Category: Immortality
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The Unearthly
John Carradine, Tor Johnson and Allison Hayes star in Boris Petroff’s 1957 glandular horror film. A belated call-back to the mad scientist films of the 40’s, it’s cheap and derivative, but campy fun. 3/10
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The Man Who Turned to Stone
Mad scientists run a women’s prison and kill the inmates in order to prolong their own lives in Columbia’s 1957 genre mashup. Bernard Gordon’s script has interesting ideas, but falls back on dated horror tropes. 5/10.
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She
The famous 1925 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s novel is best remembered for Betty Blythe’s varied states of undress. While UFA provides handsome set pieces, the British production falters in the directing and cinematography departments. 3/10
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Alien Invasion Alien monsters Alien visitation Aliens Apocalypse Artificial humanoid Conquest of Earth Conquest of Man Conquest of Space Conquest of Time Future technology Future war & weapons Futurism Humanoid monsters Immortality Interplanetary travel Man-made monsters Mars Medical alterations Message from space Mind Control Monsters Mutant Pandemic Post-Apocalypse Radiation Effects Resurrection/Prolonged life Robots Space exploration Superpowers Suspended animation Time Stasis Time Travel Underwater
Tales of Tomorrow
The first SF anthology TV show aired live in the US from 1951 to 1953. With material by some of the greatest SF authors of all time, its adult-oriented, intelligent scripts are often unsettling to watch even today. The cast boasts Leslie Nielsen, Rod Steiger, Paul Newman, Eva Gabor, James…
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The Man in Half Moon Street
In 1945 the world still had time for one decent old-school mad scientist film before the genre imploded on itself. Swedish heart-throb Nils Asther shines in a Dorian Gray-inspired major studio production by Paramount about a 120 year old genius searching for the secret of everlasting life, while telling everyone…
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Lights Out
The first anthology TV show to feature science fiction, Lights Out was adapted from a popular horror radio show in the US in 1949. Lights Out sports an impressive roster of actors and writers, but it struggles somewhat to transfer what was so great about the radio program to the…
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House of Dracula
Universal’s third monster mash film from 1945 is a decent, if not necessarily worthy, farewell to the studio’s legendary ghouls. Despite flashes of originality, it feels as if we are re-heating the same TV dinner for the umpteenth time before the SF movies of the US caught up with the…
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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Universal’s first monster mashup, made in 1943, is an audience divider. Some enjoy it as a brainless schlockfest, while others find the denigration of the Frankenstein franchise painful to watch. Arguably miscast from the start as the Frankenstein monster, Bela Lugosi saw all his lines cut in the editing room. 4/10
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The Ghost of Frankenstein
The magic is all but gone from the fourth Universal Frankenstein picture, made in 1942. Although well-paced and entertaining, the film stumbles on a ridiculous, self-contradictory script, a low budget and a Lon Chaney Jr. who isn’t up to the task of replacing Boris Karloff as the monster. 5/10
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Before I Hang
Nick Grinde’s third Karloff film for Columbia is yet a variety on the scientist on death row. This time K isn’t brought back from the dead, but instead invents a youth serum, which he injects himself with, before realising that mixing it with a hanged murderer’s blood wasn’t the best…
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Son of Frankenstein
Basil Rathbone is the son of Frankenstein who moves back to his father’s castle, only to find Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi hiding in the basement. The latter gives what is perhaps the performance of his lifetime in this visually stunning movie, which unfortunately treats Karloff’s classic monster with little…
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She
Based on H. Rider Haggard’s novel, this 1935 production from the creators of King Kong is as old-fashioned an adventure story as they come, as our intrepid heroes seek the secret to immortal life in a lost city ruled by an evil queen. It’s a creaky bag of hokum, but…
Scifist. 