The Vampire Bat (1933) REVIEW

When the villagers of Kleinschloss start dying of blood loss, the town fathers suspect a resurgence of vampirism. While police inspector Karl remains skeptical, scientist Dr. von Niemann cares for the vampire's victims one by one, and suspicion falls on child-minded Herman Gleib because of his fondness for bats. A blood-thirsty mob hounds Gleib to his death, but the vampire attacks don't stop. Not being Universal this was a daring attempt for Majestic Films, whom rushed this "quickie" into movie theaters. This movie has a great cast: Dwight Frye as the child-minded lover of bats Herman Gleib, Fay Wray from King Kong, Melvyn Douglas as the police inspector and Lionel Atwill as the scientist Dr. von Niemann. Due to the Great Depression (and to their advantage) Majestic Films couldn't build sets in order to make this film, so they asked Universal to borrow them for a few shots the (until then still built) German Village from Frankenstein (1931) and the house interiors from The Old Dark House (1932). I's a nice chiller, and at an hour of runtime it's worth your time. I won't give away the ending, but I assure it will satisfy you.


                       Nice chiller, and astounding performance by Dwight Frye:
                                                                      
                                6/10                   

Journey To The Seventh Planet (1962) REVIEW

Okay so today's review will be of Sid Pink's "Journey to the Seventh Planet" (1962), you may remember Sid Pink from "Reptilicus" (1961). Both films "Reptilicus" and "Journey to the Seventh Planet" were almost entirely filmed in Danish territories, with Danish crew. As for the plot it draws a lot of similarities with The Twilight Zone TV series, it has a rather same way of dealing with the protagonists' deepest fears and biggest desires with a sci-fi layout, making this film feel like an hour long episode of The Twilight Zone which isn't bad at all, because for me The Twilight Zone is the best TV series ever conceived. "Journey to the Seventh Planet" came out with the sci-fi boom of the 60's making it blend with the croud and get to be little known, although it is really creative like in the use of stop-motion animation to change the landscape of Uranus and with the "giant-rat-cyclops monster". I haven't what happens in the film so here it goes: It starts with a narration saying that the UN is the sole governor on Earth and the year is 2001, space exploration has gone far and has now reached the seventh planet, (they don't try to say Uranus a lot because it doesn't sound well if you get what I mean), and a group of five men are sent to investigate large radiation signs coming from there. When they arrive they find out it's not different from Earth at all, but after noticing odd stuff like rootless plants and other things, they figure that the place is built on their memories. Later in the film, almost in the end, we get to know that the omnipotent being that controls Uranus and reads the astronauts' minds is a giant alien brain capable of creating matter from memories or thoughts that dwell in men's mind, like for example creating women from their past to distract them. After a showdown involving a giant spider and the death of one man, the brain is finally destroyed and men leave in a desperate hurry. Well there's nothing else to say, I guarantee that it will leave you satisfied, give it a watch.

                                                              Pretty good flick:
                                                                     7/10

Invisible Invaders (1959) REVIEW

This film is for me like the "well done" version of Plan 9 From Outer Space. It has the same basic plot: aliens resurrect the dead as zombies, to conquer the world. From the start it's a tragic movie, with the beloved scientist Carl Noyman dying because of an atomic experiment failure, making Dr. Adam Penner notice that atomic reaserch and weapons will end up destroying mankind. At night, after Noyman's funeral, Penner recieves a visit of Noyman's corpse, which we are told is being possesed by an invisible alien, whose race has been living on the moon for 20,000 years. Possesed Noyman tells Penner that mankind has 24 hours to surrender, before the aliens attack, using the dead as soldiers, claiming that the dead will destroy the living. 24 hours pass and Dr. Penner's warning was laughed by newspapers and high ranks, invasion start as hordes of zombies seize the world, the zombies are unvulnerable against any method of attack known to man. Penner and other characters are safely taken to a bomb shelter by the U. S. Army, which is located anywhere else than Bronson Cave! There Penner and another scientist are supposed to create a weapon to destroy de invisible aliens, they capture an alien and discover that it is vulnerable to sound. So you all now what happens next, the scientists makes "sound guns" and destroy the aliens. This is a very rare film, or at least little known, there is only one version available on DVD which is on MGM's Midnight Movies on a double feature with "Voyage to the Seventh Planet", a Sci-Fi film that is little more than a Twilight Zone episode, only longer, which is great for Twilight Zone fans. As I said before, for me this is like the good one, the well made "Plan 9 From Outer Space" the aclaimed worst movie ever made, and that is a lie, it's a very entertaining film that should not be taken seriously because it's made by Ed Wood, the worst director of all time, you can't expect much and I've seen a lot worse believe me, a whole lot worse. As for this film it's a good b-movie if you enjoy b-movies, give this a watch it will not leave you dissapointed.

                                            This film is a good b-movie so:
                                 6.5/10

Killers from Space (1954) REVIEW

The film involves aliens from Outer Space planing to invade the Earth while hypnotizing a scientist to obtain data in order to breed an army of giant insects and lizards. Supposedly, the aliens, that come from Astron Delta, have secret lair near Earth's crust, that isn't anything else than Bronson Cave, (a place that had been filmed so many times in the 50's that it became a cliché amongst B-movies). This movie has a really bad reputation, it was directed by W. Lee Wilder (the unsuccessful brother of director Billy Wilder), it even stands as the 16th Worst Movie Ever Made! Actually, this film was made in one of the lower budgets in the history of cinema, which explain the aliens' ping-pong eyeballs and the cardboard alien city. Speaking frankly, this is a really bad movie.... but I just seem to love it! As I explained earlier on my reviews, I love 50's B-movies, and this is the perfect example of B-movie, from the aliens' costumes to the giant insects to the bad acting, it's just cheesy and entertaining stuff, in a B-movie kind of way. This film is really entertaining and I first discovered it from a 50 movie pack from "Mill Creek Entertainment". This film is public domain and you can legally download it anywhere or watch online for free. 

This film is very entertaining, but remember that it's an awful movie so:

4/10

P.S. Here is the Youtube link for this film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u8apuDgYO0