Horror Bites - Brain Damage

HAMMER FRANK-O-THON

 

It's time for a quick Hammer Horror feature, in a series that is strangely varied and often lacking the usual sequel focused connective tissue. As a result it's also not one that has an obvious rise and fall in terms of quality and diminishing returns. First up it's their original foray into colour horror movies with The Curse of Frankenstein but it's also worth comparing it to the later remake slash parody, The Evil of Frankenstein. The former is of course the first of the studio's forays into taking on the classic Universal monsters, maligned by contemporary critics but adored by general audiences. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would quickly become genre icons of course, so it's good to take a look back at where it all started.

 

Scorecard

SEPTEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH: Adrift in Tokyo ☆☆☆☆

Review Roundup - Ecstacy of Gold

SISU (2022)

Years ago, almost nine at the time of writing, there was a film called Big Game. Perhaps under-rated and probably under-seen, it was a mixture of director Jalmaris Helander's European sensibilities and a lot of Hollywood action movie tropes. It was a change of direction for a film-maker that had previous made holiday horror Rare Exports. But his fondness for the genre was evident in a story where a Finnish youth and an American politician had to join forces. It's this kind of mash-up which returns here in an English language war film set in 1940s Finland, which focuses more on outrageous spectacle than period detail. It's a grim backdrop with a lot of gruesome moments, but it's a story told with a firmly dark sense of humour.

Monster Bites - The Duel

GAMERA VS BARUGON (1966)

While the Gamera films are generally considered fare made for children it's interesting to look back and see exactly when that transition came around. The original film mixed up the typical kind of city-wide death and destruction with some elements of this, but overall it's a pretty straightforward monster movie. The next two sequels on the other hand? Well it's interesting that the first entry I'm looking at here doesn't include a child actor at all. In fact it's more in line with the kind of stories that spawned from King Kong, in which creatures are brought back to the modern world from the unknown parts of the map. The next instalment on the other hand... well I will get to that in good time.

Scorecard

AUGUST

FILM OF THE MONTH: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three ☆☆☆☆