Collection ID 1082
Director: John Fortenberry
Starring: Chris Kattan, Will Ferrell, Raquel Gardner, Molly Shannon, Dan Hedaya
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Broadway Pictures   Release date: 1998   Rated: PG-13   
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: The Roxbury Guys, Steve and Doug Butabi, want to get into the best club in town, and also hope to open their own club. Vivica, a gold-digging supermodel, and her friend Cambi try to work the Roxbury Guys for their money, only to find out the pair is broke.
My Rating:
My Review: Starring Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, Dan Hedaya and Richard Grieco, this ridiculous Saturday Night Live production was far funnier than it should be. Poor production, direction and acting mark this movie as something destined to flop, and it did - at the box office. I however, couldn't help but laugh at this comic gem. Despite the ridiculous plot, poor dialog, and universally bad acting, I found myself entertained and laughing througout the movie. The reason? Will Ferrel, Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon. Perhaps they didn't realize what a flop they'd been burdened with. Thankfully, they were fully committed to the insane, inane, and preposterous characters they played. It was the level of comittment - sticking to the lame jokes, and ridiculous dialog - that made this hollywood garbage something worth watching. The story is an entirely predictable vehicle for cheesy characters and stock shlock laughs. Thanks to the Ferrel, Kattan and Shannon, it rises above the cutting room floor as a lesson in dedication to the art form. Becoming funning in spit of it's incredibly burdoned handicaps - Thank you for the laughs.

Collection ID 752
Director: Emilio Miraglia
Starring: Anthony Steffen, Marina Malfatti, Erika Blanc, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Enzo Tarascio
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Studio: Phoenix Cinematografica   Release date: 1971   Rated: R   
Language (Country): Italian (Italy)
Summary: A wealthy English lord is suffering a mental breakdown following the death of his red-headed wife, Evelyn, whom he feared was cheating on him. He tours local bars and dives, scouring for lovely red-heads willing to come back to his decaying castle in the country, where he seduces them, then tortures and kills them. His friend the doctor talks him into marrying again to help heal his slowly-rotting mind, which he does--but are the doctor's orders really what he needs?
My Rating:
My Review: I've recently been enjoying Giallos (a 20th century genre of Italian films featuring crime, mystery, a touch of horror and eroticism), and a recent compilation purchase (Night of Horror - Do not watch Alone!) has given me some inspiration and fuel for this exploration: Some of the movies on this 15 film compilation are late night gems, others are complete duds. This one sits in the middle. It's a pretty good Giallo, but it certainly wouldn't win any awards in America. Directed by Emilio Miraglia, a fair director who never really made it big. This is probably his most recognized work. The cast is composed of Italians who I don't recognize; with one exception - Anthony Steffen (born as Antonio Luiz De Teffe). Anthony starred in many Italian films and worked with many great directors during his career; including work (starred and co-wrote) on Django the Bastard (aka The Strangers Gundown). In this movie, Anthony Steffen stars as Lord Alan Cunningham a wealthy playboy eking out a marginal existence in his family's ancestral castle. Lord Cunningham's wife died under mysterious circumstances and he's haunted by her passing in many ways. Tormented by her death he lures hookers and strippers to his castle, where he subjects them to brutal masochistic sex, torture and ultimately murder. Eventually he falls in love with one of his 'victims' and this doesn't please the spirit of his former wife. A bizarre horror mystery with psycho-sexual overtones. The direction and editing were very well done, some of the camera work was excellent, but the print quality made everything muddy. The ending revealed an excellent twist. Unfortunately the quality of the print and horrible dubbing significantly affected this movie. I give it a 3 out of 5 and hope to see a better print some day.

Collection ID 1438
Director: Emilio Miraglia
Starring: Anthony Steffen, Marina Malfatti, Erika Blanc, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Enzo Tarascio
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Studio: Phoenix Cinematografica   Release date: 1971   Rated: R   
Language (Country): Italian (Italy)
Summary: A wealthy English lord is suffering a mental breakdown following the death of his red-headed wife, Evelyn, whom he feared was cheating on him. He tours local bars and dives, scouring for lovely red-heads willing to come back to his decaying castle in the country, where he seduces them, then tortures and kills them. His friend the doctor talks him into marrying again to help heal his slowly-rotting mind, which he does--but are the doctor's orders really what he needs?
My Rating:
My Review: I've recently been enjoying Giallos (a 20th century genre of Italian films featuring crime, mystery, a touch of horror and eroticism), and a recent compilation purchase (Night of Horror - Do not watch Alone!) has given me some inspiration and fuel for this exploration: Some of the movies on this 15 film compilation are late night gems, others are complete duds. This one sits in the middle. It's a pretty good Giallo, but it certainly wouldn't win any awards in America. Directed by Emilio Miraglia, a fair director who never really made it big. This is probably his most recognized work. The cast is composed of Italians who I don't recognize; with one exception - Anthony Steffen (born as Antonio Luiz De Teffe). Anthony starred in many Italian films and worked with many great directors during his career; including work (starred and co-wrote) on Django the Bastard (aka The Strangers Gundown). In this movie, Anthony Steffen stars as Lord Alan Cunningham a wealthy playboy eking out a marginal existence in his family's ancestral castle. Lord Cunningham's wife died under mysterious circumstances and he's haunted by her passing in many ways. Tormented by her death he lures hookers and strippers to his castle, where he subjects them to brutal masochistic sex, torture and ultimately murder. Eventually he falls in love with one of his 'victims' and this doesn't please the spirit of his former wife. A bizarre horror mystery with psycho-sexual overtones. The direction and editing were very well done, some of the camera work was excellent, but the print quality made everything muddy. The ending revealed an excellent twist. Unfortunately the quality of the print and horrible dubbing significantly affected this movie. I give it a 3 out of 5 and hope to see a better print some day.

Collection ID 741
Director: James A. Sullivan
Starring: John Agar, Carol Gilley, Ralph Baker Jr., Dorothy Davis, Bill Thurman
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Studio:   Release date: 1967   Rated: Unrated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: A government space experiment into the effects of cosmic rays on animal life goes horribly wrong, creating a mutant monster that terrorizes a rural community.
My Rating:
My Review: A Sci-Fi, Horror B-Movie from the 60's. The music is overwrought, the lighting abysmal, the special effects horrid, the acting amateur (at best), the writing unimaginative, the camera work bad, the sound work barely passable, the production terrible. This movie has it all - Man in gorilla suit (with horns and a vaguely Klingon-like ridge on the forehead) stands in as fiend from space. The alien creatures goal? Arrgghh, blub, glub, ook, arrghh, rogg! to walk towards the humans in a menacing manner. The lead character - Sheriff Clint Crawford (played by John Agar) does his best to protect the towns coeds from the serial killer creature from outer space. The best part of this movie is the girls wearing mini-skirts, gyrating gladly for the camera. That and the preposterously cliched scientist - Prof. Alan Clayton (played by Roger Ready!); who smokes a pipe while pontificating on the possible origins of this seemingly primitive space traveler. Despite it's charm, it doesn't quite fall into the "So bad it's good" category - I give it a 1 out of 5. Thankfully it was 1 of 15 on a compilation of horror movies that I bought from the Wal-Mart bargain bin.

Collection ID 1427
Director: James A. Sullivan
Starring: John Agar, Carol Gilley, Ralph Baker Jr., Dorothy Davis, Bill Thurman
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Studio:   Release date: 1967   Rated: Unrated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: A government space experiment into the effects of cosmic rays on animal life goes horribly wrong, creating a mutant monster that terrorizes a rural community.
My Rating:
My Review: A Sci-Fi, Horror B-Movie from the 60's. The music is overwrought, the lighting abysmal, the special effects horrid, the acting amateur (at best), the writing unimaginative, the camera work bad, the sound work barely passable, the production terrible. This movie has it all - Man in gorilla suit (with horns and a vaguely Klingon-like ridge on the forehead) stands in as fiend from space. The alien creatures goal? Arrgghh, blub, glub, ook, arrghh, rogg! to walk towards the humans in a menacing manner. The lead character - Sheriff Clint Crawford (played by John Agar) does his best to protect the towns coeds from the serial killer creature from outer space. The best part of this movie is the girls wearing mini-skirts, gyrating gladly for the camera. That and the preposterously cliched scientist - Prof. Alan Clayton (played by Roger Ready!); who smokes a pipe while pontificating on the possible origins of this seemingly primitive space traveler. Despite it's charm, it doesn't quite fall into the "So bad it's good" category - I give it a 1 out of 5. Thankfully it was 1 of 15 on a compilation of horror movies that I bought from the Wal-Mart bargain bin.

Collection ID 740
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: John Baer, Angela Greene, Ed Nelson, Georgianna Carter, Michael Emmet
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Studio: American International Pictures (AIP)   Release date: 1958   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: An astronaut returns from space dead. The base that recovered him is then cut off from the outside world by an alien. The revival of the dead astronaut, the death of a scientist, and the discovery of alien embryos inside the resurrected astronaut's body bodes ill for the survival of those trapped at the base and the rest of humanity.
My Rating:
My Review: An early (1958) space travel movie. Story by Gene Corman, co-produced by Roger Corman. Here's a B sci-fi story with incredibly poor production. Starring a cast of relative unknowns, the story is fairly interesting. A solo astronaut returns to earth, crash lands and supposedly dies. When his lifeless body is returned to the lab for some examination, the scientists find a corpse with normal blood pressure. That's weird, but it isn't the weirdest part of this movie. Later we find that some birdlike beast has hitched a ride along with the astronaut, but that's not all. The astronaut is pregnant - Huh? Yes, thanks to the technology of the fluoroscope, we can see several seamonkey type creatures swimming about his insides. Then come the attacks. The bird beaked ape creature attacks, but only to get our attention! It's definitely a bizarre, mixed-up, sci-fi, monster mash. Despite the poor production value, I found the story intriguing, and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the preposterous situations. 3 out of 5. Part of a 15 film horror compilation called "Night of Horror - Do not watch alone"

Collection ID 1426
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: John Baer, Angela Greene, Ed Nelson, Georgianna Carter, Michael Emmet
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Studio: American International Pictures (AIP)   Release date: 1958   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: An astronaut returns from space dead. The base that recovered him is then cut off from the outside world by an alien. The revival of the dead astronaut, the death of a scientist, and the discovery of alien embryos inside the resurrected astronaut's body bodes ill for the survival of those trapped at the base and the rest of humanity.
My Rating:
My Review: An early (1958) space travel movie. Story by Gene Corman, co-produced by Roger Corman. Here's a B sci-fi story with incredibly poor production. Starring a cast of relative unknowns, the story is fairly interesting. A solo astronaut returns to earth, crash lands and supposedly dies. When his lifeless body is returned to the lab for some examination, the scientists find a corpse with normal blood pressure. That's weird, but it isn't the weirdest part of this movie. Later we find that some birdlike beast has hitched a ride along with the astronaut, but that's not all. The astronaut is pregnant - Huh? Yes, thanks to the technology of the fluoroscope, we can see several seamonkey type creatures swimming about his insides. Then come the attacks. The bird beaked ape creature attacks, but only to get our attention! It's definitely a bizarre, mixed-up, sci-fi, monster mash. Despite the poor production value, I found the story intriguing, and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the preposterous situations. 3 out of 5. Part of a 15 film horror compilation called "Night of Horror - Do not watch alone"

Collection ID 1734
Director: Charles Laughton
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason, Evelyn Varden
Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Studio: Paul Gregory Productions   Release date: 1955   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: It's the Great Depression. In the process of robbing a bank of $10,000, Ben Harper kills two people. Before he is captured, he is able to convince his adolescent son John and his daughter Pearl not to tell anyone, including their mother Willa, where he hid the money, namely in Pearl's favorite toy, a doll that she carries everywhere with her. Ben, who is captured, tried and convicted, is sentenced to death. But before he is executed, Ben is in the state penitentiary with a cell mate, a man by the name of Harry Powell, a self-professed man of the cloth, who is really a con man and murderer, swindling lonely women, primarily rich widows, of their money before he kills them. Harry does whatever he can, unsuccessfully, to find out the location of the $10,000 from Ben. After Ben's execution, Harry decides that Willa will be his next mark, figuring that someone in the family knows where the money is hidden. Despite vowing not to remarry, Willa ends up being easy prey for Harry's outward ...
My Rating:
My Review: Directed by Charles Laughton (Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Witness for the prosecution, Spartacus (1960), Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid). Starring Robert Mitchum (as the 'preacher' Hary Powell), Peter Graves (the cell mate/father), Shelly Winters (the widow), Lilian Gish (the iron dame). When Ben Harper (played by Peter Graves) robs a bank, he stashes the money just before he's caught. Convicted and sentenced to prison he has the unfortunate luck to be cell mate to one self proclaimed 'Preacher' Harry Powell. This religious fanatic has been doing "god's work". Marrying widows, murdering them and taking there cash to fund his quest for the next victim. While Ben goes to the Chair, the preacher is released. Armed with knowledge of the stashed cash, the preacher sets off to marry the widow and 'convince' the children to tell him where the money is. It's a battle of wills, a deranged journey into the mind of one twisted man and an awesome thriller. 4 out of 5.

Collection ID 1491
Director: George A. Romero
Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne
Genre: Horror
Studio: Image Ten   Release date: 1968   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.
My Rating:
My Review:

Collection ID 191
Director: George A. Romero
Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne
Genre: Horror
Studio: Image Ten   Release date: 1968   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.
My Rating:
My Review: