Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster (1965)
Apr 19, 2007Amok Android vs Alien Invaders
A film with a bad movie reputation where a NASA android returns to Earth damaged and goes amok where it tackles alien invaders come to Earth to abduct women
James Karen
Hercules in New York (1970)
Feb 2, 2003Greek Mythological Hero in the Present/Comedy
A not terribly funny parody of the Italian-made Hercules films of the 1960s. This is mostly known for featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger (billed as Arnold Strong) in his first acting role
The China Syndrome (1979)
Jan 8, 2001Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Strong and effective dramatic film released only three weeks before the real-life Three Mile Island nuclear accident. Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas play a tv camera crew caught in the midst of a nuclear reactor meltdown
Poltergeist (1982)
Sep 5, 2002Haunting
Debate will always rage as to whether this was directed by Tobe Hooper or executive producer Steven Spielberg. It doesn't alter the fact that it is a superlative rollercoaster of a ghost story that doesn't always make sense but pulls its effects off flawlessly
Time Walker (1982)
Jan 4, 2017Mummy from Outer Space
I had heard about this for years – it had a reputation as ‘the mummy from outer space film'. Seen, it proves disappointingly routine – all the tomb raiding is over after the first scene and the rest is little more than a slasher movie with the mummy akin to a hockey-masked maniac wandering a campus killing co-eds
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Dec 6, 2001Zombies/Black Comedy
Spinoff of Night of the Living Dead that emerged from a complicated copyright split with George Romero. Director Dan O'Bannon substitutes black humour to deliver an hilariously different take
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Jun 9, 2003Alien Body Snatchers
Tobe Hooper's remake of the 1950s alien invaders classic for Cannon Films has much better effects and more technical proficient than the original but misses any of its paranoid, alienated mood
Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
Apr 30, 2015Zombie Comedy
Dan O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead came with a cheerfully black cynicism that was a wonderfully fresh alternative to George Romero amid the 1980s zombie fad – this sequel has a painfully unfunny lameness that could not sit at more removed extreme to that
The Willies (1990)
Dec 14, 2023Horror Anthology
A horror anthology that ostensibly tells a series of children’s tales but heads for an admirable grotesquerie
The Unborn (1991)
Jul 24, 2024Sinister Pregnancy
Roger Corman produced film where Brooke Adams realises that something sinister might be happening with her pregnancy
Universal Horror (1998)
Feb 12, 2005Classic Horror Documentary
Documentary about the Golden Age of Horror at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 40s (although it does touch on works from other studios too). The topic is covered with an impressive degree of detail
Freedom Strike (1998)
Nov 18, 2007Action Film/Advanced Weaponry
Michael Dudikoff-starring action film about the use of advanced technology during a Middle Eastern war as Syrian terrorists hijack and threaten to fire US nuclear missles
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Oct 21, 2001Hollywood Noir/Surrealism
David Lynch work of Hollywood noir in which novice actress Naomi Watts (in the role that made her name) is drawn into a surreal idenity blurring mystery. As always with Lynch, this baffling, weird and mesmerising
Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007)
Aug 13, 20091950s SF Parody/Invading Alien Foreheads
From Larry Blamire, a deliberately ridiculous spoof of the 1950s alien invasion film. Blamire's dialogue and the deadpan with which everybody plays is frequently hilarious
Dark and Stormy Night (2009)
Jun 13, 2013Old Dark House Parody
Larry Blamire, a director who specialises in genre parodies, takes on the Old Dark House thriller. Not quite up there with Blamire's funniest films, nevertheless, the film conducts some amusing spoofs of the form