Here’s one last round of spooky movie reviews! This one’s kind of a tale of two videos, hence the thumbnail. Enjoy!
Movies mentioned:
-Island of the Fishmen aka Screamers (1979)… streamed on YouTube https://youtu.be/5JHQhN5xLIs?si=4oxiGm7OrAn0KPix
-Hitchhike! (1974)… streamed on YouTube https://youtu.be/rg3_Mlhr7ME?si=jLVa44LORNtyGGWd
-The Caller (1987)… streamed on YouTube https://youtu.be/LuJD-yYMsiA?si=S6DkGdcZfGHUm-gr
-Pontypool (2008)… streamed on YouTube https://youtu.be/jQ4DmindUIA?si=yH5uG8noiY_9zRzU
-The Mummy (1959)… watched on DVD
-The Uninvited (1944)… watched on DVD
-Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)… watched on DVD
-The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)… watched on DVD
the monster mash review I mentioned: https://youtu.be/kYuIg7PrXUs
Special thanks to everyone who helps support the channel at https://ko-fi.com/weiselberry!
source
0:56 That's Richard Johnson, not Richard English. Don't know where that came from…
Check out "The Shape of Water."
Peace on earth.
Here’s a recommend: 1981 The Changeling starring George C Scott. You’ve been warned…
Apparently Curt Siodmak was quite dismissive of his work on the sequel. He called it "Frankenstein Wolfs the Meat Man". I am fonder of Screamers than most people. Probably because I saw it as a child under its alternate title Island of Mutations. Bizarrely there was a sequel in the Nineties called The Fishmen and their Queen. It recycles footage from the original movie along with sequences from some of director Sergio Martino's post-apocalyptic sci-fi films and, believe it or not, is more of a children's movie!
I don't much care for slashers either. But The Town that Dreaded Sundown has some chilling moments alongside some admittedly silly scenes. I personally find the trombone murder sequence treads an awkward line between goofy and bad taste. But it's always great to see Ben Johnson and that very last shot always gave me the creeps.
'The Uninvited' – A lovely choice. Thanks for the reminder. I must rewatch it. Happy Halloween Ms. W. to you and your folks.
In "The Uninvited", that window at 04:16 in the background was re-used for the rocket tracking station set in "Monster from Green Hell". Also, the reason you thought the monsters in "Screamers" was cool until you got further into the movie is because the recreated costume for the added Corman footage actually looked better than the ones used in the euro-trash film.
One cool thing about Lugosi playing the Monster in "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" is that, at this point, the monster now has the brain of Lugosi's character Ygor from the previous film.
Ahhh, '80's video rental store bliss: Seeing the Embassy Screamers VHS box on the shelf, with the grisly cover art and the infamous tagline "They're men turned inside out! And worse…they're still alive!"
Just saw The Mummy again tonight after seeing it years ago, really liked it. Love your new hairdo but you look really nice with long hair also.
Thank you for sharing, as always! I've been going through your backlog of reviews while doing daily cooking and cleaning and you've just been such an enjoyable listen 🎬
Great 🎉
I agree with your view on Pontypool, at some point it did go downhill, and the ending was disappointing.
Many thanks for giving me a few more to watch .
I’m not sure if you have seen , or reviewed , this one before , but I would recommend Black Christmas .
Make sure it’s the version from the 70s , that was filmed around the University of Toronto .
My apologies if you have already covered this one before .
Thanks !
Nice batch of reviews! The Town that Dreaded Sundown stands out for that awful, but effective, trombone scene. It did kind of depress me overall, though. Frankenstein meets the Wolfman is a seasonal favorite. Poor Larry; at least he kinda gets to be a hero at the end. You likely know that the monster was originally written as being blind from the previous film, so that's why Bela's gait has the outstretched limbs, etc. His evil smile when he gets re-energized is very chilling, though. At any rate, Happy Halloween and thanks!
Hi J. Interesting batch of reviews, and I liked the 'recalculating' changeup halfway through. You seemed a bit happier after that point, so well done. Also, congrats on the new tee shirt, looks great. I haven't seen Uninvited but the lighting and atmosphere remind me of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which I've always liked. Will check out yours as well. Also the Wolfman one, if I can. Takes me back department: I used to hitchhike quite a bit, to school or work. No problems, nice folks who wanted to help me out. I guess there's no going back now. Thanks for these, enjoy your Halloween.
For a certain early stretch, I found Pontypool one of the most frightening movies I've ever seen. It was a unique semiotic horror story — i.e., touching on the horror of losing our language, our common tongue, as it lapses into degenerative violence. The single-scene setting lent it a claustrophobic feeling and its use of suggestive horror via the radio communiques were quite effective and affecting. It ultimately lost this tension. But it remains memorable to me.
I had a car about 20 years ago w the license plate: MECHA G. Love the shirt! (Just watched The Mummy a couple of days ago… along w ‘Curse of’. Really love your reviews… cheers!
I rewatched The Uninvited the other day. Love that movie. Milland and Hussey are both hilarious.
F MEETS WM is no Citizen Kane but just pure FUN … the Hammer Mummy nooo for me especially the shabby makeup, compare to Jack Pierce's in the original
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Pontypool and I remember liking it a lot when I saw it but I could definitely see how it would wear thin after awhile
Good reviews JW.
That shirt is FRESH!
How about turning your attention to "Lifeforce", Tobe Hooper's bonkers 1985 SF epic? The star, Mathilde May is so embarrassed by it she doesn't list on her CV any longer. Full disclosure, she is naked for most of the movie so you may have to warn your parents. 😳
It gets off to a cracking start with a great title theme by Henry Mancini and becomes increasingly deranged. I can't decide whether it's a minor classic or total garbage.
Enjoyed your reviews of old sci fi/horror movies.
Since you are a Godzilla fan, you may already know this (I did not until read the following interview) that James Hong provided the voices for the two lead male characters in GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS!:
Character actor James Hong is perhaps best known for appearing in three classic movies. In BLADE RUNNER, Hong played eye designer Hannibal Chew, in CHINATOWN he played butler Khan and in AIRPLANE!, he played the Japanese general. One of Hong's earliest movie roles was providing both of the voices for the two lead male roles, Ogata and Dr. Serizawa, in the original GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS!
Hong recalled on how he and his friend, Sammy Tong, were cast in the classic monster movie, "One producer said to us, 'We’re looking for guys to do some voices for a Japanese monster film.' He went on to say that he picked up this film in Japan. 'It’s a monster film, and I have the rights now, and I want to do the dubbed version for (the) United States.' He said he was going to patch in some scenes with Raymond Burr and some other colleagues. So they built this set. It’s the set that you see in the movie, that window with Raymond Burr looking out, and narrating all that stuff about the Godzilla. (laughs) Previously, I had worked with Raymond Burr twice, I think, on PERRY MASON and something else.
Getting back to how the interview took place, the producer said, 'Come on over to Japan Town, and audition if you want to, for these voices. The pay is minimum.' I think he paid $100. So Sammy and I showed up over at Japan Town. It was a Caucasian guy that got the rights, some producer who was just at that time a nobody. So we went up to the second story — it was a big empty room, and he had a desk in the center. He said, 'Okay, I have the microphone here. Just give me a sample of what you do with a Japanese accent.'"
Hong added, "We said, 'Okay, where’s the script?' He says, 'There’s no script.' (laughs) He said, 'Use THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER' (laughs) He said, 'Okay, just read THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER right here on this second column here, with a Japanese accent.' Sammy and I looked at each other: 'Oh, no script, and he wants Japanese accents.' I looked at THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and I said, 'So let’s see now. Ah, so!' (Mr. Hong proceeds to read in a Japanese accent) I read — I don’t know — maybe another paragraph. He said, 'That’s great! That’s great! (laughs) You got the job!' Sammy Tong did the same thing. He had a broader accent than I do. (laughs) He was going, 'Let’s see.' (Mr. Hong proceeds to imitate Sammy Tong‘s Japanese accent) So Sammy Tong did his accent, and neither one of us was Japanese."
Hong said in one scene, the two lead male characters, Ogata and Dr. Serizawa, argue with each other, "Well, both of those voices were mine! (laughs) I’m arguing with myself! So all those voices that I did were just thrown in there for all those characters, the young characters, and all the old men, the scientist that was pointing to the blackboard, all those were Sammy Tong’s voice. Together, Sammy and I did probably 80% of all the voices."
Happy Sunday 🙂
That thumbnail is hilarious hahaha, I Just left the comment section to look at it again hahaha. You’ve had some great thumbnails and this one is now amongst those, it’s great!
Strangely I’ve rewatched Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The Uninvited and The Mummy (1959) in the last three weeks, yup. I’ve also rewatched two other Universal Monster films and two Hammer films in the last month, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Invisible Man Returns, Dracula : Prince of Darkness and The Curse of Frankenstein, they were all airing on television and Dracula (1958) is on tonight so I’ll rewatch that too or record it, it started at 10:30 and ends at 12 so it maybe a bit late, Fiend Without a Face was on before it and started at 9 lol, I just checked listings to see if there’s a Hammer film airing next week and it’s The Mummy again. I was shopping online a couple of days ago for a birthday gift for my sister and became distracted looking at lobby card movie posters and saw one for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and added it to my basket because I’d just rewatched it but then thought do I want this? I like the film a lot but do I want a poster of it? It’s not The Creature or The Invisible Man or even the original Wolf Man, will I buy it? I removed it from my basket and then saw that you had reviewed it again so I changed my mind and ordered it and a frame figuring it was probably a sign hahaha. They have a great Mummy one also, it’s a still of the moment the archaeologist Norton first sees the mummy and starts laughing maniacally, great moment but do I want that moment hanging on my wall? probably not. The Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man poster is a bit more wacky and fun and a little less creepy, I’ll use it as a place holder until I find a great Creature poster.
The Mummy is probably my favourite Hammer film too for the reasons you’ve mentioned, plus I’ve always preferred Bela Lugosi over Christopher as Dracula, I like Karloff as The Mummy but think Lee does add something, a little more soul maybe?
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a lot of fun but I agree with your assessment of Lugosi’s monster, it’s not great and the makeup just doesn’t look right, Karloff’s face just works, they should’ve approached Raymond Massey lol.
The Uninvited has aired a couple of times during October and it’s a really good film, it has a production quality not usually given to films of its genre, acting, direction, writing and it’s photographed beautifully. For whatever reason I never think of this film when Ray Milland is mentioned.
I’m unsure if I’ve seen The Town that Dreaded Sundown before so I’ll watch it tomorrow, it looks really creepy and reminds a little of The Strangers (2008) maybe it’s just the mask. I think you may have mentioned the film before and if you have I’ve probably watched it.
Pontypool is another film that looks really familiar, I was convinced I had watched you review it before but I must’ve seen some of it on TV, maybe I saw it on TV and mentioned it in a comment. Thank goodness for your movie directory or I’d be endlessly confused lol, ( you’ve already added The Town That Dreaded Sundown to the directory, amazing! 🙂 bad or wacky movies like Pontypool can blend into each other, I watched another iffy film this morning titled The Crater Lake Monster (1977) it’s about a Loch Ness type monster that attacks a town, attacks is a bit of a stretch, it was stop-motion and looked okay at times but the end battle and the film’s conclusion made me regret watching it. I also saw Ghostbusters Frozen Empire today and it was okay, entertaining enough but will probably be forgotten after a couple of weeks. I watched a true crime film during the week titled Woman of the Hour and it was very good, the true story it’s based on is absolutely crazy.
I may give Island of the Fishmen and Hitchhike a miss but maybe they’ll appear on TV someday and I’ll give them a try. Sounds like the woman in Hitchhike should’ve driven the hitchhiker to the island of the fishmen lol.
Another fun Halloween selection and the switch up was very funny, the mechagodzilla shirt is awesome.
~ Thank you Ms Weiselberry ~
I actually watched a Barbara Bach horror the other day, The Unseen,,, it was okay, didn't make a lot of sense as to the why.
Cloris Leachman picking up a hitchhiker. It's the opposite of the opening of 'Kiss Me Deadly' from 1955, where she is the hitchhiker desperately needing a ride. I wonder if the makers of this TV movie had that in mind?
Since you seem to have a soft spot for these 70's TV movies, have you ever come across one that involved a woman being buried alive? I remember seeing this sometime around 1972, and being very disturbed by it. My child's memory might be deceiving me but it seems that the entire movie was her thoughts playing on the soundtrack, wishing that someone would find her. She was buried directly in the ground. No coffin. It was very creepy and I wonder why my parents allowed me to see it. It would be perfect for your spooky movie festival.
My 2 favorite "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" moments:
Dennis Hoey saying, "With his teeth???" after being told how Talbot got out of his straight jacket.
Chaney's reaction when the Festival performer sings, "And may they live ETERNALLY!"
I saw "The Mummy" at a kiddie matinee back in the 1960s. I remember that print was beautiful and the colors popped off the screen. The intense colors, when Yvonne Furneaux's Ananka was shown after she was prepared for burial, elicited gasps of awe from the usually rowdy young crowd.
Wow, I also love your Mechagodzilla tee shirt! As I once said, a girl who likes Godzilla films is a 👂 and wonderful treasure! Thanks, Jerome, for another great video! I haven't recommended any more videos because I feel bad about the Monster a Go Go debacle.
Thanks for these neat spooky reviews!
j.w. hi!
have you ever seen a ghost story called ‘the haunting of julia’, or ‘full circle’? it stars mia farrow who i’m not a massive fan of (kier dullea either, but!) and yet it’s still right up there as one of my favorite (and maybe scariest!) of the subgenre—i think you might enjoy it based on your previous reviews, but not positive.
must confess, i love love love pontypool. it’s one of my all time favorites, sorry it didn’t hit for you. the idea of language as virus was really appealing for me. sometimes i can overlook a lot when the idea is neat.
the mummy is amazing—i love how physical an actor peter cushing is in this one! but i’m a dyed in the wool hammer kid. happy spooky season to you!
Just wanted to say I really like your style, it’s really old school, it reminds me of old YouTube. A lot of videos on YouTube are overproduced and lose the personal connection that was unique to YouTube, but your videos dont suffer this issue.
Keep up the good work, this type of content is what this site needs.
I had forgotten about The Uninvited, until you reminded me of it. I saw it as a kid when by they screened it at my grade school as a special event for Halloween! I love when old memories like that resurface, so thank you for that. Now I will definitely have to watch it again!