Monster Movies: Classic
Monster Movies I have seen. In general, "classic" is pre-1970.
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- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsCharles HerbertJo MorrowMartin MilnerA family inherits a house with 12 ghosts who want a 13th.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsGlenn LanganCathy DownsWilliam HudsonA military officer survives a nuclear blast, only to begin to uncontrollably grow into an increasingly unstable giant.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsSally FraserRoger PaceDuncan 'Dean' ParkinGlenn Manning, "The Amazing Colossal Man," believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry.
- DirectorIb MelchiorStarsGerald MohrNora HaydenLes TremayneOne of only two survivors from a Martian expedition is so traumatized she doesn't remember the circumstances of the trip.
- DirectorAnton Giulio MajanoStarsAlberto LupoSusanne LoretSergio FantoniAn exotic dancer is disfigured in a car accident. A scientist develops a treatment that restores her beauty. To preserve her appearance the doctor must give her additional treatments using glands taken from murdered women.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsRichard GarlandPamela DuncanRussell JohnsonScientists become trapped on a shrinking island with intelligent, murderous giant crabs.
- DirectorBernard L. KowalskiStarsKen ClarkYvette VickersJan ShepardA backwoods game warden and a local doctor discover that giant leeches are responsible for disappearances and deaths in a local swamp, but the local police don't believe them.An above-average creature feature, with decent acting and a completely coherent story. The leeches actually appear throughout the movie instead of just at the end, but are used sparingly enough that they don't become dull. (6/10)
- DirectorRafael PortilloStarsRamón GayRosita ArenasCrox AlvaradoA mad doctor builds a robot in order to steal a valuable Aztec treasure from a tomb guarded by a centuries-old living mummy.
- DirectorJon HallStarsJon HallSue CaseyWalker EdmistonSurfers are being brutally murdered. Is the culprit a sea monster or just one of the teens' jealous parents?A movie that seems like it was supposed to be a comedy, but someone forgot to tell the director. It's about as 60s as you can get, filled with swingin' youths dancing on the beach and... having a weird singalong with a lion puppet? It's just kind of a movie where things happen, and none of it ever amounts to making sense.
4/10 - DirectorMonte HellmanStarsMichael ForestSheila NoonanFrank WolffA group of gold thieves pull of a heist and flee into the snowy wilderness, only to be pursued by a horrible, spider-like monster.A movie that's fairly decent on its own—at least by the standards of Roger Cormon monster moves at least—with just a little bit of distinctiveness coming from its snowy mountain setting. However, the real interesting thing about this movie is the fact that it's story is just a reworking of the script from an earlier non-monster movie, Naked Paradise, and would later be reworked again into Creature from the Haunted Sea. Making it this weird middle step in a transition of the same story from serious crime drama to wacky monster movie parody. As well as an insightful look into independent filmmaking before home video was a thing. All three of those moves were released two years apart, making it unlikely that audiences would notice that they used the same script three times.
5/10 - DirectorEdward NassourIsmael RodríguezStarsGuy MadisonPatricia MedinaCarlos RivasAn American cowboy living in Mexico discovers his cattle are being eaten by a giant prehistoric dinosaur.
- DirectorColeman FrancisStarsDouglas MellorBarbara FrancisBing StaffordA defecting Soviet scientist is hit by a nuclear explosion near Yucca Flats and roams around as a beast.A movie based entirely around the star power of Tor Johnson... and the power of deceptive advertising. Although you do have to admire a film so cheap that it was specifically shot to never show anyone talking. (2/10)
- DirectorDavid KramarskyRoger CormanLou PlaceStarsPaul BirchLorna ThayerDona ColeA dysfunctional family operating an isolated date farm in the California desert is threatened by the arrival of an extra-terrestrial.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsPeter GravesPeggie CastleMorris AnkrumEnterprising journalist Audrey Ames (Peggie Castle) is determined to get the scoop on enormous grasshoppers that were accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm, and she endeavors to save Chicago despite a military cover-up.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsRichard DenningMara CordayCarlos RivasVolcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.
- DirectorBruno VeSotaStarsEd NelsonAlan Jay FactorCornelius KeefeThe inhabitants of a small Illinois town begin disappearing after a strange cone is found sticking out of the ground nearby.An invasion of alien parasites tasking over people's bodies isn't exactly a new concept, nor was it in 1958, but this movie still does that concept fairly well. They also knew well enough to only actually show the alien pasties sparingly, as they do become progressively less intimidating the longer you look at them. Overall, just a pretty good 50's monster movie, helped quite a bit by its 61-minute runtime, not giving them the time for the kind of long uneventful stretches of film that you tend to encounter in other similar movies.
7/10 - DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
- DirectorChano UruetaStarsAbel SalazarAriadne WelterDavid SilvaIn 1661 Mexico, the Baron Vitelius of Astara is sentenced to be burned alive by the Holy Inquisition of Mexico for witchcraft, necromancy, and other crimes. As he dies, the Baron swears vengeance against the descendants of the Inquisitors. 300 years later, a comet which was passing overhead on the night of the Baron's execution returns to earth, bringing with it the Baron in the form of a horrible, brain-eating monster that terrorizes the Inquisitor's descendants.An okay monster movie, everyone does a good job, but it very much lands in the middle of the road. Interesting note: The actor who plays the titular baron was also the film's producer, which may explain why his character ends up kissing almost every woman in the movie.
5/10 - DirectorRiccardo FredaMario BavaStarsJohn MerivaleDidi SullivanGérard HerterA team of archaeologists in Mexico encounter an amorphous, blob-like monster that appears to be connected with the collapse of the Mayan civilization.
- DirectorQuentin LawrenceStarsForrest TuckerLaurence PayneJennifer JayneA series of decapitations on a Swiss mountainside appear to be connected to a mysterious radioactive cloud.A movie that's... fine, but marketed so heavily around the titular creature that if you go into it expecting a crawling eye, it can be a bit disappointing just how little of it you actually get to see. (5/10)
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsJohn AgarLori NelsonJohn BromfieldMen capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsAntony CarboneBetsy Jones-MorelandRobert TowneA crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is real.
- DirectorVic SavageStarsVic SavageShannon O'NeilWilliam ThourlbyA newlywed sheriff tries to stop a shambling monster that has emerged from a spaceship to eat the citizens of an American town.Most monster movies opt for a creature that is at least vaguely humanoid or animalistic, but The Creeping Terror provides an alien that is genuinely... alien. Unfortunately, that is the only positive thing that can be said about it. (3/10)
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsRichard AndersonElaine EdwardsAdele MaraCalcified Pompeii gladiator kidnaps a scientist's girlfriend in modern-day Naples, Italy.Another 1950s "Attack of the thing" movie. This time it's a petrified man from Pompeii, but aside from the different thing it's the same old collection of tropes, a random creature, inexplicable science, past life regression, very much a greatest hits of monster movie plot points. And while their choice of monster is interesting, it is a little too by the book to really make much impact. Also, the ending is beyond anticlimactic.
4/10 - DirectorSteve SekelyFreddie FrancisStarsHoward KeelNicole MaureyJanette ScottAfter an unusual meteor shower leaves most of the human population blind, a merchant navy officer must find a way to conquer tall, aggressive plants which are feeding on people and animals.A disaster/monster movie where people all over the world are blinded and stalked by giant carnivorous plants. People tend to focus on the killer plants, but the worldwide blindness is the really interesting part, showing how lost people are without their sight, and how quickly society breaks down when people panic. That being said, the plants are also cool. I really enjoy it when the monsters are non-vertebrates, and the triffids and very far away from a guy in a rubber suit. My only real complaint is that the plot has a tendency to jump forward without much warning or explanation.
6/10