You'll Find Out - 1940

This movie is the last one in the list for the year 1940. I didn't know who Kay Kiser was, but I was optimistic when I saw Bela, the Grinch and Peter Lorre in the credits. How bad could it be?!

The answer? Very bad. So bad that I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Not only is it one of those weird comedies that's trying to be somewhat "scary" at the same time, but it is part musical. And it's a comedy musical, which is probably my least favorite kind of musical.

Kay Kiser (he's playing himself) is taking his band to play at a young lady's 21st birthday party. I think that's weird, but whatever. They all drive up to the creepy mansion in a big car, but somehow all their gear and props are there as well. Also in the house are the Grinch as a judge and a Prince that can make contact with the other side (Bela). Janis has also invited a professor to her birthday party to expose Bela as a fraud since he's been bleeding her aunt of the family's money for a while now. Little does she realize the creepy face that peered into her window (Peter Lorre) was the "professor."

This movie was hard to watch. The "jokes" were horrific, the musical numbers went on forever, they put hair on a dog (a wig with bangs), and the séance was hard to watch. I mean, if they were trying to disprove the medium, why didn't they try to tackle the "ghost" or pull down the floaty things? The dog disappeared for half the movie, and when he appeared again, his tail had paint on it. How? The paint was in a petri dish-looking thing.

The end of this thing was insane. Two of the villains had guns and one had dynamite! I mean, a bridge blew up earlier (no one believed lightning hit it), so it wasn't shocking there was dynamite in the area. But why are we threatening people with it? Anyway, the villains get blown up, but Kay Kiser and his band of goobers survive to perform one last time (we skipped it). And what happened to the poor real professor who popped up for two seconds? Pain. All we felt was pain...

You'll find out how much patience you have...

Death Note (anime series) - 2006

This series has been on Tubi for a while, and my husband and I have been watching it together. It's 37 episodes, and has subtitles, so it took us a little bit to get through it. It's based on a manga.

Light is at school when he finds a notebook. That object will change the course of the rest of his life. Touching it introduces him to Ryuk, a Shinigami, who tells him that writing the name of a person in the notebook will result in that person's death. Now, Light starts to feel the power he holds, and it becomes more and more important for him to fulfill what he sees as his destiny: a world without evil. And he'll eliminate anyone who gets in his way.

I loved this series. Light is in a chess match with someone who matches his skills. The back and forth between these two was so impressive. The constant twists and turns reminded me of Monster. The story is nothing similar; it was the suspense and amount of times I was sitting on the edge of my seat. There were numerous times we had to watch the next episode because of the cliffhanger we were left with.

I'm definitely trying to track down this manga. I don't know how close the series followed the manga, but I'd like to get some clarification on a few things, particularly at the end. I believe my favorite character was the Shinigami Ryuk. He loved his apples! Good Show!

The Devil Bat - 1940

Next up in our horror movie list was The Devil Bat. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't find a review for it. When I was watching it, parts of it seemed familiar, but then again, other parts seemed fresh. I honestly couldn't tell you if I'd seen this before, or it's just following the formula so closely that it reminds me of other movies of the era! 

Bela Luhosi stars in this one. He's a mad scientist who has been making creams and such for a beauty company for years. He sold out early, so now he's jealous of the wealth the family has made off his hard work. His solution? Zap some bats and make them attracted to aftershave. Then, give it to various members of the family who has wronged him and watch them die!

This movie was hilarious. The bats were zapped, I suppose, but all the "fireworks" were happening on the side of the room, so we weren't sure how hanging a bat in the middle of the room made it grow. Also, Bela had more than one secret passage, and that would be well and good, but when someone is watching you, they just have to watch you go through both doors since the first one basically led to the second. And can we talk about the noise the bats made? I don't think it was a real mammal noise (they kept pointing out that bats were mammals). It sounded more like a woman shrieking. 

I am so proud of myself. I recognized a couple of the actors. I can't remember what happened yesterday, but I recognized Dave O'Brien from Captain Midnight. I also spotted John Davidson and correctly connected him to the Adventures of Captain Marvel (Shazam). Looking into it, Davidson was also in Muffin Top Captain America, but I'm still impressed I remembered the connections!

If you love old movies with terrible effects, this is right up your alley. At one point, they're using a stuffed bat to create a picture for the newspaper. That thing looked a lot more realistic than anything they used for the Devil Bat. And it was Made in Japan! I'm not explaining that joke. If you want in on it, watch the movie! Bring a friend and some popcorn. Bela is on point with his "I'm the villain" faces, and I think my favorite part was the way the bat was thwarted from getting to Mary. I think Mom liked when the fake bat exploded. Are you intrigued yet?! Good Movie!

Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade - 1999

This was one of those random picks I found on Tubi. The poster for it drew me in (the second picture below), and the summary was interesting. I'm always drawn in by alternate history, especially when it's done well.

Riots are getting out of control in Japan. A young girl is transporting a bomb when she is trapped in the storm sewer by the Kerberos, a special unit with helmets that give them red eyes. The one in front of the terrorist watches as she detonates the bomb. After that, his ability to perform his duties is questioned. He meets a young woman who looks strikingly like the girl who died, and they form a bond. But there's more going on than what anyone sees on the surface.

I was really interested in the story. It had a lot of twists and turns. It reminded me of a miniseries I watched a long time ago called The Game (2014). That one's based in the Cold War, but it has the twists and turns and the surprise ending. I didn't really notice a lot of details that would point to an alternate history. Apparently, the movie is based on the first part of a manga, so maybe deeper into the story, it would have more of those alternate history details.

There was an English release of the manga. It was called Hellhounds, but when it was ridiculously hard to find, I had to throw in the towel. And the ones I saw were insanely priced. I refuse to pay close to $30 for a 36-page comic. There were 6 issues total, but unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to experience this one in manga form. Anyway, I did like this movie. The Red Riding Hood story paired with the Wolf Brigade was a cool detail, and I really liked this one. Good Movie!

Theatrical Poster

Tubi Poster