This Weekend's (4/4) Creature Double Feature Drive-In Movies!

Evening Groovy Ghoulies! Tuesday has rolled around and it is actually starting to feel like spring somewhat!

The question on every one's minds is "Where will the drive-in take on this weekend?" Well, pack your bags, CDF is taking a couple of trips!

First, we head to China with Peter Cushing. His Van Helsing is called in to stop a rural village being overran with vampires in Hammer Film's "The Legend of The 7 Golden Vampires."

After that, we head to the great white north for some Canadian horror, with Jamie Lee Curtis. The Sigma Phi Fraternity is throwing a costume party for New Year's Eve and everyone is dying to go, literally! Punch your ticket for a ride along the "Terror Train!"

I have to go start packing! Be back tomorrow for a preview of our first feature!

Black Lagoon and Phantom Menace reviews

Ahhhh, Spring has sprung, Groovie Ghoulies!

And what better way to celebrate then with two Creature Double Features?

Creature From The Black Lagoon is such a fun ride. After old hand bones are discovered in the Amazon, a group goes to try and find some more fossils to find out what and how old the stange claw actually is. They find more then the bargained for in the Creature! The underwater photography is great for it's time. The creature suit works perfectly. I think this is one of the better entries in the Universal horror library. And who can really blame the Creature just wanted a little love? I always root for the monster in these. By the way, my wife watched this with me and her favorite line comes from the main hero talking to his boss. "Ohh Carl, get out of my way!" It's just the way the scene goes. It's pretty funny!

On to The Phantom Menace. I could go on for days about Star Wars! And I have always had a love hate relationship with The Phantom Menace. I love Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. I think Darth Maul rocks. I think Senator/Chancellor Palpatine is one of the best villians this century. Natalie Portman is a cutie. I'm not a huge fan of Jar Jar Binks and the kid who played Anakin in this film. I know what George was trying to get across that this was just a kid with a good heart, and he ends up with a bum rap. I actually enjoyed it more this time as I had in the past. It's been awhile since I've seen it, and I thought it was better then I remember. The franchise really gets rolling for me with Episode 2. But that is an episode for another week.

That's all for now. See you here tomorrow when we see what will be landing in our laps this week. May want to get some garlic, and start sharpening some stakes from what I hear. Till then, watch the skies!

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

A young kid went to the long departed fox theater and Cine 1-8 in Albany, NY and was introduced to a world of smuggles, Jedi, wookies, lightsabers, princesses and more! The double moon of Tatooine brought a new hope and much more!

I LOVE Star Wars! I am one of it's biggest fans and waited a long time for the saga to become complete. When George Lucas announced plans for the prequel saga, I was just floored! Finally, we would learn how Anikin Skywalker turned to the dark side. And so will you tonight!

Our second feature is Episode 1 in the whole Star Wars saga, and many fans are devided on whether they like this episode or not. Which side do I fall on? Check back tomorrow for my review and find out.

Here's the trailer...

Creature From The Black Lagoon

The Creature from the Black Lagoon was a 1954 Universal Film. It is considered part of the universal monster series along with Drac, The Frankenstein Monster, Wolf Man, Mummy, and Invisible Man. I always found that odd as he appeared later then the original lot.

I think it is a great drive-in flick and a nice way to get Spring time rolling.

Richard Carlson and Julie Adams star in this Jack Arnold directed feature. They head off to the Amazon and soon plagued by the creature who I think wants Julie Adams to be his mate!

It was originally filmed and released in 3D and I have noticed that is starting to wake a comeback.

It must have done well and 2 sequels were commissioned after the fact. Here's the trailer...

This Weekend's (3/28) Creature Double Feature Drive-In Movies!

Ahhh, it's good to be back on Earth, Groovy Ghoulies! After being abducted by aliens at the beginning of last week's drive-in run, it's good to rev the old machine back up for another run!

Did get a chance to run Haunted Hill and Son of Kong, and I promise to get those reviews up. Those pesky aliens and all their tests kept me away!

This week we "dip" into the past for The Creature of The Black Lagoon. A classic from the old days. Considered one of the Universal Monsters, this one should be a fun time! Can they track this stange creature down?

After that, I always wondered what of today's movies might translate well with the old creature double feature format. We've seen Jaws, The Thing, and Fog get their moment in the sun. And now we switch to some of my favorite movies, The Star Wars Saga! And as the poster reads, "Every saga has a beginning..." Join Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kanobi, and Princess Amedila as they journey to Tatooine and beyond as they meet young Anikan Skywalker and discover that The Sith live again.

Bring lots of popcorn and some scuba gear, and I'll see you this weekend! More on these features as the week goes on. The weather is getting nicer, so watch the skies!

House on Haunted Hill

Greeting Groovy Ghoulies! Spring feels like it's coming and it will be time to start creeping around the moonlight again. But, there's still time to enjoy some movies at the drive-in.

Our first feature I am ashamed to say I saw the remake before the original. Once I saw the original, I fell in love with it. Vincent Price and Director William Castle are a great match!

William Castle brought a whole new esperience to theaters, rigging them with electic buzzers, hiring people to run through as ghosts; and for this movie, hooking up a pully system to shoot a plastic skeleton out over the crowd! I can only imagine how much fun that must have been.

This made the film a huge success and even inspired Alfred Hitchcock to create Psycho when he saw how well this low-budget film was doing. I can't promise no skeletons on Saturday night but I can promise lots of thrills and chills with The House on Haunted Hill!!

This Weekend's (3/21) Creature Double Feature Drive-In Movies!

Welcome Groovy Ghoulies and Happy St. Patrick's Day! As luck would have it, two more features will be playing at the drive-in this weekend. And I'm not sure if luck will in line for the cast of our first feature!

Vincent Price plays millionaire Frederick Loren. He has invited five people to his house to spend a haunted night, and whomever survives the night receives $10,00 dollars! A William Castle Classic called "The House on Haunted Hill"!

After that, return to Skull Island! Filmmaker Carl Denham, played by Robert Armstrong, goes in search of treasures and finds the "Son of Kong." Will he be anything like his famouse father?

Thills and Chills at the drive-in this weekend! Should be great! I'll be back here tomorror to drive up to Haunted Hill. Watch the skies, Ghoulies!

Tarantula and Godzilla reviews

Greetings Groovy Ghoulies!

What a weekend for giant monsters! Still trying to wash the radiation off! Oh well, what's the worst that could happen?

Tarantula was alot of fun to watch again. The movie slowly builds to this giant Spider tearing up a house and attempting to wreck havok on the town. It stars John Agar and I am beginning to think he starred in every monster movie from the 40s and 50s. I'm sure he'll be showing up again. He always looks like he's having fun but not over acting it. The special effects for this are cool, as they used a real spider for most of the scenes. They grew it to epic proportions, and they blend it well into the sets. And yes, Leo G. Carroll's transpormation still scares me. I want to give special thanks to David for pointing out young Clint Eastwood as the fighter pilot towards the end. He does what Clint does best, kick ass! If you like giant monsters, check it out!

We journeyed to Tokyo to check in on Godzilla, King of The Monsters for the 2nd feature. This movie seems like it was made with such care. It almost seems like a smart monster movie or Kaiju as the Japanese call these movies. I think these use a blend of man in suit, stop animation, and puppetry to make Godzilla come alive. I love the shots of him rising out of Tokyo bay. I wonder if they knew what they were starting? Godzilla has always been my favorite and I also hoped he would be one of the features every weekend. I do feel sorry for Big G at the end when the oxygen destroyer is released. A sad end to the first adventure. Was I the only one rooting for him? Nah, couldn't have been.

The government is coming to spray down the drive-in now, but we'll be back tomorrow with two new features. Till then, watch the skies!

Godzilla, King of The Monsters!

No giant monster made a bigger impact on my childhood growing up then the big G himself, Godzilla. I love all of the toho classics, and this was the one that started it all.

Growing up, I had no clue that Raymond Burr was added to Godzilla for the American Release. I just thought it was cool having a big giant lizard tearing up Tokyo. This may not be my favorite entry in the film series, something like 28 movies now, but it keeps moving throughout.

I'll tell you more about my Godzilla love in my review. So, here's the trailer and I'll save you a spot up near the screen Saturday Night. Till then, watch the skies!

Tarantula

The movie poster read, "Giant Spider Strikes! Crawling Terror Over 100 Feet High!"

That's enough to tell me to get out of dodge! In 1955, Universal unleased "Tarantula" on the world. And I always looked forward to watching this one when I was a kid. This film had some scary parts in to me, and they didn't involve the spider! Leo G. Carroll plays the professor who unwillingly unleashes the monster upon the world. Don't we always blame the man of science for these atrocities against man? Will they ever learn? Anyway...got sidetracked! Carroll begins to transform in the movie, and I thought he got scarier looking as the movie went on!

So, here's the trailer for the first of many eight-legged freaks! See you tomorrow!

This Weekend's (3/14) Creature Double Feature Drive-In movies!

Good evening my Groovy Ghoulies! It seems the atomic bomb testing area we built the old drive-in on has awakened strange creatures for this weekened's features.

This is a true Creature Double Feature going back to the days I remember watching on Saturday afternoons. This one will be a real treat.

First up, Leo G. Carroll and John Agar will face atomic experiments gone wrong when "Tarantula" takes to the hills!

And then, from the seas off the coast of Japan, Raymond Burr will report on the arrival of "Godzilla, King of The Monsters!"

I owe so much of my love for giant monsters to these two films, especially the second. So, go find a radiation suit, and I'll warm up the projector and see you all Saturday night for these Creature Double Features! Till tomorrow, watch the skies!

Creature TRIPLE Feature reviews

Welcome in, Groovy Ghoulies!

I hope your weekend has been a good one! The weather was great yesterday, and it was nice to breath in some fresh Spring air! I know it's not Spring yet, but close enough!

So the first dusk till dawn festival happened yesterday, and I really enjoyed two of the three movies featured.

House of Wax was a lot of fun! I did not watch in the 3D as it originally filmed, but I snickered at their obvious attempts to wow with a new technology from that time. Vincent Price was great. He treats his wax figures as real people, until he is betrayed and his musuem is burned to the ground! A revenge and scarred Price returns with a new musuem and real people as his subjects! I remember bits and pieces of this from when I was a kid, and it's fun watching Price sink into madness. You wonder if he was all there to even begin with. The make-up for the scarred Vincent was good, and the ending will make your blood boil!

Next up was Die Monster Die! This one eluded me as whether I had seen it or not, as it was shown on the original Creature Double Feature. Towards the end, there was a vague familiarity to it. I have grown to love anything with Boris Karloff in it. He was just a great actor. This deals with another family's descent into madness after a meteorite lands in their yard. Nick Adams was good, and it was sad to think in a few short years he would be gone from an accidental overdose. The way this movie was filmed, the exterior shots had a lot of fog. It actuallt felt damp and cold watching it. Best of all, it was shot at Oakley Court. Not far from Hammer Studios and also where much of The Rocky Horror Show was filmed. Can't hide the staircase!

The last feature was ok. The Dunwich Horror didn't jump out at me. Dean Stockwell was disturbing and Sandra Dee was lovely. It just didn't do too much for me. I think the hipple/jumgle people in he fever dreams were too much of a distraction and I would have maybe cut them out.

It has awakened some curiosity in H.P. Lovecraft's writing. So, some good came from it. I will be checking out Barnes and Noble to see what kind of collected works there are.

So, there's the results of the first Creature TRIPLE Feature at the drive-in. I hope you get a chance to see these, as well. Time to go see what will be cooking for this coming weekend's features. I'm guessing we should watch out for atomic bathed terrors this week. Till next time Ghoulies, watch the skies!

3rd Feature: The Dunwich Horror

Tonight's third and final feature is another H.P. Lovecraft base story and stars Dean Stockwell. I haven't seen this one before so I looking forward to it. Here's the trailer, and I hope to see you all at the Drive-in tonight! I'll have my reviews tomorrow.

2nd Feature: Die Monster Die!

Welcome back in Groovy Ghoulies!

Our 2nd feature this week is the first of two H.P. Lovecraft inspired flicks. Lovecraft was an author from the early 20th century that has truely works of horror. "Die Monster Die!" was released in 1965 and stars two of my favorite genre actors, Boris Karloff and Nick Adams. Boris, as you know played the Frankenstein Monster, as well as many other roles during his long illustrated career.

Nick Adams was an american actor who headed over to Toho land, and was featured in Monster Zero and Frankenstein Conquers The World. Wow, what a double feature that would make!

I don't know much more about this feature other than it features mutated plant life and a shiny Boris Karloff. Let's take a look at the trailer!



Looks like fun! See you at the drive-in!

First Feature: House of Wax

I have always been a fan of Vincent Price. From my introduction to him in The Fly to the Last Man on Earth, the voice on Alice Cooper's "Black Widow", to his turn as edward Scissorhands creator. It feels like he was always around growing up a monster kid. Maybe that weird uncle that you never see, you only hear about....

Anyway, I present him in the House of Wax ths Saturday. Here's the trailer. I love how they really tease you throughout the whole thing.



See you tomorrow with the first of our two H.P. Lovecraft features!

This Weekend's (3/7) Creature TRIPLE Feature Drive-In Movies!

Good Evening Groovy Ghoulies! Back in the '50s and '60s, drive-in theaters stumbled upon a way to make some more money! And they introduced the "dusk till dawn marathons." Usually, this meant an extra movie or two, and a chance to sell more hot dogs or popcorn in the concession stand. I'm sure for many fans it was chance to see Godzilla, Count Dracula, and invading martians all in one night.

By the time I was going to the drive-in's back in the '70s, these things were a thing of the past, and I never got to enjoy an all night monsterfest at the drive-in. So, We're going to keep the drive-in open a little longer this week to present three creature features!

In our first feature, Vincent Price plays wax sculpter done wrong Professor Henry Jarrod in "House of Wax!" What lengths will he go to get his revenge? After a brief intermission, we'll be heading into H.P. Lovecraft territory for our second two features. Boris Karloff will take a turn in the mad scientist role in "Die Monster Die!" And finally Dean Stockwell will star as the son of satan looking for a devilish bride in "The Dunwich Horror!"

Come early, stay late! The Creature TRIPLE feature drive-in brings new terror this weekend!

Double Frankenstein Weekend

Hello there groovie ghoulies!

Sat at the drive-in last night with a double helping of Frankenstein monster from Universal and Hammer, It was a fun ride.

I started out with Frankenstein meets the Wolfman. Lon Chenay Jr. really is a master at the tormented soul of poor Larry Talbot. He justs wants to be rid of his curse, and he is not having any luck. He stumbles across Victor Frankenstein's creation and hopes the notes of the Frankenstein family can help him end it all.

I thought Bela Lugosi did well with what the director allowed us to see of his performance. From what I understand, for whatever reason, all of the monster's dialouge was cut. But, the monster doesn't talk you ask? Apparently, Ygor who was played by Bela in the previous Frankenstein film had his brain transferred into the monster. They have been much said about Bela's performances over the years, and it has been a mixed bag. He was 60 when he played the monster here.

I was disappointed after doing some investigating for this movie that much of Bela's performance was replaced with two stunt men. So, we are left with some close ups and light work by Bela. I guess I was hoping for more from him, but I understand his health was detoriating at this point. It felt very much like a Wolfman movie with the monster as a plot device. This would be the role for the Frankenstein monster in the next two Universal entries, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula too.

I enjoyed the last half of the film when the two monsters throw down in the laboratory a real lot. There is this one scene where Lon is perched atop some machinary and ready to pounce down, and I swear, he really looks like a wolf waiting to attack! Cool stuff, I look forward to more from the Universal Monster collection as the months go by.

Hammer's entry, The Curse of Frankenstein showcased a monster of a different kind. In this film, Peter Cushing portrayed Baron Victor Frankenstein. And over the course of the movie, you see his descent into madness as he struggles to recreate life. And I think the Baron is the actual monster in this movie. He graverobs, buys black market hands and eyes, kills a professor for his brain, and even has the maid killed by his creation when he discovers she is pregnant and is threatening to expose Frankenstein.

Christopher Lee played the creature, and it was just an indication of what was to come for him. His tall, lanky frame fit the role well. He plays a very convincing, clumbsy monster not sure of how all his parts work. There is one scene where Victor and Paul are hunting the creature and it emerges from the woods, shambling towards them. It's just eerie and still creepy to this day. Love that part.

I love horror in a gothic setting. And this was Hammer's niche for about the next twenty years or so.

Well, time to close up the drive-in for now. Get lots of rest because you'll be needing it for this coming week's features. Till then, watch the skies!