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.

Fog Island - 1945

We picked this one based on Lionel Atwill. He's the man, and it was an easy choice.

A man invites the people who betrayed and put him in prison to his house. They believe he has a fortune hidden inside, so they all show up and pretend they're all friends. One of the guys is the son of the invited person, and he ends up falling in love (or he might've already been in love) with the ex-con's niece.

The host gathers everyone around and gives them various "clues." One looks like an awl, while another person gets a book of multiplication tables. It's weird. Also, the movie summary claims the man booby-trapped the house, but there's really only the one. Also also, the "secret passage" is the worst kept secret in the world.

This movie felt familiar, especially the part where four people were all in the booby-trapped room and had no situational awareness. I can't be sure, but I'll tell you that the son has miraculous drying powers. He can also pretend like he didn't see a bunch of dead bodies and convince the young lady to leave without saying goodbye to her uncle without any issues.

A lot of this movie didn't make sense, and the subtitles were the best part. The butler's name was Allerton, but the subtitles called him "elephant" and "hello there" at different times. Another subtitle referenced YouTube, but 1945 was a far time from the creation of YouTube.

Anyway, people teleported around, and the secret passage was huge enough for everyone to take a turn checking it out. The movie itself was slow, and it just wasn't enjoyable enough to warrant a Good Movie review. It's another middle-of-the-road old horror movie.

Frogs - 1972

We gave the fiancé the remote and tasked him with finding us a great movie to watch. The picture and description were interesting, so we pushed play.

A very young Sam Elliott is taking pictures while paddling around a rich man's island. The whole family is pretty terrible, so you're ready for people to start getting killed. When Sam talks to the old guy, he asks him to look for Grover, who is missing. Sam finds him in a shallow pool with snakes all around him. From there, it's all downhill, with family members being taken out by different animals until the old guy gets frogged to death. I think...

The movie is called frogs, but you know what didn't really kill anyone? FROGS! I'm not sure how they killed the old guy at the end, but they were just hopping on him. Did they give him a heart attack? I have no idea. My favorite death was definitely the greenhouse. The lizards pushing bottles off the shelves to create toxic gas was amazing. And then the way the guy smooshed himself against the wall and slowly sank to the ground? Chef's kiss!

It was frustrating to see so many shots of frogs, and that's because they were just croaking and hopping all over the place. Were they the leaders of the animals? Why was the Spanish Moss actively killing the one guy but no other plants participated? The trees could've just thrown themselves on top of the house and saved time. The old lady running through the woods just to come back to where she started and get bit by a rattlesnake was crazy.

On one hand, this movie was fun. On the other hand, there were snakes and spiders. A LOT of snakes. There's so many shots of snakes; if you have an issue with those, definitely avoid this movie at all costs. The other issue is the ending. They suggest the wildlife issue isn't just happening on the island, so what happened to the people who escaped? And how did the people in the hut die? So many unanswered questions. But I saw a bunch of frogs!

Monster on the Campus - 1958

We had Memorial Day movie night this week. It was a choice between campus monster or wasps from space. The monster won.

Dr. Blake is super excited about the coelacanth his university has acquired. The blood of the fish reverses evolution, and the worst scientist in history has to figure out what's happening.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the utter stupidity of the professor. This "man of science" left his melting fish out in the open, picked it up without gloves, got wounded by it, and didn't even wash his hands! In fact, he was sucking on the wound on his hand! Eww.

There was a dog affected by the melted ice (I have no idea how since Dr. Blake talked about blood and plasma), but Samson was a good boy. Jimmy eventually convinced the doctor to let him take the German Shepherd home, so Samson was safe.

This movie was bizarre. It was funny to watch my daughter's Wildlife Ecology fiancé freak out at all the science faux pas sprinkled and dumped throughout the movie. Apparently, they got a few things wrong. Also, Mom and I were doing the Three Stooges thing when they'd say Dr. Howard's name (Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard). The special effects were utterly ridiculous, and the metamorphosis to the monster was as I imagined it would be. Not near as impressive as you think. BUT, Jimmy was ok, and most importantly Samson was ok, and the ending was abrupt as usual.

I had fun with this one and will give it a Good Movie! review. I'm certain it takes a special kind of person to have as much fun with these movies as I do, but as they say, laughter is good for the soul.

(RIP Forest Ranger Tom. You didn't deserve the hatchet to the head!)

Murder by Television - 1935

Blind pick for movie night. It has Bela Lugosi in it, so it had to be good! Right?

Honestly, I can't remember much about this movie. The title helped me remember a bit. A man is transmitting over TV, and toward the end of his speech, he moans and collapses to the floor. Who is responsible for his death?

This movie was crazy. They added a twin into the plot randomly, and I can't remember who the killer was. Also, the explanation was insanity. The most interesting thing in the movie was the variety of screen wipes that they used.

War of the Satellites - 1958

We didn’t have internet over the weekend, but my husband was an angel and hooked up a hot spot so we could search Tubi to find something for movie night. And this is what we ended up with.

Van wants to send up yet another group of men to space to sacrifice to the barrier the aliens put up to “quarantine” humans. They zap his car, and he dies in a car accident. Then, an alien takes over his body so he can sabotage the mission. Will anyone discover the truth before the 11^th satellite is sacrificed to the aliens?

The thing about this plot is that it doesn’t make sense. The United Nations (that president had a TON of flags!) was ready to abandon the idea of sending more people into space to blow up on the barrier, but then Alien Van popped up. They really just didn’t have to do anything except kill Van, but they overcomplicated their own plan.

I loved this movie. The “special effects” were probably worse than The Giant Claw, and that was a great movie. I’m not even going to describe anything I saw. It was all glorious, and you need to watch this movie with some friends. I was laughing so hard, I recommended my kids to watch it. They enjoy a good/bad movie at times, and I hope they get some laughs out of this one. Good Movie!

The Crawling Hand - 1963

This was another blind pick, but I'd actually ended up seeing it before. I wasn't sure until partway through, so we just kept going.

An astronaut has been kept alive for 20 minutes be some weird thing living inside him. He convinces someone in mission control to blow him up, and that's that.

Well, not really. Somehow his arm has survived and is found on the beach by a couple. The girl is understandably upset, while her boyfriend wants to take it with him. He ends up going back and hiding the arm on the jelly shelf. But the arm is out for blood and leaps onto a woman and chokes her. It's infected the guy, and when the alien is in control, he goes goth. His eyes are rimmed in black, and he tries to kill people.

This movie had so much potential. But there wasn't enough of the arm doing its thing. And then other things were confusing. For example: how did the arm get shut in a closet? How was it able to walk on the ceiling? Why did they have to show the cats tearing flesh off the arm? That was just gross. The "science" in this movie was ridiculous, as I would expect in a plot like this. Final verdict - not enough murdering arm...

The Monster That Challenged the World - 1957

Random pick for movie night. It's a monster movie, so it can't be awful. Right?

A "strong" earthquake makes a crack in the bottom of a lake. Now there's a large mollusk, and it's hungry. 

The earthquake was hilarious, since the men looked like they just lost their balance. The monster was...something. We couldn't even figure out what it was. We also couldn't figure out where everyone kept disappearing to. At one point, four men went out in a boat. In the next scene, there are three.

This movie had potential. The monster was ridiculous. I mean, who thought up a mollusk as a monster? But so much happened off screen, it was annoying. They killed the ones in the lake and destroyed the eggs OFF SCREEN! Why? When the eggs looked like balloons, it couldn't have been hard to make a bunch and blow them. Then, at the end, they blew up more OFF SCREEN. The best part was the lab showdown, which happened in the last five minutes. I think the mom was trying to sacrifice her kid, because when she sees the monster cornering her daughter, she runs farther into the room instead of pulling the child out the door.

Anyway, I got some laughs out of this one, but I can only imagine how amazing it could have been had they just decided to show something! And who knew that strokes in young people came from violent anger or fear? I think that doctor was a quack.

RIP bunnies - the child is responsible for your death...

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - 2001

I had this one ready to go once I finished the series. This takes place between episodes 22 and 23.

Spike and the crew get involved in a biological situation. The reward is great if they can catch the person behind it, but their lives end up being on the line.

I won't say much about this movie. It's two hours of greatness. The fights are really cool, and the tone of the movie matches the show. I even smiled a few times. That usually happens with Ed and Ein, and this time was no different.

If you love Cowboy Bebop, this is a no-brainer. This show isn't afraid to kill people and hurt them, but this movie fit seamlessly into the show. I really enjoyed it and have no problems giving it a Good Movie! review.

Cowboy Bebop (anime series) - 1998

I’ve heard multiple times that this is one of the best animes ever. I didn’t really know very much about it before I started it, but there’s also a movie, and it’s getting watched here shortly.

Spike and his ragtag group of misfits travel the galaxy hunting down bounties. Sometimes it isn’t all plenty, and they’re struggling out there. Most of the 26 episodes you could watch and not be confused, but there is an overarching story that pops up from time to time, especially at the end.

This really was a good show. I LOVE the intro song, and I’d listen to it every time I watched an episode. It’s called TANK!, and it was simply amazing. Sometimes it would get stuck in my head throughout the day.

The story was interesting. For only being 26 episodes, I was surprised by how much depth each character ended up having. I’m not picking a favorite, but Ein is an easy choice since he’s a dog. If you can get your hands on this, I recommend it. It’s a bit Firefly, but it’s totally different. See You Space Cowboy…Good Anime! 

The Flesh and the Fiends - 1960

We picked this title for movie night because it sounded cool, and it has Peter Cushing in it. I'm still bummed about losing two different old horror movie lists, FYI.

A couple of men don't want to work, so they decide to sell fresh corpses to an anatomist. Side plot: an anatomy student falls in love with a promiscuous, party-loving woman.

I'm keeping the summary short on purpose. The most fascinating thing about this movie is that it's based on a true story. A card at the beginning hinted at that, but we all know how accurate movies based on real events are.

Burke and Hare were real murderers, and they killed 16 people. With their wives, they would lure some of the victims, get them drunk and suffocate them. Others appeared at Hare's house to rent a room only to get killed later. Some of them turned up sick and were helped into the afterlife. The worst part was that only Burke was hanged for these crimes. Hare turned states evidence and was released. The women also had no consequences. Hare and the two women were recognized a few times before they were able to get out of the country and disappear from history. Dr. Knox was also released from any responsibility.

The thing about this movie that struck me (after I learned more about Burke and Hare) was how accurate it was. Of course, it's not documentary quality or anything, but they paid attention to some of the details. Dr. Knox had the disfigurement from his childhood smallpox and remained aloof and seemingly ignorant of the source of his corpses. Burke and Hale's murders were fairly accurate (the ones they showed), and they even used a tea chest to transport the victims. Even Daft Jamie was true!

Where it differs greatly is the ending, and it annoyed me. Hare still gives evidence, and Burke is hanged, but Hare is released from jail without any protection. You can imagine what happens after that. The fate of Dr. Knox is super frustrating in the movie. One comment from a child is enough to change his thinking forever.

The movie itself was in black and white, which surprised me for the time it was released.  But I learned it wasn't until later in the 60's most movies were in color. I was confused why there were so many naked people in the movie, and it didn't seem to fit. And Dr. Knox's speech at the end lost a lot of its importance since he was a jerk. His ending was super unearned.

I walked away from this movie angry, but I started by laughing my butt off. The movie starts with Dr. Knox buying a corpse, but if you watch, the "corpse" keeps blinking. It was so funny. They had options: don't have the eyes open, turn the man, don't stick him upright in a tea chest!

Anyway, I wouldn't watch this again, and the only part I'd recommend is the very beginning with the blinking. Because it's hilarious. The rest of it is maddening. We were really rooting for Daft Jamie. And knowing he was real just makes it sadder...

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Season 1) - 2023

This anime was recommended to me by one of my daughter's friends.

Frieren was part of a group of heroes that defeated the Demon King. Years pass, and since Frieren is an elf, she doesn't age the same as other members of the party. As they start to pass away, Frieren starts to realize the great friends she had. Along the way, she picks up an apprentice, and they start a journey to get to the northern lands.

This show was awesome. I loved the growth and insights into Frieren. The humor is good and just right for the tones of the show. The music also stood out to me, and I've been looking into possibly getting the soundtrack. The sweet, family moments during the show were so well done, and I especially liked how the past linked with the present.

Frieren isn't finished as a manga, and I'll be waiting for season two of the show. It just aired, so I'm not sure when it will be available. Manga-wise, I'm working my way through Dr. Stone at the moment, and then I plan on getting caught up on Frieren. The story is just too good. And thanks to a sale, I have the first three manga waiting for me. Great recommendation by my daughter's friend and easily earns the Great Show! review.