Quatermass faces against the smog monster in QUATERMASS 2 (1957, Guest)! How does this British "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" compare to the previous Quatermass film from 1955? Will Nigel Kneale get his way in recharacterizing the American iteration of his character? Will they blow up the asteroid in time to save Earth?? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 34:55; Discussion 50:18; Ranking 1:10:44
Hammer Film strikes gold with THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957, Fisher), starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart! We discuss the difficulties of adapting a public domain novel due to Universal's litigious nature, and how the studio reignites the Gothic horror genre. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 56:32; Discussion 1:25:42; Ranking 1:56:22
Our first bonus episode on horror adjacent films features the classic ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, from 1948! The final appearance of the classic Universal iterations of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf Man! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 1:02:37; Discussion 1:16:32
What happens when you cross Frankenstein with Alraune? You get SHE DEVIL (1957) from director Kurt Neumann, starring Mari Blanchard, Jack Kelly and Albert Dekker, and adapted from Stanley Weinbaum's 1935 story "The Adaptive Ultimate." Your hosts discuss the ways the film fails, how its "problematic," and the cultural tropes it uses without questioning them. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 30:16; Discussion 37:57; Ranking 1:16:24
Your deadicated hosts travel to Italy for our first Italian horror film! It's I VAMPIRI (1957), directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava, and starring Gianna Maria Canale, Dario Michaelis and Carlo D'Angelo. Along with our usual background of the film, we dive into Italian history and the political & cultural context in which I VAMPIRI was released. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 32:10; Discussion 54:29; Ranking 1:13:00
Marla English and Tom Conway star in this old-fashioned stock plot movie, VOODOO WOMAN (1957) from director Edward L Cahn! When voodoo and western (mad) science mix, the only result is a creature design from Paul Blaisdell. Plus, a special announcement from your deadicated hosts! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 11:47; Discussion 35:12; Ranking 50:38
Is it Roger Corman's best film? Or, is it his worst? His film THE UNDEAD (1957) comes out of post-production hell starring Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes, Val Dufour, Mel Welles and Billy Barty! When a woman is sent back through time via hypnosis, her psychiatrist must follow her to right the temporal hiccups she sets in motion. (Sort of). Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 18:14; Discussion 36:49; Ranking 1:02:13
From producer Sam Katzman and screenwriter Bernard Gordon comes THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE (1957, Kardos)! Starring Victor Jory, Ann Doran, Charlotte Austin, William Hudson and Paul Cavanagh, the film's villains target the most vulnerable among us, with Friedrich von Ledebur as the mute threatening monster! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 11:22; Discussion 29:28; Ranking 51:35
From director Edward Cahn and producer Sam Katzman comes ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957)! Often considered the missing link between Haitian zombies and Romero zombies, this horror B movie features Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Autumn Russell and Marjorie Eaton. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:00; Discussion 37:13; Ranking 59:44
MY FRIENDS! Your deadicated hosts arrive with Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1957)! "But wait," you may ask, "wasn't that released in 1959?" Well, my friends, future events such as these will affect you in the future, and so we bring you the full evidence of what happened on that fateful day Ed Wood released PLAN 9 to theaters! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 43:48; Discussion 1:01:00; Ranking 1:36:56
From Universal Pictures and director Jack Arnold comes THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957)! What happens when Richard Matheson's novel meets producer Albert Zugsmith? When a radioactive cloud meets DDT? When masculinity is shrunk?? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 42:40; Discussion 54:29; Ranking 1:21:53
Episode 200 baybee! For this momentous occasion, Ben and Sarah take a trip to VOODOO ISLAND (1957) from director Reginald Le Borg! Starring Boris Karloff with a tremendous tan, this island has everything you could want in a vacation: warm waters, white sand beaches, carnivorous plant life... Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 35:42; Discussion 56:23; Ranking 1:15:47
From United Artists comes PHARAOH'S CURSE (1957), directed by Lee "roll 'em!" Sholem and written by Richard Landau! We give context around mummification and the making of this movie that stars Mark Dana, George Neise, Ziva Rodann and Diane Brewster. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 30:52; Discussion 51:32; Ranking 1:19:52
Here lies a Roger Corman film that is NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957)! Starring Paul Birch, Beverly Garland and Jonathan Haze, this sci-fi horror flick wowed and confused your hosts with its Space Dracula premise. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 19:53; Discussion 46:43; Ranking 1:11:19
We enter 1957 with another Roger Corman classic: ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS! Starring Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan and Russell Johnson, will these intrepid scientists get off this radioactive island before it's too late? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 15:16; Discussion 30:10; Ranking 43:42
Your hosts delve underground and encounter THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956) from Universal Pictures and director Virgil Vogel! Learn about the Boomer Bill Nye the Science Guy aka Dr Frank Baxter, plus Mesopotamian cultures and the latest updates to the Hollywood Production Code! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 52:03; Discussion 1:08:42; Ranking 1:23:56
Your hosts experience flashbacks to algebra with X THE UNKNOWN (1956) from director Leslie Norman and stars Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman and Leo McKern. With full face meltage, you won't want to miss this latest horror from Hammer Films! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 27:11; Discussion 41:08; Ranking 1:10:03
From Warner Bros comes THE BAD SEED (1956), directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack! The original novel from William March was an instant best seller; the Broadway adaptation by Maxwell Anderson won a Pulitzer; but is the film version as subversive as it really wants to be? Strap in, children, for this jam-packed episode! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 42:36; Discussion 1:10:20; Ranking 2:04:07
Hypnotized! Your deadicated hosts experience THE SHE-CREATURE (1956) from director Edward L Cahn and starring Chester Morris, Maria English and Lance Fuller. Plus, an exciting announcement awaits! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 22:12; Discussion 37:48; Ranking 1:09:08
Roger Corman is back with the sci-fi horror film IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956) starring Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef (no really!), Beverly Garland and Sally Fraser. Will this Venusian save us from ourselves?? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 19:30; Discussion 33:52; Ranking 1:02:03
Your deadicated hosts return to Japan for YOTSUYA KAIDAN (1956) from director Masaki Mori and starring the Lone Wolf himself, Tomisaburo Wakayama! The previous 1949 adaptation failed to make the list... will this B-movie version suffer the same fate? Please note the episode includes discussion of domestic violence, sexual assault and suicide due to the plot(s) of YOTSUYA KAIDAN. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 39:43; Discussion 57:02; Ranking 1:23:16
Can the sympathetic werewolf figure be separated from Lon Chaney's Larry Talbot? We try to answer that question with THE WEREWOLF (1956) from director Fred Sears and producer Sam Katzman! Steven Ritch plays the science-based werewolf facing off Don Megowan's small town sheriff. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 13:14; Discussion 30:20; Ranking 50:13
This 1956 throwback to the classic Universal horror of the '40s strikes at your hosts' hearts and brains! It's THE BLACK SLEEP from director Reginald LeBorg starring horror icons Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 27:29; Discussion 43:18; Ranking 59:22
Will Gill-man finally get his girl? The final Gill-man movie and the end of Universal's classic monster series arrives with THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956) from director John Sherwood and starring Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason and Leigh Snowden. Ricou Browning returns as the (water-based) Gill-man while big boy Don Megowan plays Gill-man on land. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 22:45; Discussion 42:57; Ranking 1:00:40
What would auteur theory have to say about Jerry Warren? Listen and find out! Jerry Warren produces, writes and directs MAN BEAST (1956) starring Tom Maruzzi, Virginia Maynor and Brianne Murphy. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:58; Discussion 24:46; Ranking 39:05
They're here! And you're next!! Your deadicated hosts enter 1956 with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS from director Don Siegel and producer Walter Wanger, based on the Jack Finney novel. The film is often viewed with a Cold War, Red Scare lens, but is it really Communism we're supposed to be afraid of? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 43:38; Discussion 1:00:33; Ranking 1:35:49
From the studio that brought us Roger Corman, it's THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES (1955, Milner) featuring Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs and a sad mutated sea serpent! The film includes our first female suit actor Norma Hanson and a few other easter eggs... but will this horror be "excellent" or will it sputter out to sea? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:19; Discussion 38:19; Ranking 1:02:00
So you find yourself locked in a shelter with 6 strangers after a nuclear war, fending off starvation and mutants alike? Consider this movie a how-to guide! It's DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955) directed by Roger Corman with Richard Denning, Lori Nelson and Paul Birch! A precursor to the likes of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, will your deadicated hosts survive to the end? Listen and find out! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 19:21; Discussion 37:08; Ranking 1:00:38
The experimental and surreal DEMENTIA (1955, Parker) aka DAUGHTER OF HORROR confounds and delights your deadicated hosts! The strange offspring of film noir and German expressionism stars Adrienne Barrett and Bruno Ve Sota with music by George Antheil. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 33:43; Discussion 50:49; Ranking 1:28:14
Hammer Film Productions begins their journey into horror with THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955)! From director Val Guest, this sci-fi horror flick makes a splash on British and American silver screens. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 37:53; Discussion 54:43; Ranking 1:14:01
