Category: Horror

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) / Z-View

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Director:  Charles Lamont

Screenplay:  John Grant from a story by Lee Leob

Stars:  Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor, Michael Ansara and Richard Deacon.

The Pitch: “Hey, Abbott and Costello Haven’t Met the Mummy yet!”

Tagline: “It has been said that a man’s best friend is his mummy…”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Abbott and Costello are in Egypt… and they meet The Mummy.  Hilarity [ok, a fair amount of laughs] follow.

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It Follows (2014) / Z-View

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It Follows (2014)

Director:  David Robert Mitchell

Screenplay: David Robert Mitchell

Stars:    Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, and Olivia Luccardi.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a low budget horror movie – they almost always make money!”

Tagline: “It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t give up.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

After having sex with a boy she really likes, Jay [Monroe] learns that he has passed a curse on to her. [Great choice in guys, Jay.]

“It” [the thing of the curse] will follow her, always walking but able to take different human forms and if it catches her, it will kill her.

Suddenly everyone walking towards her seems to have evil intent.  And at least one does!

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The Car (1977) / Z-View

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The Car (1977)

Director:  Elliot Silverstein

Screenplay: Dennis Shryack & Michael Butler & Lane Slate from a story by Dennis Shryack & Michael Butler.

Stars: James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley RG Armstrong and Kim Richards.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a horror movie about a murderous car that may be possessed!”

Tagline: “There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to stop… The Car.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A mysterious black car is running down town folk in a small western town and it’s up to the sheriff to figure out a way to stop it!

The Car would have been the third or fourth feature at a Drive-In.

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Hush (2016) / Z-View

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Hush (2016)

Director:  Mike Flanagan

Screenplay: Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel

Stars: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., and Michael Trucco.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a woman in isolation stalked by a mad killer movie, but with a twist — the woman is deaf!”

Tagline: “Silence can be killer.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Maddie is a deaf writer who decides to head up to her cabin to do some writing.  She believes the isolation will help.  Of course she wasn’t counting on a mad serial killer deciding to make her his next victim.

Clever twist on what could be a played out genre.  Contains some truly creepy scenes.

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House of Horrors (1946) / Z-View

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House of Horrors (1946)

Director:  Jean Yarbrough

Screenplay: George Bricker from a story by Dwight V. Babcock

Stars: Rondo Hatton, Martin Kosleck, Robert Lowery, Virginia Grey and Alan Napier.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a crime movie!”

Tagline: “Meet…The CREEPER!”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Martin [De Lange] is a near broke artist who saves and befriends the infamous serial killer, The Creeper [Hatton].  Martin then gets The Creeper to begin killing all those who have wronged him.

When artist, Steven Morrow [Lowery] becomes the number one suspect for the killings, his girlfriend Joan Medford [Grey] begins her own investigation and that puts her on the Creeper’s kill list.

This is the second of three Creeper films starring Rondo Hatton.

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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) / Z-View

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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Director:  Dan Trachtenberg

Screenplay: Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle.

Stars: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. and Bradley Cooper (voice).

The Pitch: “JJ Abrams wants to make a film in the Cloverfield Universe.”

Tagline:  Monsters come in many forms.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Michelle [Winstead], after leaving her boyfriend, is involved in a terrible car wreck.  When she wakes up she is in an underground bunker with two men;  Howard [Goodman] and Emmett [Gallagher].  Michelle is told that she was saved by Howard who saw the wreck and brought to the bunker for her protection.  Howard further explains that the United States is under attack.  He’s not sure if it’s another country or aliens.  Communications are down.  The air outside is poisonous.

Emmett confirms Howard’s story and claims he forced his way into the bunker when the attack was just getting underway.  Because they are deep underground and the attack is on-going there is no way for Michelle to verify their story.  But why would they lie…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

10 Cloverfield Lane is a throwback to movie-making that relies on an excellent script and great acting.  I really, really enjoyed this movie and would love to see more Cloverfield yarns. (And this is coming from someone who did not like the original Cloverfield!)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman are amazing in their roles.

Michelle’s fiance is never seen, but she does get a message from him on her cell.  His voice is Bradley Cooper’s.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) rates 5 of 5 stars.

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Maggie (2015) / Z-View

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Maggie (2015)

Director:  Henry Hobson

Screenplay: John Scott 3

Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a zombie movie with Arnold!”

No Tagline.

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A viral outbreak is causing people to turn into zombies.  Wade Vogel’s [Schwarzenegger] daughter, Maggie [Breslin] has been bit.  She will slowly turn into a zombie.  There is no cure.

Rather than take her to quarantine, Vogel brings her back to his farm much to the dismay of Maggie’s stepmother.  Vogel elects to stay by her side to protect her until she turns.  Schwarzenegger and Breslin turn in heart-wrenching performances as the father helpless to save his daughter, and the young daughter who has had her future stolen.

If a zombie character study is your cup of java, then you’ll love Maggie.

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“The Terror” is Coming to AMC & Ridley Scott is Involved!

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Way back in 2007, December 31st to be exact, I wrote about my five favorite novels of the year. The Terror by Dan Simmons made the list.  Here’s what I said then:

The Terror by Dan Simmons is a novelization of the true doomed 1840s Franklin expedition to find a Northwest passage. History tells us there were no survivors and the men died from exposure, starvation and worse. Simmons’ story combines all of the interesting historical details and adds a new menace, a creature which feeds on men. The Terror was a national best seller. Stephen King listed it as one of his favorite books of the year. Who am I to argue with Stephen King?

AMC has greenlit 10 hour long episodes to air in 2017 with Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker serving as Executive Producers and David Kajganich on board to write and take the reins as showrunner.  This is a project worth keeping an eye on.

Source: Variety.

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) / Z-View

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Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

Director:  Robert Florey

Screenplay: Robert Florey from a story by Edgar Allan Poe

Stars: Sidney Fox, Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames (aka Leon Waycoff) and Arlene Francis.

The Pitch: “Horror movies sell.  Let’s combine Edgar Allan Poe and Bela Lugosi.”

The Tagline: “Innocent Beauty – this was her wedding eve. On the wall a shadow . . the beast was at large grinning horribly-cruelly. What was Her Fate?”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Bela Lugosi is the insane scientist, Dr. Mirakle who secretly experiments with blood transfusions from his circus ape to women he kidnaps.  Despite the fact that each woman dies, Mirakle continues his experiments. (Hey!  Isn’t that the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?)

When the ape takes a liking to a woman in the audience, she becomes his next victim… Camille L’Espanaye [Fox] is up for the next Apefusion unless her fiance can convince the police what the madman is doing.

If you’re a Bela Lugosi fan, then you’ll enjoy this more than those who aren’t.

 

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