Like for so many of us, Henry Frankenstein’s college years were a time of turmoil and self-discovery. He was way too advanced to stay in school and wanted the university to provide him with a steady stream of corpses so that he could continue playing God. The school refused, saying that they preferred to suck people dry over the course of a lifetime through their student loan program instead. So Henry put a flyer up at the student union looking for a hunchback to join his band and got an off-campus apartment with a windmill. If you substituted “kegs” for “corpses,” that pretty much describes my freshman year! Continue reading “Frankenstein (1931)”
Category: Universal Horror
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
If you’ve ever sat through Son of Godzilla or Godzilla: Final Wars and wished that all the Godzilla garbage was excised so that the focus could be on Kamacuras, The Deadly Mantis is a dream come true! Continue reading “The Deadly Mantis (1957)”
House of Horrors (1946)
This is another one of those Rondo Hatton movies about a really ugly dude named the Creeper who breaks people’s spines. Aside from the fact that the guy’s name is Rondo, you may be wondering what qualities he had that made Universal want to build a no-budget thriller franchise around his Creeper character. Continue reading “House of Horrors (1946)”
The Brute Man (1946)
Back in the mid 1940s, the only thing required to find fame in the movies was nothing more than some horribly disfiguring disease. How else to explain Rondo Hatton’s brief and unremarkable run as a screen heavy in a couple of low budget horror flicks released during the period? Continue reading “The Brute Man (1946)”
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
In the desert town of San Angelo, the local geologist (Ben) meets up with Martin Cochrane, the editor of the local paper. Marty is pissing and moaning about how he doesn’t belong in the desert and that the sleepy little town of San Angelo has no need for a newspaper because nothing ever happens, though that crazy black rock Ben just brought back from the desert looks interesting, but it’s probably nothing, because nothing ever happens in this crappy little sleepy desert town! Continue reading “The Monolith Monsters (1957)”
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
It all starts like something out of the hit TV show, TV’s Bloopers and Atomic Practical Jokes: Scott has taken his brother’s boat out for a cruise with his wife. What he doesn’t know though is that while she’s below deck to get more brew, we’ve gone ahead and detonated an atomic weapon just off the starboard side of Scott’s boat. Any minute now, Scott and his boat will float right through the mysterious haze and we bet he’ll be dumb enough to stand around gawking. Let’s see what happens! Continue reading “The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)”
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
The least believable thing in this movie is that Scotland Yard would ever hire Abbott and Costello to be bobbies in some kind of pilot program testing out how well Americans do in British law enforcement. I’m not sure what the point of this program was or even how Bud and Lou (Slim and Tubby respectively) got selected for this gig, but this dopey project is just the excuse we need to get our boys overseas so that they can mix it up with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Continue reading “Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)”