Inspired by the year-end lists on @rupertpupkinspeaks website.
1) The Lodger- Character actor Laird Cregar in a role which may have doomed his career and himself. Ahead of its time in examining the psychological motivation of a serial killer. No real mystery here (he's obviously Jack the Ripper) but the tension is unrelenting.
2) Weird Woman- the best of those Lon Chaney Jr. "Inner Sanctum" films. Teamed again with Evelyn Ankers from "The Wolfman." Ankers is the spurned old flame jealous of Lon's new wife- who may be using "voodoo" to influence his career.
3) Not of This Earth: Corman cheapie sci-fi flick. Twilight Zone meets Ed Wood. Paul Birch as Tor Johnson-looking sunglasses wearing alien harvesting human blood to…
Inspired by the year-end lists on @rupertpupkinspeaks website.
1) The Lodger- Character actor Laird Cregar in a role which may have doomed his career and himself. Ahead of its time in examining the psychological motivation of a serial killer. No real mystery here (he's obviously Jack the Ripper) but the tension is unrelenting.
2) Weird Woman- the best of those Lon Chaney Jr. "Inner Sanctum" films. Teamed again with Evelyn Ankers from "The Wolfman." Ankers is the spurned old flame jealous of Lon's new wife- who may be using "voodoo" to influence his career.
3) Not of This Earth: Corman cheapie sci-fi flick. Twilight Zone meets Ed Wood. Paul Birch as Tor Johnson-looking sunglasses wearing alien harvesting human blood to save his homeworld. Dick Miller (RIP) has a fun cameo as beatnik vacuum salesman.
4) Colossus of New York: Starring Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon from Wild Wild West). A 50's sci-fi Frankenstein story. Martin is a super scientist killed in an accident and his brain is put into a giant killer robot. Ahead of its time with the body horror.
5) War of the Satellites: Dick Miller (RIP) in a rare leading performance as a super cool hipster scientist trying to foil an alien plan to block human exploration of space.
6) 4-D Man: Robert Lansing (Gary Seven from Star Trek TOS) accidentally gains the power to phase through solid objects. But when he touches people they rapidly age to death. Jazzy soundtrack. And the horror elements get crazy in the back half. Also starring Lee Meriwether.
7) The Man With X-Ray Eyes: Ray Milland with x-ray vision. Film noir with a swingin' 60's zeitgeist. Ahead of its time with the early psychedelia. Super downbeat ending. You'll never look at eye drops the same again.
8) Daimajin: Kurosawa meets Kaiju. Giant monster flick set in feudal Japan instead of 60's Tokyo. A huge godlike statue (think Talos in Jason & The Argonauts) uses a giant spike to kill bad guys. A bit more terrifying than the goofy violence in the Godzilla and Gamera movies of the time.
9) Godzilla vs. Hedorah (The Smog Monster): The craziest, trippiest Godzilla flick ever? He fights a sludge monster spawned by mankind's pollution and even flies at one point. Final fight has to be seen to be believed.
10) Capricorn One: 70's space conspiracy thriller. Three astronauts don't go along with plan for faked Mars landing. And the gov't tries to kill them. Crazy eclectic cast including O.J. Simpson.
