I got the second box set watched and boy, I sure can't recommend much about it. It's really only 7 movies. I'll explain as I go along. This was also $11.49 at Amazon. I think it's $9.95 at Best Buy but I'd have to pay tax so it's only about 80 cents I'm out. Since it came in the mail I didn't have to go anywhere to pick it up. It also turns out to be the box with the most movies I already have. Half of them are in one or another of those 50 movie packs that I bought a couple of years ago. Even in the 50 movie packs there is some duplication.
I watched They Saved Hitler's Brain. It's the reason I said there are only 7 movies here. It's Madmen of Mandoras, which I watched second, with some extra footage thrown in to pad it out for TV. MoM came out in 1963 and is only 74 minutes. TSHB came out later, sometime into the 70's, and is 91 minutes. The re-title is a lie, they don't just save Hitler's brain, they save his whole head. It mugs at you during the film. That's it in the middle picture. It's in a round glass container with no top. There's some liquid in there and the whole thing sits on a device (old radio)to keep it alive. The head in the jar looks very much like the heads in jars in Futurama. The main story has a doctor being kidnapped and his daughter coming to look for him. A group of Nazi's hiding on the island of Mandoras have kidnapped the doctor to keep Hitler's head alive. The want to revive the Nazi Party and take over the world. And with all that potential the movie makers spoil it and turn in a piece of boring crap. The longer version adds some footage about a pair of secret agents which doesn't add much of anything. MoM only scores a 1.9 at the IMDb. Much deserved, though the mugging of the Hitler head is kind of funny. TSHB scores a 2.0 and it actually might be more than 5% better. Still the movies are sort of interesting from a "Look at that!" kind of POV and Hitler's head in a jar is fun.
Bloodlust! I already had. It's The Most Dangerous Game story filmed again in 1963. Some bored rich guy holes up on an island with some wild animals and a creepy servant. A boat gets stranded near the island and a pair of couples seeks shelter. Little do they know that shelter comes with a price. Before too long the truth comes out and the couples are running for their lives. Hunter guy likes to skin and mount his kills. Even the human ones. He's got a trophey room for the four legged kind and a secret cave below his house where he keeps the two legged variety. It's scores a 2.2 on the IMDb. Much better than the previous two. It's at least watchable.
Terrified was one I hadn't seen before. It's also from 1963 but a whole lot better than the previous group. A college guy is writing a paper on terror and the human mind when he's caught up in some real life terror. Some masked guy is scaring and killing people. That's pretty much it. There's a lot of talking and not too much else. Some running about in a ghost town near the end got a bit exciting. Like a good strong cup of tea. There's a bit of a twist at the end when the masked man is exposed. It gets a 4.8 on the IMDb.
The Creeping Terror was another title that's included in a couple of the 50 movie packs. It's not a bad film, it's an awful film. MST3K used it in the 6th season and it's often called one of the worst films of all time. It gets a nice 1.7 on the IMDb. An alien spaceship lands. An alien gets out and slowly crawls around eating people until it is killed. The monster is a poorly made puppet with 2 or 3 guys inside moving it around. Victims have to literally crawl into it to be eaten. There is nearly no dialog, and what there is, is poorly done. There's a lot of narration. It's just a poorly made film. There isn't any reason to watch it. No good actors, no good creatures, no good story. Just a no good movie. I think I have 5 copies of it. That's fucked up.
I hadn't seen Land of the Minotaur. It's a 1976 movie with Donald Pleasence and Peter Cushing that was also called The Devil's Men. The second title kind of sums it up. Devil cultists who sacrifice young men and women. Mostly they prey on tourists who come to Greece. Who really misses those people? Relatives in other countries that's who. Some of them come looking for a missing person or two. The strangers throw a monkey wrench into the cult's plans and things fall apart. Most everyone gets killed and in what seems much longer than 88 minutes the movie is over. There's a longer version that has more nudity and gore. There is also original music by Brian Eno. I can't remember much about it. It gets a 4.0 on the IMDb.
The Hearse is a haunting story from 1980. It's on one of those 50 movie packs. I still watched it again. This was a better print than the copy I had. It doesn't help much. A young woman moves from the city to a small town when she inherits her Aunt's house. The people in the town think the house is haunted and the aunt was a witch who worshipped the Devil. The young woman doesn't believe them so you know it's true. The witch has left her evil spirit behind and the young woman gets that stuck inside her. Yucck! Joseph Cotton plays a bastard lawyer. I think he gets run over by the hearse of the title. He was a jerk. He needed getting run over. The Hearse is kind of slow movin' and borin' at times. Not anything happening, uninteresting conversation. Some rare startle or creepy bit thrown in. The hearse turning up to scare our heroine. The end kind of poops out and the movie is over. It scores a 3.4 on the IMDb.
The Devil's Hand was also on one of those 50 movie packs. Might be the best of this lot, but I still don't need two. It gets a 4.3 on the IMDb. Some guy takes his girlfriend for a walk and they see dolls in a doll store that look just like them. The guy joins a devil cult. It seemed to happen just that fast. I'm stayin' out of doll stores. He has to fight his way out of the cult and rescue his girl. Not a great movie by any reconing, it's watchable and occasionally creepy. Shot in the late 50's the movie was released in 1962, so it's rather tame compared to todays fare. You can see a review and some pictures here. You can see the whole movie here after a commercial.
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