The Maze is a 1953, atmospheric horror film in 3-D starring Richard Carlson and actress Hillary Brooke. Directed by William Cameron Menzies (Invaders from Mars), it was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures. This was to be the second 3-D film designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies, who was known as a director with a very “dimensional” style (e.g. many shots are focused in layers). This would be his final film as production designer and director.

[Spoiler warning]: A Scotsman named Gerald MacTeam (Carlson) abruptly breaks off his engagement to pretty Kitty (Veronica Hurst) after receiving word of his uncle’s death. He inherits a mysterious castle in the Scottish highlands and moves there to live with the castle servants. Kitty refuses to accept the broken engagement and travels with her aunt (Katherine Emery) to the castle. When they arrive, they discover that Gerald has suddenly aged and his manner has changed significantly.

After a series of mysterious events occur in both the castle and the hedge maze outside, they invite a group of friends, including a doctor, to the castle in the hopes that they can help Gerald with whatever ails him. Although the friends are equally concerned by Gerald’s behavior, they are at a loss to its cause. One night, Kitty and her aunt steal a key to their bedroom door (which is always locked from the outside) and sneak out into the mysterious maze…

“This isn’t essential viewing for horror fans, but is good for 3-D fans and friends of the fifties. It’s pace is slow-moving compared to today, but I’ve always thought that a slower editing pace and steady tracking shots are the best use of 3D. The slow tracking shots moving slowly around the maze are extremely effective.” Black Hole Reviews

” … a marvelous bit of gothic nonsense that satisfies in spite of the comically absurd punchline. It’s part horror film, part mystery, and part fairytale, and somehow it all combines to make a distinctive, suspenseful film.” B-Movie Madness

“Most commenters observe that the film is let down by the ending, and it’s true that the ultimate revelation is a bit goofy in its low-budget execution and also doesn’t seem to hold together logically, suddenly flipping, as it does, our sense of who the true victim has been all this time. Nonetheless, The Maze succeeds as a model of suspenseful, eerie atmosphere and surprisingly crisp depiction of human relationships. Menzies is a master of staging and meaningful looks, creating a vivid visual scheme for character interactions even in a threadbare scenario.” Randy Byers, Dreamland Cafe

Wikipedia | IMDb

Thanks to Vagebond’s Movie Screen Shots for some of the images above

Nurse 3D is a 2012 thriller/horror film directed by Doug Aarniokoski and written by David Loughery. It stars Paz de la Huerta, Katrina Bowden, Corbin Bleu. Dita Von Teese, Adam Herschman, Neal McDonough, Niecy Nash, and Nick Turturro. The film was inspired by the photography of Lionsgate’s chief marketing officer, Tim Palen. It will be released on various VOD platforms and limited theatres on February 7, 2014.

Acording to the official sysnopsis: “By day, nurse Abby Russell (de la Huerta) lovingly attends to the patients at All Saints Memorial Hospital; by night, Abby prowls nightclubs, luring unfaithful men into dangerous liaisons. After Danni, a young, sensitive nurse, joins the hospital staff, Abby pursues her friendship. But when the friendship turns to obsession, Danni spurns Abby, unleashing Abby’s fury and a rampage of terror…”

The film’s promotional material has been unusually sexual for a modern movie, harking back to the heyday of 1970s exploitation. Whether the film itself will live up to the hype remains to be seen!

Wikipedia | IMDb

Dracula 2012 is an Indian Malayalam 3-D horror film directed by Vinayan, starring Sudheer Sukumaran, Prabhu, Monal Gajjar, Nassar, Shraddha Das and Thilakan. Portions of the film were shot in Bran Castle in Romania. It was released on 8 February 2013. The film was also released in Tamil as Naangam Pirai and in Telugu as Punnami Ratri with additional scenes and songs featuring Tamil and Telugu actors.

“Now, it’s a daunting task to understand what was the director trying to say here. It’s not even scary and this Dracula looks more like a joker, with his funny lines and mannerisms. There is nothing like even a remotely decent storyline or a script here. The dialogues are trite, the performances are atrocious and the whole film is unintentionally comical.” Sify.com Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook

Making of:

Song – ‘Prince of Darkness':

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Paranormal Xperience (aka Paranormal Xperience 3D and PX3D) is a 2011 Spanish horror film. As the title suggests, it was shot in 3D and directed by Sergi Vizcaino. It stars Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias, Lucho Fernández, Úrsula Corberó, Miguel Ángel Jenner, Manuel de Blas, Alba Ribas, Eduard Farelo and Óscar Sinela

Plot:

Angela a psychiatry student whose skeptical of the existence of the paranormal in the world, is forced to investigate an old mining town for the purpose of proving or disproving paranormal activity. Along with her, she is accompanied by her younger sister Diana Whisper, who lends Angela her van, and a few other students. They journey to the town and go through some ancient salt mines. Aware of the danger provided by tampering with the grounds, through the legend of the sadistic Dr. Matarga, they still open a portal to the after life with disastrous consequences…

The film was released as a 2D DVD and 3D Blu-ray in the UK in February 2014.

Buy Paranormal Xperience on DVD or Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“We spend forty minutes having the students wander around and then forty minutes watching them being picked off by heavy smoker and creepy-mask owner, Martarga. Excuses to split up are forged, getaway vans develop engine problems, nut jobs loom in the corner of the frame and much is made of the fact that the female cast have attractive body parts (one memorable bit of mise en scene places Ursuala Corbero’s denim-short clad buttocks in a lingering, extreme close-up filling two-thirds of the frame while something goes on in the distance, barely glimpsed in the few inches left available, even Matarga notices, going on to compliment her on her ‘buen culo’ twenty minutes later).” Guy Adams, The British Fantasy Society

“The film was beautifully shot using some interesting locations. The ghost town looked pretty creepy (even in daylight) and the choice to set some of the action in a salt mine was a nice touch that offered an interesting look I had not seen in a horror film before. There are several effects/death scenes that are freaking outstanding!! These were achieved using some great practical effects. The sad part was that there is also a death scene where only CGI is used and it looked HORRIBLE.”  Corey Danna, HorrorNews.net

“Predictable and clichéd as it may be (does a film’s twist still count as a twist if we can see it coming from a mile off?), Paranormal Xperience does impress in its gore sequences. Despite being very obviously filmed for 3D (expect to see a lot of fingers, gore and grue thrown at the screen), it’s delightfully nasty at times, making good use of the old eyeball piercing, barbed wire garrotting and smashed glass splatter sequences throughout. The CGI blood is no good, and some of the makeup work is a bit iffy, but it only adds to the film’s charm.” Starburst

“It’s pretty. Shiny. Glossy. PX3D is like Gossip Girl but with more violence. The cast is good looking, some of the kill scenes were good and bloody, and it made a valiant attempt at being a paranormal/torture porn hybrid of some sort. There’s a decent story buried somewhere underneath all of the smooth visuals, though it’s a shame that it wasn’t fleshed out better.” The Horror Club

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Crypt is a 2014 British 3D horror film written and directed by Mark Murphy. It stars Mark Harris, Natalie Stone, Nicola Posener, Peter Woodward, Charley Mcdougall, Tom Leeper, Lucy Drive, Sabrina Bussandri, Jan Chappell, Peter Moller, Sophie Lovell Anderson and Chloe Patridge. The film will make its debut at the Fantasporto International Film Festival in Portugal on March 1, 2014.

Plot:

The Church sends in a team to investigate the tragic deaths of a young group found in the crypt of a convent.

IMDb

Parasite is a 1982 science fiction horror film produced and directed by Charles Band and starring Demi Moore in her first major film role. Irwin Yablans (Halloween) was the executive producer.

Plot teaser:

In the near future, an atomic disaster has reduced the world to poverty. Instead of a government, America is run by an organization called the Merchants, who exploit the degenerate remains of society. In order to keep control of the populace, the Merchants force Dr. Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini) to create a new life form, a parasite that feeds on its host. Realizing the deadly potential of such a being, Dean escapes the Merchants with the parasite, infecting himself in the process. Now on the run, he travels from town to town, studying the parasite so that he can find a way to destroy it, all the while keeping one step ahead of a Merchant named Wolf (James Davidson) who is hunting for him. While resting in a desert town, he is attacked by a gang of hooligans (Cherie Currie, Freddy Moore, Natalie May, Joanelle Romero, Tom Villard) led by Ricus (Luca Bercovici), a former slave of the Merchants. The gang steals silver canister containing the parasite, not realizing what it is, and it escapes and infects one of the members…

Buy Parasite on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“This will surely have appeal for those who have fond memories of parasites jumping out at you from the silver screen, but thirty years on and on the TV, it doesn’t translate quite so well. In fact, it translates terribly. This is a charmless rip-off, almost totally devoid of merit. Explore the many better examples of the sub-genre out there.” Digital Retribution

“The absolute stand out feature of Parasite is the FX.  Stan Winston did all the work, which will definitely bring a smile to a genre fan’s face.  The parasite itself resembles “the deadly spawn” which is definitely not a bad thing, and looks freaking awesome.  The gore, while not plentiful, is enough to keep gore-hounds content, and comes often enough.  It’s really crazy to see what they were able to do with the practical FX in 1982 and on a fairly low budget.” Cinema Slasher

“Look, I really like cheeseball horror movies. But the golden rule of “dummy movies” is quite simply this: Don’t bore me! (Actually, that’s the ONLY rule!) If you added up all the potentially entertaining ‘horror bits’ from the first 73 minutes of this movie, you’d have the cinematic equivalent of a postage stamp. (The three-cent kind.) I’ll never knock a movie for being stupid or derivative or unoriginal as long as it’s simply fun to sit through. Nothing in Parasite even comes close. The brief gore splatters occur way too late in the game for anyone to care, and the creature (early work by FX genius Stan Winston nonetheless) is about as horrifying as Miss Piggy covered in barbecue sauce.” eFilmCritc

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, and Keri Russell. It is the sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which began 20th Century Fox’s reboot of the original Planet of the Apes series. It is the eighth film in the franchise.

Plot teaser:

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species...

Reviews:

” …this vivid, violent extension of humanoid ape Caesar’s troubled quest for independence bests its predecessor in nearly every technical and conceptual department, with incoming helmer Matt Reeves conducting the proceedings with more assertive genre elan than “Rise” journeyman Rupert Wyatt.” Guy Lodge, Variety

“There are moments in the movie of brilliant visual shorthand and iconographic imagery; awesome visual and audio nods to sci-fi greats like Stanley Kubrick (Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino’s score shines in such moments); action set pieces that are thankfully more competent (but still just as epic and gorgeous) as Michael Bay’sTransformers; even comedy and horror beats that are extremely effective at keeping things light and scary, respectively.” Kofi Outlaw, Screen Rant

“… a fairly monotonous sci-fi adventure … Serkis and Kebell peering out from beneath digitized fur and prosthetics impart far more emotion than their human counterparts. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a story to justify the two-hour-plus running length, and the battle royal between Caesar and Koba atop an abandoned skyscraper proves more cartoonish than cathartic.” CinemaDope

“There’s evident patience and intelligence to the filmmaking all over, as well as an engagement with genuine ideas about diplomacy, deterrence, law and leadership. However often it risks monkey-mad silliness, it’s impressively un-stupid. Virtuoso flourishes aside, not once does Reeves feel like he’s constructed a scene merely to flaunt how good the effects are…” Tim Robey, The Daily Telegraph

Buy Planet of the Apes: Evolution Collection on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

“Admittedly, there are some amazing scenes that take place. The battle scene is epic. I’m hard pressed to say whether it’s better than the Golden Gate bridge sequence in Rise, but if you’re willing to buy that chimps can ride horseback while brandishing machine guns in both hands, you’re in for a treat … Essentially, this is a 45 minute film padded into two-plus hours.” Michael Jones, IndieWire

“On a purely visual level, the apes look 100 percent authentic, terrifying in their barbarous strength yet strangely comforting in the film’s more tender moments …There are even a few comedic points where the ape cast draw on “performing monkey” stereotypes only to then juxtapose them with calculating savagery and shocking violence, and both takes work perfectly. After a while, you stop telling yourself they’re CGI masterpieces and just accept them as integral figures in the movie.” Matt Kamen, Wired (UK)

“The cinematography by veteran New Zealander Michael Seresis (Midnight Express) is stunning, especially when we are following the apes swinging through the trees and across girders. Forget motion-capture, this is motion-rapture. Meanwhile, Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Up) finds some extraordinary piano notes to emphasise contemplative silence as much as imminent threat. Burning torches, flaming silhouettes and horse-riding primates echo Frankenstein (1931) meeting a new kind of movie: Apemen of the Apocalypse. Wow!” Graham Young, Liverpool Echo

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is that rarest of things – the thinking person’s blockbuster. It’s intelligent, provocative and skilfully crafted by director Matt Reeves, who is able to allow the story to build fluidly without having to rush to the spectacle. In a strange sort of way, it feels like a film that is benefitting from the new wave of television shows – a strange comment perhaps, but this has the thoughtfulness and sense of purpose that you rarely get in cinema now, as if it knows it is part of a much bigger tale. While it works as a stand-alone movie, I suspect it’s real place will be in the grander scheme of things once the story reaches a conclusion. Let’s hope this mixture of intelligence and epic scope continues.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

Humans

• Jason Clarke as Malcolm
• Gary Oldman as Dreyfus
• Keri Russell as Ellie
• Kodi Smit-McPhee as Malcolm’s son
• Jocko Sims as Werner
• Kirk Acevedo as Carver
• Kevin Rankin as McVeigh
• Keir O’Donnell as Finney
• J. D. Evermore as Sniper

Apes

• Andy Serkis as Caesar
• Judy Greer as Cornelia
• Terry Notary as Rocket
• Karin Konoval as Maurice
• Toby Kebbell as Koba
• Doc Shaw as Ash

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website

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Friday the 13th is a 2015 American horror film reboot of the franchise that began with Friday the 13th in 1980. A previous reboot in 2009 by Platinum Dunes (producers of 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot) was not well received by critics or fans and failed to initiate further sequels, despite taking $91 million at the U.S. box office alone. This 2015 production was originally announced as a sequel but has now become a second reboot. The film will be produced by original franchise owners Paramount Pictures and aforementioned Platinum Dunes. Rumours that it will be a found footage film have dried up and the latest indication is that the film will be in 3D, like 1982’s Friday the 13th Part III.

David Bruckner (The Signal; V/H/S “Amateur Night”) is in negotiations to be the director but no scriptwriters or cast members have been publicly assigned. Furthermore, it is not known whether David Mears will return as Jason Vorhees.

A release date of November 13, 2015 has been announced after earlier dates were cancelled.

Related: Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th | Friday the 13th (1980) | Friday the 13th (2015) | Friday the 13th (video game) | Friday the 13th: No Man’s Land | Friday the 13th Part 2 | Friday the 13th Part III | Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter | Friday the 13th: A New Beginning | Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday | Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI | Freddy vs. Jason

Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953 – 1968 is an academic  book written by Kevin Hefferman and published by Duke University Press in 2004.

In the first economic history of the horror film, Hefferman analyses how the production, distribution and exhibition of horror movies changed as the studio era gave way to the conglomeration of New Hollywood. He argues that major cultural and economic shifts in the production and reception of horror films began at the time of the 3-D cycle of 1953-54 – looking closely at House of Wax and Creature from the Black Lagoon – and ended with the 1968 adoption of the Motion Picture Association of America’s rating system and the subsequent development of the adult horror movie – epitomised by Rosemary’s Baby.

Hefferman describes how this period presented a number of daunting challenges for movie exhibitors: the highcosts of technological upgrade, competition with television, declining movie attendance, and a diminishing number of annual releases from the major movie studios. He explains that the production and distribution branches of the movie industry responded to these trends by cultivating a youth audience, co-producing features with the film industries of Europe and Asia, selling films to television, and intensifying representations of sex.

The book includes analyses of Hammer Films and The Curse of Frankenstein; Hypnotic horror; William Castle’s movies; Vincent Price’s rise to horror stardom; AIP; Astor Pictures and Peeping Tom; TV syndication of horror movies (with listings of all the packages); Bava’s Black Sabbath; Continental distributing and the success of independents such as Night of the Living Dead.

Buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“While acknowledging the importance of the insights into the genre provided by such theorists as Robin Wood, Carol Clover, and Thomas Doherty, Heffernan identifies a neglected area in their analyses of the genre’s evolution: how the economic imperatives of an industry shape its final product. As a result, Ghouls becomes a multi-disciplinary text, one that cultural theorists, business historians and horror enthusiasts alike will find both useful and entertaining.” Louise Sheedy, Senses of Cinema

“Historians of the medium will appreciate Heffernan’s detailed scrutiny of the economic and cultural influences at work on the industry, which he intersperses with lively descriptions and critiques of both notable and obscure horror films of the era.” Andrew J. Douglas, Business History Review

“The use of color and gore, first seen in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), was similarly designed to increase profits through exaggerated and stylized responses to conventions completely familiar to hard-boiled movie audiences. As Heffernan notes, audiences found their worlds becoming and tougher and tougher, and it was important for any film to be even tougher in order to elicit the desired reaction.” John F. Barber, Leonardo Online

Viy (Russian: Вий) – also known as Viy 3D – is a 2012 dark fantasy film directed by Oleg Stepchenko. It is loosely based on the Nikolai Gogol story Viy (previously filmed in 1967) and a real person – Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan (1595-1685) – a French traveler and cartographer who was the first to study the Ukrainian territories and their people and culture.

The film has been in production since December 2005 and stopped several times due to lack of funding. It stars Jason Flemyng (From Hell; The Bunker; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Aleksey Chadov, Valery Zolotukhin, Anna Churina, Charles Dance, Agniya Ditkovskite.

In October 2012, filming was completed and distribution was sought via Universal. Viy was released in 3D in cinemas in Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan on 30 January 2014.

Plot teaser:

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Western Europe to the East.

Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassable woods of Ukraine. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that.

The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world…

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website

The House of Evil – also known as The House of Evil 3-D – is a 2014 horror film written and directed by Massimiliano (Max) Cerchi (Plankton; Hellinger; The Mummy Theme Park) for Dark Mountain Pictures. It stars Jeff Kim, Stephanie Van Rijn, Bill Pacer and Dawna Lee Heising.

The story is being described by its distributors as a throwback of 1980’s horror films and a mix of Poltergeist and Hellraiser, with lots of practical real special effects, and little CGI. The prosthetic designs are being handled by CFX, the same company behind the effects for Wolverine. Director Massimiliano Cerchi has commented: “There will be three different demons throughout the movie, each character will be a new horror icon in my opinion”.

Filmed in 3D with an ultra-high 4K Resolution, it will be available worldwide in 2015 via SGL Entertainment and their partners The MVD Entertainment Group along with Indie Rights Distribution.

Plot teaser:

A couple buy a beautiful house only to find out that the property is a portal to Hell… and, literary, Hell will break loose…

IMDb | Facebook

WH

La Entidad [“The Entity”] is a 2014 Peruvian horror film directed by Eduardo Schuldt in 3D.

‘Hungry, hairy, and ready to hunt you down’

Crying Wolf is a 2015 3D comedy horror film directed by Tony Jopia (Zombie Harvest; DeadTime; Cute Little Buggers) from a screenplay co-written with Andy Davie and Michael Dale. It stars Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972; Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter; Howl of the Devil), Joe Egan, Kristofer Dayne, Chloe Farnworth, Gabriela Hersham, Gary Martin, Rosie Pearson, Ian Donnelly.

Plot teaser:

There are weird goings on in the little English village of Deddington. The gruesome death of local girl Charlotte by a rabid monster causes alarm and revulsion – before desperate reporters, crazy detectives and revenge seeking hunters descend on the scene…

Reviews:

‘Made over three years on a nano budget of £12,000, Crying Wolf won’t win any prizes for makeup or special effects and in places the acting is a bit creaky, but it’s a refreshingly funny movie with plenty of slapstick gore and some nice genre in-jokes.’ Simon Ball, The Spooky Isles

‘You name the scenario, cliché or effect, and it probably made an appearance in a scene from Crying Wolf. The only bit of back-story that made any sense was the Little Red Riding Hood themed analogy that is used to tell the story of the top werewolf Milly (played by the beautiful actress Gabriela Hersham). Sadly, this only manages to further derail the film.’ Cherry Bombed, Destroy the Brain

‘From the title sequence it’s already crystal clear that this b-movie was made with passion and an eye for film making, as we’re filled with some really great gory aesthetics. Crying Wolf is extremely high-paced as there’s an abundance of intertwining stories that you’ll completely miss if you aren’t giving your undivided attention. Some might find it too much hard work to watch, but I felt it brought a fresh, exciting and unique twist to the story whilst making sure the audience is fully engaged and entertained.’ London Horror Society

IMDb | Facebook

World War Z 2 – expect a title tweak! – is a 2017 American post-apocalyptic action horror movie directed by Juan Antonia Bayona (The Orphanage; Penny Dreadful) from a screenplay by Steven Knight. It is obviously a sequel to Paramount Pictures 2013 $190 million blockbuster World War Z.

Despite mainly negative reviews, the first film took $540 million at the box office, before residual sales such as Blu-ray, DVD, VOD. Brad Pitt is returning to star. The sequel will apparently focus on new characters and plot points taken from Max Brooks’ original storylines.

The film is currently set to be released on the June 9, 2017, the same day as 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four sequel, though media commentators suggest that this is likely to change.

IMDb

‘They’re fiery… fearless… ferocious!’

Cat-Women of the Moon is a 1953 American science fiction monster film, produced by Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist, directed by Arthur Hilton. The musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The 3-D film was released by Astor Pictures and remade five years later (1958) as Missile to the Moon.

Main cast:

Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory (The Man Who Turned to Stone; Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell), Marie Windsor (Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy; Salem’s Lot; Tales from the Darkside), William Phipps, Douglas Fowley, Carol Brewster, Susan Morrow, Suzanne Alexander.

Plot teaser:

Having been attacked by giant spiders, an expedition to the moon encounters a race of “Cat-Women”, the last eight survivors of a two million year-old civilisation, deep within a cave where they have managed to maintain the remnants of a breathable atmosphere that once covered the Moon. The remaining air will soon be gone, and they must escape if they are to survive. They plan to steal the expedition’s spaceship and migrate to Earth.

Through the use of their telepathic ability, the Cat-Women have been subliminally controlling Helen Salinger (Marie Windsor) so she can win the navigator slot on the expedition and lead the crew to their location. Once Helen and the male members of the crew arrive on the moon, the Cat-Women take complete control of her mind.

They are unable to control the men’s minds, but they work around this obstacle, with Helen’s help, and the use of their superior abilities and feminine wiles…

Buy DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … seems more dull than it ever does awful. Its effects are cheap but mostly passable – the Moon’s surface consists of several limited but adequately convincing painted backdrops and the model rocket shots are okay. On the other hand, the wires can be seen on the giant spider and there is one hilarious shot where the Moon outside the rocketship window is seen as a topographical map of the Moon replete with meridian lines. The sets are not much better.” Moria

“Cat-Women of the Moon lie more in its absolute and exquisite poverty – poverty, that is, not merely of budget, but of concept and execution. There is a sense of – of lack about this film that grows increasingly surreal. How is one to react to a film shot in 3-D that makes no attempt whatsoever to exploit the process? To a film about Cat-Women that has no Cat-Women? To an alleged thriller whose big climactic scene takes place off-camera…” And You Call Yourself a Scientist?

“This film is pretty bad. The naivety regarding space travel (sticky meteors), and lunar conditions (“natural decompression chamber”) are breathtaking. The dialog is most often corny and occasionally downright incomprehensible (Zeta to Helen: “Remember, our generation predates yours by centuries!”…huh?) I certainly don’t need to reiterate how bad the special effects were, do I?” The Monster Shack

“Unlike most of its ’50s contemporaries, the film has no scary monster and the attempt to supply one is more inept and humorous than anything else … a neglected camp classic.” Gary D. Rhodes, Horror at the Drive-In

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Hilton’s direction and Hamilton’s screenplay are never dull but as a combination they are very bad.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction 

” … so unconvincing and stodgy it isn’t even so-bad-it’s-good. It’s just so-bad-it’s-unbearable. See it if you must but don’t believe that baloney about it rivalling Plan 9 from Outer Space for sheer ineptitude. Some schlock has it, some doesn’t.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Even the bad acting, appalling special effects and extraterrestrials who look as though they are auditioning for a minor girlie show do not prevent the film from being perversely enjoyable.” Alan Frank, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Handbook

Choice dialogue:

“It’s whoey! You can’t turn love on and off like a faucet.”

“Helen, they speak English!”

‘You’re too smart for me baby, I like ’em stupid!”

Cast and Characters:

• Sonny Tufts as Laird Grainger
• Victor Jory as Kip Reissner
• Marie Windsor as Helen Salinger
• William Phipps as Doug Smith
• Douglas Fowley as Walt Walters
• Carol Brewster as Alpha
• Suzanne Alexander as Beta
• Susan Morrow as Lambda
• Bette Arlen as Cat-Woman
• Roxann Delman as Cat-Woman
• Ellye Marshall as Cat-Woman
• Judy Walsh as Cat-Woman

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Phantom of the Rue Morgue is a 1954 American 3D horror film directed by Roy Del Ruth (The Terror; The Alligator People) from a screenplay by Harold Medford and James R. Webb (Cape Fear), a very loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe‘s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Producer Henry Blanke previously oversaw Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933, uncredited). Warner Bros. were attempting to repeat the success they had with House of Wax the previous year.

Main cast:

Karl Malden (The Cat O’Nine Tails), Claude Dauphin, Patricia Medina, Steve Forrest (Night Gallery; Maneaters Are Loose!).

Plot:

France, 1870s: A string of strange murders occur in the Rue Morgue. The authorities are baffled, but they do have one man who may have the answers, Professor Dupin.

When Dupin is approached by the police to help, he agrees. Soon a set of suspects are found, including a sailor named Jacques and a professor named Marais, who is involved in unauthorized (and bizarre) animal experiments…

Reviews:

“Phantom of the Rue Morgue is wedged between two eras; it’s a leftover from the previous decade’s gothic murder mysteries and arrived just as theaters were beginning to be overrun by atomic age monsters and aliens. However, it’s difficult not to see both this and House of Wax as stylistic antecedents to the garish productions from AIP and Hammer a decade later.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“ … proves to be rather dull. Director Roy Del Ruth shoves numerous pop-up 3D effects out into the audience’s face with crude abandon – women screaming into the camera, a knife thrower throwing knives, a snarling ape, a dead body, a trampolinist and even one of the Flying Zacchinis trapeze artists. Charles Gemora, the makeup artist who became famous for playing apes during this era (and indeed also played the ape in the 1932 film) lurks about in a gorilla suit.” Moria

“Poe would never recognise it, but in it’s own way, aided by 3-D cinematography, the movie is good fun.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

“The abysmal dialogue is full of psychoanalytical bilge, the murders are repetitive in the extreme (the best scene, paradoxically, is one in which the ape attacks a window-display dummy), and the 3-D effects are tamely restricted to the usual hail of hurled knives and clutching paws.” Phil Hardy, The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Cast and characters:

• Karl Malden as Dr. Marais
• Claude Dauphin as Inspector Bonnard
• Patricia Medina as Jeanette
• Steve Forrest as Professor Paul Dupin
• Allyn Ann McLerie as Yvonne
• Anthony Caruso as Jacques the One-Eyed
• Veola Vonn as Arlette
• Dolores Dorn as Camille
• Merv Griffin as Georges Brevert
• Paul Richards as Rene the Knife-thrower
• Rolfe Sedan as LeBon (as Rolphe Sedan)
• Erin O’Brien-Moore as Wardrobe Woman
• Charles Gemora as Sultan, the Gorilla
• The Flying Zacchinis as Themselves

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Marais: “The more I see of people like this, the better I like my zoo!”

Dr. Marais: “But as a psychologist as well as a zoo keeper, I feel it is better to face up to an emotion than lock it inside.”

Jeanette: “Well, no wonder you understood her so well. You’re as mad as she is!”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: Going Ape! A Short History of Who’s Inside the Monkey Suit – article by Daz Lawrence

‘The road is not scary. It’s beyond scary’

Mumbai 125 KM – aka Mumbai 125 KM 3D – is a 2014 supernatural Indian Hindi horror film co-produced and directed by Hemant Madhukar from his own story. Dheeraj Rattan provided the dialogue. The film is shot on Stereoscopic 3D cameras and released in 2D and 3D formats.

Main cast:

Karanvir Bohra, Vedita Pratap Singh, Joey Debroy, Vije Bhatia and Veena Malik.

Plot:

Aashika (Singh) wakes up hysterical in a hospital and goes into a flashback. A group of friends, Prem (Bohra), Jacks (Debroy), Diya (Bajpai) and Vivek (Bhatia) decided to travel to Mumbai to celebrate New Year’s Day.

Whilst travelling, a patrol cop halts the car and interrogates them on the account of suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, but Prem bribes him into letting them go. The same night they begin to encounter weird situations in the forest…

Reviews:

“From Vedita Pratap Singh’s atrocious acting to Karanvir Bohra’s idiotic spoilt brat act to Veena Malik’s flying ghost antics, Mumbai 125 KM gives you enough opportunities to point and laugh … The CGI is shabbily done and the stereoscopic 3D effect is hardly noticeable. You would wish even you could fly from theatres as Veena Malik’s ghost does in the film.” Bryan Durham, Daily News and Analysis India

“The 3D, worthless as ever, isn’t post-converted for a change, with the use of stereoscopic cameras. This is a schoolboy error because the entire film is shot at night. The filmmakers try to overcompensate by lighting up every scene like the moon (you can literally see the source), thereby making this look like a grainy animated disaster.” Rahul Desai, Mumbai Mirror

“Somewhere in the middle of this unwittingly hilarious journey, as the characters foolishly stop the car innumerable times, trying to help out random, strange ghosts coming out of the jungle, you stop caring if any of them is left dead or alive. They seemed too stupid to be left alive anyway.” Shubha Shetty-Saha, Mid-Day.com

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Imp Awards

Pacific Rim 2 – aka Pacific Rim: Maelstrom – is a 2018 American 3D action sci-fi film to be directed by Steven S. DeKnight (his directorial debut) from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) based on characters created by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro. It is, of course, a sequel to Pacific Rim.

Director DeKnight most recently served as executive producer and head writer of Marvel’s Daredevil for Netflix and also worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Dollhouse.

Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, del Toro and Mary Parent are producing for Legendary Pictures. Universal Pictures will release the film worldwide (date currently unconfirmed). Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman are rumoured to be starring.

IMDb | Source: Deadline Hollywood

WH

Nest 3D is a 2016 Australian-Chinese horror film directed by Kimble Rendall (Cut; Bait 3D) from a screenplay co-written with Paul Staheli. It is also known as Nest 3D and the Search For the Venom of Eternity.

The film stars Kellan Lutz, Li Bingbing (Resident Evil: Retribution), Kelsey Grammer, Stef Dawson, Ryan Johnson, Shane Jacobson. Tim Draxl, Yasmin Kassim. Jason Chong.

Plot:

While making the discovery of the century, a team of scientists lose a colleague in an ancient labyrinth. The group must battle their way through a swarm of deadly, man-eating funnel web spiders and discover the secret behind the arachnids’ power and intelligence – before it’s too late…

IMDb | Related: Arachnophobia: Spiders on the Screen – article by David Flint