The Ghost Ship

Tom Merriam, on his first assignment, joins the crew of the Altair as Third Officer. Initially, Tom seems impressed by Captain Stone and believes there is much he could learn from the Captain. But, slowly, Tom begins to suspect that Stone is losing his mind and has taken his authority over the crew to a homicidal extreme. With no one to turn to, Tom is left trapped on the ship with a madman. While not as visually stylish as Val Lewton's previous horror films, The Ghost Ship is still atmospheric and does a good job of ratcheting up the tension as the movie goes on. Also, there's a pretty sweet knife fight towards the end of the film that is surprisingly violent for a movie from the 1940s.

Rating: 61%

(Image from Wikipedia)

House of Dracula

Dr. Edelmann is a very busy man. First, Count Dracula arrives at his door hoping to be cured of his vampirism. Then, Larry Talbot (aka The Wolf Man) comes a'knocking, hoping to be cured of his lycanthropy. Dr. Edelmann takes on both patients but starts to get a little sidetracked after finding the body of Frankenstein's Monster. After Edelmann tries to stop Dracula from turning one of his assistants into a vampire, the Count infects Edelmann's blood which begins to turn Edelmann into a madman. The local villagers start to get pissed off at all of the monsters running around town, which leads to a big confrontation at Dr. Edelmann's castle. House of Dracula, much like House of Frankenstein, tries to pack way too much stuff into a 67 minute movie. None of the characters ever really feel like they get a complete story arc and the continuity between the two films makes little to no sense. John Carradine still doesn't really do it for me as Dracula. Lon Chaney Jr. does a great job, as per usual. And Jane Adams' character Nina, Dr. Edelmann's hunchbacked assistant, is fantastic despite being underserved by the script. I would put House of Dracula over House of Frankenstein, mostly because I felt that the cinematography in House of Dracula was far more impressive.

Rating: 66%

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The Seventh Victim

Mary leaves her boarding school and heads to New York City to look for her missing sister Jacqueline. While chasing down clues, Mary begins to suspect that she never really knew her sister at all. And, the closer Mary gets to finding her sister, the more she begins to uncover about the dangerous people her sister was involved with. The Seventh Victim is another stylish and atmospheric horror film from producer Val Lewton. It's a sinister thriller with a curiously nihilistic undertone. And while it's not on par with Lewton's previous films, it certainly seems like elements from The Seventh Victim might have been influential on films like Psycho and Rosemary's Baby. 

Rating: 65%

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House of Frankenstein

Dr. Niemann and his hunchbacked assistant Daniel escape from prison with two goals in mind: carry on the work of Dr. Frankenstein and get revenge on everyone who helped put them in jail. To avoid detection, they murder and assume the identities of some travelling showmen who just so happen to have the skeleton of Dracula in their possession. Niemann revives Dracula long enough to kill one of his many enemies but ditches the Count once the law gets on their tail. Soon enough, Niemann and Daniel find and revive the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster. From there, Niemann, despite having made various promises to Daniel and the Wolf Man, chooses to spend all of his time working on Frankenstein's monster, which proves to be his own undoing. House of Frankenstein is an interesting but flawed movie. It has the Spider-Man 3 problem where there are too many characters in the movie, many of whom are given short shrift. Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. are very good in their roles but John Carradine is a little miscast as Dracula. Daniel the hunchback, played by J. Carrol Naish, probably gets the best through line in the movie. 

Rating: 63%

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The Leopard Man

After a publicity stunt goes wrong, an escaped leopard terrorizes a small New Mexico town... or so it would seem. The Leopard Man once again pairs up producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur for another stylish and atmospheric horror film. Plot-wise, The Leopard Man is almost an anthology. There are characters that we follow throughout but the movie will occasionally introduce new characters that exist only to be killed off a few minutes later. The religious imagery throughout the film gives off serious Guillermo del Toro vibes. In some ways, The Leopard Man is very much ahead of its time but it's still a movie that will be primarily enjoyed by audiences that appreciate films of its era.

Rating: 66%

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Son of Dracula

Proto-goth girl Katherine invites Count Alucard to visit her family's plantation estate. Katherine's boyfriend Frank begins to suspect that there's something going on between Count Alucard and Katherine. Those suspicions are quickly confirmed after Katherine and Alucard get married. Meanwhile, Dr. Brewster's investigation into Count Alucard reveals some sinister details about Katherine's new husband. Son of Dracula plays like an Abbott and Costello movie without Abbott and Costello. It's more of a melodrama than a horror movie. At times it's racist, sexist, jingoistic and goofy. And, perhaps most glaringly, Lon Chaney Jr. is seriously miscast as Alucard/Dracula. The characters keep referring to Alucard as being Hungarian and having just come to the US from Hungary and yet Lon Chaney Jr. makes no attempt to sound Hungarian in the slightest. It should be said that there are some things to like in the movie. Some of the camera work and effects are very well done. The name Alucard, which would become part of the bigger Dracula lore, came from this movie. And, maybe most importantly, a number of scenes in Son of Dracula get referenced in The Monster Squad.

Rating: 61%

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I Walked with a Zombie

Betsy, a young Canadian nurse, takes a job at a sugar plantation in the Caribbean. Her patient, Jessica Holland, is in a trance-like state. Jessica breathes and walks but is otherwise comatose. After conventional medicine fails to improve Jessica's condition, Betsy seeks aid from a voodoo priest. Betsy's gambit lights a fuse that ultimately blows up a family and puts her face to face with the living dead. I Walked with a Zombie plays like a melodrama, with Betsy uncovering love triangles and deception everywhere she goes. It's incredibly stylish, which is no surprise since it was put together by the same folks that made Cat People. If you're interested in the pre-George Romero era of zombie films, it's worth a watch. Maybe even on a double bill with 1932's White Zombie. Otherwise, it's more of a slow but striking curiosity.

Rating: 64%

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Cat People

Oliver and Irena meet one day at the zoo. Their chance encounter by the panther cage soon blossoms into romance. Before long, they're married. But all is not well for the newlyweds. Irena is troubled. Something from her past is haunting her. A terrible secret that begins to drive a wedge between Irena and her husband. Something that no one else could possibly understand. Something that could kill them both. Cat People might be the classiest horror movie I've ever seen. It's practically not even a horror movie. If it weren't for the fact that a woman transforms into a panther and kills people, it would almost be film noir. It's a fantastic looking movie, 1940s styles and designs drenched in expressionistic shadows. It's a slow burn but it has atmosphere up the wazoo.

Rating: 71%

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It's a Wonderful Life

There's nothing new I could tell you about It's a Wonderful Life. It has been praised and parodied for decades. And it has been dissected and discussed to the nth degree. What I can tell you is that, if you like old movies, it's definitely worth a watch. It's a movie brimming with post-war optimism. It's a tribute to the honest, hard working, salt of the earth, American everyman. And they couldn't have cast a better lead. It's one of the quintessential Jimmy Stewart movies. His performance practically carries the entire film. Donna Reed and Thomas Mitchell are also very good in the movie. It may be too earnest or melodramatic for some, but that's probably part of the reason why the movie has endured. It's a very uncynical movie.

Rating: 74%

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Big Goodbye"

Right before a big delicate meeting with some bug aliens Picard decides to frag some 20th Century gangsters in a future video game which for some reason has "safety features." Um, why again would you want to be able to be killed on the holodeck?

RATING: 63%

The Wolf Man

In this "classic" "monster" movie a guy gets bitten by a Wolf Man so then he every now and then turns into a different Wolf Man and acts a damn fool. It's fine I guess - it's the 40s so how can you criticize the makeup or acting or gender politics of when the main dude basically forces himself on an engaged lady because he's that sort of doughy leading man type of pre-1960? Well, it is 1941 so I do think you can criticize the reprehensible nature of implying this Wolf Man thing is the fault of movieland gypsies while the Nazis are rounding up real live gypsies and putting them in concentration camps. Uh, but, like, go Classic Universal Monsters???

RATING: 37%