Tag Archives: mutations

Uncategorized

“Die, Monster, Die” (1965) – Even the best laid plans lay an egg.

Leave a comment

I have always personally enjoyed this Boris Karloff scare fest set in the English countryside, but it may not be your cup of Earl Grey. I think it is the atmospheric locales complete with swirling fog banks and the rustic British environs plus the deeply saturated colors that most appeals to me. Boris is his sinister best in one of his latter day horror roles. I guess you could call this a cosmic horror tale as it is loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space” short tale.

American Nick Adams ventures to a distant estate to visit his fiance. Little does he realize that her father, Karloff, is engaged with an out of his control element that has rendered many in the household ill and dying. It seems that a great meteorite crashed in a field near the estate and at first exhibited properties that enabled plant and animal life to demonstrate exaggerated growth that might prove beneficial as food sources for an ever-hungry world. Alas, things took a turn for the worse and too much exposure to unknown properties of objects out in space can have adverse effects on the body over an extended period of time. Well, you see what is unfolding. Events go really badly. The ending of this thing is my favorite part. I guess the mutated, Super Chicken laid an egg. Watch out for The Silver Man!

Uncategorized

“Day The World Ended” (1955) – The Struggle Is Only Beginning

Leave a comment

Produced and directed by genre icon Roger Corman, this is an interesting premise of a group of survivors of a nuclear holocaust randomly seeking shelter from the toxic elements in a mountainside residence. The home is populated by a father and his daughter. He is ex-military and foresaw this day of calamity coming and stocked his place with weapons, food and water – for three people. The uninvited guests will prove to be a burden on the limited supplies. Along with the wandering humanity, the hills are populated with mutated monsters that were once men. None of the survivors is sure if the radiation is making them sick and shortening their lives or not. Doubt and paranoia run deep as the people in the house jockey for control and the mountain monsters start to stray close to the house looking for fresh meat.

This movie was remade in 1967 as “In The Year 2889”. I must say that I enjoyed the remake better. It is literally a note for note copy of the original but doesn’t seem as repetitive. I mean how times can the characters in “Day” talk about not going into the radioactive fog (The Light….Hehe!). At only 80 minutes in length, that topic seems to be done to death.

This is an otherwise good Corman production and is recommended.

action, end of the world, monster movie, mysterious places, science fiction, science fiction films, suspense

THEM – (1954) – Regular Ants Are Bad Enough!

Leave a comment

A real creepy premise in this flick:  giant, mutated ants are on the loose and stalking victims in isolated areas of the God forsaken desert!

I bring you this cinematic, sci-fi gem because of a recent summer time invasion of the small variety of ants in our house in pursuit of the cat’s food.  These little beasts are annoying enough in their present miniature state as they scamper in all directions as you try to eradicate their presence inside your home.  In addition to the trouble of getting them picked up and removed, you get the sinister feeling that the insects are crawling all over you!  Imagine how you’d feel if the ants in question were 10 or more feet in length?

This is a classic science fiction film from the 1950’s that postulates that exposure to radiation could mutate a small ant into a formidable, potentially man destroying monster.  And what if there were a nest of these giants?

You get the idea.  Arm your self with a flame thrower and an automatic weapon and you may stand a chance of survival against these denizens from some unnamed Hell!  Give it a look and drink up the lovely desert studio set ups!  Some definitely scary set pieces crop up in this engaging science fiction thriller.

mysterious places, science fiction, science fiction films, suspense

IN THE YEAR 2889 – OVER 2 MILLION VIEWS!

Leave a comment

I like this talky, little tale of a group of characters trying to hole up in a cabin and ride out a nuclear holocaust.  We see some stock footage at the start of this thing that compiles various angles of mushroom clouds.  A prophetic voice over accompanies the footage.  Great start!  We get more rehashed, archive films of mountains, trees and the outdoors to enable the finishing up of the audio narrative.  The folks who end up reluctantly spending time together are running out of space and time.  Radioactive fallout may soon be encroaching onto their turf and the surrounding countryside is inhabited by unfortunate, radiation poisoned mutations who are hungry!  Still, there are folks who would rather venture outside the compound to take their chances somewhere else.   That’s what creates drama, after all!  This is a rather plodding flick but it has a quaint, amateurish style that I find attractive.  2 million YouTube viewers CANNOT be wrong!