Previous SFF Author: Gemma Files
The Crater Lake Monster directed by William R. Stromberg
My bad, and all that, but for some reason, I had long assumed The Crater Lake Monster was a product of the late 1950s – a black-and-white cousin of such other films dealing with thawed-out critters returning to harass modern man as The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) and The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959). Of course, I was incorrect in that surmise, and the picture in question turns out to be from the year 1977,
October 17th, 2015. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Night Of The Creeps directed by Fred Dekker
Though something of a highly regarded cult item today, Fred Dekker’s first film, Night of the Creeps, was an unqualified flop when first released in August 1986, only recouping a little more than 1/10 of its $5 million budget. A highly amusing yet genuinely jolting mixture of comedy and horror, the film combined any number of disparate genres – the zombie film, the alien invasion film, the depressed/suicidal cop-seeking-redemption film, the frat house comedy – into one highly satisfying stew, and yet, for some reason,
October 16th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Blood Island Trilogy directed by Eddie Romero
Surely one of the most beloved horror offerings in the history of Filipino cinema, Eddie Romero’s so-called Blood Island trilogy has been flabbergasting audiences for almost half a century now. Here, for your one-stop shopping pleasure, I offer three mini-reviews to help guide you through these remarkable sci-fi/horror outings:
BRIDES OF BLOOD: Wow, does this flick make for one wild and woolly experience! Brides of Blood (1968), the first adventure in the Blood Island trilogy, must be deemed, along with 1959’s Terror Is a Man,
October 15th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Undying Monster by Jessie Douglas Kerruish
It was around five years ago that I had the pleasure of watching the 1942 horror thriller The Undying Monster on DVD. I was moderately impressed with the film, enough to write the following:
“B material given A execution” is how film historian Drew Casper describes 20th Century Fox’s first horror movie, 1942’s The Undying Monster, in one of the DVD’s extras, and dang if the man hasn’t described this movie to a T. The film,
October 12th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Jessie Douglas Kerruish | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dracula’s Daughter directed by Lambert Hillyer
Released a full five years after the classic Universal horror film Dracula, the sequel, Dracula’s Daughter, yet picks up a few scant seconds after the original left off. When we last saw our favorite Transylvanian neck nosher, he was lying dead in his coffin in the crypts beneath Carfax Abbey, a stake impaled in his heart courtesy of the intrepid Prof. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan, the only actor who would go on to appear in the sequel). As the latter film commences,
October 2nd, 2015. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke actually collaborated with Stanley Kubrick to produce the novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in order to provide the basis for brilliant Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. So although the book can be considered the original work, the filmmaker also had a role in its creation, and Clarke also rewrote parts of the book to fit the screenplay as that took shape.
Readers and viewers will forever enjoy debating whether a film or novel version is better,
September 15th, 2015. Stuart Starosta, Kat Hooper and Jason Golomb´s rating: 5 | Arthur C. Clarke | Audio, Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner was arguably the most brilliant, though-provoking, and intelligent SF film ever made, with a uniquely dark vision of a deteriorated future Earth society and a morally ambiguous tale of a bounty hunter Rick Deckard hunting down and ‘retiring’ a series of very intelligent Nexus-6 type replicants (androids) that want very much to live. The movie changed the way moviegoers looked at SF films, and brought great credibility to its director and the genre for a much wider audience,
September 9th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Philip K. Dick | Film / TV, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Invisible Man Returns directed by Joe May
Following the release of Dracula’s Daughter in May 1936, horror fans would have to wait almost three years before getting another fright picture from Universal Studios. With the opening of Son of Frankenstein in January 1939, however, the floodgates were opened for the second great wave of Universal horror. And in January 1940, still another sequel was released by the studio, The Invisible Man Returns. A fairly ingenious follow-up to The Invisible Man feature of 1933, which was itself based on H.G.
September 3rd, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Released in 1961, the U.S./U.K. co-production of Konga marked the first time that theater goers were shown a giant ape going bonkers in the heart of a major city since King Kong itself, 28 years earlier. Of course, fans had been given the 1933 sequel Son of Kong, but in that one, Kong, Jr. is more of a good-natured, oversized pet, and one who never makes it off Skull Island and into civilization, as had the old man. And in Mighty Joe Young (1949),
August 27th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3 | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Zotz! directed by William Castle
Today, the name “Tom Poston” might not resonate with anyone who happens to be younger than those in the baby boom generation. Boomers and their parents will surely remember Poston, however, from his numerous appearances on 1960s game shows such as To Tell the Truth and What’s My Line?, not to mention any number of sitcoms, including The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart. His film appearances, however, were scarce and infrequent, making his comedic turn in producer/director William Castle’s 1962 offering,
August 19th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Gemma Files
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.