CineSavant’s reviews for the new Blu ray set, Cold War Creatures-Four Films from Sam Katzman, are in two parts. You can find Glenn Erickson’s review of Zombies of Mora Tau and The Giant Claw in Part One.
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1955, ’56/ 1.85
Starring Richard Denning, S. John Launer, Steven Ritch
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Fred F. Sears
Sam Katzman began his Hollywood career in 1933 with His Private Secretary, a romantic comedy starring John Wayne made for Screencraft Pictures—he endured for five decades, hopscotching from Victory Pictures to Monogram to MGM before bowing out in 1972 with The Loners, an Easy Rider rip-off starring Dean Stockwell (who called the movie “a mess”). But it was at Columbia where the familiar Katzman brand was born—exploitation fodder inspired by the fish stories found in tabloids. These were movies about headlines, not human beings,...
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1955, ’56/ 1.85
Starring Richard Denning, S. John Launer, Steven Ritch
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Fred F. Sears
Sam Katzman began his Hollywood career in 1933 with His Private Secretary, a romantic comedy starring John Wayne made for Screencraft Pictures—he endured for five decades, hopscotching from Victory Pictures to Monogram to MGM before bowing out in 1972 with The Loners, an Easy Rider rip-off starring Dean Stockwell (who called the movie “a mess”). But it was at Columbia where the familiar Katzman brand was born—exploitation fodder inspired by the fish stories found in tabloids. These were movies about headlines, not human beings,...
- 9/25/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Italian horror from the early 1960s covers a wide range of quality, from eerie hauntings to tacky vampire romps. For one of his first major credits, ace giallo scribe Ernesto Gastaldi cooks up Lycanthropus, a murder mystery in which the savage slashing is committed by a drooling maniac with a hairy face, wild eyes and saber-toothed fangs. You saw the poster out front, kid — do you think it might be … a werewolf? Director Paolo Heusch’s thriller is no classic, but neither is it stupid — and the original Italian language option on this disc reveals good work by a spirited cast. Dreamy Polish starlet Barbara Lass is a much more assertive, independent female than what we expect from conventional Italo horror fare.
Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory
(Lycanthropus)
Blu-ray
Severin Films
1961 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / 34.98
Starring: Barbara Lass (Kwiatkowska), Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Maurice Marsac, Luciano Pigozzi,...
Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory
(Lycanthropus)
Blu-ray
Severin Films
1961 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / 34.98
Starring: Barbara Lass (Kwiatkowska), Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Maurice Marsac, Luciano Pigozzi,...
- 11/5/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
On ‘Cinderella’ and feminism; How Branagh and Weitz altered the glass slipper
We find ourselves in a time and place where the voice of feminism has never been louder. Issues like Gamer Gate, sexism in Cosplay, a woman’s right to an opinion on fantasy, comics, or horror, as well as a myriad of issues outside the realm of pop culture like slut shaming, and blame for being raped flood news outlets on a daily basis. As a result, there’s been a constant cry for change from men and women alike, internationally. We’re seeing stronger representations of women in cinema, and on television. 2013’s Frozen offered a very necessary shift to the Disney Princess dynamic, suggesting that one saves oneself, that love is genderless, and that the kind of love that saves need not strictly be romantic… read the full article.
SXSW 2015: ‘The Overnight’ is an insightful,...
We find ourselves in a time and place where the voice of feminism has never been louder. Issues like Gamer Gate, sexism in Cosplay, a woman’s right to an opinion on fantasy, comics, or horror, as well as a myriad of issues outside the realm of pop culture like slut shaming, and blame for being raped flood news outlets on a daily basis. As a result, there’s been a constant cry for change from men and women alike, internationally. We’re seeing stronger representations of women in cinema, and on television. 2013’s Frozen offered a very necessary shift to the Disney Princess dynamic, suggesting that one saves oneself, that love is genderless, and that the kind of love that saves need not strictly be romantic… read the full article.
SXSW 2015: ‘The Overnight’ is an insightful,...
- 3/21/2015
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Plunder Road
Written by Steven Ritch
Directed by Hubert Cornfield
U.S.A., 1957
It is a wet, late night. Raindrops fall down on the sleepy Utah countryside like a hail of bullets on a battlefield. Five men in two trucks drive silently to a mysterious location, each wrestling internally with the rising tension befitting a major heist scheme. They are Eddie (Gene Raymond), Commando (Wayne Morris), Skeets (Elisha Cook Jr.), Roly (Stafford Repp) and Frankie (Steven Ritch, who also serves as screenwriter). Amidst the impressive storm they successfully halt a speeding train, blow up the outside wall to one of its cars and make away from a hefty sum of gold bullion. This is but the first part of their plan, for now the group must traverse police roadblocks along the way to the City of Angels, all while under the guise of various types of truck drivers (liquid chemical transportation,...
Written by Steven Ritch
Directed by Hubert Cornfield
U.S.A., 1957
It is a wet, late night. Raindrops fall down on the sleepy Utah countryside like a hail of bullets on a battlefield. Five men in two trucks drive silently to a mysterious location, each wrestling internally with the rising tension befitting a major heist scheme. They are Eddie (Gene Raymond), Commando (Wayne Morris), Skeets (Elisha Cook Jr.), Roly (Stafford Repp) and Frankie (Steven Ritch, who also serves as screenwriter). Amidst the impressive storm they successfully halt a speeding train, blow up the outside wall to one of its cars and make away from a hefty sum of gold bullion. This is but the first part of their plan, for now the group must traverse police roadblocks along the way to the City of Angels, all while under the guise of various types of truck drivers (liquid chemical transportation,...
- 3/20/2015
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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