Ryan Watches 50 Movies

"Look out! The zombies are revolting!" "I'll say they are... heck, they're repulsive !" [Note: That exchange does not occur in this movie. But it should have.] Remember last week when I said I was beginning to feel the fatigue of attempting to watch 50 "classic" horror movies? Well, that fatigue continued this week. Now, I like old movies, and traditionally I've always had a fondness for bad movies ( Have a Nice Weekend and Scream Baby Scream changed my life). But watching one of these things every week is like eating an entire box of Fruity Pebbles in one sitting: that which is normally a fun treat simply becomes overwhelming, even sickening. And afterward, my saliva is orange. So this week, before watching Revolt of the Zombies , I attempted to cleanse my scary-movie palate (located somewhere between the hypothalamus and the medulla oblongata) by re-watching Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Psycho , of course, is great. From what I've al...

I'm now 12 movies into watching a DVD set that includes 50 movies. When I started this crazy venture, I wondered how long it would take me to get sick of bad old public domain terror movies, and the answer is: now. This week I felt my first pangs of Horror Classic fatigue as I faced 1963's The Terror , a film directed by the prolific Roger Corman (see also Creature From the Haunted Sea ) and starring Boris Karloff and a very young Jack Nicholson. I had seen this film once before and I remembered that it wasn't great. Ah, but there was one aspect of The Terror that excited me: It's the first movie in the Horror Classics set to be filmed in color ! Would this make it more watchable? Hmm... Synopsis It's 1806, and Jack Nicholson plays Andre, a French soldier who's wandering the along coast when he discovers a mysterious and alluring woman. She says her name is Elaine... and then she walks right into the pounding surf . Andre jumps in after her, only to be attack...

More like The Beast of Yucky Flats . Haw haw. When a DVD box set contains 50 forgotten public domain movies, the viewer must expect copious amounts of awfulness, and indeed, Horror Classics has met those expectations. The Beast of Yucca Flats (a 54-minute epic from 1961), however, proved to be an exceptional specimen: in a box full of films that stink, this one is thus far the stinkiest by a significant margin. It may well be that one of the 39 remaining movies is terribler, but for now this one is the terriblest. Synopsis Before the credits comes a prologue, so pay attention now: A woman steps out of the shower. Wrapped in a towel, she makes her way to her bed, where she shows off her legs . A shadow falls over her, then, as she sits there loking bored, she is strangled to death by an unseen assailant. You got all that? Good, because it has no connection with the rest of the movie whatsoever . Now: Joseph Javorski, as our lazily philosophical, omniscient and omnipresent narrator ...

I lied. When I wrote last week's post , I incorrectly stated that this week's movie would be The Beast of Yucca Flats . In fact, that classic is next week. I wish to sincerely apologize to everyone -- beast or otherwise -- who may be inconvenienced by this error. In the meantime, this week I'll be covering The Screaming Skull from 1958. As I watched this movie on the 50-movie set, I realize that I had seen it before... twice. Once was on a 1-disc, 4-movie DVD of "horror classics" (which now seems downright amateurish to me) and once as on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , where it was ridiculed by robots. And now, here I am watching it again . Will the third time be a charm? I don't know. But I do know that this is the 10th film in the 50-movie set, which means I'm 20% finished with this whole shebang. Will I make it to film #50? Keep reading! Synopsis Before the story starts, there's a disclaimer: Over the image of an open coffin, a voice tells us tha...

Q: What's worse than a bloodsucking leech? A: A giant, bloodsucking leech. Q: What's worse than that? A: A swamp full of giant, bloodsucking leeches! This week's movie is Attack of the Giant Leeches , a 62-minute epic from 1959 that just happens to be produced by B-movie master Roger Corman (see also Creature From the Haunted Sea ). It's an hour and change of good, clean, bloodsucking fun, including a fat guy, a Mark Trail clone, and a Playboy centerfold. Let's dive in! Synopsis Our setting is a swampy rural town in Florida. At the general store, local man Lem tells his friends about the strange creature he encountered last night, before the opening credits. It was bigger than an alligator, it looked like an octopus, and he had to shoot it five times before it went away! None of the guys believe him. The guys include Dave, a big ol' boy whose trashy-sexy wife "Liz-baby" (played by Yvette Vickers, who according to Wikipedia was a Playboy centerfold i...