Munchies

While on an archeological expedition in Peru with his father, aspiring comedian Paul Watterman discovers a small alien creature. At first, the alien appears to be friendly, so the pair bring it back to the US. But after being kidnapped and mistreated by Paul's uncle, the alien's violent side emerges. And, as is soon discovered, any attempts to kill the alien are either ineffective or cause it to multiply. With a growing gaggle of would-be Gremlins causing havoc all over town, the race is on to stop the Munchies before it's too late. Produced by Roger Corman, Munchies is an unabashed Gremlins rip-off. It's very cheap looking and not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. The Munchie puppets aren't particularly expressive or impressive, much closer to a Ghoulie than a Gremlin.

Rating: 53%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Robert Picardo and Wendy Schaal, who played the ice cream shop owners that got attacked by the Munchies, were both in The 'Burbs as well as a number of other Joe Dante films.

Piranha (1995)

In the 1990s, Roger Corman produced more than two dozen movies for the premium cable network Showtime. A number of which were remakes of films that he had either produced or directed himself. The remake of Joe Dante's Piranha is notable because it reuses most of the special effects footage from the original film. While watching the remake, it's pretty clear that most of the footage filmed above water is new, while almost all of the footage underwater is from the original. A lot of the script has also been taken verbatim from the original as well. The plot is virtually the same, hitting all of the same beats. There's actually more nudity in the remake, which surprised me. The cast is full of TV veterans like William Katt, Alexandra Paul, Soleil Moon Frye and an impossibly young Mila Kunis. There are even a few notable character actors like James Karen and Leland Orser among the cast. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see Piranha (1995), but there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

Rating: 59%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Alexandra Paul, who was on Baywatch when Piranha (1995) came out, was also in Dragnet and John Carpenter's Christine.

The Haunted Palace

Convinced that he is a warlock, the townspeople of Arkham drag Joseph Curwen from his palatial estate and burn him alive. Before he dies, Curwen puts a curse on Arkham and vows to come back from the dead to take his revenge on the descendants of those who killed him. One hundred and ten years later, Charles Dexter Ward, the great-great-grandson of Joseph Curwen, comes to Arkham to claim the property that he has inherited. The people of Arkham are immediately suspicious of Ward, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Curwen. Is it just a coincidence or has Joseph Curwen finally come back to take his revenge? Despite AIP's marketing, The Haunted Palace is primarily based on H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Surprisingly, it is the also the very first movie to be based on one of Lovecraft's works. The sets and the performances are all very good, especially Vincent Price's dual/dueling roles. The only thing that isn't great in the film is the makeup design, everything just looks a little off-color. Despite that, The Haunted Palace is easily one of Corman's best "Poe" films.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Humanoids from the Deep

aka Monster

In Creature from the Black Lagoon, it's implied that the Creature develops an attraction to Kay, the expedition's bathing beauty. If you're Guillermo del Toro, an idea like that might inspire you to make a movie like The Shape of Water, an Oscar winning romantic fantasy film. If you're Roger Corman, it might inspire you to produce a movie like Humanoids from the Deep, a movie where the creatures "kill all the men and rape all the women." Humanoids from the Deep is the kind of trashy movie that lets you know it's a trashy movie right away. The first victims of the creatures are a kid and a bunch of dogs. And then that's followed up by 80 minutes of explosions and gore. Back in the day, Leonard Maltin gave Humanoids a fairly favorable review and yet still referred to the movie as "gutter trash." He wasn't wrong.

Rating: 70%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Little Shop of Horrors

In an effort to keep his job at the flower shop on skid row, Seymour Krelboined brings in a strange plant he's been growing at home. The plant, dubbed Audrey Jr., proves to be a big hit, bringing customers into the shop from all over. There's only one problem, the plant feeds on human blood. The Little Shop of Horrors is a morbid little comedy from Roger Corman. It's probably best known today as the inspiration for an off-off Broadway musical and the film adaptation of that musical, directed by Frank Oz. Corman's original version was filmed quickly and cheaply, naturally, which gives it a theatrical vibe. Jack Nicholson briefly appears in the film as a masochistic dental patient. 

Rating: 60%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Audrey, Seymour's co-worker (not the plant), was played by Jackie Joseph. Not only did Jackie Joseph play Mrs. Futterman in Gremlins and Gremlins 2, she also played Tackleberry's mother in law in Police Academy 2 and 4.

The Terror

A mysterious woman lures a young soldier to the Castle von Leppe. The castle holds many secrets. I'm not sure how else to explain it. The Terror isn't really a plot-heavy movie. Most of the film was shot over a couple of days on the set of The Raven. They didn't have much of a script to work from, so a lot of the movie is just characters walking around the castle. Several directors filmed additional scenes for the movie with Roger Corman tying everything together at the end. Well, I mean, he tried to tie it all together. An attempt was made. We can all agree on that.

Rating: 55%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Raven

Instead of trying to adapt Poe's poem, Roger Corman's The Raven is primarily about a trio of squabbling magicians played by Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. Much like in Tales of Terror, Price and Lorre have great comedic chemistry together. While Karloff is mostly there to lend gravitas to the picture. Hazel Court is lovely as the devious Lenore and a young Jack Nicholson plays Lorre's son Rexford. Despite indulging in many of the same tricks and tropes, The Raven is much more of a straightforward comedy than any of Roger Corman's prior Poe pictures. There are plenty of jokes throughout the movie but the climactic magician's duel at the end of the film goes for broke with big, Looney Tunes energy.

Rating: 62%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Tales of Terror

Tales of Terror is made up of three short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, with Vincent Price playing a different character in each story. The first story, "Morella," is about a young woman reuniting with her alcoholic father (played by Price) after decades apart. The young woman, Lenora, was blamed for her mother's death and was sent away to be raised in boarding schools. After returning to her father's house, the ghost of Lenora's mother kills everyone and burns the house to the ground. In the second story, "The Black Cat," Peter Lorre plays a miserable alcoholic. After a renowned wine taster (played to the hilt by Price) steals his wife, Lorre's character gets his revenge by entombing the wine taster, his wife and their black cat in the basement "Cask of Amontillado"-style. In the final story, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," Vincent Price plays Valdemar, a dying man who agrees to be put under hypnosis at the moment of death. The devious hypnotist, played by Basil Rathbone, traps Valdemar's soul in limbo and attempts to extort Valdemar's widow. Of the three stories, "The Black Cat" stands out the most because it's the only one of the stories that has any humor in it. Lorre and Price play very well off of each other and their wine tasting duel is easily the most memorable part of the film.

Rating: 63%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Premature Burial

The first two films in Roger Corman's Poe cycle had been moneymakers for American International Pictures (AIP), but a dispute over the profits prompted Corman to go independent for The Premature Burial. Leaving AIP meant that Corman couldn't use Vincent Price, so Ray Milland was cast in the lead role. As the story goes, the heads of AIP came to set on the first day of shooting to wish Corman well and to let him know that they had bought out his financiers, putting his film back under the AIP umbrella. The Premature Burial is stylistically similar to Corman's previous Poe pictures: lots of fog, a suspenseful score and the expressive use of colors. Ray Milland is quite good in the lead role, it's honestly hard to picture Vincent Price playing the part. The movie has a nice slow build and a great third act.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Piranha

Piranha isn't trying to hide the fact that it's a Jaws rip-off. Just one look at the poster and it's undeniable. Having said that, other than the poster and the basic premise of killer fish, Piranha doesn't really take all that much from Jaws. It doesn't feature any sharks, stock footage or bootleg John Williams sound cues. Piranha follows its own Cormanesque B-movie path. It's loaded with practical makeup effects, car stunts, boat stunts, underwater sequences and tons of screaming extras. With genre vets like Kevin McCarthy and Barbara Steele bringing some gravitas to the proceedings and Corman regulars Dick Miller and Paul Bartel rounding out the cast, Piranha stands head and shoulders above your average Jaws rip-off.

Rating: 78%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Pit and the Pendulum

After the success of House of Usher, American International Pictures (AIP) were eager to make another movie based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Roger Corman, using many of the same people (and sets), brought The Pit and the Pendulum to theaters a little more than a year after House of Usher was released. With Vincent Price, once again, top billed, The Pit and the Pendulum continued the moody, gothic style of House of Usher. Pendulum tweaked the formula somewhat with psychedelic silent film techniques and slightly more sadistic and shocking violence. It would go on to be even more successful than House of Usher, prompting AIP to double down on Corman's Poe gamble. AIP and Corman would go on to make another six* Poe-inspired films over the next three years.

Rating: 66%

(Image from IMDB)

*seven, if you count 1963's The Terror

House of Usher

aka The Fall of the House of Usher

After a couple of years of making low budget black and white movies for American International Pictures (AIP), Roger Corman was able to convince the distributor to let him make a movie in color with a half-decent budget. AIP was initially confused by his choice of subject matter. "Where's the monster?" they asked. "The house is the monster," he told them. And then they wrote him a check. That man could sell anything. House of Usher ended up becoming the first of eight films made by Corman loosely based on works from Edgar Allan Poe. The movie has a kind of lower-end Hammer vibe going on but it also has some surprisingly stylish elements. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Vincent Price's stellar performance.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Howling

Dee Wallace plays a television news anchor being stalked by a serial killer. After a particularly intense encounter with the killer, her therapist recommends spending some time at his secluded resort in the country. The locals seem a little odd and there's plenty of howling in the woods at night, but surely these things are unrelated. Or are they? They are. Very much so. The Howling is a Joe Dante movie through and through. Expect to see Dante regulars like Dick Miller, Robert Picardo and Belinda Balaski alongside Hollywood ringers like Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine and Slim Pickens. Heck, there are even cameos from Roger Corman, Forrest J. Ackerman, Mick Garris and John Sayles. The effects from Rob Bottin look pretty good, but there are definitely a few effects sequences that don't hold up. I'm looking at you, poorly animated fireside man-to-wolf transformation sequence.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Amazon)

Scream 3

One of the things that always bothered me about Scream 3 was that a lot of it was centered around the production of Stab 3. In Scream 2, they had only just released the first Stab film. So we're just supposed to accept that another Stab film has come and gone, depicting the events of the previous Scream film? Stab gave Scream 2 the opportunity for some meta commentary on slasher films and the success of the original Scream. Stab 3 and the hijinks in this movie mostly transform Scream 3 into a parody. Also, in light of recent events and allegations, it seems pretty gross to have plot elements pertaining to a young woman being sexually abused by a Hollywood producer being used as the backstory for the latest killer.

Rating: 59%

(Image from scream.wikia.com)

Creature From The Haunted Sea

As a relic of late 50s pseudo-sleaze this is interesting but as a movie for human consumption?

RATING: 11%

Sharktopus

Jaws was one of the first movies I ever really obsessed over and becuase of that I've seen quite a few shitty shark and Jaws-style ripoff movies over the years. I've also seen a number of questionable Roger Corman productions in my time. Even with all that said though, I don't think anybody who purposefully elects to watch a movie called Sharktopus thinks they're in for anything other than a cheese fest. The acting, dialogue and CGI is all pretty much terrible, but you probably could have guessed that. I will say this in Sharktopus' defense though, I watched the movie in two sittings and when I watched the second half I wasn't exactly sober, which made the movie a lot more enjoyable.

Rating: 49% (In the sober light of day)

(Image from heropress.net)

A Bucket of Blood

Awkward busboy Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) wants nothing more than to fit in among the beatniks at the Yellow Door Cafe. His first attempt to win them over with his art ends with his landlady's dead cat covered in clay. His "sculpture" Dead Cat becomes a hit with the freak scene, but Walter's rising profile comes with a rising body count. After Walter debuts his second piece, Murdered Man, some people begin to suspect that Walter's lifelike sculptures might just be a little too lifelike. Made in the late 50s, A Bucket of Blood is a charming little B movie from Roger Corman's early period with American International Pictures. Made quickly (and cheaply), the movie has a morbid sense of humor about itself and features a great performance from Dick Miller. In his 50+ year acting career, Miller would go on to play characters named Walter or Walter Paisley more than a dozen times, but A Bucket of Blood has been, so far, his only lead performance in a film.

Rating: A Bucket of Fun%

(Image from scootermoviesshop.com)