Skip to content
The Body Snatcher - Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi - movie poster

The Body Snatcher [Boris Karloff]

  • by

The Body Snatcher  (1945) starring Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi

The Body Snatcher is considered by many to be Boris Karloff’s finest role–and they may well be right.   Unlike what the trailer for the movie says, this is not a team-up between Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.   Both appear in  The Body Snatcher, but in this tale Lugosi is strictly a secondary character, although important. And the scene between the two of them is definitely the most chilling of the film. “Stand still, man! How can I demonstrate if you won’t stand still?”

Read More »The Body Snatcher [Boris Karloff]

Godzilla (1998) starring Matthew Broderick

  • by

movie review of  Godzilla  (1998) starring Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick stars in  Godzilla (1998), which was originally supposed to be the first of a trilogy of films.   However,  film critics were merciless in their criticism of the film. And the American movie public didn’t disagree.   The movie cost 130 million dollars to produce and promote. It made 138 million in its’ U.S.A. release. Not a flop, but not a large success, either.   So what, if anything, is wrong with the film?

Read More »Godzilla (1998) starring Matthew Broderick

Son of Frankenstein

  • by

Son of Frankenstein (1939), starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill

Movie review of “Son of Frankenstein” starring Basil Rathbone as the son of the deceased mad scientist.  He tries to repair and revive the Monster to vindicate his father.  All the while Ygor (brilliantly played by Bela Lugosi) schemes to use the Monster for his own plans … for revenge.

Read More »Son of Frankenstein

Son of Dracula

  • by

Son of Dracula (1943) starring Lon Chaney Jr., Louise Allbritton, Robert Paige, Evelyn Ankers

Son of Dracula is a very interesting entry into Universal Pictures’ series of  Dracula movies — and not only due to Lon Chaney Jr. playing the title character — although Chaney does a good job. He portrays Dracula (or Alucard, if you prefer) as a very powerful, savage creature, with only a veneer of culture and civilization. I frankly enjoyed his portrayal very much — although his southern accent was totally out of place for a European character. But as I say, Chaney’s depiction isn’t the only reason that I enjoyed  Son of Dracula.

Read More »Son of Dracula

The Invisible Man Returns

  • by

The Invisible Man Returns (1940) starring Vincent Price, Nan Grey, Cedric Hardwicke, Cecil Kellaway

 The Invisible Man Returns is an excellent movie, due to no small degree to the acting skills of Vincent Price. Vincent Price is  Geoffrey Radcliffe, the proverbial “man convicted of a murder that he didn’t commit” — the murder of his own brother. Soon to be executed, he’s given an unexpected last-minute reprieve — but not from the state. He’s visited by Dr. Frank Griffin  (John Sutton), the brother of the original Invisible Man, who offers to inject him with the unstable invisibility formula, warning him of the side effect: gradual insanity. Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, Vincent Price makes Hobson’s choice — and chooses the injection, hoping to find the actual murderer before he’s driven to insanity. At the same time, Dr. Griffin will try to find an antidote for the invisibility formula.

Read More »The Invisible Man Returns

Forbidden Planet

  • by

Forbidden Planet (1956) starring Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis

 What can be said about Forbidden Planet that hasn’t been said already? It was a beloved part of my childhood.  And it has become part of my children’s childhood as well.  What makes is such an enduring story?

Read More »Forbidden Planet

M – Peter Lorre, Fritz Lang

  • by

M (1931) directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre

I’ve known for a long time that Fritz Lang was a ground-breaking movie director (Metropolis for example)–but I’ve never truly appreciated that for myself, until I recently saw his black and white movie about a search for a child murderer, titled M.  Fritz Lang described M as a documentary, and I would have to agree with that–it looks, and feels, like a documentary.  

Read More »M – Peter Lorre, Fritz Lang

The Black Cat

  • by

The Black Cat (1934) starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi

 Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi appeared together in eight different horror films–but very likely, the best of them was the first,  The Black Cat  – a monster movie where the monsters are all too human.

Synopsis of  The Black Cat

A young American couple traveling by train on their honeymoon meet Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi) where they are both going to the same destination.   Lugosi is returning home after a fifteen-year absence, having been a prisoner of war.  Which we later learn was due to the betrayal of his commanding officer, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff).  This resulted in the death of thousands of his own men.   After a driving accident, they are all the “guests” of Karloff. Who doesn’t seem eager for any of them to leave …

Read More »The Black Cat

Frogs

  • by

Frogs (1972) starring Ray Milland, Sam Elliot, Joan Van Ark

The movie Frogs is an attempt to recreate the horror of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Frogs mostly falls flat, however.

Synopsis of Frogs

A free-lance photographer is taking photos for an anti-pollution article in the Florida everglade when his canoe is swamped by a spoiled rich young man.  Who attempts to make amends by bringing him back to the family mansion. The grumpy family patriarch makes no secret of his controlling nature, over both his family and the environment. It appears that the environment seeks to return the favor …

Read More »Frogs
Exit mobile version