FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL

1974/Director: Terence Fisher/Writer: Anthony Hinds

Cast: Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, Madeline Smith, David Prowse, John Stratton, Michael Ward, Elsie Wagstaff, Norman Mitchell

This was the last of the Hammer Frankenstein series and it actually takes up where Frankenstein Must be Destroyed left off as the prior film, The Horror of Frankenstein, broke the continuity of the films by going back to when Frankenstein was younger. Horror also suffered a bit by the absences of Terrence Fisher as director and Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein, but more on that film another post. Cushing and Fisher are both back for this 1974 film, as are Anthony Hinds (writing as James Elder) and Hammer composer James Bernard. In a couple more years Hammer would see itself all but out of business as the British film company that revived Gothic horror and with Monster from Hell they ended on a pretty good note. The only flaws for me are the title that does not really suit the film’s atmosphere and the rather shoddy monster played by David Prowse (Darth Vader) who also played the creature in Horror of Frankenstein as well. There were understandable budget constraints with the film since Hammer itself was going under. The idea of some sort of Neolithic monster is not in and of itself that bad and certainly the monster here is one of the most unique in the annals of Frankenstein films. I think it could have worked better really with less rubber makeup and poorly applied fake body hair. But it is easily over looked after a while really. Some people have criticized Madeline Smith’s as the mute assistant Angel but I liked it. The close ups of her face are beautiful and the innocent character’s charm may have been soiled by exploiting her ample endowments with a title corset as is known to be the attire of most Hammer queens.

MORE FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL HERE >>

This was to be the twenty women I admire meme. My concern when I started this post was could I come up twenty  women I truly admire in the entertainment business. Not just females I drool over, though a couple here fall into that category as well. After it I got going I had to actually trim it down to 25 from 29 and slow myself down. While to me most all of this women are extremely beautiful there is some other quality I am attracted to than there physical charms alone. Some survival quality that helped them to stay afloat in a tough business ran, mostly, by tough men with flexible scruples. Some of them did not always fair so well in the end but they are all intelligent fighters.

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HOMEMADE CLIP OF ACTION SCENES

FROM THE MACHINE GIRL

“This is one of the best movies ever made!

Upskirt karate rules!”

Ghidorah from Chainsaw Maintenance

THE MACHINE GIRL

2008/Director: Noboru Iguchi/Writer: Noboru Iguchi

Cast: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentaro Shimazu, Honoka, Nobuhiro Nishihara

Noburu Iguchi

The director of Sudakan Boy (which I have queued up to see soon) Noburu Iguchi basically delivers the gory goods in this TokyoShock science-fiction Yakuza revenge blood bath starring gravure model Minase Yashiro. Also in the mix are Japanese AV stars Asami and Honoka. Now I am far from an expert in these matters (though I have done ample research) but I am pretty sure the difference in the terms is that a gravure (a term for how photos are developed for glossy magazines) models pose provocatively but rarely nude or in explicit sexual situations. An AV (adult video) star on the other hand basically does everything you can image plus some things you never have and with the cutest, most innocent faces imaginable. Well there is no nudity in The Machine Girl so don’t get excited. What flesh we see is usually covered in blood and slimy internal organs. While the CGI effects have been criticized online here I have seen much worse and had no major problems myself. The film never looked like a video game to me. If more Japanese horror/action/school girl gore films were being done like this I would praise the genre more rather than berate it or struggle to find kinder words.

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THE LEECH WOMAN

1960/Director:Edward Dein/Writers: David Duncan (writer), Ben Pivar (story)

Cast: Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, Phillip Terry, Gloria Talbott, John Van Dreelen, Estelle Hemsley

The Leech woman is often given credit for being one of the better budget horror movies from the 50’s and 60’s and it frankly deserves it. It is well acted and the cast is led by two of the most beautiful faces from the time, Coleen Gray (Nightmare Alley, the Vampire) and Gloria Talbott (I Married a Monster from Outer Space). The story is not terrible by any stretch and the photography is above average except for some cheesy stock footage in the jungle sequences, but that is to be forgiven since most films from the period used stack footage. The story, while technically a horror or science fiction film, has no freaky rubber suit monsters or radioactive bugs menacing small town communities. What it has instead is a woman who finds herself getting older and less attractive while trapped in a loveless marriage desperately wants her life to change. The title of the film seems to suggest there will be some sort of mutation between a human woman and a leech but in fact what is sucked out of her victims (men, who all deserve it) is their life force.

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STAR 80

1983/ Director: Bob Fosse/ Writers: Teresa Carpenter (article), Bob Fosse (screenplay)

Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees, David Clennon, Josh Mostel, Lisa Gordon

Star 80 is the 1983 film by Bob Fosse that deals graphically and unflinchingly with the rise of Playboy Playmate of the year Dorothy Stratten to modest fame and her brutal murder by her controlling and fame obsessed husband Paul Snider. The film is done in a type of documentary style with actors playing the significant people in Dorothy’s life adding hindsight to the event. We know what the ending of the film will be and Fosse takes us directly right to the bloody scene itself in and then retells the story in various flashbacks and narrations. While perhaps not Fosse’s best movie it is a well shot and edited film that has actually been criticized for dealing with the subject matter in such a glossy and stylish manner. It is significant for Fosse as well in that it is the last film this great director ever directed. He went on to work in other areas of film making and production. This it too bad really as this is the same skilled director who also gave movie goers Lenny and All That Jazz.

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I typically shy away from doing R.I.P posts. I just really do not know what to say that will do justice to the person’s life. The net right now is inundated with obits and tributes to these two extraordinary people who passed away recently within about a week of one another. They both have had such a impact on a certain area of my life I felt the need to say a little something. No mini-bios or anything like that. Maybe another day. For now just let me express my sadness at their deaths, though both did live long and adventure filled lives of the type the rest of us mere mortals can only dream of.

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