Gridman the Hyper Agent - 1993-1994

This was a TV series that ran in Japan in the early 90's. It's about a superhero and three foul-mouthed teenagers who fight against Kahn Digifer, who lives in the Computer World. He's aided by Takeshi, another teen and one of the most pathetic characters ever put on screen. Over the course of 39 episodes, these children fight against each other in some very strange scenes.

I don't even know where to start with this one. For the first couple episodes, Naoto does a trust fall when he goes into the computer. This quickly ended, and soon after, we didn't see him fly through the air to merge with Gridman. That came back in a couple episodes, but it just wasn't the same without the trust fall.

Takeshi is pathetic for a number of reasons. The main one is that he gets upset for the stupidest reasons. Not every time. Just most of the time. Let's take the most memorable. Takeshi has a crush on Yuka, the somewhat bossy girl in the group. He gets mad because she "didn't take his letter." But he didn't talk to her or even get the letter out of his pocket! 

I don't know if it was the person doing the captioning or if everyone in this show decided to curse all the time. It was just a bit jarring, especially when the smaller children did it.

We all loved this show, and we're sad it's over. They took most of the fight footage and turned it into a really terrible American version called Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. The one episode we watched made zero sense, and we were upset about the reused footage. 

My favorite character was Ippei. He was misunderstood and given way too much crap. Some of the episodes were more unkind to him than others (I'm looking at you episode 16!), and I just liked the way he handled things.

I would definitely watch this show again. I don't know what it is about these old superhero shows, but I love them. Gridman has given us a lot of laughs, and I believe he deserves a place in our Cinematic Universe. Great Show!

P.S. Gridman shares a few things with Ultraman. We're currently watching the 1966 series.

From Hell It Came - 1957

After reading the summary for this movie, we immediately pressed play. I mean, who can pass up a chance to see a tree terrorize an island?

So, the plot of this movie is really strange. A prince is getting killed by being staked to the ground and listen to people accuse him of killing his father. He denies the accusation and curses them all. After stabbing a voodoo doll and sledgehammering a dagger into the prince's chest, they stand him up in a wooden box and bury him.

Elsewhere on the island, there are scientists and a woman who runs the trading post. She has a questionable accent and a nasty habit of getting herself into trouble. When the woman doctor arrives on the island, Bill tries to convince her to marry him and leave the island. She goes hiking in her heels, and they come across the prince's grave. The woman convinces Bill to dig it up, and they take it back to the lab. Somehow, Dr. Woman has determined that the stump-man has a human heartbeat, and she wants to use her formula on it to try and keep it alive. Instead, the tree-man (since they dug him up, he's taller now) wakes up and runs amok all over the place.

The monster for this movie was hilarious. He was really slow, but no one escaped him! The way they kill him at the end was amazing, and I think that scene inspired the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. Those three guys shot a gillion bullets. Bill was so annoying, I wanted to slap him. His superpower was being pessimistic about everything and condescending to Dr. Woman. She was annoying as well. Who hikes around the jungle in heels?!

I'm not sure this one can be classified as amazing. If you've got some time and need some background noise, this might be a good choice. Overall, I was entertained, but I don't think I'd watch it again. I'm still giving it a Good Movie! review, but it's not an instant classic.

Monster From a Prehistoric Planet (Gappa: The Triphibian Monster) - 1967

We were reading summaries, and this one caught our eye. It was a quick pick for movie night. The movie is listed on the internet as Gappa: The Triphibian Monster, but it was on Tubi as Monster From a Prehistoric Planet. Apparently, the movie was released in Japan as Giant Beast Gappa, so I have no idea where the Triphibian title came from.

A group of scientists and reporters head to an island in the South Pacific to gather exotic plants, animals and native dancers. Instead, they find a lost civilization (that amazingly speaks their language) and an egg. While they're in the cave, the egg hatches, gross stuff comes out, and they end up capturing a lizard.

The financial backer for the trip was a man (basically John Hammond from Jurassic Park) who publishes Playmate Magazine, and he wants to build Playmate Land. This one isn't full of scantily clad women, though. The expedition brings back the little guy, but his parents have awoken, and they want revenge!

First off, I'm going to say that I had fun with this movie. I wanted to clear that up since I'm going to be pointing out some things that were pretty bad.

The big thing that was irritating was how dark the movie was. I've seen movies that were dark, but I think this one was the worst. There were times when I had no clue what was happening. Next up is the music. Wow, it was terrible. The worst had to be when they were in the bar (?) with the singing women. We were glad the monsters took that place out. Last up is the length of the destruction scenes. I'm always up for a good miniature destruction, but these went on forever. At one point, there were so many planes getting shot down, I was actually losing interest.

The end was great. Reuniting the family was so weird to watch, and then listening to the woman talk about how she wants to quit her job so she can cook and wash diapers was pretty cringey. I am left with questions. Like why did they call it Monster From a Prehistoric Planet when it's clearly from Earth? Also, why did the monsters have chicken beaks? And why was that one kid green!? (That was a lighting thing, but he still looked green.) I'm giving this one a Good Movie! review. The voice actors added to the mirth, and there's just too many amazing things going on.

The Brain from Planet Arous - 1957

It took a couple of minutes to choose our candidate for movie night, but I was interested in the "rival brains" mentioned in the synopsis.

Steve and Dan head to Mystery Mount(ain) to check out random, intermittent radiation alerts. They're attacked by a giant brain from the planet Arous, and Dan is killed. Steve's body is taken over by Gor, our evil brain.

Val also comes from his planet to capture Gor. He needs a body to inhabit, and Sally (Steve's finace) doesn't want her father to volunteer. To his credit, the man agreed to everything. He was the most agreeable man I've ever seen. He took everything in stride, and nothing phased him. Since Sally is whining about her dad helping, Val inhabits George's body. George is a white shepherd and a good boy. FYI, George is not harmed during the film.

This movie was funny. I saw they used contact lenses with metal foil to create the creepy effect on Steve's eyes. That doesn't sound pleasant at all. I laughed so hard when I saw the brains. They were cute, and the eyes on them conveyed a "meh" attitude. The ending was insane and confusing. Did Val just leave after Gor was defeated? I think watching the "fight" scene was the best part. Gor is just floating around while Steve chops at his fissure of Rolando. Crazy.

Out of the three of us, I think I enjoyed it the most. I loved how confusing and silly it was. I'm giving it a Good Movie! review. 

RIP Dan...

Yongary, Monster from the Deep - 1967

Random pick for movie night. It was the first recommendation on Tubi, and we went with it. South Korea and Japan teamed up to bring this epic to the screen. I also had the privilege to watch this movie with my kids. It was a blast!

I'm not even sure how to describe what I saw. People went into space to investigate something they could see from an airplane. The Godzilla-like creature drinks gas and oil and dances. A kid runs through the sewer and hits the monster with an "itch" beam. Helicopters are loaded with two fire extinguishers of "answer" but when it comes out of the helicopter, there seems to be an endless supply!

I loved this movie. It was hilarious, and at one point, I was almost cry-laughing. The weird ridiculousness of this was so epic. I still don't understand why they had to go to space. This is a great one to watch with friends who enjoy old monster movies. The miniature work was amazing, and one of the best parts of the movie.

I highly recommend this one. It is super nonsensical, and that's the charm of it. Easily get the Good Movie! review.

Erased - 2016

I was recommended this show by my younger daughter. She knows I love a good anime, and she had more than a few to recommend.

The protagonist of our story has a rare ability to go back in time to stop a tragedy. In his case, Satoru relives the moment before disaster and looks for what's wrong. It's a lot of pressure, and it's mind-boggling how he figures anything out before it happens. I'd miss all the signs for sure.

One day, his mother comes to visit, and that's when things go south. Eventually, he has a major "revival" that sends him back to his childhood. When he was young, three children were abducted and killed. Satoru always felt guilty, and now he has the chance to remedy the mistakes he knows he'll make.

Ok, so I'm not great at explaining things, but that's because I'm trying not to give too much away. I had to binge the last three episodes, because I wanted to know what happened. From the small amount of research I did, it seems the end of the anime deviated from the manga quite a bit. Since I haven't read it (yet), that didn't affect my enjoyment.

And I did enjoy this one. It reminded me of Death Note and Monster, because I felt a sense of suspense of how things would end up. Also, the resolution of story during/after the credits was like Death Note. I will admit the show isn't perfect. I liked it a lot, though, and it made me want to read the manga. It was 12 episodes in which I was never bored, and I'd happily watch it again. Good Show!

Golden Ninja (The Golden Bat) - 1966

I saw the picture for this one on Tubi, and I was in! Then I read the summary, and I couldn't wait to watch it!

A kid is watching the planet Icarus approaching Earth at a fast pace. The locals don't believe anything is wrong, so the kid is abducted by a secret UN group that investigates unusual happenings. They have a plan to blow up the planet, but they need a special mineral to make the lens for their laser. Their first recon group dies on an island that is somehow part of Atlantis. An enemy appears and pushes them back into a cave where they find Golden Ninja (Bat). He needs some water to revive, and then he's ready to laugh maniacally and whap people with Silver Baton.

I loved this movie. For some reason, I had a blast. I loved the noise Silver Baton made, I loved the weird bat, and I loved all the miniatures used for the sets. I also loved Nazo, the villain. He looked like he was wearing a Snuggie with piggy ears. He never moved, but his little platform spun around. I appreciated his boxing ring microphone that would drop from the ceiling when he wanted to make an announcement.

The movie is actually called The Golden Bat, which makes more sense than Golden Ninja in this case. Apparently, this is a real superhero that was created before Superman! In the 1920s, Japan made this cackling skull mummy, and there's tons of content for him! Manga, anime, movies...I'm going down the rabbit hole with this one. I love Golden Bat.

Watch it with friends that love a good superhero/cheesy movie. I think you'll be impressed. If you aren't, I just don't know what to tell you. This is one of my favorites, and I keep going around the house making "wapsssht!" noises. Good Movie!

Sound of Horror - 1966

I won't say who picked this one, but let's just say it was a cold choice. Just reading the summary made us press play.

A group of "archaeologists" (one brought his niece) are exploring the cave with dynamite and pickaxes. They make sure to let the girl know that she needs to get used to things like explosions, smoke and dead bodies. When they discover a weird egg, they take it back to the house. In the cave, there was a second egg that hatched. Now a ghastly, eerie, evil monster is on the loose. And it's noisy!

This movie was nuts. People were so stupid, they all deserved to die. Two people ended up sacrificing themselves for the rest of the idiots, and they still almost didn't make it out. And how hard is it to make sure your car works?

Calliope gets the award for the dumbest person. She rambled on and on about the evil spirit/ghost/monster, and then she purposely wandered outside to get water - for coffee - twice!

I'm using a lot of different descriptors to talk about the thing. These were just some of the terms used in the closed captions to help us imagine the monster, because we never really saw it. That's right, it was invisible! That made the attack scenes kind of funny, but when you don't know what you're dealing with, it just made it weird. Also, Asilov was all in on the treasure until the bodies piled up. One or two was nothing, but then when he finally wanted to leave, he was all in on that. And what was the deal with the shepherds?!

Just no. I will give an RIP to Dorman. But he did make it so the few survivors had to walk back.

Scared to Death - 1947

Mom found this movie and saw that it had Bela in it. We were both excited at that! On closer look, George Zucco was in it as well. He's another one of our favorites,

Laura is dead. Through a series of 1,000 flashbacks, we discover she's afraid of her husband and his father. She feels they're trying to scare her (to death!), and she just goes around all day nagging at them. Little does she realize, another force is actually responsible.

The first thing that struck me about this movie was the strange flashbacks. They went in and out with that high-pitched ethereal noise. Then it would focus on the dead woman, she'd say a sentence (I'm not kidding) and then it would ethereal back to the action. And it happened a lot. The weird thing was, it wasn't valuable information. She'd say something like, "And then they arrived," and that's it. Then you watched the people arrive...

Bela and George were cousins, and they were innocent. That's right, all the nagging Laura was doing was to the wrong people! Even her husband had nothing to do with harassing her! It was the husband she'd turned over to the Nazis during the war. She thought he was dead, and he wanted revenge. Bela knew about it, but he made the guy promise not to touch her.

I don't think this movie was that great. I was rooting for the Green Man, and I was glad when he finally got some closure. Especially after I heard what she'd done to him. The rest of the movie was just listening to her whine, seeing Green Mask man and listening to the gangster reporter. Yes, this movie has a weird reporter who just shows up and stays at the house while all this is going down.

This isn't the worst movie I've seen, but it wasn't that great, either. I'll stay on the fence with this one.

The Return of Chandu - 1934

Just a random movie on a random afternoon...and it has Bela!

Princess Nadji is an Egyptian princess who is 100% dependent upon her mystic, Chandu. She's being targeted to be a sacrifice by the cult of Ubasti, and Chandu wants nothing more than to protect her.

This movie was pretty fun. Bela is not the villain in this movie, and that was a bit strange. He did get to do his "creepy eye" thing. The funny part was that Bela played the villain in the movie before this one. The cultists had the stupidest hats ever. I'd like to say I'm exaggerating, but they actually looked like small pillow cases. And the leader wore a turban meant for a larger-headed man. I also loved Bela's "sailing" outfit. His nephew's outfit just didn't fit the same...

I thought the woman was useless in this one, and so was everyone else. People were supposed to guard this princess who was in danger, and they left her alone all the time. I mean, she was pretty irritating, so maybe they were doing it on purpose.

Anyway, this one easily earns a Good Movie! review. Gather some friends and watch Bela in one of the few times he was cast as a hero! 

Masters of the Universe - 1987

For movie night, we had someone with more "discerning" tastes watching with us, so we watched something newer. As in 1987! He-Man is considered pretty cool around here, but what I saw early on didn't give me much hope. 

The plot was insane and didn't make much sense. From what I could figure out, Skeletor has gotten his hands on the magic key and needs another one. The weird thing that has the other key is saved by He-Man and his friends (old Man-at-Arms and Teela). Skeletor really wants that one and chases the group to Earth. There, they meet up with new friends Monica from Friends and Kevin.

This movie was silly. Dolph was playing He-Man, but he sounded silly when he talked. I think part of that is the dubbing they ended up doing. The Orko stand-in was silly and also annoying. The movie tried to make Monica the Earth hero, but it was really Kevin. His musical abilities saved the day. Every time Dolph tried to sound intimidating, it was just funny. I appreciate how excited the man playing Skeletor was about his role, but they didn't give him much to work with.

I want to give a special shoutout to Pigboy. The production of this movie had a lot of ups and downs. One of them was the contest for children. Mattel had the contest, but the scenes on Earth were already shot. Poor little Richard Szponder got to have the small part of holding Skeletor's staff when he arrives in Grayskull. My only complaint is that if he was a minion of Skeletor, he needed a better name than Pigboy.

I had fun watching this movie, but I had a good group with me. I was hoping Karg would die. That thing was hard to look at. While we were watching, I felt like the movie was trying to be an Eternia (the place He-Man is from) version of Star Wars. Even the music reminded me of Star Wars. I'm giving it a Good Movie! review, but I wouldn't watch it alone. It's the kind of cheesy movie that is best with friends.

Monster from Green Hell - 1957

We were so excited when we read the summary for this movie. Wasps sent into space turn into monsters?! Count us in!

At the beginning of the movie, a couple of "scientists" are sending various animals into space. The longer they spend there, the more they are affected by the trip. I mean, one of the guinea pigs (?) had its fur turn white!! One of the capsules blows up and isn't thought of again until suspicious deaths start to happen in a remote part of the jungle. Suspecting their wasps are the culprit, the scientists head off to the remote village where they pick up an annoying woman. She demands to go with them since the wasps murdered her father, but she's more hindrance than help.

This movie was terrible and not in a good way. I estimate that 90% of it was walking. They showed the scientists walking to the village. The expedition then walked to the volcano where the old man was abandoned by his younger friend. Then they walked around trying to find the wasps, and finally, they walked around in a cave trying to find their way out after they trapped themselves inside.

And the worst part? The people were unnecessary. And I don't mean a few of them (like the woman) didn't add anything. I mean they didn't kill any of the wasps. The volcano took them out with lava in an overly long wasp-screaming scene complete with repeated frames. The puzzling thing about the end was that when the volcano went off, it shocked the movie into color. I don't know why, but that was so odd. It's not like The Wizard of Oz where the colorization is a clue that you're in another world. It was just colored, screaming wasps, and then it was over.

The excessive walking was so exhausting. The woman was not helpful (as usual), and the plot was super stupid. This one was a pass, and we were all glad when it was over.

*Shoutout to Jim Davis. Not only does he share the name of my grandpa, he's become a familiar face in some of these films.

Octaman - 1971

We saw this movie when we were searching for our movie night selection. It looked pretty bad, so we decided to wait and put it on when the kids could enjoy it as well.

Radiation has caused issues in a fishing village. The scientists have captured a screeching baby octopus and put it in a minnow bucket. Octaman gets upset and retrieves his baby.

I'm not even going to try and describe the plot, because there wasn't one. The monster waved his arms around and slapped a few people. He didn't even kill the annoying people. There were numerous frustrating parts, though. For instance, why did some of them go out in the boat just to stop and turn around for no reason? And why didn't Octaman attack them while they were in the cave? They spent so much time "trapped" only to pop out where they started. Finally, why was Davido wandering off all the time?! He was all gung ho about killing Octaman, but then he stood there at the end waving his knife around while everyone else was shooting it.

This movie was sooooo boring. We got to the point where there were ten minutes left, and we were wondering if something would finally happen. Watching Octaman pop out of the trailer was unexpected (and predictable at the same time), and that was my favorite part.

I'm going to take a moment to clarify something. One of the things that really irritated me during the movie was when they kept calling the babies "squid." I remembered squid have six arms, but guess what? They don't. They actually have eight arms and two tentacles. So where did I get six arms? I don't know, but an internet search brought me to a place where a lot of other people thought the same thing. Who knows where the six-armed squid came from, but the record's been set straight.

Avoid this one. You've been warned.