Ryan Watches 50 Movies

So, King of the Zombies is a 1941 film which features -- Hey, wait a second. "Horror Classic 25 of 50"?! That means I'm halfway there! I've watched and written about 25 of these suckers! Now I only have to watch... um... 25 of them. Bleh. Last weekend I found out my brother (hey, Jason!) has been reading this blog every week. Jason owns the same 50-movie DVD set, but he hasn't watched any of them yet. He confessed that he doesn't have "the intestinal fortitude." So, what kind of intestines does it take to watch King of the Zombies ? Synopsis Bill is the hero, "Mac" McCarthy is his buddy, and Jeff is... well, he's an over-the-top African-American caricature is what he is, but he's also Bill's valet. The three men are flying over the ocean, lost, when they receive a mysterious radio signal. Mac tries to bring the plane in for a landing on the nearest island, but the end up crashing. Soon they find the home of Dr. Mikhail ...

"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...

This week's movie is White Zombie from 1932. Guess who stars in this film? That's right, it's Bela Lugosi! Again ! (see also Black Dragons , Invisible Ghost , and One Body Too Many .) This makes disc 2 of the 50-movie horror pack a total Lugosi-palooza, and I have to assume that it was done that way on purpose. I had actually seen this one before, some years ago, with my college buddy Sara, who may or may not be reading this blog. I really didn't remember much from it, with the notable exception of Bela Lugosi's sinister eyes. His eyes get a lot of camera time, and he probably prepared for it, spending hours staring into the mirror until he had thoroughly freaked himself out. Synopsis Neil and Madeline are on their way to get married at the estate of their acquaintance Mr. Beaumont. En route they encounter a group of slow-moving, hollowed-eyed folks, and the driver of their carriage explains that these are ZOMBIES. The young couple is skeptical, but the driver high...