I watched Billy the Kid vs. Dracula on Svengoolie. This movie is about as good as it sounds. John Carradine, Dracula, said it was the worst role he had ever performed. The director, William Beaudine, was known for shooting movies fast, and this one was shot in 8 days. Kurt Russell’s father, Bing, played Dan ‘Red’ Thorpe the ex-foreman role.
Virginia Christine, Eva Oster – the grieving traveler, played Mrs Olsen in the old Folgers Coffee commercials. I give this movie, 1.4 out of 5 stars.
Warren Reed plays Pepe Valiente, the hunter protecting the goat herds, would later play Abdul in the Beatle’s movie HELP. This is a very good movie that I will give 3.75 out of 5 stars.
Some of the incidental music, in the film, was used in the Flash Gordon series. The movie, Weird Science, would use the famous line from this movie, “She’s Alive, Alive” spoken by Dr. Frankenstein. The song Weird Science by Danny Elfman’s Oingo Boingo would also use this quote. I will give this 75 minute movie 4 out of 5 stars.
Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, the film was a commercial success upon release, and was generally well-received by both critics and audiences. It spawned a number ofsequels and spin-offs, and has had a significant impact on popular culture, with the imagery of a scientist’s hunchbacked assistant—as well as the film’s depiction of Frankenstein’s monster—becoming iconic. In 1991, the United States Library of Congress selected Frankenstein for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”[4]
I watched “The Mummy’s Tomb” on Svengoolie, the 1942 American horror film produced by Ben Pivar for Universal Pictures Co., directed by Harold Young, and starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis the mummy. It is the first of three sequels to that company’s The Mummy’s Hand of 1940. The movie also stars Elyse Knox. Born 12/14/1917 – 02/16/2012 she was married to 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon in 1948. She had three children,
Kelly who married John Delorean and was famous for her series of Tic Tac commercials that started in 1968, Kristen who married Ricky Nelson and had 4 children, Tracy (Square Pegs-shown here-
and Father Dowling Mysteries); Gunner and Matthew (the rock band Nelson) and Sam. Her third is Mark Harmon, played quarterback at UCLA and was in St. Elsewhere and NCIS.
As Count Dracula, Lee fixed the image of the fanged vampire in popular culture.Christopher Frayling writes, “Dracula introduced fangs, red contact lenses, décolletage, ready-prepared wooden stakes and – in the celebrated credits sequence – blood being spattered from off-screen over the Count’s coffin.”[5] Lee also introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character, with Tim Stanley stating, “Lee’s sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud”.
In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw Dracula ranked the 65th best British film ever. Empire magazine ranked Lee’s portrayal as Count Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time.
Watched the 1944 horror movie “Cry of the Werewolf” on Svengoolie. I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
[From Wikipedia] Cry of the Werewolf, also known as Daughter of the Werewolf, is a 1944 American horror film starring Nina Foch, based on a story by Griffin Jay and directed by Henry Levin.
A Romani princess descended from Marie LaTour has the ability to change into a wolf at will, just like her late mother. When she learns that Marie LaTour’s tomb has been discovered, she decides to use her talent to kill everyone who knows the location, because it is a sacred secret that only her people are allowed to know.
The action of this film, which continues the story of Kharis and his beloved Princess Ananka, is supposed to take place in the same swampy location that was the setting of The Mummy’s Ghost.
But while the earlier movie was explicitly set in rural Massachusetts, this film strongly implies that the swamp is in Louisiana, with references to Cajuns and bayous. Furthermore, if one follows the continuity of the “Kharis” series, this film would have to take place in the late 1990s.
