What should have been a lighthearted screwball romp (based on the Thorne Smith novel The Night Life of the Gods), as a mad scientist (Alan Mowbray) brings the ancient gods to life, unfortunately falls flat, with just a few chuckles amid an overall meandering plot that offers oddities instead of laughs. Despite the poor writing …
Read the full post →“<em>Night Life of the Gods</em> (1935)”
This entry in the sword-and-sorcery genre stars Lee Horsley as the hero out to avenge his parents’ deaths upon the wicked king (Richard Lynch) who called forth a demon to strike down his opponents, but it also features, in the form of the protagonist’s triple-bladed swords, one of the silliest of wonder weapons. Particularly entertaining …
Read the full post →“<em>The Sword and the Sorcerer</em> (1982)”
Dwellers in an underground city who cannot survive in sunlight are the bad guys in this sword and sandal movie, originally titled Maciste, l’uomo più forte del mondo, and Mark Forest portrays the titular muscleman. The plot includes slave raids, a battle with a ferocious ape, a scheme to end at least one family’s vulnerability …
Read the full post →“<em>Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules</em> (1961)”
A plane searching for a missing atomic rocket crashes on a remote island, and its crew — including scientists accompanying the search — soon learn that there is something strange about the place where they’ve down. They set off to learn the explanation, and perhaps to find the missing rocket, but they soon find ample …
In this tale of Pinocchio updated for the Space Age, the mischievous youngster (Peter Lazer) is turned back into a puppet for misbehaving and then must redeem himself, which he does by setting out to put an end to the depredations of Astro, the space whale. Pinocchio gains a new friend, Nurtle the Turtle (Arnold …
Read the full post →“<em>Pinocchio in Outer Space</em> (1965)”
Supernatural tale of love and betrayal, vengeance and conflict, with some interesting sequences, though the movie, also known as The Phantom Madame Peach Blossom, suffered in the print I watched from poor lighting and difficult-to-read subtitles. Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK, but not great. Movie 495 for 2021.
Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta cooperated in creating this epic animated feature, in which a young man who is a village’s lone survivor, the daughter of a southern king, and a mysterious stranger battle the sorcerous powers of an evil ice queen and her son. The story is rather simple, but the design of the …
In this weird fantasy movie, Xuxa’s dog Xuxo (a puppet) is kidnapped by Baixo Astral (“Bad Mood”), who wants to turn everyone gloomy, and especially Xuxa. She then goes on a quest to rescue her dog, making friends (often puppets) and facing strange obstacles along the way, and finding time for song as well. Perhaps …
Read the full post →“<em>Super Xuxa Contra o Baixo Astral</em> (1988)”
This science fiction-comedy stars Jim Varney, initially as his character Ernest P. Worrell, but then as the evil mad scientist Dr. Otto, as well as an assortment of other characters across a variety of places and times, as hero Lance Sterling (Myke R. Mueller) and his much-smarter assistant Doris (Jackie Welch) attempt to foil the …
Read the full post →“<em>Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam</em> (1985)”
A version of ancient Egypt is the setting for this sword-and-sandal flick, originally titled Il trionfo di Maciste. This time around, the hero, Maciste (Kirk Morris) tackles the forces of an evil queen (Ljubica Otasevic), who has usurped the throne of Thebes, but himself falls prey to the queen’s sorcerous power. There’s the expected test …
Read the full post →“<em>Triumph of the Son of Hercules</em> (1961)”
