The Monster Squad (1987)
Directed by Fred Dekker
Written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker
Starring Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Stephen Macht, Duncan Regehr, and Tom Noonan
The monsters are in a squad but the Monster Squad has no monsters.
In the 1940s, Universal was desperate to keep raking in that sweet monster movie cash but only had a few new monsters in their roster. Sequels weren’t quite doing it, so someone hit on the idea of having a few of them meet. After Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man met with success, Dracula was tossed into the mix (almost literally) for House of Frankenstein and then House of Dracula. The Mummy was supposed to be worked in somewhere, but that plan never came to fruition. Fortunately, The Monster Squad corrects this oversight.
The Long Hair of Death (1964)
aka I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte
Directed by Antonio Margheriti as Anthony Dawson
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi (as Julian Berry), Tonino Valerii (as Robert Bohr), and Antonio Margheriti
Starring Barbara Steele, George Ardisson, Halina Zalewska, Umberto Raho, and Laura Nucci
In Italian horror movies, crazy titles are a design feature.
Black Sunday catapulted actress Barbara Steele and director Mario Bava to international attention. The story of a vengeful witch returned from the dead made a lasting impression with its stylish sets and star’s gaunt beauty. It was so popular that it established the “Barbara Steele” role, which in The Long Hair of Death is conveniently played by Barbara Steele herself.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Bert Batt and Anthony Nelson Keys
Starring Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Freddie Jones, Simon Ward, Thorley Walters, Maxine Audley, and George Pravda
Incontrovertible statement.
Peter Cushing starred as Baron Frankenstein in six Hammer films, which is an awful lot of appearances as the same character. You might expect that as the series went on he’d start phoning in his performances, but if so then you don’t know Peter Cushing. Not only was he a consummate professional, but Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed — the fifth in the series — is 98% of his best turn as the relentless Baron.
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
Directed by John Hough
Written by Robert M. Young
Based on the book by Alexander Key
Starring Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, and Denver Pyle
The title animation makes the dogs seem like they’ll be important.
If you asked me who my favorite child actor at Disney was when I was growing up, I’d say Jodie Foster. Her hidden-treasure movie Candleshoe lodged in my brain and never left. But if for some reason you’d excluded Foster from the choices, I’d definitely give you a give you two answers: Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann. They seemed to be everywhere, and most importantly they were Tia and Tony Malone: the Witch Mountain kids.
Doctor Mordrid (1992)
Directed by Albert and Charles Band
Written by Charles Band and C. Courtney Joyner
Starring Jeffrey Combs, Yvette Nipar, Jay Acovone, Keith Coulouris, and Brian Thompson
Doctor Mordrid’s occult library.
Remember being a kid. Maybe you liked chocolate bars. Perhaps it was gum drops. Think back to when you first discovered that you could have so much of it that it stopped tasting great. Did you keep going? Did you have so much that you got a stomach ache? Did you get sick? For me, watching Doctor Mordrid was a lot like that.
Cave-In! (1983)
Directed by Georg Fenady
Written by Norman Katkov
Starring Dennis Cole, Susan Sullivan, Leslie Nielsen, Julie Sommars, Ray Milland, Sheila Larken, and James Olson
There is no question what this movie will be about.
Irwin Allen was the legendary producer behind Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (film and show), The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and the shows Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants. He also let this made-for-TV movie happen, which is just the sort of thing that’s bound to turn up eventually on a lengthy CV.
Brain Dead (1990)
Directed by Adam Simon
Written by Charles Beaumont and Adam Simon
Starring Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton, Bud Cort, Nicholas Pryor, Patricia Charbonneau, and George Kennedy
The title is the only thing about the movie that’s simple.
In 1990, theater-goers were astonished by the multi-layered, complex thriller Jacob’s Ladder. The big-budget film, starring Tim Robbins as a Vietnam War veteran whose life was collapsing in a Kafkaesque spiral of paranoia and hallucinations, quickly built a small but loyal following and influenced video games (Silent Hill), TV (American Horror Story: Asylum), and other films (The Sixth Sense, arguably included). Ten months earlier, Brain Dead had come out and quickly sunken to the murky depths of cult cinema.
The Attic (1980)
Directed by George Edwards and Gary Graver
Written by Tony Crechales and George Edwards
Starring Carrie Snodgress, Ray Milland, Ruth Cox, Rosemary Murphy
THE ATTIC: the terrifying story of a librarian who loves monkeys.
The 1973 film The Killing Way presented the gruesome murders of women that follow the release of a man convicted of rape. I’ve never seen it, but that’s okay. It’s irrelevant for this review except for its connection to The Attic. You see, the main characters of The Attic — Louise Elmore and her father Wendell — were side characters in The Killing Way, played by Luana Anders and Peter Brocco. Writers Tony Crechales and George Edwards decided to reuse them here, making it not quite a sequel but at the least a shared universe. Fortunately, this loose connection means that you can enjoy The Attic without having seen The Killing Way.
Web of the Big Damn Spider 
