If you were impressed by Hercules’ travel agent in Hercules Vs. The Sons Of The Sun where we saw the gargantuan galoot hit the shores of South America in search of a healthy workout, The Witch’s Curse may be another vacation you wouldn’t mind taking. This time it’s fellow strongman Maciste and he’s put through his paces as he travels into hell to foil a curse put upon a town by a witch. A town in Scotland. Continue reading “The Witch’s Curse (1962)”
Category: 1960s
The Haunted Palace (1963)
The Haunted Palace helpfully reminds us that people with birth defects should be feared and shunned instead of pitied. Other than that bit of sage advice, the film is nothing more than a cynical effort from director Roger Corman and star Vincent Price built to milk their American International Pictures/Edgar Allan Poe film series until even the viewer begins to feel the cinematic mastitis setting in. And despite the bulk of the movie being based not on a Poe work at all, but on H.P. Lovecraft’s novella The Strange Case Of Charles Dexter Ward! Continue reading “The Haunted Palace (1963)”
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
You probably remember the tagline from this movie’s poster: When there is no more room in hell, the dead will rise and work in an old abandoned tin mine in Cornwall. You can imagine the terror that strikes in the hearts of out of work miners everywhere. With increased automation, jobs going overseas, and lower wages and benefits, now there’s competition from dead people! And they don’t have to worry about black lung disease because they don’t even breathe! Continue reading “The Plague of the Zombies (1966)”
Conqueror of Corinth (1961)
A welcome breath of not-so-fresh sweaty centurion air, Mario Costa’s Conqueror of Corinth is pure peplum propaganda intent for some reason on making modern audiences believe that when Rome went and obliterated the Greek city state of Corinth 2100 years ago, that the Romans were actually the good guys we should be rooting for! Continue reading “Conqueror of Corinth (1961)”
Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)
I don’t know about you, but I like my Hercules to look really beefy and have a well-groomed beard. I’m not into a budget Hercules who is quite hairless, only has moderately sized pecs and gazes wistfully at llamas.
If you’re wondering how it is that Hercules is even on the same continent as a llama, you don’t know much about the ancient world. Hercules (Mark Forest) and his buddies angered the gods (probably Neptune according to Hercules) and of course had their asses shipwrecked in South America! Continue reading “Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)”
Goliath Against the Giants (1961)
This movie was only half-lying based on its title. Unlike some previous outings (we all remember when Maciste showed up instead of Goliath in Goliath and the Vampires) there was actually a guy named Goliath tearing up ships and heaving Styrofoam rocks at guys in linen dresses. However, it pains me to report that the movie was quite bereft of anything that could be called a giant other than a guy Goliath fought who just happened to be taller than him. Continue reading “Goliath Against the Giants (1961)”
Killers Are Challenged (1966)
In what has to go down as one of the great disappointments in the history of cinema, at no time during director Antonio Margheriti‘s Killers Are Challenged does star Richard Harrison (Giants of Rome, Messalina Against the Son of Hercules ) ever utter the phrase “the name is Fleming. Bob Fleming.”
Despite being deprived of what would have certainly provoked snickers among even the actors in the scene where that line might have been uttered, the film does not disappoint in any other area as it manages to ineptly attempt to cash in on the James Bond craze of the mid 1960s with all the success of its preternaturally dimwitted lead character. Continue reading “Killers Are Challenged (1966)”