Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Columbia’s 1956 classic is the epitome of the 50’s UFO movie. The script is clichéd and the production cheap, but Ray Harryhausen’s animation and the taut direction make this a fun, highly intertaining saucer ride. 7/10
Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land
In the 8th Jungle Jim installation, Johnny Weissmuller tries his best not to hunt down a “missing link” species of giant ape-men, while battling a plush panther and stock footage. It’s a clunky, but entertaining and well-acted juvenile potboiler. 4/10
Voodoo Man
Horror icons George Zucco and John Carradine join Bela Lugosi in his last film at Poverty Row studio Monogram, for one of the most bizarrely funny so-bad-it’s-good sci-fi horror films of the forties. Unfortunately giggles aren’t enough to lift this film out of the ruts, although it is a must-watch for the wonderful Voodoo seances with Carradine and Zucco immensely enjoying the insanity of it all. 2/10
The Ape Man
Bela Lugosi tries to convince the audience that he looks like a gorilla by wearing a false beard in Monogram’s 1943 cheapo directed by William “One Shot” Beaudine. A treat for fans of really bad movies, this one is a real clunker. 1/10
The Corpse Vanishes
Bela Lugosi is kidnapping brides from the altar in order to extract their precious bodily fluids, which he uses to keep his 80-year old wife young and beautiful. This Monogram cheapo from 1942 could have been batshit crazy fun but tries too hard to be a snappy Warner crime thriller. 3/10
Sky Racket
The actors know how to hit their marks and the DP is capable of setting up a shot in the 1937 remake of the equally bad 1936 film Ghost Patrol. A government agent and a bride on the run are captured by a gang of criminals using a death ray to shoot mail planes from the sky. Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel is criminally underused. 1/10
scifist 2.0 