The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Nov 21, 2013Old Dark House Comedy
The 1939 Bob Hope comedy remake of The Cat and the Canary was a big hit; here he and Paulette Goddard are put through the same in what is all but a sequel. Hope is on top form again
Richard Carlson
Hold That Ghost (1941)
Jul 15, 2000Two Idiots in a Haunted House
The fourth of Abbott and Costello's films, a knockoff of the then recent hit of the Bob Hope remake of The Cat and the Canary involving much comedic running around a supposedly haunted mansion
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
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Jul 28, 2002Alien Body Snatchers
The very first alien body snatchers film. With Jack Arnold's eerily haunted landscapes and a memorably literate Ray Bradbury script, this is one of the classic SF films of the 1950s era
The Magnetic Monster (1953)
Feb 6, 2014Radioactive Isotope Amok
One of the most unique 1950s atomic monster movies – in which the monster is an amok radioactive isotope. Low-budget SF film that is pushed into the decidedly watchable by a driving documentary-like urgency and in being one of the few 1950s SF films reasonably grounded in scientific methodology
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Jan 5, 2000Prehistoric Monster
A classic 1950s monster movie where an expedition up the Amazon discovers a Gill Man. Here an average story is propelled into the memorable by Jack Arnold's moody direction. Two sequels followed.
Riders to the Stars (1954)
May 2, 2000Space Launch
An film from the early days of the Space Age about the attempts to capture meteorites to use as building for rockets. The basic premise is scientifically preposterous but the film is not uninteresting
Tormented (1960)
Jan 12, 2014Haunting
Bert I. Gordon, a director known for his cheapo 1950s giant bug film, here ventures into the ghost story but delivers it in terms crude and absurdly heavy-handed pop-up effects
The Power (1968)
Apr 1, 2003Psychic Supermind
The second-to-last film produced by the legendary George Pal, concerning people hunted by a psychic supermind
The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
May 3, 2001Dinosaur Discovered
Ray Harryhausen film featuring cowboys roping dinosaurs. The plot rehashes King Kong but with a dinosaur instead of an ape however it is Harryhausen’s amazing stop-motion animation effects that make the film watchable