Ryan Watches 50 Movies

In case you're keeping track, there are just 3 horror classics left in my 50-movie DVD set after this. Like last week's The Bat , House on Haunted Hill was released in 1959 and stars Vincent Price. Unlike The Bat , however, House was directed by William Castle , a horror flick master with a flair for gimmicks. The flamboyant director played by John Goodman in the underrated 1993 movie Matinee was largely inspired by Castle. I thought for sure I had already watched one Castle film in this DVD set, but as I look over the archives it appears I was mistaken... All the more reason to look forward to this one, then. According to various online sources, Castle's gimmick for the theatrical screenings of this film was called " Emergo ," and it involved a glow-in-the-dark skeleton swinging out over the audience at a scary, climactic moment of the movie, a trick that was perfect for House on Haunted Hill, but which would be notably less effective if used with movies...

This movie is from 1960, and it's called Tormented . Who will be tormented, and what will be tormenting him or her? As I sat down to watch the film, I couldn't wait to find out. This week, my old pal, fellow movie nerd, and loyal Ryan Watches 50 Movies reader Sara was visiting, so she had the enviable privilege of joining me as I watched an old movie no one's ever heard of. Synopsis Tom Stewart is a jazz pianist, successful enough that he has a concert coming up at Carnegie Hall. (But how will he get there, har har har?) Right now he's spending some time on a lovely island, which has a sunny beach, an impressive old lighthouse, and the tide coming in which drowns out the dialogue in all the scenes shot outdoors. Tom is about to marry his girlfriend Meg, but trouble shows up in the form of his ex, Vi. (When the credits said "JULI REDING AS VI", I wasn't sure if her name would be pronounced "Vie" or "Six.") Vi hasn't quite gotten ove...

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...

Today's movie is Nightmare Castle , which IMDb tells me is also known as Night of the Doomed , Lovers from Beyond the Tomb , The Faceless Monster , and Gli Amanti d'oletretomba . Which title is your favorite? This is another Italian film, but this one is marginally better than Atom Age Vampire . Maybe. This is also Movie #2 of Side B of Disc 1, which means I'm finished with the first disc of the 12-disc set! Wooo! Synopsis Stephen Arrowsmith (cool name!) is a mad scientist who lives in a big, spooky castle (Is there any other kind?) with his hot wife Muriel. She's having an affair with their beefy gardener David, and when Stephen catches them he chains them up and tortures them... whipping, cutting, dripping of acid on the face, that kind of thing. Through all this, Muriel spews venom at him: Boy, do I hate you, she says. You're really a big fat jerk. Go ahead and kill me, jerk... You think you'll get my inheritance? Well, you're wrong, Mr. Jerkface, because...