the cave entrance, the good guys blow it up. But wait! Art arrives with news of the now-trapped teens. Conveniently, there's a short cut than should make a rescue easier.

But is the spider dead? This long subplot of the teens wandering the cave starts to make sense. Since they have to be rescued, they and the rescue party will have to deal again with the spider. So, this is another false ending. It's great to have one of these suspense builders in a movie, but this one has two. The gas didn't kill it; maybe the dynamite didn't either. It didn't. Now the idea is to electrocute it. We know that Mike and Carol are going to work their way out...the caverns give these scenes some fine sense of awe. Still, this kind of takes a while to play out. Eventually, the lost ones are located. And the spider too. Very cool huge electrodes catch the spider between it's poles. It's toast at last. Carol and Mike finally wriggle out. All is well; the end. Not before a twinge of comic relief.

This was much better than I thought it would be. All of the stock situations and plot devices do their part; far from being contrived, they appear in a natural, if expected way. Almost every touchstones of this genre appears: a giant thing wreaks havoc, disbelief turns to horror; then builds into a frantic sense of urgency, culminating--three times here--in attempts to destroy the menace. None of this would carry meaning without the careful way that they're woven together in the plot of The Spider. The only expected element that's missing--how the spider mutated in the first place--is an odd omission.

I'm surprised that this effort doesn't get as much attention as its companion drive-in fare from the era: The Blob, Tarantula, Invasion of the Saucer Men, the Giant Gila Monster, etc. It's a face-paced, decently-acted effort with a good premise. Very entertaining.

Kind of a weird double plot to this classic era sci-fi movie. The captain, actually Colonel Carruthers, of the first expedition to Mars is being brought back to Earth by the second mission--to stand trial for killing all of his crew. Actually, of course, there's a more convenient explanation for the nine murders: a martian creature killed them. Not only that, but the thing stowed away on board for the return trip. We get a tantalizing glimpse of the vaguely human-sized thing early on.

He's a close relative of the Creature From the Black Lagoon; pretty good guy-in-a-suit get-up. Back on Earth, it seems absurd that powers-that-be assume that the Colonel's a murderer. How could they know what was going on up there? Anyway, I think that that's a unique plot point for this genre. Little by little, the monster makes itself know. Must be a cavernous spaceship--it's got warehouses, and as many rooms as an office building. That's good though, as it means there's plenty of hiding spots. Before too long, the thing kills a crew member.

The critter doesn't waste much time picking off crew members. The victims wind up looking like ghoulish zombies--a very chilling touch. One guy is only grazed by it, and recovers. The first response is to blast the dude with grenades; wouldn't that mess up the ship? Well, not really, and the explosions only stun the creature. So the guys drill it with gunshots; that doesn't damage it either. What's next? Gas grenades.

Since the ship is divided into several levels sealed by hatches, gas seems a good idea; but it doesn't do the trick either. Not only that, it starts breaking through the hatches. By this time, the only good news is that the Colonel is off the hook. The tension keeps up, as it's kill or be killed. The guys have a cunning plan to exit the ship and re-enter below the creature's level. But what then? How about electricity as a weapon? Well, not so much. Neither does a blow torch sufficiently faze it. And another crew member is at-risk.

This is somewhat reminiscent of 1951's The Thing From Another World. A mindless monster goes on a killing rampage in an isolated environment, while the good guys try to figure out how to kill it. The difference here (aside from being in outer space instead of an Arctic military base) is the initial disbelief in the creature's existence. The low-functioning brutal nature of both movie's monsters is here explained by a quick-and-dirty theory that it's a remnant of a dying civilization that's been reduced to barbarism.

Bad move by the monster: it dips into the Reactor Room (this is an atomic powered spacecraft, of course). That also means that the injured guy might possibly be rescued. Meanwhile, the exposed reactor drives the creature batty. It wipes out a couple more unfortunates. Now the plan, such as it is, is to pile a bunch of filing cabinets on the last hatch that's still intact, and cover the spot with a bazooka! Then they figure something out. The creature uses an enormous amount of oxygen. All they have to do is get in their spacesuits, and shut off the oxygen in the ship. When the creature crashes through the hatch, they open up the outer portals. The thing is asphyxiated. We get a closing scene from Washington, D. C. announcing the outcome of the struggle. The end.

This was pretty entertaining stuff. The premise is simple and logical (other than the Colonel initially being a 'suspect'); the pacing kept us zoomed in on the action. The acting is decent, though not at the level of the more memorable performances from The Thing. As mentioned, the interior of the spacecraft serves the utilitarian purposes of the plot, but, other than some rounded walls, it's just too much like an ordinary building. Plus, of course, it would've been shot and blasted full of holes by the weaponry involved in fighting the monster.

Maybe the movie needs some complicating factors; other than a couple of scenes back home, we're either inside or outside the ship. That's it. The claustrophobic environment worked better in The Thing; those folks at least diverted our attention from the setting by 'scientific' discussion and theorizing about The Thing. That stuff also helped to differentiate and flesh-out the characters. But here, the creature's nature and origins are just tossed-off with a couple of lines. Neither the monster nor the characters involved us much. Given the constraints of the script, It The Terror From Beyond Space gave us a good ride.

John Agar stars in this quintessential mix of '50s sci-fi themes. Tracking an object from space that disappears from the desert sky into a mountain; something's there. Steve (Agar) and colleague Dan (Robert Fuller) explore. In a cave, The radioactivity jumps.

And there it is--the evil brain from Arous (Gor)--that absorbs itself into the injured Steve. Returning, Steve necks with girlfriend Sally (Joyce Meadows). That's pretty spontaneous for him; he's different in other ways too. "I know you Steve, and I know when there's something wrong." He gets more aggressive; her dog attacks him. He's out of there. At home, the brain floats off: "who are you?" demands Steve. It seems that the "savage" human Sally is attractive to this alien. Anyway, the brain needs his body because he's a nuclear scientist.

When Sally's dad, John Fuller (Ken Teller), gets home, she tells him that Steve went nuts. John goes to see Steve to check him out. Obviously, the brain wrenches him whether he tries talking as good old Steve. "Don't you think we should do something?!" Sally tells John later. Her dad's oddly blase about it, though. But she thinks that if they go to the mountain, they'll find something out.

Ascending to the same spot as Steve and Dan, they find the mysterious cave. We know something's going to happen. There's the same flash of light...they see Dan's corpse. "Earthlings..." It's alien brain #2 (Val); he's after the criminal brain. John and Sally agree to meet the "thing" again the next night. Meanwhile, Steve is calling the local base commander. Seems that his brain wants to spy on the earthlings' nuclear test. Steve gets the usual Faustian bargain from the alien: your body/soul for unlimited power. As arranged, the Val visits John and Sally.

Somewhat whimsically, it's decided that Val will inhabit the dog's body; it should be above suspicion around Steve. Seems that the aliens should have no trouble sensing each other's presence, but apparently not. Steve's up to no good: he drives out to a spot where he looks up at a passing plane, making it explode. Later, he takes Sally (and the dog) out on a drive. "That's our world out there, Sally, yours and mine!" And then he puts the moves on her again. He tells her about the A-bomb test--his "discovery" will overshadow that puny bomb.

Getting aggressive with her yet again, the dog growls at him. They go to the plane crash site. The Colonel (Henry Travis) is there; radiation is involved in the crash. "It could be the beginning of the end," Steve says melodramatically. Returning home, we see that Val tells them how Gor can be killed. Now the sheriff (Tim Graham) comes to talk to Steve about Dan's death. Dan's body shows the same burn marks as the victims of the plane crash. It seems that since Steve and Dan both coveted Sally, there's a mighty conventional motive for killing Dan.

No problem, as Steve (speaking for Gor), proudly admits to the murders of Dan and the airplane victims. The upshot is that the Sheriff gets toasted too. Ok, on to Washington D. C., and the investigation into the airplane crash. The conclusion is that the attack was from an extra-terrestrial source. Back home, Steve shows up for a bbq at the Fullers, bragging about the nuke test the next day. He promised an alarming "demonstration." He seems to think that he'll be needed in D. C. "all this power and money..." is exactly what she doesn't want to hear about.

It's hard to believe she wouldn't distance herself from her: he's been annoying, borish, not to mention abusive. At the nuclear test HQ the next day, Steve meets the general in charge. Although he's not invited to the top-level meeting, Steve's got his own agenda. He's in. So, watching a TV broadcast of the test site, he makes his own blast. They're astounded, naturally. One officer tries to shoot him, but that guy's immediately obliterated. Steve's demands: a meeting with reps from all the nuclear powers.

Immediate panic. If any country doesn't show, their capital will be obliterated. Absurdly, though, he's soon back to a scene of everyday bliss with Sally. But, she's clued in about how to destroy Gor. Well, the representatives of the Powers indeed show up for the big meeting. Uh, oh, another demonstration is in order. Scratch another airliner. Steve (Gor) demands all of the nuclear powers strategic assets. We're to build spaceships to retake Arous, his home planet.

The Earth's to be retained as a colony. Not so fast: Sally's sneaking around in the !ab, making notes on Gor's vulnerability. When Steve returns, Gor has to exit his body to keep his strength. Sally, who's been hiding, screams. The brain attacks her, but the 'real' Steve hacks at it with an ax. He eventually gets it in the weak spot, and kills it. The end.

This was very well-done; much better than expected. Agar's character is a classic tragic hero: reminiscent of Dracula for his seductive desire for power over women, as well as Faust or Prometheus earthly power (otherworldly too, in this case), if not a god-like immortality. For the most part (minus the inexplicable loyalty Sally continues to show for Steve/Gor), the plot retains an consistent inner believability. There's no wasted scenes; the pacing never lets up. Agar is the perfect ordinary guy turned mad scientist bus alien possession; only Ray Milland's Man With the X-Ray Eyes gives a comparable stare of evil power.

The outer world (the nuclear test business, subsequent big-shot meeting, and DC. Investigation) is blended in well with the basic Gor/Steve, Val and Sally plot. Except for the shots of the actual blast, there's no annoying stock footage, no intrusive narrator. The aliens themselves are admittedly a bit ludicrous; but by just making them brains, the simulation is simplified--we don't need a guy in a suit awkward monster.

The idea of a friendly alien, which could've been a silly ploy, is well thought-out; we learn the backstory while fleshing-out (with brain matter?) the main plot with a more mature theme. That is, unlike many films of this type, the aliens aren't completely evil and without motive. The Brain From Planet Arous takes the conventions of space-age sci-fi, and arranges them astutely, giving us an entertaining and familiar treat.

Based on a Graham Greene short story, The Fallen Idol concerns a boy and the couple who are his parents' servants. That's Bobby Henrey as Phillips, son of the French Ambassador to England (Gerald Heintz). Ralph Richardson and Sonia Dresdel are the couple, Mr. And Mrs. Baines. When Mrs Baines dies, Baines comes under scrutiny; he's been having an affair with the Ambassadors secretary, Julie (Michele Morgan). The boy, who idolizes Baines, knows what he's been up to.

It's clear that Baines and the boy have a familiar and friendly relationship. It's equally obvious that Mrs. Baines isn't the easiest person to get along with. Amazingly, Phillip, who's about ten, has access to a gun. When she refuses to let her husband take Phillipe out on a walk we learn that she's in charge of both of them--the kid's pushed to the point where he tells Mrs. Baines that he hates her. He sneaks out--to a pub.

When he finds his mentor, we meet Julie, who's having tea with Baines. They seem to be discussing some plan. She and Phillipe converse in French; are the ersatz couple thinking of running away together? "Is Julie your niece, or something?" Phillipe inquires. She's more of a something...Baines promises to tell his wife "everything." Now he has to coach Phillipe to keep all this to himself. But suspicious minds are at work. Phillipe goads her into walking out on a perilous window ledge.

Baines consoles the put-upon boy later, but Baines' wife gets after him just for going out. At that point, Baines says his piece "you don't want me around anymore." She acts as though she'd feel abandoned if he left her. Meanwhile, she's getting more stern with Phillipe. So he confesses about Baines' "niece." The upshot is that Mrs. Baines goes off to see a relation. The plot thickens, as Baines phones Julie to plan a day with her; but his wife is still skulking about, and she overhears the conversation.

Unaware of Mrs. Baines' whereabouts, the tryst takes place, and they take Phillipe to the zoo. Their ultimate destination is France. In the meantime, they go back to the embassy. Strangely, they have a telegram from Mrs. Baines: she'll be away for a while yet. Even weirder, Phillipe thinks that Mrs. Baines has taken or even killed his pet snake. After some horseplay with the boy, Julie and Baines get a chance for a quick kiss and embrace. That fun mood is quickly disrupted by the sudden return of Mrs. Baines.

Somewhat conveniently (from her point of view) Phillipe is the only one who sees her. She gets into his room at night, asking for the details about Julie. She attacks him when he tries to alert Baines; he wriggles away. Now she confronts her husband. She yells--he fends her off. While she's perched at the top of the stairs, Phillipe descends the building via the tires escape. Fixated on an open window (reached by the same perilous ledge she struggle on earlier) she leans on it. It flips upward, tossing her to the foyer far below. She's dead.

A policeman finds Phillipe wandering around in the street. He brings the boy to police HQ. He's scared by the cops. They get a call about an apparent suicide at the embassy. They bring him home. For some reason, Baines says that his wife "slipped going down the stairs." Why did he say that? What actually happened seemed more like an accident; after admitting where he was when they were arguing, though, it sounds suspicious that she fell just after standing next to him. He didn't know what happened, as we shall see. The doctor (Walter Fitzgerald) quizzes Phillipe about the goings-on in the house.

Upstairs, Baines tries to coach Phillipe on what to say to the police. The boy's already flubbed by blurting out a question to Baines about "self defense." What's worse is that the telegram from Mrs. Baines is still lodged in a nearby planter (Phillipe had turned it into a paper airplane). Dramatically, it's then sent flying down into the foyer, ramming right into Baines. He talks to the police about his wife's argument with Phillipe; then, he's flummoxed when asked who was the third place setting for at dinner.

"Why not tell them everything?" wonders Julie, as she meets Baines on the street. Chief Inspector Crowe (Denis O'Dea) shows up in the morning. He Interviews Phillipe; oddly, Julie is asked to take notes of his statement. The boy's very reluctant to speak to the cops. He denies everything, especially Julie's presence the day before. It's left to her to admit that she was the other person with Baines. Reluctantly, Baines talks the police through the scenes of the previous night. The only thing missing is that, since he'd walked away into an upstairs room, he didn't see his wife fall. He'd just assumed she fell down the stairs, as that's where he left her.

Phillipe volunteers that Baines didn't kill her. Since no one saw what happened, even Phillipe thinks that Baines killed his wife. At long last, the police discover the tell-tale window ledge. Thanks to a fresh footprint, and an upset flower pot, it's obvious that Mrs. Baines fell from there. Coincidentally, the descending angle is the same from the ledge as from the top of the stairs. The cops are satisfied now--the end. Well, the ambassador and his wife return to bring things full circle.

If this had been tightened up a bit, it would be an excellent movie. The performances were fine all around; the romance was very believable, and the plot added up well. The fact that we know that Baines didn't kill his wife doesn't hurt the plot. The suspense comes from waiting to see who figures out what happened, and how they do so. Until near the very end, it's quite possible that Baines will be unjustly accused of murder.

It's getting to that point that just about kills (!) The Fallen Idol. After Mrs. Baines death, the pacing just stalled. It seems that we were wandering around the foyer and staircase for half the movie. Claustrophobia is a common device in a mystery, but usually doesn't linger long after the mayhem; here it just seems unplanned and stagey. Still, this is entertaining and worth a look.

One last thought: the title would seem to make out Baines as the 'idol'. However, it could just as easily refer to Mrs. Baines--she literally falls. And metaphorically, she's an idol in a negative sense, as in a false or discredited object of worship. Baines, on the other hand, is idolized by Phillipe, as he earns the boy's respect.

More than a prescient movie about teen angst, Rebel Without A Cause pretty much takes a look at the human condition. James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo are more or less thrown together as misfits who seem to understand each other. On the other hand, the antagonists, Buzz (Corey Allen) and his buddies, aren't so different from them. In fact, Judy (Wood) begins the movie as Buzz's girlfriend.

After the planetarium visit, the simulated apocalypse of the universe begins to play out on among the outcasts of the teen world. Since the universe can't take of itself, what's the point of pretending that existence has rules or meaning? So, there's the completely pointless knife fight. Buzz and Jim (Dean) aren't even fighting over Judy. Among many ironies, Jim and Buzz drop all the posing, and automatically earn each other's respect--by agreeing to the daredevil 'chicken' race. How desperately do we want to give Buzz just a few more seconds to untangle himself from the door handle, so that he too can escape from the car? Nevermind that somebody has stolen two cars and wrecked them in a macho contest. At that point when the cars go off the cliff, there's no good or bad guys--it's just us.

In a way, the lack of order in this view of society is shown by the general weakness and/or falseness of authority. Among the parents and police officers, only Detective Frenick (Edward Platt) and Plato's care-provider seem to know how to talk to the young people with care and respect. The only personal touch from Plato's parents is a check. Since Jim has alienated Buzz's friends by his complicity in that guy's death (ironically, again, as it was Buzz who insisted on the 'chicken' race), the exuberant prelude to the race has become a deadly game once again.

The decrepit mansion scenes are bizarre. There's the ersatz game of Jim, Judy, and Plato playing family; this is harmless, goofy stuff. But the goons are closing in on them. Plato turns the tables by resorting to murder; again, one hopes for a more mundane outcome. Why can't the two sets of misfits just rage at each other drink some beer and eke out some redemption? The actual ending has fate throw another wrench into the works; Plato, aping Jim with his loud red jacket, can't navigate his way out of the planetarium without getting shot.

Whatever sense of teen innocence the movie allows starts eroding right after the school field trip to the planetarium. Very quickly we tumble from the Buzz/Jim rivalry to Buzz dying, to Plato killing and being killed. For once, it's a relief to have a wish-fulfilling final scene, as Jim's dad (Jim Backus) gets smart and says all the right things. Except for some momentary glimpses of joy, however, Rebel Without A Cause is made of unrelenting darkness.

The frantic pacing seems to give little chance for reflection. Indeed, we start off at a low point; with all the 'good guys' at the police station, their unhelpful parents stirring the pot. Despite the depth of feeling among Jim, Judy, and Plato, there's not much romance: no dances, dates, football games. We go from one peek at high school to knife fights, daredevil racing, and shootouts.

This is as much a crime drama and psychological thriller as it is social commentary. What's amazing is that Rebel Without A Cause succeeds on every level. Completely engrossing; very well-made.

Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet solve this murder mystery set in Victorian London. Greenstreet's Police Superintendent George Grodman, has been disgraced when his investigation results in an innocent man's execution. Lorre's character, Victor Emmric, helps his friend find the real murderer, who continues to kill. George Coulouris plays Greenstreet nemesis, John Buckley, the Superintendent who got him fired.

We start at prison, where the execution is in progress. "You sent an innocent man to the gallows this morning" so says Buckley. They've found a mystery witness, Holbrook (Arthur Shields) who has the real story. Buckley, in fact, has sabotaged the case; obviously for his own benefit--never mind the accused. Grodman has nightmares about the events. Then we see Victor Emmric, who's invited Grodman for drinks. Arthur Kendall (Morton Lowry), who was a key witness for the prosecution, is at the gathering, as well as Clive Russell (Paul Cavanagh), not exactly in favor with Kendall.

The two square off outside. Then Lottie (Joan Lording) walks by; she thinks Kendall is a rotter, a cheapskate, and more. Another player in this drama, the landlady, Mrs. Benson (Rosalind Ivan), greets Kendall as he comes in. But, what's this? What's become of Kendall? Mrs. Benson finds Grodman, who comes to help out. Forcing the door, Kendall's found dead. How did the killer get into a locked room? Well, it's Buckley's case. Meanwhile, Victor has a histrionic, even cheerful air about him--typical Lorre.

Anyway, somewhat incongruously, Victor, George, and Buckley are talking about the case. Buckley instantly suspects Victor, but both Victor and George finger Lottie, who at least has a motive. Indeed, she's fumbling around in Kendall's rooms. And there's Buckley, accosting her; funny exchange between Lottie and the landlady (one's a "creature", the other an "old hag"). By now, Buckley is consulting with George. Now they're exhuming the body; Mrs. Benson tries to stop them. Seems she was Kendall's secret admirer. The gist of this adventure is that a bit of evidence found in the coffin supports Lottie's story.

At this point, pretty much the whole cast might be under suspicion. We see Victor and George enjoying Lottie's dancehall performance. Over some late night drinks, Russel's name comes up. She's got dirt on the bigwig. Sure enough, Russel's asking who's been around his room--the police? He goes to see Victor, who evades him. But George is there to chat. Russell let's on that his alibi was faked because he was fooling around with the lady whom Lottie mentioned. Victor, who's hiding, overhears the whole conversation.

Is Lottie hiding something? Look! She gets a parcel tossed into her window. A note to not talk about Frieda, Russel's mistress. Buckley figures that Kendall, already at odds with Russell, had been blackmailing him regarding Frieda. Victor returns home, chatting with the twittering landlady. Hey, Victor has a gun. And then--a mysterious figure in black walks into the building...trying Victor's door. Victor doesn't hesitate to open fire. After several shots, we once again see Mrs. Benson frantically seeking the police. George shows up, and Buckley (in fact, he was the glove-clad mystery man). That worthy has some news. He thinks he knows how Kendall got his.

Buckley, not without reason, assumes the murderer knew Kendall. The victim let him in; Buckley details (with convincing intricacy) how the murderer covered his tracks. The perpetrator was Russell. Since we're not done yet, we know he really can't be guilty. At headquarters, the cops hash out the case. There's some bits that don't fit, but they make it all fit. Russell's tried and convicted. Like the wronged man we began with, he will hang. George implores the doomed Russell to help him locate Frieda.

Well, she's in France. So, George goes in search of her. Finally, she's found... Meanwhile, there's only a few hours before Russel's execution. Great tension and suspense: in fact, Frieda's dead! So much for Russel's alibi. "Dawn means death for somebody" mumbles Victor to a bartender. He stumbles into George's flat. It seems as if George suspects his friend of Kendall's murder. "I'm terribly afraid" admits Victor. George is going to take him to the prison; since Victor is too obvious of a suspect, something's yet to happen.

George insists on telling his story to the cops. Geez. I thought I was clued in that Mrs. Benson had done it--it was George! Despite the confession, it's Buckley who looks guilty--of stupidity. That's it, as we end with George walking to the gallows. A brilliant movie on every level. The premise, with the Grodman/Buckley rivalry, and the host of suspects, works out amazingly well--thanks to an excellent script, and fine performances.

This is a classic mystery; and not at all stagey like so many of its otherwise successful predecessors from the 1930s.