I hope you do enjoy it-just remember it's more a mysterious setting and a study of the characters rather than outright scares but yeah it's so unusual but still surprisingly emotional-one to watch when you're in the mood for something life-affirming.

What I love most is the infectious joy and enthusiasm that Price brings to the film you can tell he was loving every minute :)

"The Deadly Mantis" (1957)
-Craig Stevens

Plot: IMDB
A giant prehistoric praying mantis, recently freed from the Arctic ice, voraciously preys on American military at the Dew Line and works its way south.

Phantom's Review: Wonderfully corny, 1950's monster movie. Decent FX, plenty of stock footage to pad out the film and a monster that sounds just like "Spot" from "The Munsters". A total blast.

Deadly Mantis
 

12 minutes of stock footage in fact! I was humbled and delighted with a Rondo Award nomination last year for a Midnight Marquee article on The Deadly Mantis.

For myself, just watched Karloff's The Ghoul last night. The 7 Keys story has been done often, but man, I just love this version!

Yeah, I've always really liked that movie, too. I usually watch it every Hallowe'en season.

King of the Zombies (1941)

I love this flick, yet it just doesn't get the attention that it truely deserves. I'm not sure if it's because no one owns the rights to it, or if it's because of Mantan Morelands "controversial" performance.

iv got the ghoul being sent to me in the mail at the mo,really looking foward to it now.wasnt even sure if it was decent just bought it coz it was a buck

Good buy
 

Your dollar was well spent. There's little action or outright horror, but there's atmosphere and tension to spare; and the performances of all the old British character actors are terrific, Ernest Thesiger, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richardson, lots to like! Karloff, of course, is great!

"Psycho" (1960)
-Anthony Perkins

Plot: IMDB
Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Phantom's Review: Screenwriter Joseph Stefano and Director Alfred Hitchcock take Robert Bloch's novel and create what is arguably the greatest suspense thriller of all time. Perfectly cast, acted and filmed. this movie is damn near perfect. The last shot of Anthony Perkins staring at you is still terrifying. Very few films are truly worthy of the label "Classic", but this is a true classic from start to finish.

PC nonsense
 

I think it's ridiculous because of someone's present day likes and dislikes, or worse yet, someone's PC sense of superior justice (self-important people deciding for everyone else what is and is not offensive) that incredibly talented actors of days-gone-by must have all of their performances either erased or apologized for. I love Mantan Moreland!

And I'm sick of reading apologies on the side of the DVD box every time I want to watch an old Charlie Chan picture. I don't have any guilt about history (white or other) and don't feel any need to rewrite it. For good or ill, it was what it was.

Nobody was ever killed by the sentence, "Is you a zombie?"

While my definition of 'classic' might differ from yours (personally, I think there plenty that could make that claim), I can't argue with this being one of them. Psycho is 'the' deranged killer pic! A shame to think a picture like this could NEVER be made today.

The only apology that should be given with any of these films should be, "These were the social attitudes and feelings of the time. Deal with it.".

I just got finished watching the original Frankenstein (1910). Big waste of time (even though it was only 15 minutes long)!

The Witches (1966) Great hammer film looking into how the witchcraft in voodoo may have spread elsewhere in this case to a small village in West Country England. A very well paced movie with a lot to savour in the second half for fans of the details of witchcraft whether mythological or psychological this lets the viewer decide and some scenes were certainly territory for hammer that I've not seen them go in before. Hugely enjoyable.

Frankenstein (1931) & Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Great movies, but these movies have been praised so often, I might as well say something negative about them.

* Frankenstein has to have one of the most random, nonsensical endings to any movie I've ever seen.

* When the Monster tosses Frankenstein off the windmill, it magically starts spinning in the opposite direction

* In Bride of Frankenstein, two guys that run into the Monster say "It's the monster! Dr. Frankenstein created him with the parts of corpses, he did" (or something to that effect). The question I have is, how did they know? Isn't that why Frankenstein was helping Dr Pratorious, to keep that all hush hush.

* You'd think either Carl laemmle or James Whale would've remembered that they had casted a blonde for Frankenstein's bride to be. I can understand not being able to get the same actress for Bride of Frankenstein, but at least cast someone with the same hair color.

Wow, harsh :D It wasn't much of a film but...
Considering it's the first Frankenstein ever, what Edison meant to film and history, and the simple fact it has for my entire life (over a half century) been thought lost... it was a fifteen minutes I was more than pleased to part with. And will again someday. I did not find it without merit.

Will definitely hunt this one down. Thanks.

Hilarious.
1) Frankenstein had two endings. In the original, Colin Clive died. When they decided on a sequel, he was made to survive for the re-release.
2) Now I have to go watch again to see the windmill!
3) Cinematic short-hand. You believe in man-made monsters, but don't believe in cinematic short-hand?
4) Mae Clark (who's most famous moment in film was getting a grapefruit in the face from James Cagney, was old news by 1935. Valerie Hobson, whom I've never cared for (AT ALL) was all the rage. She soon faded. But, can't you just tell yourself that Mrs. Frankenstein colored her hair and be at peace;)

I didn't know about the two endings. The only thing I've ever heard about is censors cutting the scene where The Monster throws the little girl in the lake (which IMO, would make the movie much darker).

And honestly, my knowledge of old school horror movies is all recent. Sure I had watched all of these flicks when I was 5 or 6, because they would show them on the crappy local uhf channel. But this winter I made it a point to rewatch all of the classics and a few obscure oldies. I'm glad I did too, I've watched an asspile of great flicks that I would never have thought to watch

Just watched It! The Terror from Beyond Space
Yeah... the acting is pretty sub par, and the special effects budget wouldn't be enough to buy a carton of cigarettes. In fact, you can't really use the term "Special" to describe the effects, unless you're thinking in terms of "Special Olympics". All that being said, I loved this flick! It's a 50's low budget Alien.

just watched the the monster mono brow man ..i mean the ghoul

I watched "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" last night. Wow! A Hammer horror that takes place in the same century it was made. Who knew?

It did have something typical of a good majority of the Hammer movies. It's a 40 minute movie that's stretched out to 90. Honestly, there's probably ten minutes worth of men putting gloves on their hands, and another twenty minutes of them showing The Big Dipper.

"House On Haunted Hill" (1959)
-Vincent Price
Plot: IMDB
Eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren and his 4th wife, Annabelle, have invited 5 people to the house on Haunted Hill for a "haunted House" party. Whoever will stay in the house for one night will earn ten thousand dollars each. As the night progresses, all the guests are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors.

Phantom"s Review: My all time favorite Vincent Price movie. atmospheric, spooky with the right amount of camp. a perfect movie for a dark and stormy night

Hope you enjoy it you can see easily how it must of influenced later films like The Wicker Man and The Blood On Satan's Claw.

dracula prince of darkness on blu-ray...gorgeous

Psycho 1961

It's amazing when you think about how influential this movie was. It changed the definition of horror, and single handedly revived an almost dead genre. The 50's were really lean when it comes to horror. Unless it was some gimmicky William Castle flick, or some sci-fi movie with irradiated bugs, there was nothing going on in horror for the entire decade. Psycho also forced Horror movies to "grow up", become more realistic.

It had been awhile since I last watched it, and forgot just how uncomfortable parts of the movie make me. The one scene where marion and norman are having a bite to eat in the motel parlor still makes me cringe. The way it starts off as average chit chat and slowly spirals downward, getting more uncomfortable as it goes on. It leaves you feeling totally tense, and then it's shower time! Such a great movie.

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well said

Thanks. Every now and then, my stoned ramblings will make a little sense. It doesn't happen often, but once in awhile I'll type out something that's somewhat cogent.

I watched Son of Frankenstein 1939 last night. I thought I had watched this one before, but to my surprise, I never did. IMO this is probably the best screen performance of Bela Lugosi that I've ever seen (I've yet to see Glen or Glenda). Karloff isn't bad, and Basil Rathbone is... Basil Rathbone (he's a little too dramatic for film if you ask me) but Bela's performance is great. It almost makes up for that snotty kid being in the movie.

On a side note, It's weird watching the old frankenstein movies and seeing the police officers in those SS type uniforms.

Also, Who hooked up The Monster with that funky sweater vest? Now that I think about it, why was he even clothed to begin with? If you were doing an experiment like Frankenstein was, why would you bother dressing him up in clothes, let alone a suit. I could understand a robe or something, but a suit?

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Monster Zero (1965)


Phantom's Review: Two of the best "Godzilla" films from the '60's. Great monster action, cool man in suit FX and lots of fun. Best scenes, in "Ghidorah" the monster conversation and in "Monster Zero", Godzilla's victory dance. A great double feature
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The Bride of Frankenstein

been a long time since I had seen this one. Totally forgot about the little people That Dr. Pretorius made. Which by the way I feel is more fantastic than bringing The Monster to life.....he created little people fer christ sakes

haha love that movie

I love the dark sense of humor throughout that movie, too. Amazing stuff.

Dr Pretorius is probably the cat who changed the hair color of Dr. Frankenstein's bride to be.

Watched The Invisible Woman 1940. I wouldn't say it's a horror film, but it's in the Invisible Man series, so it sort of qualifies.

I really dig this movie. The cast is great (John Barrymore, Shemp. and the wicked witch of the west, talk about eclectic), it's really fast paced and only an hour long. It could've easily been stretched out to a hour and a half, but I guess they weren't allowed. Some of the dialogue is a bit corny, but not so bad that it effects the enjoyment of the movie. And I know that the womens suffrage movement went down in the teens, but from the movies I've watched from the 30's and 40's women always played the roles where they were either meek and ineffective, or they were trying to hustle some guy out of money. This movie wasn't like that at all. Kitty Karrol was kicking her boss in the ass, talking trash to the cat with the moustache, and making him jump through hoops to prove himself. So I was pretty fascinated from that aspect in itself.

The one thing it was lacking was the whole "race against the clock" aspect from The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns, and even Abbot and Costello Meet the Invisble Man. You become invisble, then you have to find a cure before you go bat shit crazy.

Watched Nosferatu awhile back. Love that movie. Also White Zombie. Such a creepy movie.

Great films. If you loved Nosferatu check out Vampyr which is equally amazing. Plus if you loved White Zombie check out I Walked With A Zombie one of my all time faves if you haven't seen them yet.

Seconded on both counts.
I'd definitely recommend the rest of the Val Lewton stuff, actually. Cat People, The Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead, etc. Also Tourneur's Night of the Demon is a great film.

The Body Snatcher and I Walked With a Zombie are really good, but the rest of Val Lewton's stuff I don't really care for. His movies are a bit of a tease. There's a lot of build up, but there's never a payoff.

Watched The Invisible Man 1933 the other night. IMO,it has to be one of the most underrated and overlooked movies of that era. Claude Rains is pretty astounding when you take into consideration he wasn't able to use his face as a form of expression. BUt just from the sound of his voice he was able to emote feelings of frustration, rage, paranoia and psychosis.

The effects are really amazing when you consider it was made in the early 30's.

Two things that made me cringe are:
- That old irish harpie chick (the obnoxious maid from Bride of Frankenstein with the super annoying voice). Her excessive screaming and over acting was killing me.

- The stereotypical bobby with the big walrus moustache. Just a god awful actor in a really decent movie. Now that I"m thinking about it, his performance was sort of funny. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, so I guess there's only one thing that made me cringe

yojimbo
sanjuro

I love the Val Lewton stuff except Ghost Ship which I thought was dreadful and The Body Snatcher which I still need to see. Cat People and Isle Of The Dead are my faves. Tourneur's Night Of The Demon is amazing everyone should see that film

"The Brain That Wouldn't Die"(1962)


A doctor experimenting with transplant techniques keeps his girlfriend's head alive when she is decapitated in a car crash, then goes hunting for a new body.
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Phantom's Review: I watched this on "The Monster Channel" a few days ago. It still a complete turd. One of the "best" bad movies ever made. Terrible acting, goofy story and truly awful FX. A crap classic.

Lon Chaney jnr The Wolfman

loved this movie,cant beleive i hadnt seen it before

Watched Night of the Demon last night for the millionth time. Absolute classic.