Horror On The Lens: Monster From Green Hell (dir by Kenneth G. Crane)

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I hate wasps!

A lot of that is because I’ve never been stung by a wasp so I have no idea whether or not I’m allergic. Considering that I’m allergic to almost everything else, it just seems likely that I would be allergic to wasps as well.

Another reason why I dislike wasps is that, opposed to hard-working honey bees, wasps just look evil. They fly straight at you. They get tangled in your hair. They try to build their nests right next to your air conditioning unit. They’re the worst!

1957’s Monster From Green Hell is all about evil wasps. A group of scientists, working with the space program, come up with the brilliant idea of sending wasps into space. When the wasp rocket crashes back to Africa, it leads to giant wasps and paralyzed victims. Can the scientists who created the problem fix things? Or will nature have to take care of itself?

Watch and find out! This film is one of many “giant monster’ films to come out of the 50s but it’s perhaps more interesting as an examination of the fears of what would happen when mankind finally went into space. Today, we take space exploration for granted. In 1957, it was very exotic and, I imagine to some, very frightening.

One final note: Barbara Turner, the female lead in this film, is also the mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Killdozer!

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie ! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1974’s Killdozer!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Killdozer on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!

Artwork of the Day: Tomb of Dracula (by Gene Colan)

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Dazzling Erin

by Gene Colan

This swooning cover is from 1979.

Music Video of the Day: Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus (2005, dir by ????)

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Bela Lugosi’s birthday!

This video was shot at Coachella in 2005.

Enjoy!

Horror On TV: The Great Bear Scare (dir by Hal Mason)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I came across this old cartoon on YouTube. Apparently, it aired in October of 1983.

It’s about bears living in Bearbank. Halloween is approaching and they’re worried about getting invaded by the monsters who live on Monster Mountain. Well, that makes sense. My question is why would you buy a house near a location called Monster Mountain? And really, shouldn’t the monsters be in the houses and the bears in the mountains? This cartoon is weird.

Anyway, the bears are getting ready to feel the city but little Ted E. Bear sets out to confront his fears! Woo hoo!

I don’t know. It’s from 1983. That was a strange year, I guess.

Enjoy!

Doctor Who — The Talons Of Weng-Chiang (1977, directed by David Maloney)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

The TARDIS materializes in Victorian-era London. Accompanying the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) is his new companion, Leela (Louise Jameson). After returning Sarah Jane Smith to her own time (more or less) and saving the Time Lords from being destroyed by the Master, the Doctor meet Leela on an unnamed planet in the far future. Though Leela, with her short animal-skin outfit and her very large knife, seemed like a savage, she was actually the descendant of a group of Earth astronauts who had crashed on the planet centuries before. Leela insisted on traveling with the Doctor and the Doctor reluctantly decided to try to civilize Leela or, at the very least, get her to stop carrying that big knife around with her.

Hence, the trip to London. The Doctor wants her to see where her ancestors came from. The Doctor’s plan is to take her to the Palace Theater, owned by Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin), so that they can see a performance by the magician Li Hi’sen Chang (John Bennett). Instead, they end up getting caught up in a series of murders that involving Chang, a giant rat in the London sewers, a miniature killer named Mr. Sin (Deep Roy) who snorts like a pig, and a 51st century war criminal named Magnus Greel (Michael Spice).

The Talons of Weng-Chiang is not only one of the best of the Fourth Doctor’s adventures but it’s also one of the best Doctor Who serials ever. Victoria London, with its foggy streets and its collection of eccentric rogues, proves to be a perfect fit for Tom Baker’s Doctor, allowing Baker to try out the Sherlock Holmes persona that he would later use when he played the great detective himself in a BBC production of Hound of the Baskervilles. Louise Jameson is also a delight in this story, with Leela’s naturally independent nature befuddling all of the very proper Victorians that she comes into contact with. Louise Jameson had the unenviable task of trying to follow in the footsteps of the beloved Elisabeth Sladen. (The show’s writers helped out by making Leela the opposite of Sarah Jane is almost every way.) Supposedly, Tom Baker had not wanted a new companion and initially treated Louise Jameson very coldly, though he eventually warmed up to her. With her performance in this serial, Louise Jameson proved that she definitely deserved to be a part of the Doctor’s adventures.

Of course, for many, the real highlight of this serial is the chemistry between Henry Gordon Jago and Professor Lightfoot (Trevor Baxter), the coroner who has been investigating a number of strange murders in London. The blustery Jago and the reserved Lightfoot are almost as important to defeating Magnus Greel than the Doctor and Leela and the scenes in which they become an unlikely detective team are so enjoyable that it’s not a surprise that the BBC considered giving them a series of their own. (From 2010 to 2017, the pair did star in an audio drama, one that imagined them investigating other mysteries and even teaming up with other Doctors.) Of course, when I first saw The Talons of Weng-Chiang, I was just happy that Jago and Lightfoot managed to survive all six chapters. After you watch enough Doctor Who, you learn not to get to attached to any of the supporting characters. That Jago and Lightfoot did not fall victim to Mr. Sin was cause for celebration.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang actually has a pretty interesting story, one that justified its 6-episode length. Magnus Greel is one of the great Doctor Who villains, a time traveling war criminal who pretended to be a God. For the most part, Michael Spice was convincing as Greel, though his over-the-top delivery of a threat to “rip your flesh,” is one of the serial’s few unintentionally funny moments. Another false step was the “giant rat,” which was clearly a normal-sized rat shot on a miniature set. The rat looked bored. When the rat has to interact with the Doctor and Leela, it becomes a giant rat dummy that looks very little like the normal rat. And finally, a stuntman had to do a few scenes inside a rat costume. All of the rat stuff doesn’t do much other than leave you wondering whether the story really needed a giant rat at all. Of course, it’s really not Doctor Who if there isn’t at least one notable case of special effects failure.

The rat aside, there is another thing that has to be discussed when it comes to The Talons of Weng-Chiang. When I was a kid, I didn’t really notice it because I was too busy enjoying the action set pieces, Tom Baker’s tongue-in-check performance, the Jago/Lightfoot team-up, and everything about Louise Jameson. Rewatching The Talons of Weng-Chiang as an adult, the thing I immediately noticed was that, for an episode that featured a lot of Chinese characters (the majority of whom were not presented in a particularly positive light), there weren’t many Chinese actors in the cast. The most prominent Chinese character was played by John Bennett, in full yellowface. Reading about the production of the serial, I was not surprised to see that one of the inspirations was Sax Rohmer’s notoriously racist Fu Manchu novels. While The Talons of Weng-Chiang may not be as flat-out racist as Rohmer’s novels, it still has its share of negative racial stereotypes. (Of course, the story’s main villain is not Chinese. Magnus Greel is described as being “the butcher of Brisbane,” make of that what you will.) The Talons of Weng-Chiang is well-acted, well-directed, and well-written and there’s no way it would be made today, at least not in the same way that it was made in the 70s. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing or a good thing. It just a reminder of how much things have changed since 1977.

The final serial of the 14th season, The Talons of Weng-Chiang was a triumph and also proof that the Doctor could still have worthwhile adventures, even if he was no longer traveling with Sarah Jane.

Horror Scenes that I Love: Tor Johnson In The Unearthly

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

We honor the birthday of Tor Johnson with today’s scene of the day.

Even though Tor Johnson is playing a character named Lobo, today’s scene that I love isn’t from Ed Wood’s 1955 film, Bride of the Monster. Instead, it’s from 1957’s The Unearthly. In this film, Lobo is now John Carradine’s servant. (Lobo made quite a career out of working for mad scientists.) The Unearthly was directed by Boris Peftroff, a friend of Wood’s, so it’s not improbable that this film’s Lobo was meant to be the same Lobo as the one who appeared in Bride of the Monster and Night of the Ghouls.

Anyway, in this scene, Tor does his usual Lobo stuff while John Carradine plays the piano. “Time for go to bed,” Lobo says at one point, a much-mocked line but one that is delivered with a bit of gentleness by Tor Johnson. My point is that Tor did the best that he could and bless him for it.

October True Crime: Getting Gotti (dir by Roger Young)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 1994 made-in-Canada movie, Anthony Denison plays John Gotti. We watch as he goes from being a street boss to Paul Castellano to assassinating Castellano so that he can take over the Gambino crime family. Gotti thinks that he’s the king of New York and he’s convinced that no one will ever bring him down. U.S. Attorney Diana Giacalone (Lorraine Bracco) is determined to prove him wrong. She becomes the first of many prosecutors to try to get Gotti and Gotti reacts by having his attorney launch a series of outrageously misogynistic attacks against her. Gotti doesn’t just want to defeat Diana. He also wants to humiliate her. Diane may have the evidence but Gotti’s got the money. Who will get Gotti?

Now, I guess I could argue here that the horror aspect of this film comes from the crimes that Gotti commits. And it is true that we see Gotti kill a number of people. He’s a sadistic killer, the type who will shoot someone twenty more times than he needs to. As the last of the truly flamboyant gangsters, Gotti would go on to become something of a pop cultural institution. But one should not overlook the fact that, for all of his charisma and bravado, John Gotti was not a nice guy. Of course, I should also point out that none of that charisma is really present in Anthony Denison’s performance as Gotti. As played by Denison, John Gotti — the so-called Teflon Don whose greatest strength was his shamelessness — comes across as being a little boring.

Actually, the scariest thing about this film is Lorraine Bracco’s performance as Diana Giacalone. Bracco does a lot of yelling as Giacalone. Sometimes, it’s understandable. Giacalone is portrayed as being someone who grew up on the same tough streets as Gotti and who resents people like Gotti and the Mafia giving a bad name to Italians in general. The problem is that Bracco yells her lines even when there’s no reason to be yelling. At one point, she discovers that someone screwed up her lunch order and she screams about it as if the world is ending. Visiting her mother (Ellen Burstyn) for the holidays, Giacalone yells at her family. When the verdict comes in, Giacalone yells some more. The yelling is pretty much nonstop and, as a result, one starts to feel that the other U.S. attorneys might have a point when they say that Giacalone is a loose cannon. The film tries to present her as being a strong, no-bullshit woman who is going up against an army of misogynists but there’s more to being strong than just yelling. It would be such a big deal if the film had given her a personality beyond yelling but it doesn’t. I blame the script more than I blame Lorraine Bracco, who can be a very good actress when cast in the right role.

Getting Gotti pretty much hits every Mafia cliche. Whenever anyone drives around the old neighborhood, Italian string music plays. There’s a moment where Giacalone yells that her goal is to make sure that people understand that the Mafia isn’t “Al Pacino looking soulful” in The Godfather. I had to wonder if Giacalone had ever actually watched The Godfather. Seriously, an Italian attacking The Godfather? Who does she think she is, Joe Columbo?

Gotti remains the Gotti film to watch.

20 Films For The Week (10/19/25)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

A Few Classics

The original The Omen (1976) can currently be viewed on Tubi. The Omen is still the best of all of the 1970s apocalypse movies. Whereas later Omen films would increasingly get bogged down with overly elaborate death scenes, the first Omen still holds up as a genuinely scary movie. The scene with David Warner and that plate of glass …. agck! Damien Thorne was never creepier than he was in The Omen, perhaps because little Harvey Stephens didn’t know that he was playing a villain. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the sequels are available to stream for free. I have a soft spot for the mess that is Damien: Omen II. The Omen can be viewed here.

Of the many film that were inspired by The Omen, my favorite remains The Visitor (1979). John Huston — yes, the director — plays a Polish angel who lives on a plant far away. Huston is sent to Earth to rescue 8 year-old Katy, who has psychic powers and who has apparently been picked to mate with her half-brother and give birth to the Antichrist. Lance Henriksen plays a Satanist who also owns a basketball team. Mel Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Glenn Ford, and director Sam Peckinpah all have small roles. Franco Nero plays Jesus! This is a visually stunning and narratively berserk film. The Visitor is on Tubi.

The Changeling (1980) is an absolutely brilliant horror film that should definitely be seen by more people. After a family tragedy, widower George C. Scott moves into a mansion that turns out to be haunted. It all links back to potential scandal involving a U.S. Senator, played by Melvyn Douglas. Well-acted, this film has tons of atmosphere and one of the best seance scenes that I’ve ever seen. The Changeling is on Tubi.

If The Changeling is an unusually intelligent haunted house film, Burnt Offerings (1976) is perhaps the opposite. It’s a remarkably dumb film but thanks to the performances of Karen Black and Oliver Reed and the no-holds barred direction of Dan Curtis, it’s still a pretty scary movie. Poor Bette Davis is wasted in one of her final roles. You’ll cheer when the chimney collapses. Burnt Offerings is on Tubi.

John Saxon later said that making Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) was one of the most depressing experiences of his career, just because he wasn’t prepared for how gory the film would get and he wasn’t particularly happy about the idea of playing a veteran-turned-cannibal. That feeling certainly comes through in his performance, which ironically is so authentic that it elevates Cannibal Apocalypse above the typical Italian zombie/cannibal film. Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Tony King give excellent performances as Saxon’s fellow cannibals and the entire film is far more emotionally effective than it has any right to be. Cannibal Apocalypse can be viewed on Tubi.

The Black Cat (1981) never gets as much attention as it deserves but it’s probably one of Lucio Fulci’s more accessible films. An adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story, it features David Warbeck at his most likable, Patrick Magee at his most demented, and a killer cat with more than 9 lives. The Black Cat can be viewed on Shudder.

I, Madman (1989) is a personal favorite of mine, largely because I relate to the main character played by Jenny Wright. Wright plays an aspiring actress and bookstore employee who becomes obsessed with the horror novels of an obscure pulp fiction writer named Malcolm Brand. Suddenly, murders start to occur that seem to match the murders in the books. Both Jenny Wright and Clayton Rohner give likable performances in this film and Randall William Cook’s disfigured surgeon is a wonderful villain. I, Madman can be viewed on Tubi.

Time After Time (1979) provides viewers with the rare chance to see Malcolm McDowell play a gentle soul. McDowell plays H.G. Wells, whose time machine is used by Jack the Ripper (David Warner) to escape into the modern age. Wells pursues him. Time After Time is as much a love story as it is a thriller. (McDowell married his co-star Mary Steenburgen.) McDowell, Warner, and Steenburgen all give excellent performances. Time after Time is on Tubi.

Malcolm McDowell is far more sinister in Paul Schrader’s 1982 film, Cat People. Cat People was made at a time when cocaine was very popular in Hollywood and the film has all the excessive hallmarks of a production that was under the influence. It’s about thirty minutes too long, the plot makes little sense, and Schrader sometimes seems to be struggling with determining what it is he’s trying to say. That said, it’s also an atmospheric and stylish film and it has a killer soundtrack. The sequence where Annette O’Toole is menaced while jogging and then swimming still creeps me out. Cat People can be viewed on Prime.

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) was the first and the most effective of several Spanish horror films to feature Templar zombies wrecking havoc on the countryside. This film is atmospheric and creepy and features some of the most convincing zombies to ever appear in a movie. This film also actually manages to effectively use slow motion. The Blind Dead are pure nightmare fuel. Tombs of the Blind Dead can be viewed on Tubi.

Hack and Slash

Directed by Bill Rebane, Blood Harvest (1989) tells the story of a young woman who returns to her family home, just to discover that her parents are missing and the house has been vandalized. As the bodies are strung up in a nearby barn, viewers are left to try to figure out who the killer is. Is it the handsome and hunky Gary? Or is it his brother, Mervo? Mervo, who deals with stress by putting on clown makeup, is played by Tiny Tim, a notably eccentric singer. This is one of those odd films that everyone simply has to see once. It can be viewed on Tubi.

Directed by Joseph Zito, The Prowler (1981) is a notably gruesome but undeniably effective slasher film. The gore effects were provided by Tom Savini. Zito keeps the action moving, the cast is filled with actors who are likable enough to make up for the fact that none of the characters are written to have much depth, and the killer is truly frightening. The Prowler can be viewed on Tubi.

Terror Train (1980) is another classic slasher film that is perfect for Halloween viewing, as all of the victims are in costume and the killer is a master of disguise. The train makes for a wonderfully claustrophobic setting and the film owes as much to the Italian giallo genre as it does to the typical American slasher film. Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, and Timothy Webber are amongst those being stalked. Ben Johnson is wonderful as a conductor. Even magician David Copperfield is put to good use. Terror Train can be viewed on Tubi.

Prom Night (1980) is another Canadian classic. This is film the mixes disco with slasher thrills. Jamie Lee Curtis rallies the school with her dance moves. Leslie Nielsen gives one of his final “serious” performances at the principal of the school. The kills are genuinely frightening and, given that most of the victims are either likable or determined to live, genuinely sad. The twist ending works a hundred times better than it should. Prom Night! Everything is alright! I love this movie. It can be viewed on Tubi.

The House on Sorority Row (1982) is a diabolically clever little slasher film about a prank gone wrong. One minute, you’re accidentally causing your house mother to have a heart attack after you pull a gun on her. The next minute, you’re getting tossed in a shallow grave. The main lesson here is don’t try anything like this when you’ve also got a big, end-of-the-year college bash to put together. Director Mark Rosman comes up with some truly inspired visuals. Eileen Davidson gives a great performance as the sorority sister who can’t believe how difficult it is to cover up a murder. It can be viewed on Tubi.

Finally, Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983) is not as well-known as some of the other films that I’ve mentioned but it features a memorably isolated location and a few effective scares. It’s a good example of the rural slasher. It can be viewed on Tubi.

Odds and Ends

Zombie Nightmare (1987) features a long-haired zombie, an early performance from Tia Carrere, and an oddly serious performance from Adam West. The zombie is played a heavy metal musician named Jon-Mikl Thor. It’s a film so ludicrous that it becomes entertaining. It can be viewed on Tubi.

Ghost Story (1981) features a dead woman whose ghost returns, seeking vengeance on a group of elderly men who, decades before, covered up her death. Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. play the four men. Alice Krige is the ghost. Patricia Neal is Astaire’s wife. Craig Wasson plays twins. It’s a bit of an uneven film but it still has its moments. It can be viewed on Prime.

Night Terror (1977), which is also known as Night Drive, features Valerie Harper as a woman trying to drive from Phoenix to Denver over the course of the night and finding herself pursued by a mute psycho played by Richard Romanus. Clocking in at 74 minutes, Night Terror is suspenseful and features good performances from both Harper and Romanus. It can be viewed on Prime.

Finally, The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1977) is a creepy little film starring Jodie Foster as a child who will stop at nothing to keep people from figuring out that she’s living on her own. The true monster in this film is played, quite memorably, by Martin Sheen. It can be viewed on Prime.