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Post by sadako on Sept 14, 2023 3:01:11 GMT
Mario Bavaās Planet of the Vampires (1965)
From Japan:
The Mysterians (1957)
Battle in Outer Space (1959)
Warning From Space (1956)
Gorath (1962)
The Human Vapour (1960)
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Sept 20, 2023 11:40:01 GMT
I just haven't had the time, or inclination, to really watch many this month. But for anyone interested here is the list of films I have watched this month so far, and a few brief notes for each I did at the time.
Not of This Earth (1957) Entertaining low budget Roger Corman SF film, released on a double bill with Attack of the Crab Monsters.
Battle Beyond the Sun (1962) Reedited and dubbed version of a Soviet film called Nebo Zovyot (1959). Roger Corman hired then film school student Francis Ford Coppola to do it. Amongst other things he added a pointless and stupid monster fight, complete with roars and other noises despite the asteroid they are on obviously having no atmosphere.The original effects are good in general however.
The original is based on Science for the time (1959). It's nearer Hard SF, Star Wars is Space Opera. But I suppose you need to give a drive in crowd a bit of action. I'm watching the original, and it has been changed quite radically. As you'd expect the original flows better. I'd say the enjoyment for the American audience would be the special effects.
Nebo Zovyot (1959)
The Slime People (1963) Made on a shoestring budget, most of the money seems to have been spent on the monster suits and the wardrobe of the lead actress. Filming locations included the butcher's shop belonging to the principle actor (who also directed) wife's father.
The Manster (The Split) (1959) Odd film, shot in Japan. I was expecting a real B-Movie, but it's production values are above that, it's an interesting watch, it has a sexual subtext rare for the time.
Tomorrow I'll Get Up And Scold Myself With Tea (1977) A Vault suggestion. A time travel comedy made in Czechoslovakia. Cleverly done. Thank you for this.
Amazing Transparent Man (1960) This was shot back-to-back with Beyond the Time Barrier, over a two week period. Short, underdeveloped, but amusing in places.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Sept 20, 2023 11:48:06 GMT
Mario Bavaās Planet of the Vampires (1965) From Japan: The Mysterians (1957) Battle in Outer Space (1959) Warning From Space (1956) Gorath (1962) The Human Vapour (1960) I've seen Planet of the Vampires and it was interesting, obviously influenced Alien, but I disliked the ending. Also I was slightly confused by it, but I can't really say by what without a major spoiler. Sets and costumes were individual and superb. The Human Vapour I keep seeing come up in recommendations of Japanese SF. I prefer watching subtitled foreign language films to dubbed, I don't know about you. |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 20, 2023 18:29:36 GMT
I prefer watching subtitled foreign language films to dubbed, I don't know about you. Totally agree. German TV is a massive fan of dubbed foreign language movies; seeing Westerns with gunslingers chatting away in German rather than the cowboy drawl is completely wrong... |
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Post by helrunar on Sept 20, 2023 19:52:49 GMT
You mean you don't get that feel of the Old Wild West with dialogue such as: Achtung, Billy! Halten Sie auf!
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Post by andydecker on Sept 21, 2023 8:26:25 GMT
You mean you don't get that feel of the Old Wild West with dialogue such as: Achtung, Billy! Halten Sie auf!
You meant Halten Sie ihn auf! to be correct.  |
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Post by Knygathin on Sept 21, 2023 9:55:03 GMT
I've seen Planet of the Vampires and it was interesting, obviously influenced Alien, but I disliked the ending. (1966) may also have inspired Alien. It is an English-speaking film, but uses footage from earlier Soviet films Nebo Zovyot (1959) and Mechte Navstrechu (1963). The monster in Queen of Blood was influenced from Clark Ashton Smith's short story "The Flower Women". |
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Post by helrunar on Sept 21, 2023 16:46:34 GMT
LOL! Thanks for the correction, Andreas! My poor broken German... college was a lonnngggg time ago, and nobody seems to do rep series of the German New Wave films I used to love seeing in the 70s and 80s, any longer.
cheers, Steve
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Post by helrunar on Sept 21, 2023 16:48:52 GMT
I enjoyed Queen of Blood more than Planet of the Vampires because of Florence Marly's creepy, weirdo, totally nonverbal performance. But Planet had superior art direction. Possibly that Hercules in the Realm of Hades picture (whose title I forget now) Bava did a couple of years prior was a trial run because the vampire planet looked distinctly hellish.
Hel.
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Post by Knygathin on Sept 21, 2023 18:02:51 GMT
I enjoyed Queen of Blood more than Planet of the Vampires because of Florence Marly's creepy, weirdo, totally nonverbal performance. ... Indeed. She reminds me of Barlow in Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot (1979). That's how creepy she is. |
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Oct 1, 2023 19:15:41 GMT
For anyone interested the SF films I watched in September were: 0: Not of This Earth (1957) 1: Battle Beyond the Sun (1962) 2: Nebo Zovyot (1959) 3: The Slime People (1963) 4: The Manster (The Split) (1959) 5: Tomorrow I'll Get Up And Scold Myself With Tea (1977) 6: The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) 7: The Deluge (1933) Early disaster movie in which a series of natural disasters devastate the planet leaving a handful of survivors. Not as gentle as you'd imagine given the age. Gritty themes are dealt with. Thought lost until an Italian dubbed print was found. 8: 1990: The Bronx Warriors. (1983) This Italian effort takes elements of various films, including The Warriors, and isn't particularly good. The leads are bland, and the bike gang leader looks more like he should be posing on a catwalk rather than leading a tough street gang. 9: Manhunt in Space (1954) Rocky Jones. Film made up of episodes from a kids TV series. From an age where childhood was more Innocent. 10: The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) Surprisingly well done sci-fi horror. Acting was of a good standard all-around 11: The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) 12: The Brain Eaters (1958) The Brain from Planet Arous was bad but fun. The Brain Eaters was just bad, and worst film I watched in the month, worse than the Ed Wood. Leonard Nimoy gets a small part and they spell his name wrong on the credits. 13: The Last Chase (1981) A plague allows a totalitarian regime to take control in the USA. Cars are banned, but Lee Majors has one hidden and plans to drive it to the free state of California
14: Escape From the Bronx (1983) Mindless sequel to The Bronx Warriors, with a massive kill count.
15: The Devil Bat (1940) Lethal aftershave attracts killer giant bats, in this poverty row Bela Lugosi as mad scientist effort. I have a soft spot for Bela Lugosi.
16: Black Oxen (1923) This was only the first 58 minutes (first two reels) of an 80 minute film about an elderly woman who is rejuvenated to her youthful beauty. Watched out of curiosity, and also because it had Corrine Griffith in the lead role, a major star at the time. (Silent film, I had to include one).
17: Bride of the Creature (1955) Lugosi and Ed Wood team up.
I don't like modern SF, hence its absence.
Let me know if you've seen any of these and if so what you thought of them. |
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Post by helrunar on Oct 1, 2023 19:59:00 GMT
Hi Anna,
Some interesting titles--not all of them are what I would regard as sf.
Have you watched all the episodes of the original early 1960s series THE OUTER LIMITS? There are some good stories there. There's this really weird one called "The Forms of Things Unknown" featuring the recently departed David McCallum that's quite bizarre--I really can't tell you what the gist of the story was, but it seemed to involve distortions of time, dimension and reality. Very unusually cerebral and creative for US TV of the period.
If you've never seen it, you might find the 1970s film PHASE IV interesting, particularly if you can find a version with the original ending (which the version I saw in the theater back at the time still had). It was quite strange--I wasn't sure just what to make of it, but I still recall the experience.
cheers, Hel.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Oct 3, 2023 23:18:18 GMT
Some are more horror, but are also SF in the same way as Frankenstein is. There are scientists (mad naturally, and foreign) behind the creatures. I'm not a fan of Space Opera SF like Star Wars.
I will have to look the David McCallum episode up.
Phase IV looks interesting, but when I looked for a copy online a while ago I couldn't find any to watch. Maybe I will put it on my Christmas list.
As this month is horror viewing month place your horror recommendations below. The more obscure the better.
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Post by samdawson on Oct 4, 2023 9:36:05 GMT
Seconding Helrunar, Phase IV is an interesting watch, but feels very flat if you rewatch it for the first time since the 70s and realise the ending you remembered has been removed (supposedly under studio pressure to make the film more commercially successful). It can be found on YouTube and is rather wonderful: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rMqT4GD944 |
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