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House of Frankenstein (1944), starring Boris Karloff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Glenn Strange, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe

House of Frankenstein [monster movie]

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House of Frankenstein (1944), starring Boris Karloff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Glenn Strange, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe

Synopsis of House of Frankenstein

House of Frankenstein is the first of the Universal Studios monster mashes.  In short, mad scientist Niemann and “friend Daniel” his hunchback assistant escape prison and enact a series of revenges on the people who had him imprisoned.  They murder a proprietor of a travelling show of horrors, impersonate him and revive his corpse of Dracula.  Dracula succeeds in the first part of the revenge scheme, but Niemann abandons him to be destroyed in the sunlight.  Niemann then travels to the ruins of Frankenstein’s castle.  He hopes to recover the dead doctor’s secrets, but instead recovers both the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster.  He revives them both, but a romantic triangle unravels the plot.

House of Frankenstein [monster movie]

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

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The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) starring Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Michael Whalen

Synopsis of The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

In The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues, a mysterious sea creature is murdering people, and two independent government agents are investigating. A marine biologist knows more than he is telling, and the body count rises …

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

King Kong

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King Kong (1933) starring Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong

To be clear, this is the original King Kong movie, not the 1976 remake, or the more recent remake by Peter Jackson. Both remakes are enjoyable in their own right although I strongly prefer Jackson’s.  This is the original, a movie that is still watched more than 80 years after its original release. There are good reasons for that.

King Kong

King Kong Escapes

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King Kong Escapes (1967) starring Mie Hama, Rhodes Reason, Linda Miller, Hideyo Amamoto

King Kong Escapes is, in fact, one of the cheesiest monster movies of all time — with special effects by Rankin-Bass. No, seriously. It’s enjoyable, cheesy fluff that doesn’t take itself very seriously, which is a good thing. The plot is convoluted, but here goes:

King Kong Escapes

King Kong vs Godzilla

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King Kong vs Godzilla, 1962

No one will mistake  King Kong vs Godzilla for high art …. And that’s fine; it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than enjoyable silliness. It’s two men in rubber suits, fighting in choreographed style — shades of professional wrestling. The movie has a comically foolish executive decide to use King Kong for advertising.  And he decides to bring the real deal to Tokyo. At roughly the same time, Godzilla is released from an icy tomb. He heads back to Tokyo for the inevitable slugfest.

King Kong vs Godzilla

Them!

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Them! (1954) starring James Arness, James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon

There are certain movie cliches, and the 1950’s is possibly best known for the science fiction “giant monster” movie (ie. Kaiju). It often served as a morality story, about the dangers of atomic energy, unexpected consequences, and fear of the future, using ordinary animals that have been mutated to giant size to tell the story. It’s been told many times since, but never better than in the first movie of its’ type, Them!

Them!

The Deadly Mantis [William Hopper]

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The Deadly Mantis  (1952) starring Craig Stevens, Alix Talton, William Hopper

Synopsis of  The Deadly Mantis

When a giant, prehistoric praying mantis is released from its’ icy grave, it revives. Then, it looks for food. But the only food in the Arctic are the various military people and researchers posted there. It leaves no living survivors to tell the tail.   When a paleontologist looks at the evidence, he realizes what’s going on … And has trouble convincing anyone else, until the Deadly Mantis goes where there’s more food–New York.

The Deadly Mantis [William Hopper]

The X from Outer Space [monster movie]

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The X from Outer Space (1967)

Synopsis of The X from Outer Space

 When a scientist crew returns from Mars with some space spores that contaminated their ship, they inadvertently bring about a nightmarish Earth invasion.  After the spores are analyzed in a lab, one escapes, eventually growing into an enormous, rampaging beaked beast. An intergalactic monster movie from long time Shochiku stable director Kazui Nihonmatsu, The X from Outer Space was the first in the studio’s short but memorable cycle of horror pictures.

The X from Outer Space [monster movie]

The Manster

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The Manster (1959) starring Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern

The Manster is a low-budget horror movie, based in Japan. The stereotypical amoral mad scientist, Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura) starts off the movie by destroying a hideously mutated creature, that used to be human. In fact, its his own brother, setting the doctor’s character for the audience. Putting scientific advancement above human relationships, a point that gets reinforced later in the film.

The Manster
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