Tag Archives: Roger Corman

Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954)Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954) by/#WyottOrdung
produced by #RogerCorman
w/#AnneKimbell #StuartWade

A woman sees a giant one-eyed amoeba rising from the ocean.

“Up from the forbidden depths comes a Tidal Wave Of Terror!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big fan of Roger Corman. And that means that even though he didn’t direct Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954) – and only produced it – I am obligated to give it an automatic two-and-a-half star minimum. I am, of course, being a little silly. I don’t normally even assign star values to movies. But whenever I see Corman’s name on a film, I know I’m going to be having at least two-and-a-half stars worth of fun. And Monster from the Ocean Floor was no exception…  Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Brain Eaters (1958)

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Poster for The Brain Eaters (1958)The Brain Eaters (1958) by #BrunoVeSota
w/#EdNelson #JodyFair #LeonardNimoy

Parasites from the centre of the earth take control of people’s minds.

“Crawling, slimy things terror-bent on destroying the world!”

“What are the parasites, where do they come from, what do they want from us?”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

It’s been a long week, and I’ve barely had enough sleep. I feel like the brain eaters have gotten to me. And what I mean by that, is that I feel like my brain is gone, or mostly gone, or not functioning properly. That’s what I would expect the brain eaters to do to a person; literally eat their brains. The brain eaters in The Brain Eaters (1958), however, don’t seem to do that. No, they seem to take control of the person’s brain, and by doing so, take control of their body. So, shouldn’t the movie be called The Brain Controllers, or The Body Controllers, or… something like that?  Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)

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Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) by #RogerCorman
w/ #AntonyCarbone #BetsyJonesMoreland

A crook kills his partners and blames a legendary sea creature, not knowing that the creature is real.

“This Gangster’s “Silent Partner” Isn’t Even Human!”

#Horror #Comedy
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) is the third movie that Roger Corman made in Puerto Rico – the final chapter of his Puerto Rico trilogy, if you will. It was made, I believe, almost as an afterthought. We’re here, let’s quickly make another movie (or something like that). I wrote about the first movie in the trilogy a while back. It was, of course, Last Woman on Earth (1960). The second movie was a bit more unusual for Corman. It was called Battle of Blood Island (1960), and was a fairly straight forward war movie. Creature from the Haunted Sea is probably the zaniest of the three, and, truth be told, the worst. But seeing as how Corman is one of my filmmaking heroes, I still say there’s a lot to like about it… Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

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Poster for Night of the Blood Beast (1958)Night of the Blood Beast (1958) by #BernardLKowalski
produced by #GeneCorman
executive producer: #RogerCorman
w/#MichaelEmmet #AngelaGreene

An astronaut is killed on reentry to Earth, but his body is seeded with rapidly gestating aliens. 

“No girl was safe as long as this head-hunting thing roamed the land!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a fan of Roger Corman. He was the executive producer of Night of the Blood Beast (1958), but it was his brother, Gene Corman, who wore the main producer’s hat. They made a number of films together. If memory serves me correctly, Roger brought his brother Gene into the business. Roger, of course, would go on to produce more than 500 films. Gene only did about 36, but that’s still more than most of us will ever do. Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Last Woman on Earth (1960)

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Poster for Last Woman on Earth (1960)Last Woman on Earth (1960) by #RogerCorman
screenplay: #RobertTowne
w/#BetsyJonesMoreland #AntonyCarbone

A gangster, his wife, and his lawyer may be the last people alive.

“They fought for the Ultimate Prize!”

“You mean you’d exile one-third of the human race?”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Last Woman on Earth (1960) is one of three movies that Roger Corman made in Puerto Rico. He made Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) back to back with Last Woman on Earth to save money (shoot two movies while on location in one place). Last Woman on Earth is probably the better of the two. It was written by renowned screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown (1974), The Last Detail (1973)) and feels kind of like an old episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964).

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Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: War of the Satellites (1958)

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Poster for War of the Satellites (1958)War of the Satellites (1958) by #RogerCorman

w/#DickMiller #SusanCabot #RichardDevon

An `unknown force’ declares war on Earth when the UN ignores warnings to stop attempting to send a satellite into deep space.

”We’re up against a race of beings whose intelligence is as ours to ants and bacteria.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

War of the Satellites (1958) was apparently made in response to the media frenzy that was created by the launch of the U.S.S.R.’s Sputnik satellite – which was, in fact, the first satellite sent into outer space. The movie was made very quickly. It reportedly only took eight weeks to go from first thinking up the idea to screening the finished movie in theatres. This seems a little hard to believe, until you remember that War of the Satellites was produced and directed by Roger Corman. Not only did the man make great movies, he made them cheap and fast.  Continue reading →

Friday night at the home drive-in: Not of This Earth (1957)

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Not of This Earth (1957) by #RogerCorman

w/#PaulBirch #BeverlyGarland

A doctor and a nurse encounter an alien who needs human blood to save his dying race.

“Somewhere in this world stalks a thing that is…”

“Davanna must endure.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I saw Not of This Earth (1988) long before I ever saw the original Not of This Earth (1957), which makes it clear that Not of This Earth (1957) was NOT one of the movies I saw on Not Quite Classic Theatre back in the day. As I recall it, Not of This Earth (1988) featured a lot of nudity, care of recently retired porn star Traci Lords. Some might say it was a minor sleaze masterpiece – which raises the question: How could this in any way relate to the original Not of This Earth (1957)?  Continue reading →

Friday night at the home drive-in: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

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Poster for Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) by #RogerCorman
w/#RichardGarland #PamelaDuncan

Scientists trapped on an island with intelligent, deadly giant crabs.

“From the depths of the sea… a tidal wave of terror!”
“We are unquestionably on the brink of a great discovery. It is not likely that that discovery will be of a pleasant nature…”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) is another early-ish sci-fi horror film by Roger Corman. It stars Richard Garland, who was married to Beverly Garland for a few years. I’ve mentioned her before, as the star of The Alligator People (1959). Richard and Beverly divorced in 1956, the year before Attack of the Crab Monsters came out. Coincidentally, the movie was released as part of a double feature with Not of This Earth (1957), which starred Beverly Garland.  Continue reading →

Friday night at the home drive-in: Day the World Ended (1955)

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Day the World Ended (1955) by #RogerCorman

w/#RichardDenning #LoriNelson #AdeleJergens

In a world devastated by a wide-scale nuclear war, all that remains are teetering ruins and a handful of scrappy survivors.

”ATTACKED… by a creature from hell!”
“The terrifying story that COULD COME TRUE!”
“A new high in naked shrieking terror!”

#Horror #SciFi  
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

We’ve become used to post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows that deal with zombies. We used to see a lot of post-apocalyptic movies about people in the desert fighting over gas, or water, or the last fertile woman on the planet. Day the World Ended (1955) is a much earlier post-apocalyptic story of survivors simply trying to stay alive. They wind up stuck together in a house in valley that was somehow protected from the radiation fallout that is killing people and animals everywhere else (or something like that).

A threat of mutant monsters from outside the valley looms over the survivors, but as with many of the best movies of this kind, the real danger comes from within the group, as tension between the survivors begins to rise… Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Wasp Woman (1959)

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Poster for The Wasp Woman (1959)The Wasp Woman (1959) by #RogerCorman
w/#SusanCabot #AnthonyEisley #BarbouraMorris

A cosmetics queen is transformed into a murderous monster after she uses an insect chemical to preserve her beauty.

“A beautiful woman by day – a lusting queen wasp by night.”
“Strong men forced to satisfy a passion no human knows.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The Wasp Woman (1959) is a super-fun B-movie by none other than the master himself, Roger Corman. I love Roger Corman. He’s one of my heroes. I was once called “the Roger Corman of Manitoba” and it was the greatest compliment that I could imagine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Roger Corman movie that I didn’t enjoy. And The Wasp Woman is no exception.
 Continue reading →