The Shaggy D. A. - 1976

I let my daughter pick our movie for this week since last time was such a disaster. She had this one in mind for a particular reason, which she didn't reveal until later.

Wilby Daniels is frustrated. Crime is rampant in his town, and he blames the current District Attorney for not prosecuting criminals. Wilby decides that he's going to run for D. A. The problem is when some thieves steal the Borgia ring, which is able to turn Wilby into a dog. Now he has to try and campaign and stay out of the pound.

This movie was crazy. At first, I wasn't aware it was a sequel to The Shaggy Dog, so I was confused why I wasn't looking at Fred MacMurray. It's not that I'm super familiar with The Shaggy Dog, I'm not even sure I've even seen it, but I knew the My Three Sons guy was supposed to be in it. Also, the stunts were insanity. I watched a "sheepdog" slap a man, rappel down a rope and even drive a car! Also, the way they moved the dog's mouths when they talked was hilarious.

It made for some pretty strange moments. At one point, they're talking about how one of the dog's is getting ready to be put down. Then a black lab starts singing with that weird mouth movement. It was crazy. There were also some confusing moments when it came to the amount of time Wilby stayed a dog. It was inconsistent.

Overall, this movie was just weird. The Shaggy Dog series is inspired by a 1923 kid's adventure novel called The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten. I read a bit about that story, and it looks like one of those times when "inspired" is probably the closest word you can use. It wasn't a terrible movie, and we had some laughs, but I wouldn't watch it again. A bit too strange for me.

Double Feature - Riders of the Whistling Skull (1937) and Revolt of the Zombies (1936)

When the kids are home, or just one of them, I try to make sure we have something that will be at least somewhat entertaining to watch for movie night. My daughter wasn't being very helpful picking a movie, so I scoured the horror list and picked Riders of the Whistling Skull. I had skipped a few movies, but the summary sounded right up our alley.

This movie was sold as a supernatural western. Now that's different! There's the Three Mesquiteers (apparently, they're famous for making 51 B-Westerns) helping a woman find her father. He's disappeared while searching for treasure out at the lost city of Lukachukai.

You know what wasn't in this movie? Anything supernatural. Both summaries mentioned that word, but I'm not sure they actually watched the movie. It also said something about a mummy, but it was just an old lady who tried to murder somebody. This movie was awful. We never even found out what happened to the treasure. 

It was still early, so we decided to try a zombie movie. In this one, a priest claims that he knows the secret of making zombies (in this case, zombie means robotic or mind control). He gets killed for the knowledge, and then an expedition is sent to destroy the knowledge at the source. Armand is in love with a woman who uses him, and that starts his villain arc to where he ends up having a whole zombie army. 

This one was super weird. I get that he was heartbroken, but he needed to get away from those people. I don't think growing your zombie army was going to help. And then when he released them all at the end, was he pleased he had showed that stupid woman he loved her? It was just a dumb reason to have zombies. I didn't realize it, but this movie was supposed to be a sequel to a Bela movie called White Zombie. A lawsuit prevented the movie from telling people that, but the creepy eyes that popped up on the screen all the time were actually Bela's! So he was in the movie, and we didn't even know it!

It's interesting how we all saw the movies. Some of us thought the first one was beyond dull since there wasn't anything supernatural. Others considered it interesting because "at least something was happening." The rest of us, myself included, enjoyed the zombie movie more. It was more ridiculous and had some very silly "green screen" moments. And the plot was insane, Overall, I wouldn't recommend either of these movies, but I would definitely say if you're looking to watch a movie with anything supernatural, steer clear of Riders of the Whistling Skull. The most dangerous things in there are the unstable cliffsides and the stagnant water.

The Ghost Walks - 1934

Technically, the next movie in the list had an ape in it, so we skipped it for this one.

Some yahoo has written a horror play, and he decides the best way to expose an investor to it is to hire actors to carry out Act I before his very eyes! The problem comes when someone really "dies," and the investor won't believe the play is off. Now, people are disappearing, and a crazy man is loose in the house.

This movie was better than most of the others ones we'd seen lately. The comedy was tolerable if you ignore the investor's secretary. Mr. Woods was my favorite, and I was ready for him to shoot someone. The woman, as usual, was dumber than a box of rocks. If someone disappears from my closet, there's no way I'm going to stay in that room by myself. That's just dumb.

Anyway, this one gets a Good Movie! review. It's probably the best thing I've seen in a while, and that's just a sad commentary on my viewing choices lately.

The House of Mystery - 1934

I'm a little late since this was for movie night, but it's been a week. I might not remember everything quite right. This movie had an ape in it, so I was a bit excited.

An explorer plunders a temple and is cursed by a priest. He brings back a woman, and they hide in plain sight. The investors in his expedition track him down, and they want their share of the loot. But they're going to have to overcome the curse!

This movie was interesting enough. The woman in it was weird, as usual, but she made some pretty poor decisions. My favorite character was poor, downtrodden Horatio. I feel like the ape wasn't very efficient, though. He was supposed to be trained to insta-kill when the drums play, but he failed a few times.

I feel like this movie tried to follow Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932). My favorite apeman, Erik, is still the undisputed champion. This movie didn't really do anything to set it apart from all the others, and I'm still not sure how Chanda handled everything. The drums, the ape and the incense were all a lot. I suppose she could've set up the incense, but what if the person didn't stay still? Oh, never mind...