PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Spider Woman Strikes Back 1946

The Spider Woman Strikes Back 1946 Written by Eric Taylor and directed by Arthur Lubin. Part of Universal's monster collection. I watched the Lino Lorber Blu-ray. Gale Sondergaard played the Spider Woman in the 1943 Sherlock Homes film The Spider Woman. This film isn't a sequel to that film but Universal hoped they could get sequels to this. They never happened.

Gale is the town's richest woman and she's got a lab in her basement where she robs younger woman of their blood to create a serum. Brenda Joyce plays a young woman who takes the job of Gale's secretary. Rondo Hatton plays Gale's man servant. It takes a while for Brenda to cotton to her predicament but she manages to get away at the end.

Sadly it's barely average. Some say it helped kill off Universal's horror line. Universal didn't even put it out on Blu-ray. Lubin claims he hated the film, he didn't want to direct it, he was forced by Universal. A lot of this background is covered by Tom Weaver and David Schecter on the audio commentary. That was almost more interesting than the movie. There's a nice making of featurette on the making of the movie.

Friday Night Movies 1015

China O'Brien 1990 Story by Sandra Weintraub, screenplay and direction by Robert Clouse. We watched the Vinegar Syndrome 4K/Blu-ray set.

Cynthia Rothrock plays China O'Brien, she's a cop who quit the force after killing a kid who was threatening the police with a machine gun. She goes home to visit her father in a small town that's being taken over by a criminal gang. Her father is the sheriff and he's fighting a losing battle. After he's killed by the crooks China decides to run for sheriff. There's plenty of fighting, shooting and explosions as the criminals make their grab for the town.

Lucky for China and her new friends the criminals are pretty poor at that. Richard Norton and Keith Cooke are her new pals. They're both decent at martial arts, laying some beat downs on the baddies. Sadly most of the stunt men seem to struggle at lumbering. Back in the 90s when Jackie Chan was trying to gain a hold in the US market he complained that the US stunt men were way too slow. Jackie was throwing 2-3 punches before the US stuntmen could react. That's the problem here, the US stuntmen aren't up to her speed. China and her pals clean up the town with some dubious policing methods.

Golden Harvest backed the film despite it being set in Park City Utah, they wanted to help make Cynthia more famous in the US. I'm not sure how much it helped for the movie to go direct to video and not get played in theaters. I thought I had seen this before but it's not on my watched movie list. After seeing it I doubt I need to see it again.

My Grandfather Is A Vampire 1992 Written by Michael Heath and directed by David Blyth. A New Zealand film with Al Lewis as a vampire grandfather.

A kid travels from California to New Zealand to visit his grandpa only to find he's rather sickly. They have some adventures and a bit of fun but grandpa gets sicker and dies. Surprisingly grandpa rises from the dead and that causes a whole lot of trouble. It eventually get resolved and there's a sort of happy ending.

It's kind of amusing, Al Lewis is fun but over all it's only average. I'm not going to buy it, I doubt I'll have the time to watch it again.

The Cabinet Of Caligari 1962

The Cabinet Of Caligari 1962 Written by Robert Bloch, produced and directed by Roger Kay.

Glynis Johns plays Jane, she has car trouble and seeks help from a nearby estate. Caligari is the owner and he's played by Dan O'Herlihy. They offer her a place to stay the night.In the morning Jane realizes she's become a prisoner. She becomes afraid of Caligari from the way he treats her. She seeks help from others on the estate including a young man called Paul. Odd things happen until there's a cathartic moment and Jane learns what's really going on around her.

I was kind of curious about the film, I've an interest in the 1919 original, I've a slight interest in Robert Bloch. It's got a good cast but the script is only fairly good. According to Bloch the screenplay was rewritten, and ruined, by Roger Kay. I enjoyed the first half the movie but my interest was flagging in the second half. It perked up briefly during the cathartic moment but it's still only average for me, I wouldn't think I'd give it another go around.

Spiritually A Cop 1991

Spiritually A Cop 1991 Written and directed by Wai Shum. A Chinese action comedy about a ghost and the police.

Fong Lui wanted to be a cop but the police force says he's too short. He gets killed near the start of the movie and a ghost pops out of his body. Stanley Sui-Fong Fung plays the head cop of the precinct, his main desire is to get married and go on his honeymoon. Hoi Mang plays a visiting monk who is the only one who can detect the ghost. He helps Fong get used to being a ghost. The ghost is a misogynist, he doesn't think women should be on the force. The monk helps him get past this too. Yukari Ôsnima plays one of the female cops in the precinct.

There's plenty of fights and some gun battles, most of the fights are fairly good. There are plenty of gags, not all the gags are great, misogyny comments aside, but a good number of jokes landed. It's pretty average but I enjoyed it anyway. I might watch it again.

Bloody Beast 1994

Bloody Beast 1994 Written by Jimmy Leung Chi-ming and directed by Richard Yeung Kuen. A Chinese movie about a serial killer psychopath. I'd first seen this movie back in 1997, it was on VHS and rented from one of the many Asian video stores in the area. I watched 2-300 films, I even copied some but I didn't keep the tapes when better copies came along on DVD.

A creepy guy stays home and cooks for his father and sister. He doesn't work, he spends his days mopping around the house or creeping about the small town. He spies on the local women and out of the blue he attacks a woman and her two children. He kills the kids and rapes the mother before killing here.

The rest of the movie is spent watching him murder more people and watching the poorly trained mainland police try to figure out who he is so they can arrest him. They do catch him, part of the movie is told in flashback as he confesses. Creepy guy keeps insisting that they kill him after he confesses and over the end credits you can hear a gunshot.

It's a bit below average, the creepy guy does well portraying a monster but he's no Simon Yam or Anthony Wong. The rest of the cast is fair for the most part. Nothing really exceptional or new. You can check it out on Dailymotion, link above. Not for everyone.

 

Science Fiction Sunday 814

Beacon77 2009 Written by Debbie Moon and Brad Watson, directed by Brad Watson. A British film that's part SF and part horror. It's been released under the titles Code77, Decoder and The 7th Dimension. I can only assume that's to trick people into watching their movie again.

A college student takes her friend along to visit the professor with whom she'd had a one night stand. They find the professor lives with a couple and masses of computers. The professor and pals are hacking into the Vatican library to download a copy of the Torah. They believe that it contains all the info to predict future events. Endless chatter and biblical references leads to murder in the dullest way. It's barely SF and barely watchable. I watched it on YouTube, I wouldn't need to see it again.

Gods Of The Deep 2023 Written by Jerome Reygner-Kalfon, Sebastien Semon  and Charlie Steeds, directed by Charlie Steeds. A British movie that is heavily influenced by Lovecraft. Steeds had directed 13 previous movies, all but 2 are rated between a 3 and a 4. This movie scores a 3.2 and I gave it a 3.

A team of scientists in a submersible visit an undersea location that appears man made. They find a giant tentacled man like creature alive despite the enormous pressure. The creature seems to effect the crew and people die. Not much else going on. I watched this on Amazon Prime, free with membership, I wouldn't need to see it again.

 

Friday Night Movies 1014

The Chronicles Of Riddick 2004 Written and directed by David Twohy. We watched the alternate cut of the film from the Arrow 4K Box Set. It looks very nice.

Vin Diesel is Riddick, a notorious criminal who's been hiding for five years since the events in Pitch Black. A team of bounty hunters lead by a guy called Tombs attack Riddick but get beat down. Riddick steals their ship and escape. On Helion Prime he looks up Imam, a character from Pitch Black, just as the planet gets invaded by the Necromongers. Imam is killed and Riddick escapes. The Necromongers are vicious and deadly, they capture planets and assimilate their citizens or kill them.

He's freedom is short lived, he captured and discovered to be a Furyan. He escapes again only to be captured by Tombs. He talks them into taking him to the prison on Crematoria. There Riddick is reunited with Jack from Pitch Black. Meanwhile the Necromongers are still interested in Riddick, Commander Vaako is sent to find and capture Riddick. Vaako is successful and brings Riddick before the Lord Marshall. There's a big fight and Riddick is now the head of the Necromongers. 

It's been years since I've seen the movie. For some reason it didn't do well at the box office or with the critics. I enjoyed it then and still do. Last year I bought the Blu-ray set with all three movies, still haven't watched it. I will at some point.

Jim Ripple's Robotor 1935 Based on the 1929 Ukrainian novel Iron Riot by Volodimir Vladko, screenplay by Georgly Grebnev, directed by Alexandr Andriyevsky. A Russian film set in some unknown capitalist country where the locals speak English.

Jim Ripple is a robot designer, he's trying to make robots to replace the workers on an assembly line. He thinks that robots will bring the price of goods down and destroy capitalism. Things don't go so well with that plan, the workers strike and the company uses the robots against them. Poor Jim is killed and trampled by the robots.

It's kind of interesting but rather dull at times. I wouldn't need to watch it again.

Ludwig Series 1 2024

Ludwig Series 1 2024 Created and written by Mark Brotherhood, directed by Robert McKillop and Jill Robertson. A BBC comedy drama series with David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin.

John Taylor is a reclusive man who creates puzzles for a living. He uses the name Ludwig for his puzzle work, he desires the anonymity, the name was born from his  passion for Beethoven. John rarely leaves his house, he's been living in his parent's house, he was born there, he grew up there. His father ran away over 30 years ago, they never saw him again, his mother passed away more recently.

John has a twin brother called James, that him in the middle of the picture. James is marrying Lucy. She was their next door neighbor since they were all kids. John had feelings for Lucy but James beat him to the church. John settled for being a famous puzzle creator who still uses a land line. 

One day Lucy calls, she lives in Cambridge and John hasn't seen her for a while. He rarely comes to visit, they don't call much, he stayed home instead of going to his mother's funeral. Lucy calls asking for a big favor, she wants him to get in the taxi she's sent and come to Cambridge. John goes to Cambridge, Lucy shows him a letter from James, the letter tells her to give his boss his resignation letter and leave Cambridge. John finds a cypher in the letter telling Lucy James loves  her and always will.

Lucy schools John on the police station and off he goes. That's some of the police James worked with up above. John isn't good at driving but he gets the police station. John's not good at parking but he gets the car parked between some lines. Inside the building things get worse, John's not so good with people and places. All the noise frightens him. Lucy's info is out of date, John has a new partner and there are other co-workers he's got no idea about. Luckily John's new partner whisks him away to a stabbing.

Once I had watched the first episode I polished off the rest, one after another, all 6 episodes. In a recent interview with David he said the show was a cozy type of mystery, it's hardly gruesome, there's no autopsy to look away from. The show has a nice sense of humor. I laughed out loud three times in the first episode. The script, cast, production and music are all working nicely together. I'd read some comments complaining about the music intruding over the dialog. I just re-watched the first episode again and I can't see it. The music and the sound design work hand in hand to enhance the story. The cinematography, the direction, the editing are a joy to watch. Cambridge is a beautiful place.

I enjoyed this more than the mystery shows I've been watching in 2024. It might be my favorite show this year, still a ways to go, but probably. I thought it was easily as good as last year's favorite mystery show, Deadloch. Ludwig is not streaming in the US but I hope it will soon. You can see the first episode on Dailymotion.

Leptirica 1973

Leptirica 1973 Based on the 1880 short story After Ninety Years by Milovan Glišić, written, screenplay and direction by Đorđe Kadijević. A Yugoslav made for TV horror film that's often said to be the first real horror film made in Serbia and Yugoslav. It's part of the All The Haunts Be Ours from Severin. It's called The She-Butterfly in the US.

The town miller gets a visit at night by a creature that bites his neck until he's dead. The next morning the body is discovered by a local who then reports it to the mayor. The town priest discusses with the mayor and some locals that this is the 4th murder at the mill. No one wants to work the job, suspecting that a vampire is killing the millers.

A young man from a nearby town wants to marry a young woman but the father isn't too keen on his daughter marrying a man with little money. The young man takes the job at the mill. The vampire visits him but the young man hides in the attic. After his description of the creature the villagers are convinced that it is a vampire. They use a black stallion to find the grave of the vampire. They nail the coffin with a hawthorn stake and pour oil on it. A butterfly escapes from the coffin but they don't catch it.

The locals steal the young woman from her strict father and make arrangements to marry her off to the young man. An old woman is watching to see that the couple don't hook up in the night. She falls asleep and the young woman escapes. She visits the young man and he finds a black hole between her breasts. She turns into the vampire and the young man has to poke her with a stick. The movie ends with the young man lying on the ground with a butterfly moving in his hair.

I liked it more than I thought I would. It's vampire creature is different than the average vampire in film, very beast like. The movie looks OK. I'd watch it again someday. You can see a copy over at the Internet Archive. Link above.

Science Fiction Sunday 813

Alien Hunter 2003 Written by Boaz Davidson and J S Cardone, directed by Ronald Klauss. An American Bulgarian co-production.

James Spader is a cryptologist that studies signals from space. He's worked for SETI in the past but currently he's working at University of California at Berkley. He gets invited to observe an object buried in the snow in Antarctica. It's giving off a signal that seems alien. The object has been retrieved and taken to a genetically modified plant research station.

They cut open the object just before James figures out the code on the signal. It says DO NO OPEN but it's too late and the alien gets out. The critter releases a virus that kills organic matter. They battle the creature and kill it. The US government isn't wanting to let the virus get out of the research station so they hire the Russians to toss a nuke into the place. Lucky for James and the few people that are left the aliens show up and rescue them. Off they go bathed in the light of the nuclear glow.

The first half the movie is fairly good but it gets less interesting after the alien gets out. I watched to the end but doubt I'd bother with it again.

Red Rover 2010 Written by Shane Belcort and Duane Murray, directed by Shane Belcort. A Canadian film.

I thought I would check this out because it's main character is played by Kristian Bruun, he also played Constable Jackson on Murdoch Mysteries. He's a dumb policeman in that show. Sadly here he's a weak character who's living in the basement of his house while his girlfriend lives in the rest of the house with her new boyfriend. The couple want to buy Kristian's share of the house. He gets the paperwork the same day he gets fired. He's not got much good going on in his life.

Kristian meets a loud and annoying young woman who's handing out flyers for a reality show set on Mars. The studio will pay NASA to send some people to Mars. The trip is one way. People on Earth can watch them to see if they live or die. Kristian and the young woman have a bit of a fling and she drops him. He spends the rest of the movie moping about. Kristian gets accepted for the Mars shot but turns it down. Kristian and the annoying gal have a bit of a reconcile before the end credits run.

There's nothing really SF about the film other than the hint of space travel to Mars. A real bore most of the time. I should have given it a miss.

Alpha Gateway 2017 Written by John V Soto and Michael White, directed by John V Solo. An Australian film.

A scientist called Jane has invented a matter transporter. Before the movie starts her husband had died in a car accident. She's trying to work through that with her two teenage children. Back at her lab there's a bit of a breakthrough. They've established a connection with another planet. She sends a camera through and the video shows a woman scientist who looks like Jane. She chances a trip to the planet and to look for the man who looks like her husband. She takes him back to Earth where he proves to be a different sort of man. He kills a man in a park, he kills Jane's co-worker, he nearly kills Jane before she knocks him out. He's given a one way trip to a horrible place far away. It's all pretty vague. There's a poor ending.

I was disappointed for the most part. Not something I'd want to watch again.