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!