Curt Siodmak

Trans-Atlantic Tunnel (1935)

Trans-Atlantic Tunnel (1935)
Rating: ★★
Jan 8, 2015Massive Engineering Project
Early sound era depiction of the attempts to build a tunnel between the UK and USA. The film conjures something of the epic architectural imagination of Metropolis but is crippled by dull, static scenes with characters sitting around talking (a novelty for early sound audiences)
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

The Invisible Woman (1940)

The Invisible Woman (1940)
Rating: ★★
Jun 9, 2015Universal Invisible Man Sequel
Third entry in Universal's Invisible Man series. Though less recognised, The Invisible Man series had a level of creativity higher than Universal's other monster series. This one plays everything for broad comedy
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Rating: ★★★★
Aug 30, 2001Voodoo/Psychological Ambiguity
One of the key films from the legendary Val Lewton, this exploits a topical interest in voodoo. As with Lewton's films, this sits in an ambiguous place that leaves the actuality of the supernatural uncertain
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

The Lady and the Monster (1944)

The Lady and the Monster (1944)
Rating: ★★★
Jan 21, 2016Evil Disembodied Brain/Mad Scientist Film
The first screen version of Donovan's Brain about a brain in a jar exerting mental control over a man's will. This has been considerably changed to become one of the era's mad scientist films
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category: ,
by

Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949)

Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949)
Rating: ★★
Feb 1, 2013Jungle Hero/Fountain of Youth
The first Tarzan film after Johnny Weissmuller's departure and replacement by a blank Lex Barker, although in all other ways is still the same tired formula. One of the few Tarzan films of the era to employ fantastic plot devices (a Fountain of Youth) but seems to have little idea what to do with it
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

The Magnetic Monster (1953)
Rating: ★★★
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
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)

Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
Rating: ★★
Nov 15, 2018Atomically-Revived Zombies
Atomic became the explain-all buzzword for almost every monster movie of the 1950s.This is the novelty of the one and only atomic zombie film, although at heart is no more than a 1940s mad scientist film
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by

Ritual (2002)

Ritual (2002)
Rating: ★
Feb 6, 2020Voodoo
This was intended as the third of the Tales from the Crypt films. A remake of the classic voodoo film I Walked With a Zombie, from Val Lewton, a producer who specialised in psychological ambiguity where we could not be certain if the supernatural was real. All of this is lost in the hands of bad movie director Avi Nesher.
Director:
Actors: , , , , …
Category:
by