Ryan Watches 50 Movies

Countdown update: After this film, I only have 2 left to go! Will I make it? Or will the next movie be so bad that it inspires me to feed myself to the walrus at the zoo? Stay tuned! The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price. Released in 1964, it was based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which would later be adapted as The Omega Man (with Charlton Heston), and again as I Am Legend (with Will Smith). How about that? Three different movies based on the same book, and they have three different titles! I can't think of any other instances of that happening, can you? Why did the first two versions change the title? I don't know, but maybe it was because I Am Legend is a pretty stupid title. I honestly have to wonder if it was supposed to be called I Am a Legend and Richard Matheson just forgot the article. Or maybe it's a referene to some classic medieval poem or something and I'm just showing my ignorance. Duhhhh. Synopsis The opening credits list a bun...

I've watched a number of zombie movies in this Horror Classics DVD set, all made in the 1930s and '40s, and thus far they've all left a lot to be desired. White Zombie, Revolt of the Zombies, King of the Zombies, Ma and Pa Zombie Back on the Farm -- these were all movies I endured rather than enjoyed. But to my surprise, this week's horror classic was 1968's Night of the Living Dead , a zombie movie directed by George A. Romero which is so influential they're still making sequels to and knockoffs of it. In fact, this may be the first movie in this box set that can accurately and without question be referred to as both a horror film and a classic. I've never gone out of my way to see zombie movies (I enjoyed 28 Days Later well enough but skipped 28 Weeks Later and had no interest in I Am Legend ), but they can be pretty darn effective when done well. So I was curious to see this movie, and especially to see if it still seemed scary. Synopsis After some eeri...

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 ...

I have to get packed to fly to Texas tomorrow, so there's no classic horror movie post today. But next week I'll post my review of King of the Zombies . The track record for zombie movies on the horror classics set has not been so good. Will King of the Zombies be the king of zombie films? Come back next week to find out. Until then, enjoy this picture I found by doing an image search for "zombie":

"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...

So here I am, watching all the films in the 50 Movie Pack: Horror Classics DVD set. Click here to read the introductory post, in which I explain why. The first film on the first side of the first disc of 50 Horror Classics is 1962's Carnival of Souls , starring Candace Hilligoss. After you read this post, you should check out the Wikipedia article I just linked to; it actually has a lot of interesting information on the film. I had never heard of this movie, but the fact that it was co-written, directed and produced by a man named "Herk Harvey" prepared me for a so-fun-'cause-it's-so-bad romp, as did the opening scene with its obvious and flawed dialogue looping. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the... Synopsis Three young women agree to a street race against a dumb-looking guy in a dumb-looking hat. Whee, fun! But their car smashes through a guardrail and plunges into the river below. Boo, not fun! Rescue crews are unable to locate th...