Ryan Watches 50 Movies

Countdown update: After this movie, there are... zero. Zero horror classics out of 50. Wow! Can that possibly be true? Why, as good as these movies have been, it seems like only... only 12 years ago that I started this project. And now here I am, about to write up the very last one, 1955's The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues . Do you suppose the people at Mill Creek Entertainment who put these DVDs together saved the best for last? Will this phantom be even better than that other phantom who hung around the opera? Let's dive in and find out. But first! Let me remind you that this blog ain't over yet! Next week I'll be posting the super mega deluxe Horror Movies Wrap-up post. In 3-D! Synopsis So there's this guy out fishing in a little rowboat in the ocean, and suddenly a monster shows up, tips his boat over, and fondles him vigorously until he dies . Wait! They already showed us the monster? It hasn't even been 5 minutes yet! And here already we know exactly wha...

Countdown update: If you can do basic math, you may have already guessed that after his, I only have 1 movie left to go! Just one left! That means next week is the last horror classic! But it won't be the end of this blog, no sirree, Bob. In two weeks, I'll post a grand finale of a post, which will be moving, entertaining, stirring, and spectacular. I'm calling it -- Are you ready for this? -- The 50 Horror Movies Wrap-up . Hmm. So maybe it's not such a catchy title. Certainly it's not as catchy as Dementia 13 , the title of this week's movie. It was released in 1963, produced by Roger Corman, and it's more or less the directing debut of Francis Ford Coppola , who would later go on to direct such masterpieces as The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2 , and Captain E-O . And no, it is not the sequel to Dementia s 1 through 12. Synopsis Married couple John and Louise are out in a boat, surrounded by darkness. Why would you go for a boat ride at night? Don't ...

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...

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...

The Bat . It's a 1959 film starring Agnes Moorehead, which means it came a few years before her role as Endora on Bewitched , and several years before the pinnacle of her career when she played the Goose in the animated Charlotte's Web movie. It also features Vincent Price, as well as Darla Hood, best-known as Darla from The Little Rascals/Our Gang . She's all grown up here, which is strange, as it never occurred to me that the Little Rascals ever grew up. But that's not the most exciting thing about the movie. The most exciting thing is that it's the 2nd film on Side B of Disc 11 of the 50 Movie Pack: Horror Classics . That means I only have 1 disc of 4 movies left to go! Anyway. The movie: Synopsis Agnes Moorehead plays Cornelia van Gorder, a mystery writer who has rented a house called "The Oaks" for herself and her good pal Lizzy for the summer. In an early scene jam-packed with white-knuckle exposition, we meet Victor Bailey, the local banker; his w...

Here I am! Boxing Day has come and gone, and now I'm ready to get back to watching old "horror" movies. And now that I've watched Last Woman on Earth from 1960, I only have five movies left! Faithful "Ryan Watches 50 Movies" reader Grady Roe has been keeping up with this blog since the beginning. He astutely observed some time ago that many of the posters for these movies tend to prominently feature females with varying amounts of their clothing torn or removed. And he's right... apparently the designers of these posters were under the impression that filmgoers' attention would be grabbed by nekkid ladies. Well, take a glance (or a long, lingering, lascivious look) at the poster for Last Woman on Earth: Wow! That's really something! And, if those figures are to scale, the woman is this movie is ENORMOUS! Towering over shirtless men, she's a BEHEMOTH of epic, exploitative nudity who terrorizes the countryside with her voluptuousness! Now let...

Will you look at that? I'm so close to the end, and then I skip a week for Thanksgiving, and then I miss another week... What's wrong with me? Well, if you really want to know why I didn't post a movie write-up here on Wednesday, it's because this is the week I compiled the 2008 Ugly Muppet Toy Pageant over on ToughPigs.com. You should check it out; it's highly entertaining. But it took me so long to finish that I decided I never wanted to look at a computer screen again. I may or may not post about Last Woman on Earth before I leave for Texas for Christmas this Wednesday. But here is my solemn vow, and may zombies and psychics strike me down if I fail to live up to it: When I resume watching and posting, I will not take any more breaks until I reach the end.