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LaBete Blog

  • My Best Girl

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    My Best Girl  (1927)

    The first time I watched this film I wasn't sure what to expect, I was so used to Pickford playing little girls or someone half her age. But this role is quite a refreshing difference from her others. She proves that she can be both a skilled comedian and dramatic actress, and much more adult than in her other films. I think even those who do not care much for Pickford, or even silent films, may find this one entertaining. This was also Mary Pickford's last silent film, and in this reveiwer's opinion her best, so if you don't like this Pickford film you might do well by avoiding her other ones.


  • The Honeymoon Killers

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    The low-budget 1970 sleeper is based on the true story of the grisly  "Lonely Hearts"  murders in the late 1940s. Tony Lo Bianco gives an excellent performance as Ray, a Spanish gigolo who meets lonely women through  a mail club and swindles them out of most of their savings. Along comes Martha, an over-weight frustrated nurse (played perfectly by Shirley Stoler, who some may remember as Miss Stevie from Pee Wee's Playhouse), and then the brutality starts. Pretending to be Ray's sister, the two of them continue to seek out wealthy women to play their savage game with. One scene if very violent and a bit disturbing when, unable to kill one victim, Martha resorts to whacking her in the head with a hammer. Also in the cast is Doris Roberts (from TV's Everyone Loves Raymond). The same real-life killers were the basis for another film, "Natural Born Killers" (1994).


  • Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

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    An early film by director/writer Bob Clark (better known for "Black Christmas"-1975, & "Christmas Story"), it is probably the best black-comedy-living-dead-flesh-eating-gorey films made on a shoe-string budget. It involves a group of want-to-be film actors/makers who are led to a small abandoned isle to make a horror film. The extremely obnoxious director (played by Alan Ormsby) insults and ridicules the actors until they are totally disgusted with the whole project. Then - suddenly - after some occult-corpse-raising ritual - the killing and mandatory flesh-eating begins. The make-up and special effects are surprisingly above-average, and in many scenes quite welcomed since some of the characters really deserve it.  But of all the acting the best by far is from the hero of the film, Orville the corspe. Really can't recommend this movie enough. Another great film for every film student.


  • Horror Hotel

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    Horror Hotel  (1960)

    AKA "City of the Dead,"  is surprisingly good considering its apparent low-budget and little-known film co., Vulcan/Trans Lux. The first time I saw this I remember being put on the edge of my seat in the theater when one of the "main characters" is killed off early in the film (similar to Janet Leigh in "Psycho"). Christopher Lee stars as university professor of demonology who sends a "favorite" student to a little-known village in New England to do a paper on Satanism during the 17th century.  The movie has several good shocks, which I've noticed is typical of many British chillers of the 60s, and is full of creepy atmosphere complete with swirling fog. Also in the cast is Dennis Lotis, a British pop singer at the time.


  • Night of the Eagle - aka - Burn, Witch, Burn

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    Renamed "Burn, Witch, Burn" in the US, is based on the story The Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber. Scripted by horror tale  writers Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) and Charles Beaumont, it is a well-crafted tale of the occult. Janet Blair is cast as the wife of a psychology professor, played by Peter Wyngarde. As the professor's skepticism gradually turns to belief I was reminded of how Dana Andrews reacted to similar events in Jacques Tourneur's "Night of the Demon". The film is quite effective in producing the proper atmosphere by visual effects achieved by the right framing and camera movement. There are many unforgetable scenes - such as when a stone eagle comes to life and swoops down on the professor inside a lecture hall, to a scene in a crypt as he attempts to save his wife from the powers of darkness.  Filmed in black and white probably helps the movie, considering many of the locals are in dark and eerie settings. For fans of chillers, this film will surely keep you on the edge of your seat.


  • The Exterminating Angel

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    From Mexico comes director Luis Bunuel's perplexing black comedy that makes an unflattering comment on high-society. The title, perhaps, might refer to the exterminating of so-called high-class self-absorbed society. With the arrival of guests at an elegant dinner party, the servants appear to be in an unusually nervous state and in quite a hurry to leave the home. It could be they have some hindsight as to what is about to happen - it is never fully explained in the film. Soon after they leave, the guests are apparently stuck in one large room of the house. There are no obstacles to prevent them from leaving, but none-the-less they each form some odd excuse for staying whenever them make any motion to exit. After some time, the finally realize they cannot leave. No matter how hard they concentrate they must stop dead at the threshold of the large room. By the end of the film they have resorted to near animalistic behavior - fighting over food, water, and even sexual advances toward other occupants. Outside the home the authorities are attempting to resolve the situation, but even they are unable to enter the house. The film may not be a complete success, but the idea is intriguing and it is very well acted. This is probably one of Bunuel's most bizarre films. Recommended for fans of Bunuel and unusual foreign films.


  • The Alligator People

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    From the world of low-budget production comes a sci-fi feature that may have had promise in the right hands. The film begins with two scientists attempting to solve the mystery behind their nurse's amnesia history. Under hypnosis she relates an unbelievable tale about her husband suddenly vanishing, and later being traced by her to a remote manor in the Southern U.S. swamplands. There she finds her husband's mother who at first refuses to admit who she is and is insistant on her distraught daughter-in-law to leave the swampland manor. Also in the home resides a somewhat unbalanced scientist, played in a rather campy style by George Macready, who is experimenting on limb rejuvenation. Using a serum made from alligators, his experiments turn humans into - well what else - alligator people. The nurse eventually finds that her husband has become one of these creatures. The make-up effects by famous mask-creator/make-up artist Dick Smith should have been more realistic. The early stages where the victim develops scaley skin is quite effective, but later after changing into a creature with an alligator head it is way too obvious the actor is wearing a stiff-unflexible head mask. The nurse is played adequately by Beverly Garland, Richard Crane plays her husband, Bruce Bennett (a former Tarzan from the late 40's-early 50's) plays one of the scientists trying to unravel the nurses mystery, but the best part of the movie is Lon Chaney, Jr. cast as a drunkard alligator hunter with a hook for a missing hand that was bitten off by some kind of swampland reptile. Unfortunately there is not enough of Chaney in the film to help improve its concocted story. With today's special effects, and maybe an improved story-line, this film might be very interesting as a remake. I can only recommend "Alligator People" to fans of Lon Chaney, Jr. and alligators.


  • I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE

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    The atmospheric sci-fi thriller from 1958 is in this reviewer's opinion on the same level as "Invasion of The Body Snatchers" (1956) and should be considered a classic. The alien creatures that take over several Earth men's bodies are unique, and remindful of the squid-man creatures from the "Star Wars" series, which I suspect could have been copied from this movie. Gloria Talbott, the female star of several 1950's sci-fi/horror films,  is suitably cast as the wife who notices a personality change in her husband (played very effectively by Tom Tryon). She uncovers a plot by aliens to produce more of their dying race using humans, but for some reason can not get anyone to believe it.  The film is superior to many other typical 50's sci-fi films in taking advantage of the use of shadows and bizarre camera angles to increase the tension.  This is a movie that with multiple viewings you may notice little details you may have missed the first time through. It's amazing how much story is fit into this 78 minute sci-fi feature. For any science fiction fan this film will not disappoint.


  • PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

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    1956- AKA "GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE" /  Likely the best-worst-campy movie ever made. Everything about this film reeks of amateurish-low-budget filmmaking. Ed Wood, the now well-known producer-director of the "Bad Movie", has out-done himself on this one. Paper plates as flying saucers; an obvious poor look-a-like for Bela Lugosi after he died during production; and dialog almost any grade school pupil could improve on. It's a one-of-a-kind film that, in my opinion, should be mandatory viewing for all film-school students.


  • FIVE

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    Five  (1951)

    Arch Oboler wrote, produced, and directed this unusual science-fiction film which is probably the first film to deal with the aftermath of nuclear war. The cast does an above average job considering they are probably unknowns to most. I was impressed with the detailed character study for such a low-budget and obscure film. Of the "Five" people who gather together in a remote mountain lodge, by the end only two remain (there is eventual a 6th if you count the baby born to the sole-surviving woman).  The only thing in the film I found rather unnecessary was the occasional references to bible scriptures.


  • SPIDER BABY

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    Spider Baby  (1964)

    I have seen two different years for this movie, 1964 & 1968.  It could be that it was made in "64 but because of a low-budget and costs it wasn't released until 68.  It stars Lon Chaney, Jr. in one of his better performances from his later years. He is the guardian of a demented family whose bloodline illness condemns them to gradually regress into animalistic killers. Their existance is threatened when a distant relative shows up with an attorney bent on inheriting the home they now live in. Sid Haag co-stars as one of the young demented family members. Also in the cast is Carol Ohmart whom  some may recognize as casted in "HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL" (1959) as Vincent Price's wife. This movie, in this reviewer's opinion, is worth watching for the performances of Chaney and Sid Haag.


  • Dead of Night (1946)

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    Dead of Night  (1945)

    Classic  horror anthology from England is obviously the prototype for future horror anthologies.  The five supernatural tales are interwoven by the main story about an architect (Mervyn Johns) finding himself invited to a large mansion that just happens to be the exact one from a reoccurring nightmare. While he waits for theremainder of his nightmare to come true,  the other occupants of the house each tell a story of their own experience with the supernatural.  After each episode story a skeptical psychiatrist  attempts to explain the strange experiences they have had.  The only story of the five that does not seem to fit into the film so well involves a comical ghost story involving two golfing buddies who are in love with the same woman. It may have been added to help the audience by lightening up the chilling mood a bit. The cast of the film are excellent, especially Mervyn Johns as the architect and Michael Redgrave in the "Ventriloquist's Dummy" episode. This particular story of the unhealthy relationship between a ventriloquist  & his dummy has been redone several times on TV's Twilight Zone and even as full length features. But this one version in Dead of Night is by far the creepiest and most frightening of the bunch.


 

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