The Satan Bug (1965)

The Satan Bug is the film version of Alistair MacLean's 1962 novel of the same name. Here the story is moved from Britain to the US and many of the character's names have been changed but the premise is the same. A madman has broken into a high-security biological warfare lab and stolen the Satan Bug.  The Bug itself is an advanced, fast-acting and highly contagious strain of polio for which the scientists at the lab have not yet found a cure. 


George Maharis plays Lee Barrett, the ex-head of security for the installation where the Satan Bug was stolen. He is brought back to help find the thief. There's a lot of running around through desert chasing down the virus. In the end though it isn't as thrilling as it should have been.

 The film also starts Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, andr Edward Asner

Available: Amazon

The Last Circus (2010)

This film is directed by Spanish film director Alex de la Iglesia. It stars Carlos Areces as Javier, a clown looking for a job with a circus. Javier's father was a "Happy Clown" that was imprisoned during the Spanish Civil War. Javier wants to follow in his father's footsteps, except he is a "Sad Clown" since his life has seen so much suffering. 

Javier finally gets employment with a traveling group that includes the beautiful acrobat Natalia (Carolina Bang). Javier instantly falls madly in love with her. The only problem is that she is the girlfriend of the Happy Clown Sergio (Antonio de la Torre), a violent egotist who believes that he runs the show. When things finally come to a head Javier basically loses his mind, intent on destroying Sergio and saving Natalia from his clutches.

Alternate Titles: Balada Triste De Trompeta

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Lisa And The Devil (1974)

This is a surreal thriller by Italian director Mario Bava stars Elke Sommer as Lisa and Telly Savalas as The Devil. The story is set in Italy with Lisa as an American tourist who wanders away from her tour group as they study a fresco of the devil carrying away the dead. She enters a shop and encounters Savalas who has an uncanny resemblance to the demon in the painting. Lisa rushes out of the store but suddenly is very lost. Eventually she gets a ride with a rich couple and their chauffeur, but soon the car breaks down. Fortunately the are right in front of a large estate house and are invited in by the butler who just happens to be Savalas. The residents of the house are a young man who is quite taken by Lisa and his blind mother. Lots of bizarre situations occurs that include lots of dummies of the people, a man who appears only to Lisa and a past love triangle with a woman who looks uncannily like Lisa. What exactly is going on is not for rational analysis.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Behind Locked Doors (1948)

This Poverty Row noir film is directed by Budd Boetticher and stars Richard Carlson as Ross Stewart, a dime-store detective who's just opened shop. Literally before the paint has dried on his office door, he gets his first case. Kathy Lawrence (Lucille Bremer), a pretty newspaper reporter, desires to hire Stewart to help her find a crooked judge who is wanted by the police. She has already done some investigating on her own and believes that he is hiding out in a private sanitarium. Stewart is to enter the mental hospital disguised as a patient and find out for sure if the judge has refuge there. Even though Stewart befriends a kindly orderly, he also gets abuse from the sadistic caretaker. Being a low-budget film there really aren't that many other patients to be seen with the exception of the dangerous inmate "Champ" (Tor Johnson) who blindly beats up whomever is in his path believing that he is in the wrestling ring.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

The Invisible Ray (1936)

Dr. Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff) is an ambitious scientist who is doing experiments with rays of light from the Andromeda Galaxy. Through these studies, he discovers that a meteorite had crashed into Africa millions of years ago. With a team of other scientists that include Dr. Felix Benet (Bela Lugosi), Rukh travels to the dark continent to find the asteroid. He finally does pinpoint the location of the meteor and uses it to create a ray that can not only heal blindness, but melt rock into a pile of ooze. Unfortunately, exposure to this substance, now called Radium X, has also caused him to be poisoned which results in him not only glowing, but becoming deadly to touch. It has also caused him to go mad and he proceeds to target the other researchers believing that they are thieves that profited from his discoveries.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Stage Fright (1950)

This Hitchcock film starts off with a flashback told by Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) to his friend Eve (Jane Wyman). It seems that he is being pursued by the cops because they believe that he killed the husband of his lover, actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich). Eve is very much in love with Jonathan and helps him to hide. She brings him to her father's (Alastair Sim) fishing hut. Although her dad advises her against it, Eve goes back to town and starts to investigate the crime herself. She tries to get Detective Inspector Smith (Michael Wilding) to suspect Charlotte, hoping that he will see who the true murderer is. But could she is wrong in her suspicions?

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Assassination In Rome (1965)

Italian thriller starring Cyd Charisse as Shelley North, a woman whose husband has gone missing shortly after their arrival in Rome. At the same time, an unidentified man with drugs on him has turned up dead at the Trevi Fountain. An old friend of Shelley's, reporter Dick Sherman (Hugh O'Brian), teams up with her and the Roman police to try to find where her husband is and what connection he might have with the dead man. There are quite a few red herrings and some wacky characters including a pair of bumbling thieves who rob the dead man's apartment after it's already been ransacked.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Surrogates (2009)

This science-fiction film is based on a comic book series of the same name. In the near future, humans have become so vain and lazy that they don't even leave their homes anymore. They have employed "surrogates" to do their daily routines for them. In fact, the people of tomorrow even sends their robots out to enjoy the nightlife while they stay at home and experience the fun vicariously.

This world seems pretty perfect until one day there are some murders of surrogates that also kills their handlers. This should be impossible, but it looks like someone has developed a weapon that could wipe out everyone. Detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) are assigned to the case. During his investigation, Greer's surrogate gets destroyed. Suddenly he is thrust out into a world that he was sheltered from for many years when he decides to continue the investigation, going out into the world on his own.

Available: Amazon, Netflix

Number Seventeen (1935)

This thriller is an early sound film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, there is no sync sound for the first ten minutes or so.

It starts off with a man entering an abandoned house in which he sees shadows. He ends up running into a tramp named Ben (Leon M. Lion) after they both unexpectedly discover a dead body on the landing of the stairs. Soon other people show up (including a woman falling from the ceiling), all seemingly connected to a diamond necklace. When the necklace itself appears, it changes hands many times as the crooks make their escape on a train. But fear not, our hero is in hot pursuit after he hijacks a bus full of people. I'm still a little confused as to who everyone was.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966)

Britain's Hammer Films takes on Russian history with this movie. Christopher Lee stars as the hypnotic madman who worms his way into the Czar's family eventually influencing almost all the decisions the ruler makes.

Rasputin makes a name for himself by magically healing the sick. When driven out of town for having his way with the tavern owner's daughter, he goes to St. Petersburg where he meets the Czarina's lady-in-waiting, Sonia (Barbara Shelley). He can control Sonia with his mind and has her do as he wishes, eventually gaining the trust of the Czarina. However, Sonia's family realize that he is up to no good and make plans to kill him.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

The Fallen Idol (1948)

Directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene based on his own story The Basement Room.

The plot centers around a diplomat's young son Phillipe (Bobby Henrey) who is looked after by the husband and wife caretakers of the embassy, Mr. & Mrs. Baines. Phillipe's parents don't seem to be around much, so he has developed a very close relationship with Baines (Ralph Richardson). They share lots of secrets, like the pet snake he has hidden behind a brick in the wall.

Phillipe does not get along well with Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel), and as a matter of fact neither does her husband. Phillipe witnesses the Baines fighting at the top of the staircase and suspects that Baines killed his wife after she falls down the stairs and dies. Unfortunately for Baines, Phillip is stupid idiot when the police come to investigate. Someone should shoot that kid.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Ministry Of Fear (1944)

Directed by Fritz Lang and based on a Graham Greene novel, this film stars Ray Milland as Stephen Neale, a recently released patient from an asylum in Britain. On his return to England, he stops by a fete where he wins a cake after visiting the fortune teller. However, the cake is not meant for him and he is suddenly being pursued by Nazi killers. Trying to solve the mystery, he gets mixed up with a bizarre bunch of suspects which include Alan Napier, better known as Batman's TV butler Alfred.

Available: Amazon

Juve Vs. Fantomas (1913)

This is the second of the silent Fantomas films and starts where the last film left off.

Police detective Juve (Edmond Bréon) meets up with the reporter Fandor (Georges Melchior) after the remains of woman is found in a doctor's house. The body of the woman is unidentified, but has Lady Beltham's identification on her. Lady Beltham (Rénee Carl) is the lover of Gurn (Fantomas in disguise), the killer of her husband. Juve and Fandor decide to follow the "doctor" to find out what he is up to.

Alternate Titles: Juve Contre Fantômas, Juve Against Fantomas

Available: Amazon, Netflix

Fantomas: In The Shadow Of The Guillotine (1913)

This is the first film based on Fantomas, a master criminal. The character was created by French authors Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, and has appeared in over 30 books since 1911.

In this initial adventure, Fantomas is introduced to us as we witness him stealing from a rich woman at the Royal Palace Hotel. We then are informed of the death of Lord Beltham through Inspector Juve. It seems a man called Gurn (Fantomas in disguise) is suspected of killing the husband of his lover. Gurn is eventually caught and sentenced to death via the guillotine. However, our clever convict is not so easily vanquished and concocts a plan of escape. 

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Dorian Gray (2009)

This film is based on the novel written by Oscar Wilde. Starring Ben Barnes as Dorian, Colin Firth as Lord Henry and Ben Chaplin as Basil.

Although I have read the book, I don't remember details enough to say with certainty how accurate an adaptation this is in general. I do know that Dorian's corruption of Sibyl Vane was much more evil in the novel. In this movie, it just seems that Dorian gets bored of her while in the manuscript her downfall is terribly tragic and quite malicious on Dorian's part.

This film uses CGI in its representation of the painting. I personally liked it for the most part because it is actually quite scary. The portrait is supposed to be evil, not just old, and the slight bit of animation that is used is effective.

Available: Amazon, Netflix

Bluebeard

Bluebeard is another film from the Edgar G. Ulmer Archive DVD set. This thriller takes place during the 19th century in a fearful Paris; there is a killer of women on the loose.

The film starts off with a trio of women walking home together terrified to be alone at night. They run into the local puppeteer (John Carradine) who invites them to see his Faust puppet show in the park. At the same time, the police are closing in on the killer.

This movie is all about atmosphere, physically and psychologically. Carradine's portrayal of the lovesick yet psychotic Gaston is so subtle and utterly effective. Although it's a bit melodramatic by today's standards, it is still highly intriguing and enjoyable.

Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Silk Stocking

Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Silk Stocking was originally produced for BBC television. I'm not a Sherlock Holmes fanatic so I can't be any judge of how accurate it portrays the world's greatest detective but I can say that as a layman I enjoyed it very much.

This version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation is played by Rupert Everett with Ian Hart as Dr. Watson. On the eve of his marriage to an American woman, Watson gets Holmes interested in the acts of a serial killer who is preying on young society girls; his calling card is a silk stocking wrapped around her neck and another stuffed in her mouth. It really is all a bit fetishistic.

The Masterpiece Theatre mini-site has a preview of the film.

Black Sunday

Back in the 1970s when Black Sunday was released, a terrorist attack on American soil was pretty much solely the stuff of movie thrillers; nowadays it's a reality. This change in the state of the world actually makes this film much more up-to-date than it really should be. Let's just say, it aged well.

Bruce Dern is a former Vietnam War POW who is extremely bitter after being court martialed. He teams up with members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September in planning a massive attack on the 80,000 football fans at that year's Super Bowl. The FBI and an Israeli agent (Robert Shaw) only know part of the plan and race against time to find out the where and the when of this imminent massacre.

When the movie first started, I was afraid that it was going to be bogged down by too much intrigue. However, the action quickly moves away from Beirut (where the film begins) to America, focusing on Dern's mental deterioration and Shaw's investigation. John Frankenheimer's direction is excellent as usual with his signature style of setting the action smack dab in the middle of real people and real situations.

Circus of Fear

Circus Of Fear was originally released in the US under the title Psycho Circus (which is a better description for this film, in my opinion). It was also released in B&W even though it was shot in color. Of course watching this in B&W would take away a lot of what makes it great; luckily the DVD print is in glorious color.

The movie starts off with a gang robbing an armored truck and stealing all the money. When one of the gang panics and kills a guard, the big boss summons him to the winter quarters of a traveling circus. That gang member ends up dead and the money disappears; then things really get strange.

And what a cast of characters! There is Mr. Big the midget who is bribing Gregor the masked lion tamer (played by Christopher Lee); there is the unfaithful knife-thrower's assistant who is sleeping around with an unidentified man (who is most likely the killer); there is ring master who is there to find the man who killed his father many years before; and then there is Klaus Kinski who obviously was around for only one day of shooting and whose part is completely useless (although menacing looks from Kinski are always welcome in any film).

View the UK trailer.

Dead Man's Shoes

I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally see this film. I also can't believe that it's not as well-known as I thought it was. Dead Man's Shoes was released in the UK almost four years ago; more people need to this movie, now.

The film is directed by Shane Meadows and stars Paddy Considine as a returning soldier who dishes out revenge on the men who harmed his mentally challenged brother Anthony (played by Toby Kebbell). There's really not much more than that plot-wise. However the writing, direction and acting of this film is what really makes it worth it. It really is a text-book example of how a movie should be done.

View the trailer on the film's official site.