Monday, September 5, 2016
MONSTER MOVIES ROGER CORMAN PRODUCED IN THE FIFTIES!
Welcome, I'm laborin' away for you today, here are the 16 monster movies produced by Dungeon god, Roger Corman, between 1954-9. You have to admit, these flicks are a full ton of fun! And, the posters are super nice too!!
MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR from 1954 is a slow moving story, but, they make up for it in the last five minutes of the film when the animated monster shows its ugly cyclops puss.
BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES from 1955 is the weakest movie of the lot, I think it was based on an EC Comic, and, they wasted Paul Blaisdell's talents. Great looking monster though!
Blaisdell created and wore the rubber monster suit in DAY THE WORLD ENDED in 1955. Now, this movie kicks some ass as Corman bumps up the creativity and eeriness!
Paul Blaisdell is brought back with his most famous monster creation in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD in 1956. The movie starred Peter Graves, Beverly (hubba hubba) Garland and Lee Van Cleef, so, the acting is solid!
I was lucky enough to catch NOT OF THIS EARTH in 1957, loved it! Blaisdell's Umbrella Monster freaked me out pretty good because I dug the weird stuff the most!
I also got to see ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS in 1957, even though the movie isn't that great, at the time, it was pretty damn weird and my horror bone got satisfied!
THE UNDEAD from 1957, in my opinion, is a bad movie. Paul Blaisdell has a cameo role as the corpse in the funeral wagon and his little flying parasites are reused from IT CONQUERED THE WORLD. Eegah!! either has or had this poster!
I saw THE VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT in 1957, the only parts I remembered were the ones with the sea serpent in them, not a great flick...
Then, I got to see WAR OF THE SATELLITES in 1958, I really liked it, some good old sci-fi hit the spot. The part I remembered the most was when Richard Devon burned his hand and then rubbed off the residue, creepy! And, Dick Miller kicks ass in the acting department!
Corman scored Robert Vaughn for TEENAGE CAVEMAN in 1958, a flick that's just plain whack!! This one I can't take, it's totally unwatchable for me.
NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST from 1958 is another less than satisfying flick. There are a few good scenes, but, all in all, petty much a dud. The beast is a mess of a monster!
Eegah!! and I saw THE BRAIN EATERS from 1958 at the theater, I think we laughed most of the time. Roger let Bruno VeSoto direct this thing starring Dungeon Favorite, Ed Nelson.
We also saw THE GIANT LEECHES in 1959, it was okay, some of the scenes in the Leeches' lair were fairly terrifying and we were satisfied with the movie.
Another flick we saw when it came out was A BUCKET OF BLOOD in 1959. I swear, this movie was so cool, Dick Miller, Barboura Morris and Anthony Carbone make for a true horror comedy classic. Man, Dick Miller was one very talented guy!
We also saw THE WASP WOMAN in 1959, we really liked it! There was plenty of action and it kept our interest the whole time, and, it's still fun to watch!
Our last movie is BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE from 1959. This is a strange little movie with a very strange looking monster. Not a great effort... Tune in again Wednesday when we'll be back with more... From the Dungeon!
We have "Crab Monsters" on my computer...
ReplyDeleteand these were some of what we saw on "Shock Theater" as a kid !!
Great post, and Happy Labor Day to you guys !!!
Hello from Marshville...
Hey Doc - CRAB MONSTERS is fun, my favorite part is when one of the crabs pinches off the hand of the scientist! Happy LD to you and yours,
ReplyDeleteI've seen most of these, although, in some cases, I didn't know that it was Corman who produced them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, also, saw them on "Shock Theater"-type shows as a kid, either on weekday afternoons after getting home from school, or late at night on weekends.
Was The Undead that one where the doctor is researching reincarnation or something? IIRC, he hypnotizes a woman (she may have been a hooker), and the rest of it is set in the Dark Ages, where she (in her previous life) is accused of witchcraft. At the time, I thought the premise was interesting, but it just wasn't done well. The guy playing the Devil looked like he was wearing a cheap Halloween costume.
It Conquered the World and Day the World Ended were remade (for no good reason that I can even imagine) as Zontar the Thing From Venus and In the Year 2889.
The ending of Day the World Ended reminds me of Island of Love, a 1963 comedy with Walter Matthau and Tony Randall. A director is trying to get a producer to finance a movie telling the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden. He explains that, at the end, when Adam & Eve leave the Garden, a title will appear on screen saying, "The Beginning." The producer grumbles, "But then the audience might not understand that the movie is over, and they won't know to go home."
I never liked Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, which is odd, because I love warrior women. But they just didn't seem that tough. Sybil Danning or Gal Gadot could mop the floor with Abby Dalton.
Teenage Caveman was as silly as its title. At the time, though, I thought the twist at the end was cool (and it probably was not as much of a cliche back then as it would be now). But then, I was easily impressed when I was ten.
Yes TC, THE UNDEAD is the movie you described, the walls still drying after painting in the office and the foggy atmosphere are so irritating...
ReplyDeleteISLAND OF LOVE is such an odd comedy (even apart from having both a Felix actor and an Oscar actor), so I'm glad to see it mentioned.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my favorite Roger Corman weird comedies are a little underrated even by some of his fans. One is CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, which really throws in the kitchen sink when it comes to the things it parodies, and I think most of the jokes really work.
The other is GAS-S-S-S, which of course came a lot later. It always seems to be left out of lists of great "counterculture" films, but it doesn't deserve to be.
Hey Grant - Eegah!! and I saw the uncut version of CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA when it came out. We laughed our asses off and loved every minute of it, it was right up our alley!
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to one thing, I agree with TC about VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT. As much as I usually like Jonathan Haze, I've never cared for his character in that one. He always reminds me of the teenage sidekick in the superhero stories (except as a sidekick to heroines instead of heroes, which I admit is original), and I've never been very fond of those. (Burt Ward's Robin has always been an exception, since I always knew he was meant to be a lot more comical than heroic!)
ReplyDeleteLOVE all these Corman productions!
ReplyDeleteOddly enough though, the one I like the most of the bunch is BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES! Yes, it's threadbare and was shot on half-a-shoestring, but it's so fun, eerie and funky, with that soundtrack of classical music, fascinating photography of the desert (including some great selective-focus shots of people talking in front of a totally blurred-out scenic background!), and an unusual ambiance unlike ANY film I've ever seen!
I love, too, that it seems to be an interesting metaphor on...um, well...I won't say it because I might get horse-whipped by a bunch of x-tian fundies! This film and Larry Buchanan's IT'S ALIVE! both seem to have interesting and somewhat controversial religious subtexts (if one digs deep enough)!