The Black Castle (1952)
Feb 17, 2015Mad Aristocrat
A luridly entertaining effort starring Boris Karloff as a mad 19th Century aristocrat. This sits halfway between being a B-budget historical drama and a horror film
Michael Pate
The Maze (1953)
May 7, 2020Sinister Scottish Castle
William Cameron Menzies built a standout genre reputation with films like Things to Come and Invaders from Mars. This is a haunted house film, albeit with an ending that goes into WTF territory. Menzies was also a production designer and his films come with a design scheme superbly attuned to the mood of the film
Curse of the Undead (1959)
Jan 30, 2015Vampire Western
The world's first vampire Western featuring a vampire gunslinger. Today it'd be called Cowboys vs Vampires but such casual genre cross-hatching didn't exist back then and it astride two genres with not uninteresting results
Beauty and the Beast (1961)
Sep 26, 2000Fairy-Tale
Largely forgotten version of the fairytale that is too rudimentary and pedestrian to find much flight of fantasy compared to other classic versions
Tower of London (1962)
Dec 18, 2000Richard III Historical Horror
This is essentially Shakespeare's Richard III mounted as a horror film. Roger Corman and Vincent Price take time away in the midst of their Edgar Allan Poe adaptations to turn the same style to matters historical
The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
Nov 21, 2003Superhero Spoof
Witty and overlooked parody of the superhero with Alan Arkin as a retired superhero trying to get back into the game. Made before superhero films became big and has a number of charms that were ahead of its time