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EL ASESINO INVISIBLE (1964/Filmadora PanAmericana) Mexico.
Aka: EL ENMASCARADO DE ORO CONTRA EL ASESINO INVISIBLE.
Credits: Dir: Renè Cardona.
Cast: Ana Bertha Lepe, Guillermo Murray, El Enmascarado De Oro.

ASSAULT (1970/Rank) 89mins. UK.
Aka: TOWER OF TERROR; IN THE DEVIL'S GARDEN; THE CREEPERS.
Credits: Dir: Sidney Hayers; Sc: John Kruse.
From the novel "The Ravine" by Kendal Young.
Cast: Suzy Kendall, Frank Finlay, Freddie Jones, James Laurenson, Lesley-Anne Down, Tony Beckley, Dilys Hamlett, Anthony Ainley, James Cosmo, Patrick Jordan, Allan Cuthbertson, Anabel Littledale, Tom Chatto, David Essex.
At a school for young women several students are killed when they walk through a ravine in the woods nearby. A victim struck dumb from the experience is unable to help, but the art teacher, (Kendall), agrees to act as a decoy for the police to try and capture the sex fiend.
A pre-slasher trend, psycho terror film that is spoilt by having a "made for television" feel about it.
Most notable for an early appearance by Down as a victim.

ASSIGNMENT ISTAMBUL (1968) see Castle of Fu Manchu

ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE (1960/Ultra Titanus) 79mins. Italy. Aka: SPACEMEN.
Credits: Dir: Antonio Margheriti; Sfx: Ceasar Peace.
Cast: Rik Von Nutter, Gabriella Farinon, David Montressor, Archie Savage, Alain Dijon.
"1,000 Headlines into the Future!"
A group of astronauts go into outer space to rescue a spacecraft that is on a collision course with earth.
A cheap and boring space opera.

ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1970) see Los Monstrous del Terror

THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER (1957/Hollywood International/AIP.) 59mins. BW. US. Aka: MYSTERIOUS INVADER (UK).
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Ronnie Ashcroft; Sc: Frank Hall; Ph: William C. Thomas; Mus: Guenther Kauer.
Cast: Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan, Marilyn Harvey, Shirley Kilpatrick, Jeanne Tatum, Ewing Brown.
"A creature from beyond the stars...Evil...Beautiful...Deadly!"
An incredibly sexy glowing alien, (Kilpatrick), from the planetary system of Antares who can kill with the merest touch arrives on Earth to invite our planet to join the "Council Of Planets" and enter a new age of peace. Circumstances find her landing and interrupting the kidnappers of wealthy Margaret Chaffee, (Harvey), who she is forced to kill, but when one of them, (Clarke), hurls acid at her she disintegrates leaving behind a locket that contains the invitation that will now never be read.
This obviously cheap film consisting of nonsense narration and below par acting has gained something of a cult following due mainly to Kilpatrick's appearance.
The strange backward walk whenever the alien leaves a room was included because Kilpatrick's spacesuit was accidentally torn and the crew had no time to fix it during their rushed four day shooting schedule.

THE ASTRO ZOMBIES (1968/T.V. Mikels/Genini Films/RAM.) 83mins. Mexico.
Aka: SPACE VAMPIRES.
Credits: Dir: Ted V. Mikels; Prod: Wayne Rogers, Ted V. Mikels & Ken Altose; Sc: Ted V. Mikels & Wayne Rogers; Ph: Robert Maxwell; Ed: Art Names; Art: Wally Moon; Mus: Nico Karaski.
Cast: John Carradine, Wendell Corey, Tom Pace, Joan Patrick, Tura Santana, Wally Moon, Rafael Campos, Vince Barbi, Victor Izay, Joe Hoover, Egon Sirany, John Hopkins, Lynette Lantz, Janis Saul, Vic Lance, Rod Wilmoth.
Professor De Marco, (Carradine), plans to create a race of artificial men from his isolated mansion laboratory. He needs a supply of organs to create his first man, (Wilmoth), but it has a faulty brain and goes on the rampage. CIA. Agent Holman, (Corey), follows the creature back to the scientist's laboratory and discovers a horde of other zombies in the cellar. When an enemy agent named Santanna, (Santana), shoots De Marco, the professor pulls a lever that blows the house to smithereens.
A slow moving and badly made affair that is too awful even for the "it's-so-bad-that-it's-good" category.
Wendell Corey died just after the completion of filming.
Wayne Rogers later found fame portraying "Trapper" John in the successful television series "M*A*S*H".

AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976/Amicus/British Lion/AIP.) 86mins. UK.
Credits: Dir: Kevin Connor; Prod: John Dark; Sc: Milton Subotsky; Ph: Alan Hume; Sfx: Ian Wingrove; Des: Maurice Carter; Mus: Mike Vickers. From "At The Earth's Core" by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Cast: Peter Cushing, Doug McClure, Caroline Munro, Cy Grant, Godfrey James, Keith Barron, Sean Lynch.
Dr. Perry, (Cushing), and his assistant Innes, (McClure), are demonstrating their invention the MOLE., a machine that can travel underground by means of drilling through the Earth's surface. During the demonstration the MOLE. goes out of control and it travels to the centre of the earth where they find a prehistoric land called Pellucidar ruled by evil Pteradactyl like creatures with telepathic powers. The human inhabitants of Pellucidar are slaves to these evil creatures whom Perry and Innes battle to free Pellucidar and save the beautiful princess, (Munro). Eventually they manage to take their MOLE. back to the surface.
First of a brief series of films by Kevin Connor with Doug McClure and a thinnly applied reference to Edgar Rice Burroughs. The effects are worse than that of a muppet movie, however this has an endearing quality that keeps it compelling in the same cheap way that the "Dr. Who" television series was a success.
Good family fun with some scary bits thrown in to make the kids scream.

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EL ATAUD DEL MUERTO (1957) see El Ataud del Vampiro

EL ATAUD DEL VAMPIRO (1957/ABSA/Salazar) 86mins. BW. Mexico.
Aka: EL ATAUD DEL MUERTO; EL RETURNO DEL VAMPIRO;
THE VAMPIRE'S COFFIN.
Credits: Dir: Fernando Mendez; Prod: Abel Salazar; Sc: Ramon Obon & Javier Mateos; Ph: Victor Herrera; Ed: Alfredo Rosas Priego; Art: William Hayden & Gunther Gerszo; Mus: Gustavo C. Carrión.
Cast: Germán Robles, Abel Salazar, Ariadna Welter, Yerye Beirute, Alicia Montoya, Guillermo Orea, Carlos Ancirca.
"It will haunt you forever! From the depths of evil comes a diabolical killer of beautiful women!"
Vampire Count Karol de Lavud's, (Robles), body is stolen from its grave by a curious scientist and accidentally brought to life. Dr. Enrique, (Salazar), eventually hunts the vampire down at the fiend’s lair in a wax museum, but instead of disintegrating into dust when he is killed, this vampire turns into a feeble bat.
A haphazard production heightened by imaginative lighting effects.
Robles' next film is the parody El Castillo de los Monstruos.
Producer K. Gordon Murray and dirctor Paul Nagle are to blame for adding the dubious "Hypnoscope" and bringing this and many other Mexican atrocities into America.
Sequel: El Vampiro.

ATLANTIS (1961) see Journey Beneath the Desert

ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT (1960/Galaxy Prod./MGM.) 91mins. US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: George Pal; Sc: Daniel Mainwaring; Ph: Harold E. Wellman; Ed: Ben Lewis; Art: George W. Davis & William Ferrari; Sfx: Lee LeBlanc, A. Arnold Gillespie & Robert R. Hoag; Mu: William Tuttle; Mus: Russell Garcia.
From the play by Sir Gerald Hargreaves.
Cast: Anthony Hall, Joyce Taylor, John Dall, Bill Smith, Edward Platt, Frank De Kova, Berry Kroeger, Edgar Stehli, Wolf Barzell, Jay Novello. Narrator: Paul Frees.
Demetrios, (Hall), a young Greek fisherman, rescues Antillia, (Taylor), princess of Atlantis, from a raft at sea and is persuaded to return with her to her island home beyond the pillars of Hercules. When they arrive, the princess is horrified to find that the evil Zaren, (Dall), holds sway over the kingdom and he plans to wage war on the rest of the world with a large death ray. Demetrious is promptly put into chains with other slaves to mine for the minerals needed for the war effort. A sadistic hypnotist changes any slaves who are deemed to be too troublesome into animal-men. However, Atlantis is doomed to perish by sinking in the sea and Demetrious manages to lead a rebellion and escape with the princess.
A juvenile fantasy spectacle that effectively weaves the plot around old Atlantean myths. The pleasing photography helps an audience overlook the lack of substance. The crowded arena scenes were borrowed from QUO VADIS.

ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS (1961) see Maciste Nella Terra dei Ciclopi

ATLAS AGAINST THE CZAR (1963) see Maciste alla Corte dello Zar

ATOM AGE DRACULA (1960) see Seddock L'Erede di Satana

ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (1960) see Seddock L'Erede di Satana

ATOM MAN VERSUS SUPERMAN (l950/Columbia) BW. Serial. 12 Episodes. US.
Credits: Dir: Spencer G. Bennet; Prod: Sam Katzman; Sc: George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland & David Mathews; Ph: Ira Morgan; Ed: Earl Turner; Mus: Mischa Bakaleinkoff.
From the Radio Serial and the comic book character written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Schuster.
Cast: Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Lyle Talbot, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin, Jack Ingram.
Several dangerous devices designed by the evil Lex Luthor and his henchmen threaten Metropolis. Only Superman, (Alyn), can save the city.
Columbia's first film featuring the comic book superhero.

THE ATOMIC BRAIN (1963) see Monstrosity

ATOMIC MONSTER (1955) see Bride of the Monster

ATOMIC MONSTER-THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS (1961)
see The Beast of Yucca Flats

ATOMIC RULERS OF THE WORLD (1964/Shintoho) 83mins. BW. TVM. Japan.
Aka: ATTACK OF THE FLYING SAUCERS.
Credits: Dir: Tervo Ishii, Akira Mitsuwa & Koreyoshi Akasaka; Prod: Mitsugi Okura; Sc: Ichiro Miyegawa; Ph: Akira Watanabe.
Cast: Ken Utsui, Minako Yamada, Junko Ikeuchi, Minoru Takada, Kan Hayashi, Reiko Seto, Chisako Tahara, Akira Tamura.
Superhero Starman, (Utsui), battles the fish men from Capia who have brought a new disease to earth from their planet behind the Moon. The steel-bodied alien hero vanquishes the aliens' magician.
Edited from episodes 3 and 4 of the Japanese "Super Giant" television series.
The alien superhero Starman who was sometimes called Super Giant, appeared in a series of eight television episodes. In 1964, four features were edited from the 1956-59 television serial and released in English language versions. The others are Attack From Space; The Appearance of Super Giant and The Evil Brain From Outer Space.

THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE (1959/Allied Artists/Gorham Prod.) 72mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Spencer Gordon Bennet; Prod: Alex Gordon; A.Prod: Jack Rabin, Irving Block & Orville H. Hampton; Sc: Orville H. Hampton; Ph: Gilbert Warrenton; Ed: William Austin; Art: Dan Haller & Don Ament; Sfx: Jack Rabin, Irving Block & Louis DeWitt; Mus: Alexander Laszlo.
Cast: Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Tom Conway, Paul Dubov, Joi Lansing, Bob Steele, Sid Melton, Jack Mulhall, Victor Varconi, Selmar Jackson, Jean Moorhead, Richard Tyler, Ken Brecker, Frank Watkins. Narrated: Pat Michaels, Saucer Voice: John Hilliard.
"Tomorrows war to save the world explodes under the Arctic ice!"
An alien flying saucer that lands in the sea near Nome, Alaska, travels underwater and destroys American atomic ships to try and conquer Earth. An atomic submarine named Tiger Shark discovers that the saucer can self-repair any damage, and that inside is a creature that resembles a giant hairy eyeball. The crew ram the space ship and manage to board the craft, but most of the men are killed for their efforts. When the space ship flies to the North Pole to refuel on magnetism, the sub launches a missile and destroys the alien.
A delightfully inept film that has a mercifully short running time. This makes full use of stock footage, repeating the same shot of a submarine passing an iceberg several times.

ATORANGON, THE FLYING SUPERSUB (1963) see Kaitei Gunkan

ATRAGON (1963) see Kaitei Gunkan

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ATTACK FROM SPACE (1964/Shintoho) 79mins. BW. TVM. Japan.
Aka: INVADERS FROM SPACE.
Credits: Dir: Teruo Ishii, Akira Mitsuwa & Koreyoshi Akasaka; Prod: Mitsugi Okura; Sc: Ichiro Miyagawa; Ph: Hiroshi Suzuki & Nobu Boshi.
Cast: Ken Utsui, Utako Mitsuya, Kan Hayashi, Teruhisa Ikeda, Hiroshi Asami, Junko Ikeuchi.
A neo-Nazi organisation constructs a space fleet and bombs the Tower of London and the Empire State Building. Steel-bodied alien superhero Starman, (Utsui), destroys the threat.
Edited from the Japanese 1956-59 television series "Super Giant", utilising episodes 5 and 6. Four English language dubbed features were released in 1964. See also Atomic Rulers of the World; The Appearance of Super Giant and The Evil Brain From Outer Space.

ATTACK OF THE AZTEC MUMMY (1957) see La Momia Azteca

ATTACK OF THE BLOOD-LEECHES (1959) see Attack of the Giant Leeches

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957/Los Altos Prod./Allied Artists) 64mins. BW.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Roger Corman; A.Prod. & Sc: Charles B. Griffith; Ph: Floyd Crosby; Ed: Charles Gross Jnr.; Mus: Ronald Stein.
Cast: Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Leslie Bradley, Russell Johnson, Tony Miller, Mel Welles, Beech Dickerson, Richard Cutting, Ed Nelson, Jonathan Haze.
"Once were they men...now they are land crabs."
Atomically mutated crabs measuring 25 foot in size, prey on scientists marooned on a desert island who have made the seawater radioactive. When the crabs kill the scientists by eating their heads, they assume their memories and the crabs speak with the respective scientist's voices. Another expedition arrives to discover the fate of the first, but the crabs that lure them with the voices of the people they have eaten attack them. The expedition tries to destroy the crabs with high voltage electricity, but all the while the creatures are reducing the size of the island with explosives they have stolen from the expedition. When the island is barely a rock outcrop, one scientist notes that one of the crabs is pregnant.
A silly schlock title hides a fairly effective and inventive monster film.
Ed Nelson is in the crab costume.

ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FOOT WOMAN (1958/Allied Artists/Woolner)
65mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Nathan Hertz (Nathan Juran); Prod: Bernard Woolner; Ex.Prod: Jacques Marquette; Sc: Mark Hanna; Ph: Jacques Marquette; Ed: Edward Mann; Mus: Ronald Stein.
Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers, Roy Gordon, George Douglas, Ken Terrell, Otto Waldid, Frank Chase, Eilene Stevens.
An alien spaceship lands on Earth as witnessed by wealthy Nancy Archer, (Hayes), recently released from a mental institution, but no one believes her. Meanwhile her husband, (Hudson), plots to have her committed back into hospital so that he can spend her money on his mistress, (Vickers). Nancy’s husband agrees to take her back to the mountains where she saw the giant alien, but he runs away when the alien approaches leaving Nancy to her fate. When Nancy returns home she starts to increase to a gigantic size and goes in search of her husband at the local bar. She crushes him in a fit of rage, but eventually she is electrocuted to death by overhead power cables.
A memorable title masks a film of inept special effects and awful scripting, even if the overall silliness does become compelling. During many of the double exposure scenes of gigantic Nancy, she is transparent due to the cheap process utilised.

ATTACK OF THE FLYING SAUCERS (1964) see Atomic Rulers of the World

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959/Balboa/AIP.) 62mins. BW. US.
Aka: DEMONS OF THE SWAMP; THE GIANT LEECHES (UK); ATTACK OF THE BLOOD-LEECHES.
Credits: Dir: Bernard L. Kowalski; Prod: Gene Corman; Ex.Prod: Roger Corman; Sc: Leo Gordon; Ph: John M. Nickolaus Jnr.; Ed: Jodie Copelan; Art: Daniel Haller; Animation: Ray Harryhausen; Mus: Alexander Laszlo.
Cast: Yvette Vickers, Michael Emmett, Ken Clark, Jan Shepard, Bruno Ve Sota, Gene Roth, Tyler McVey.
"An unknown horror...An unknown death...What was the terrible power of the demons of the swamp!"
Radiation from Cape Canaveral causes giant mutated leeches with intelligence to appear and suck the blood from people in a Florida swampland. Dave Walker is blamed for the disappearances until more people go missing, so game warden Steve Benton, (Clark), swims to some caves and uses dynamite to blow up the creatures.
A cheap, but rather well done addition to the fifties cycle of monster films in which the occasionally effective creatures appear to be nothing more than divers in ill-fitting costumes.

ATTACK OF THE LIVER EATERS (1968)
see Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told

ATTACK OF THE MARCHING MONSTERS (1968) see Kaiju Soshingeki

ATTACK OF THE MAYAN MUMMY (1963/Medallion) 85mins. BW. Mexico/US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Jerry Warren; Sc: Gilberto Solares & Alfred Salazar; Ph: Enrique Wallace; Mus: Luis De Leon.
Cast: Nina Knight, Richard Webb, Bruno Ve Sota, Steve Conte, John Burton.
A woman regresses to a former life as a Mayan princess and leads scientists to a Mayan tomb where a shaggy mummy comes to life.
Warren tries again to make something out of nothing, but succeeds only in confusing us further. Most of the dialogue is inane and the dubbing is so muffled that any hope for plot coherence is long gone.
This film was made from re-edited scenes of the Mexican AZTEC MUMMY films containing newly shot American footage with Richard Webb. Some prints can be found at 74mins.
For more of the Warren legacy see Curse of the Stone Hand or La Marca del Muerto.

ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (1969) see Gamera Tai Guiron

ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (1963) see Matango, Fungus of Terror

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958/American International/Alta Vista) 79mins. BW. US. Aka: SIX INCHES TALL (UK.); THE FANTASTIC PUPPET PEOPLE.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sfx: Bert I. Gordon; Ex.Prod: James H. Nicholson & Samuel Z. Arkoff; Sc: Bert I. Gordon & George Worthing Yates; Ph: Ernest Laszlo; Ed: Ronald Sinclair; Props: Paul Blaisdell; Mus: Albert Glasser. Title song, "You're My Living Doll" sung by Marlene Willis.
Cast: John Agar, John Hoyt, June Kenney, Michael Mark, Marlene Willis, Ken Miller, Scott Peters, Susan Gordon, Jack Kosslyn, Laurie Mitchell, June Jocelyn, Jean Moorhead, Hank Patterson, Hal Bogart, Troy Patterson, Bill Giorgio, George Diestel, Jaime Forster, Harold Franklin.
"Doll dwarves versus the crushing giant beasts!"
An evil doll maker, (Hoyt), discovers a way to reduce people to six inches in height, make them up as puppets and place them against their will in marionette shows. One man,(Agar), leads the others in an escape.
Some of the effects are slightly out of proportion, but the most glaring problem is the trite script.
Before the people are shrunk, we see two of the cast at a drive-in watching The Amazing Colossal Man.
Susan Gordon is Bert's daughter.

ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (1962) see Cartes sur Table

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AUSTRIA 1700 (1970) see Hexen Bis Aufs Blut Gequalt

AUTOMAT NA PRANI (1967/Gottwaldov/ Societe General de Production/ Legergeant) Czechoslovakia/France. Aka: THE WISHING MACHINE.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Josef Pinkava; Ex.Prod: Robert Braverman; Ph: Jirí Kolin; Des: Zdenek Rozkopal; Mus: Wiliam Bukovy.
Cast: Milan Zeman.
Boys who visit a carnival and use a machine that seemingly grants their wishes are surprised when it tries to take them to the Moon.

AUTOMATAS DE LA MUERTE (1961) BW. Mexico.
Aka: NEUTRON AGAINST THE DEATH ROBOTS.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Frederico Curiel; Prod: Luis Garcia de Leon.
Cast: Guillermo Santa, Wolf Ruvinskis.
The evil Dr. Caronte is using the combined brains of three scientists to create a blood-drinking monster and is forcing their co-operation by threatening to throw Nora into a pit of man-eating zombies. Masked wrestling hero Nuetron, (Ruvinskis), destroys the creature, rescues Nora and buries the laboratory under a landslide.
One of a series of five Neutron wrestling films. The others in the series feature no monsters.

AUTOPSIA DE UN FANTASMA (1967/Rodriguez) 87mins. Mexico.
Aka: PACT WITH THE DEVIL.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Ismael Rodriguez.
Cast: Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Cameron Mitchell, Amedee Chabot, Carlos Pinar, Pancho Cordona.
A 16th century suicide case, (Rathbone), is allowed to return to earth to see if he can be accepted by any of three women, one of which is a robot.
A bizarre horror comedy that features a talking tarantula, a dim-witted professor, (Mitchell), and the Devil, (Carradine), who can remove his tale and lasso people with it. Eventually the film is revealed to be a play directed by Carradine and the film ends with a nuclear holocaust.

AUTOPSY OF A GHOST (1967) see Autopsia de un Fantasma

AVENTURA AL CENTRO DE LA TIERRA (1965/Sotomayor/Columbia) Mexico.
Aka: ADVENTURE AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH.
Credits: Dir: Alfredo Crevenna; Prod: Jesus Sotomayor; Sc: J.M. Fernandez Unsain; Ph: Raul M. Solares; Mus: S. Guerrero.
From "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" by Jules Verne.
Cast: Javier Solis, Kitty De Hoyos, Columba Dominguez, José Elias Moreno, David Reynoso, Ramon Bugarini.
Arriving at the centre of the earth, an expedition meets a rat-faced monster, a Cyclops and a dinosaur.

THE AWFUL DOCTOR ORLOFF (1962) see Gritos en la Noche

THE AZTEC MUMMY (1957) see La Momia Azteca

THE AZTEC MUMMY VS. THE HUMAN ROBOT (1959)
see La Momia Contra el Robot Humano