In the wild and wonderful world of ‘B’ horror and Science Fiction films which make superb Saturday Matinee material and late-night television viewing in those pre-internet days. Those heady times of watching The Deadly Mantis (1957), Gorgo (1961), and The Giant Behemoth (1959), then talking it up with one’s school chums. Now some of these maligned pictures are making a comeback in Blu-ray special editions and restored versions. Will today’s B horror films like The Loch Ness Horror (2023) get the same treatment?
Cruising in looking like a hybrid between Alien (1979), The Thing (1982) and Jurassic Park (1993) one finds this Tyler-James’s written and directed monster film. Good-natured fun it is complete with CGI effects, female cleavage in tight shirts, practical blood, and a silly plot. In other words, it’s not a deep film but, who cares it is simply a fun if not clunky film. Chastising it for using plot devices...
Cruising in looking like a hybrid between Alien (1979), The Thing (1982) and Jurassic Park (1993) one finds this Tyler-James’s written and directed monster film. Good-natured fun it is complete with CGI effects, female cleavage in tight shirts, practical blood, and a silly plot. In other words, it’s not a deep film but, who cares it is simply a fun if not clunky film. Chastising it for using plot devices...
- 2/6/2024
- by Terry Sherwood
- Horror Asylum
Rediance is also involved in Anthony Chen’s segment of the omnibus film The Year Of The Everlasting Storm, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Palme d’Or contender Memoria.
Beijing-based Rediance has acquired two Cannes-bound Chinese films for international sales: Ripples Of Life from Directors’ Fortnight and Zhao Liang’s latest documentary I’m So Sorry.
Ripples Of Life marks the third Cannes outing for Chinese director Wei Shujun whose debut feature Striding Into The Wind was in last year’s official selection, while his short film On The Border received a special mention in 2018.
Ripples Of Life follows a big...
Beijing-based Rediance has acquired two Cannes-bound Chinese films for international sales: Ripples Of Life from Directors’ Fortnight and Zhao Liang’s latest documentary I’m So Sorry.
Ripples Of Life marks the third Cannes outing for Chinese director Wei Shujun whose debut feature Striding Into The Wind was in last year’s official selection, while his short film On The Border received a special mention in 2018.
Ripples Of Life follows a big...
- 6/23/2021
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Like so many of my fellow fantastical fans, I’m at a point where I’m just looking for something to help forget the horrors of the real world, even for 90 minutes; a film where plot is jettisoned in favor of mass destruction, and character development merrily skips alongside the other forgotten tenets of basic storytelling. I’m happy to say I found my fella; Gorgo (1961) is a British film that extensively rips off Godzilla and King Kong in a successful quest to grease my eyeballs with goofy goodness. And it does it in 78 minutes, to boot.
And this is coming from someone who has yet to glom onto Godzilla’s oversized charms and Japanese destruction in any kind of constructive way; I understand the legacy and even the appeal of the series, but can’t pry myself inside. But after viewing Gorgo, I have a greater appreciation for why people find Godzilla effective.
And this is coming from someone who has yet to glom onto Godzilla’s oversized charms and Japanese destruction in any kind of constructive way; I understand the legacy and even the appeal of the series, but can’t pry myself inside. But after viewing Gorgo, I have a greater appreciation for why people find Godzilla effective.
- 8/8/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
February’s home media releases are an exceptional bunch, led by Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep adaptation, which is headed to a variety of formats, including 4K Ultra HD. In terms of other recent genre titles making their way to Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, horror fans will undoubtedly want to add Rabid (2019), Daniel Isn’t Real, The House That Jack Built, and Mon Mon Mon Monsters! to their collections as well.
We also have a few older titles that are making their way to Blu this week, including Frank Henenlotter’s Brain Damage and Evil Ed, and if you somehow don’t already own them, both the original Halloween and Halloween (2018) are being released on Blu as a double feature from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Other notable home media titles arriving on February 4th include The Nightingale, Perfect, Ouija Room, Restricted Access, and 10/31 Part II.
Brain Damage: Special Edition
Meet Elmer.
We also have a few older titles that are making their way to Blu this week, including Frank Henenlotter’s Brain Damage and Evil Ed, and if you somehow don’t already own them, both the original Halloween and Halloween (2018) are being released on Blu as a double feature from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Other notable home media titles arriving on February 4th include The Nightingale, Perfect, Ouija Room, Restricted Access, and 10/31 Part II.
Brain Damage: Special Edition
Meet Elmer.
- 2/4/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
By Todd Garbarini
Long before a carcharodon carcharias wreaked havoc on Amity Island in New York over the July Fourth weekend in the 1970s, atomic blast activity in the 1940s disrupted Mother Nature’s natural chain of events and Hollywood was all too willing to jump on to the atomic admonition bandwagon, churning out fantastic tales of miniscule creatures ballooning to hundreds of times their original size and going medieval on their human counterparts. Gordon Douglas’s Them! (1954) is my favorite film from this era and I find the overall tone of the film to be creepy even today. I was eleven when I first saw it and the sight of oversized, monstrous ants (resulting from nearby military atomic bomb tests) terrorizing La from deep within the Los Angeles Riverbed was truly unnerving. James Whitmore impressed me in his role as the police officer who was determined to save two...
Long before a carcharodon carcharias wreaked havoc on Amity Island in New York over the July Fourth weekend in the 1970s, atomic blast activity in the 1940s disrupted Mother Nature’s natural chain of events and Hollywood was all too willing to jump on to the atomic admonition bandwagon, churning out fantastic tales of miniscule creatures ballooning to hundreds of times their original size and going medieval on their human counterparts. Gordon Douglas’s Them! (1954) is my favorite film from this era and I find the overall tone of the film to be creepy even today. I was eleven when I first saw it and the sight of oversized, monstrous ants (resulting from nearby military atomic bomb tests) terrorizing La from deep within the Los Angeles Riverbed was truly unnerving. James Whitmore impressed me in his role as the police officer who was determined to save two...
- 12/7/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“Brace Yourself For A Shock!…200 Feet of Living Burning Horror!” Eugène Lourié’s second feature about an irate sea monster wrecking a city features sober eco-preaching, good performances by Gene Evans and André Morell, and several minutes of exciting stop-motion animation nirvana. One just needs to overlook a few lunkhead effects scenes and concentrate on the key Willis O’Brien / Pete Peterson material. It’s a Shock all right — do you prefer to be stepped on like a bug, or fried by a zillion volts of ‘projected radiation?’
The Giant Behemoth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Derren Nesbitt.
Cinematography: Ken Hodges
Production Design: Eugène Lourié
Special Visual Effects: Willis H. O’Brien, Pete Peterson, Phil Kellison, Jack Rabin, Irving Block, Louis DeWitt.
Original Music: Edwin Astley...
The Giant Behemoth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Derren Nesbitt.
Cinematography: Ken Hodges
Production Design: Eugène Lourié
Special Visual Effects: Willis H. O’Brien, Pete Peterson, Phil Kellison, Jack Rabin, Irving Block, Louis DeWitt.
Original Music: Edwin Astley...
- 1/26/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Things Blowing Up Good’ has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion in recorded human history limps along despite some pretty darned impressive volcanic effects. It’s quite an entertaining spectacle, with various good performers in three soap opera plots, either overacting or loitering about with nothing to do. And don’t forget the from-left-field musical striptease.
Krakatoa East of Java
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes
Production Design: Eugèné Lourié
Costumes: Laure Lourié
Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...
Krakatoa East of Java
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes
Production Design: Eugèné Lourié
Costumes: Laure Lourié
Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...
- 9/2/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman
Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away in 2013 at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and...
Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away in 2013 at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and...
- 6/29/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I'll trade you two RKOs for two Warners', an even swap! This quartet of movie-magic wonderments offer a full course on old-school film effects wizardry at its best. Willis O'Brien passes the baton to disciple Ray Harryhausen, who dazzles us with his own effects magic for the first '50s giant monster epic. And the best monster thriller of the decade is offered at its original widescreen aspect ratio. It's all special enough to merit a mid-week review. Special Effects Collection Blu-ray The Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Them! Warner Home Video 1933-1954 / B&W / 1:37 Academy - 1:85 widescreen / 335 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / 54.96 or 19.98 separately Starring Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack,, Frank Reicher, Victor Wong; Robert Armstrong, Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Frank McHugh; Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods, Lee Van Cleef; James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens,...
- 10/23/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jim Knipfel May 31, 2019
With a new King Kong vs. Godzilla movie coming soon from Warner Bros., we look back at the original simian vs. saurian showdown.
After basking in international acclaim for magically bringing King Kong and a fistful of dinosaurs to life in 1933, stop-motion giant Willis O’Brien suddenly found it very difficult to scratch up any work.
After the same year’s obligatory Son of Kong, it would be another 16 years before he got any substantial film work, and even then it was just a smattering. He worked on Mighty Joe Young, The Black Scorpion, and The Giant Behemoth, but as beautiful as the results were, O’Brien’s technique was simply far too slow and laborious, and too expensive for most B-monster movie productions. Finally recognizing he had himself become a dinosaur, he decided to take a different track.
In the last decade of his life, O...
With a new King Kong vs. Godzilla movie coming soon from Warner Bros., we look back at the original simian vs. saurian showdown.
After basking in international acclaim for magically bringing King Kong and a fistful of dinosaurs to life in 1933, stop-motion giant Willis O’Brien suddenly found it very difficult to scratch up any work.
After the same year’s obligatory Son of Kong, it would be another 16 years before he got any substantial film work, and even then it was just a smattering. He worked on Mighty Joe Young, The Black Scorpion, and The Giant Behemoth, but as beautiful as the results were, O’Brien’s technique was simply far too slow and laborious, and too expensive for most B-monster movie productions. Finally recognizing he had himself become a dinosaur, he decided to take a different track.
In the last decade of his life, O...
- 9/15/2015
- Den of Geek
“When television is good, nothing – not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers – nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials – many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you’ll see...
- 9/15/2014
- by Mindy Newell
- Comicmix.com
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman
Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away last month at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson,...
Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away last month at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson,...
- 6/25/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Seeing as how we may very well be just a few short months away from a new boom in giant monster cinema, it should come as no surprise to see more and more classic kaiju flicks like Gorgo getting the hi-def treatment.
Britain’s answer to Godzilla, Gorgo first stomped her way onto the big screen back in 1971. The final directorial effort from Eugene Lourie (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Colossus of New York, and The Giant Behemoth) starred Bill Travers, William Sylvester, and Vincent Winter and featured top-notch special effects by two-time Oscar winner Tom Howard.
Though the MGM production would prove a one-off, the ear-wiggling reptilian titan managed to spawn a 23-issue comic book by Charleton Comics and remains one of the most respected giant monster movie offerings from the golden age of creature features.
A volcanic eruption in the North Atlantic brings to the surface a 65-foot prehistoric monster.
Britain’s answer to Godzilla, Gorgo first stomped her way onto the big screen back in 1971. The final directorial effort from Eugene Lourie (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Colossus of New York, and The Giant Behemoth) starred Bill Travers, William Sylvester, and Vincent Winter and featured top-notch special effects by two-time Oscar winner Tom Howard.
Though the MGM production would prove a one-off, the ear-wiggling reptilian titan managed to spawn a 23-issue comic book by Charleton Comics and remains one of the most respected giant monster movie offerings from the golden age of creature features.
A volcanic eruption in the North Atlantic brings to the surface a 65-foot prehistoric monster.
- 1/18/2013
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
The monster chomps and Joe Dante chats up Gorgo.
Ok. So it’s not an exclusive interview with The King of All Monsters, but it is the featured beast of John Landis’s sole commentary on our latest DVD. It’s Gorgo and he is gorgeous. Just look at him and then read Joe Dante’s thoughts. Just look!
Click to make Gorgo-sized.
Looks like dinnertime for Gorgo. He especially likes those diving bells because of their tangy metallic taste.
How acclaimed production designer Eugene Lourie ended up directing one movie three times (The Giant Behemoth waddled out in between this one and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) is anyone’s guess, but he certainly had an affinity for them.
He wasn’t a fan of the “suitmation” technique, preferring stop-motion, but he did enjoy shooting the panic-in-the-streets sequences. Nonetheless he quit directing after Gorgo, claiming the repetition was just too much.
Ok. So it’s not an exclusive interview with The King of All Monsters, but it is the featured beast of John Landis’s sole commentary on our latest DVD. It’s Gorgo and he is gorgeous. Just look at him and then read Joe Dante’s thoughts. Just look!
Click to make Gorgo-sized.
Looks like dinnertime for Gorgo. He especially likes those diving bells because of their tangy metallic taste.
How acclaimed production designer Eugene Lourie ended up directing one movie three times (The Giant Behemoth waddled out in between this one and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) is anyone’s guess, but he certainly had an affinity for them.
He wasn’t a fan of the “suitmation” technique, preferring stop-motion, but he did enjoy shooting the panic-in-the-streets sequences. Nonetheless he quit directing after Gorgo, claiming the repetition was just too much.
- 8/16/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Dante gives us the details of TCM’s June 23rd back-to-back-to-back double-features.
Another week in June means that TCM — possibly the best channel on any cable box anywhere — is back with another Thursday night chock full of monstrous mayhem. This week they’re turning their attention to something near and dear to our very hearts: underwater fiends.
Here’s Joe (and company) with the rundown:
June 23
It Came From Beneath The Sea - The top half of what Bill Warren has called the greatest double bill of the 50s (withCreature with the Atom Brain), this Harryhausen classic benefits from its newsreelish location shooting. Ernest Dickerson appreciates it here.
The Monster That Challenged The World – A surprisingly well produced cheapie with a cool, if immobile, monster by Augie Lohman that takes place on the Salton Sea. It’s a far cry from The Magnificent Ambersons, but a bulky Tim Holt makes...
Another week in June means that TCM — possibly the best channel on any cable box anywhere — is back with another Thursday night chock full of monstrous mayhem. This week they’re turning their attention to something near and dear to our very hearts: underwater fiends.
Here’s Joe (and company) with the rundown:
June 23
It Came From Beneath The Sea - The top half of what Bill Warren has called the greatest double bill of the 50s (withCreature with the Atom Brain), this Harryhausen classic benefits from its newsreelish location shooting. Ernest Dickerson appreciates it here.
The Monster That Challenged The World – A surprisingly well produced cheapie with a cool, if immobile, monster by Augie Lohman that takes place on the Salton Sea. It’s a far cry from The Magnificent Ambersons, but a bulky Tim Holt makes...
- 6/20/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Assuming you have a humongous front door or outstanding insurance, Thursdays in June will be good night to pull your car into the living room, park it in front of your flatscreen, turn the channel to TCM, and try to relive the golden age of drive-in monster movies as TCM is loading its schedule this month with nothing but classic old school monster movies.
As if Turner Classic Movies wasn't already a fantastic channel as is (they're airing the 1977 Jaws with claws cult classic Grizzly this Friday at 2:00 Am Et), every Thursday in June they'll be running all-night Atomic Age monster movie marathons. From Godzilla to Harryhausen, from classics like The Thing from Another World to not-so-classics like Creature from the Haunted Sea to bad movie greatness like The Giant Claw... Here's TCM's own press release:
It came from the drive-in! The al fresco movie theater, a rage of the 1950s and '60s,...
As if Turner Classic Movies wasn't already a fantastic channel as is (they're airing the 1977 Jaws with claws cult classic Grizzly this Friday at 2:00 Am Et), every Thursday in June they'll be running all-night Atomic Age monster movie marathons. From Godzilla to Harryhausen, from classics like The Thing from Another World to not-so-classics like Creature from the Haunted Sea to bad movie greatness like The Giant Claw... Here's TCM's own press release:
It came from the drive-in! The al fresco movie theater, a rage of the 1950s and '60s,...
- 6/1/2011
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
With Monsters out on DVD and Blu-ray today, we look at how the giant monster movie’s evolved since the 1950s…
Men in rubber suits trampling cardboard cities. The jerky yet beautiful stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. Mention the words "giant monster movie", and these are almost certainly the images that immediately spring to mind.
While King Kong (1933) could be described as the first giant monster movie, with its giant ape going berserk in Manhattan, it was writer Ray Bradbury who inadvertently invented the genre as we now understand it. His short story, The Fog Horn, first published in a Us newspaper in 1951, was used as the basis of the 1953 movie, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (which was also the original title of Bradbury's story).
Featuring some great special effects from Ray Harryhausen, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms sees an angry dinosaur woken up from its slumber by nuclear testing. Understandably upset,...
Men in rubber suits trampling cardboard cities. The jerky yet beautiful stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. Mention the words "giant monster movie", and these are almost certainly the images that immediately spring to mind.
While King Kong (1933) could be described as the first giant monster movie, with its giant ape going berserk in Manhattan, it was writer Ray Bradbury who inadvertently invented the genre as we now understand it. His short story, The Fog Horn, first published in a Us newspaper in 1951, was used as the basis of the 1953 movie, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (which was also the original title of Bradbury's story).
Featuring some great special effects from Ray Harryhausen, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms sees an angry dinosaur woken up from its slumber by nuclear testing. Understandably upset,...
- 4/11/2011
- Den of Geek
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