MONSTER MAYHEM COLLECTION (1957-1958)
2-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray Set
MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL (1957)
FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1958)
GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN (1958)
THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (1957)
This new two-disc Blu-ray collection from Film Masters offers four 50's schlocky b-movie monster flicks sourced from 4K scans from 35mm archival prints in their original theatrical aspect ratios with uncompressed DTS-HD MA audio, plus a selection of archival extras and plus new liner notes by Tom Weaver. These were all previously issued on standalone Blu-ray releases from The Film Detective, but they have been upgraded with a better encode, and this shlocky 2-disc set sure to make Monster Kids of all ages scream with b-movie glee.
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Richard E. Cunha
Cast: John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donald Murphy, Felix Locher, Sally Todd, John Zaremba, Wolfe Barzell, Harold Lloyd Jr., Harry Wilson
Frankenstein’s Daughter (1950) looks to have been made to cash on on the 50's youth market and the popularity of Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) which came out the year before. This has more in common with a 50's beach party movie than with either Mary Shelley's iconic creation or the Hammer derivative, but the low-budget b-movie has some mad doc charms and some gruesome imagery that should appeal to lovers of shabby vintage horror.
In it we have Dr. Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy), a descendant
of the notorious Dr. Frankenstein, who is working as an assistant to the elderly Dr. Morton (Felix Locher, Curse of the Faceless Man), who is seeking to cure all human ailment in his suburban Los Angeles basement laboratory. Unknown to the elderly doc Frank is only working with him so that he can have access to his lab in the after hours, to work on not only one, but two different 'Frankenstein' experiments of his own. Frank is following in his grandfather's mad science footsteps, with the help of a grizzled handyman Elsu (Wolfe Barzell, Bell Book and Candle). At night he drugs the doc's daughter Trudy (Sandra Knight, The Terror) and slips her some of his evil elixir which temporarily turns her into a goggle-eyed monster with gnarly buck-teeth! Simultaneously, he's stitching together a more traditional Frankenstein out of body parts, but he still needs a brain.
To that end, when a date with Trudy's sexy free-spirited friend Sally (Playboy Playmate Suzie Lawler) doesn't go all the way he runs her down with his car and transplants her brain into his freakish Frankenstein creature, which he uses to kill those who might spoil his continued experiments. Eventually he double-crosses doc Morton which takes him out of the picture, but Trudy and her boyfriend Johnny (John Ashley, The Twilight People) get wise and faceoff against the mad scientist and his monstrous creation with a fun acid-flinging finale.
At first blush Frankenstein's Daughter (1958) is a hot piece of late-50's trash, and it is, but it's pretty charming and fun taken on it's own. It's also pretty gruesome for a film of this vintage, from the bucktoothed monstrosity that Judy turns into on and off again to the hideous scarred visage of "Frankenstein's Daughter", played by a man (Harry Wilson, One Million B.C.) covered nearly head to toe and wearing a fireman's jacket (?) with it's head wrapped in bandages. It's black and white but if you look close at his scarred face you can see there's some smeared lipstick applied, you know, because it's got a woman's brain after all!
Monsters aside the best part of this flick is our mad doc Donald Murphy Dr. Oliver Frank, he looks to be having a great time playing the baddie, and he is delightfully evil. A self aggrandizing ego-maniac who is nothing but arch-eyebrowed evil from the get-go, absolutely stealing every scene he's in. Some of the sexual politics of definitely 50's cringe, like when Dr. Frank takes Sally parking, and just when it gets hot and heavy she tries to cool things down a bit, very politely I might ad, with frustrated doc retorting "hey, you agreed to park here with me!", before threatening to kill her and then doing just that!
Back to the special effects there's a pretty gruesome acid-thrown-in-face gore-gag late in the film that's pretty great and we even get a dismembered hand making an appearance. This coming pre Herschel Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast) and more gore-tastic 60's fare it must have been a but unsettling to the theater goers of the era. A totally fun bit of schlock with genuine gruesome elements that makes for a fun weekend watch' it's definitely better than it has any right to be, and it's just the right amount of cinema-fromage to please the MST3K crowd.
Audio/Video: Frankenstein's Daughter arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The source elements are in great shape, the only blemishes of note were some white speckling, otherwise a fine looking scan with organic looking grain levels and pleasing contrast throughout, a solid presentation. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is never hard to decipher and the score from Nicholas Carras (Missile to the Moon) sounds great, as do the tunes from the band Page Cavanaugh and His Trio seen in the film. Seee screenshots from the previous Film Detective Blu-ray HERE.
Extras kick-off with an Audio Commentary with author and historian Tom Weaver, the track includes interviews snippets with filmmaker Larry Blamire and writer Steven Cronenberg, plus other delightful audio snippets from Monstrous Movie Music's David Schecter on the score, Henry Thomas who did make-up on the film talking about the monster make-up controversy, plus horror host Robert Kokai, of Drac and Countess Carita, reading from the film's press book. This is a great track with lots of laughs, production stories and interesting takes on the flick.
We also get the 36-minute Richard E. Cunha: Filmmaker of the Unknown, which is a new retrospective from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, featuring an archival interview with the famed director who was sent a series of interview questions by fan Tom Weaver in 1983. The director surprised Weaver by sending him a VHS taped video replying to his interview questions from the mall video store he operated, called Video Depot, which is so cool. This featurette is that interview edited with stills and images and it's my favorite extras on the disc. It covers his early life, the making of Missile to the Moon, Giant from the Unknown, She Demons, and Frankenstein's Daughter.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with author and historian Tom Weaver
- Richard E. Cunha: Filmmaker of the Unknown, a new retrospective from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, featuring an archival interview with the famed director (36:00)
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 71 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HA MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1:85:1)
Director: Kenneth G. Crane
Cast: Jim Davis, Vladimir Sokoloff, Joel Fluellen, Dan Morgan, Barbara Turner
B-movie creature feature fans should appreciate this bug-centric clunker from the late-50s, coming right the end of the era of giant bugs movies we have Monster From Green Hell (1957) wherein a pair of well-meaning scientists in the U.S. desert attempt to understand the effects of radiation on earthly creatures by launching bugs into space. One of the rocket ships carrying wasps goes a bit haywire, exposing the bugs to 40+ hours of cosmic gamma radiation, much longer than planned, before eventually crash landing in a volcanic area of Africa known as the “Green Hell" to the ingenious people. The combination of cosmic radiation, African volcanoes and American wasps can mean only one thing - giant mutated wasp monsters, oh yeah!
Dr. Quent Brady (Jim Davis, The Day Time Ended) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin, I Was A Teenage Werewolf), the American scientist who launched the errant wasp-loaded rocket begin to hear rumors of giant creatures marauding a certain area of Africa; and out of a sense of American-duty, we always clean-up our messes abroad (ahem), they travel to Africa there to meet their colleague Dr. Lorentz (Vladimir Sokoloff, Mr. Sardonicus) and his lovely daughter Lorna (Barbara Turner, the screenwriter of Cujo if you believe IMDB), but Lorentz has already embarked into the wilds of Green Hell in search of answers for himself, along with his indigenous guide/assistant Arobi (Joel Fluellen, Raisin in the Sun) Arobi. Lorentz encounters a giant wasp on his journey and dies, but Arobi returns and warns the American scientists to stay away from the area, its not called “Green Hell” for nothing! Of course they disregard hi and mount another safari to track down the big-bugs, to the detriment of the indigenous people, who are always the first to die. .
Objective viewing demands this quickie be admonished for being painfully slow and sub-par even for a late-50's creature-feature made on the cheap, with far too infrequent stop-motion and fiberglass constructed giant-sized murder-wasps showing up now and again. Obviously this was a cash strapped production the wasps are heard a lot more than actually seen, but when they do show up its good hokey monster kid fun, though their wings are comically undersized, but they still look cool, if not much like any wasp I've ever glimpsed. The best scene for my tastes would have to be the stop-motion battle between the wasp and an anaconda - it's far too brief, but when you're begging for scraps you can't be too choosy! The story, dull as it is, is not helped by being padded with safari scenes lifted from Stanley and Livingstone (1939), its a poor film match but they bought the footage and then dressed the stars accordingly to match the stock footage wardrobe - a standard trick for low-budget cheapies.
Audio/Video: Monster From Green Hell (1957) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters in 1080p HD 1.85:1 widescreen. There is some age-related wear and tear by way of vertical lines, blemished and speckling, but for a late-50's z-grade monster movie it didn't look bad to these nostalgic eyes. Grain levels fluctuate a bit, with the African safari footage borrowed from Stanley and Livingstone (1939) looking considerably grany, but if you've seen enough of these 50's atomic-age creature-features your eyes are accustomed to plenty of mismatched stock footage! Overall though the film displays some pleasing fine detail and nuance in the close-ups of faces and the far-too-brief stop-motion animation footage looks terrific. Shot mostly in black and white there is some colorized footage that comes into play at the end of the film, the colors looks a bit wonky but it's serviceable. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HA MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track has some age-related hiss and static underneath but does the job, highlighting the eerie buzzing of the giant-wasps (an audio stand-in for the creatures which are largely unseen) and the score from Albert Glasser (Attack of the Puppet People) sounds terrific.
Extras kick-off with Audio Commentary with artist/author Stephen R. Bissette that gives a candid appraisal of the film, plus we have the 14-min Missouri Born: The Films of Jim Davis, an all-new career retrospective with author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, who always do good work on these The Film Detective special edition Blu-ray. Joyner talks about the ups and downs of the actors career with brief early flirtations as a leading man before becoming quite a storied character actor in many westerns, his incredible work ethic, resurgence during the Spaghetti Western era and his later career on TV's Dallas.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with artist/author Stephen R. Bissette
- Missouri Born: The Films of Jim Davis, an all-new career retrospective with author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner (14:41)
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Not Rated
Duration: 77 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Richard E. Cunha
Cast: Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer, Morris Ankrum, Billy Dix, Bob Steele
In the mountain town of Pine Top, California the locals have become increasingly alarmed by a spate of brutal killings that have left both animals and locals torn to pieces. The opening scene features the town folks curiously peeking under a blanket covering the most recent victim in the bed of a truck, we don't see it but their faces tell the whole story, it's gruesome. Also arriving in the area we have a trio of weekend adventurers lead by archeologist Dr. Cleveland (Morris Ankrum, Invaders From Mars), who has brought along his attractive daughter Janet (Sally Fraser, It Conquered The World) and his younger colleague Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer, Earth vs The Spider). Armed with a metal detector and shovels the archeologists are in search of artifacts of a giant 500-year-old Spanish conquistador named Vargas who legend tells travelled through the area and met his fate. They do manage to uncover skeletal remains of a conquistador wearing armor in an area known as the Devil’s Crag, which the locals say is cursed.
The town's top-cop Sherriff Parker (Bob Steele, The Big Sleep) sets his sights on a local vagrant called 'Indian Joe' (Billy Dix, She Devil) for the string of murders, but later turns his eye turns towards newcomer Brooks after Indian Joe is found brutally murdered in his cabin. Obviously to any horror film fan the true culprit is the, played by the 6' 6" prizefighter turned b-movie actor Buddy Baer (Snow White and the Three Stooges), who has been re-animated by a bolt of lighting during a storm. The violent ancient adventurer emerging from the leaf covered mud in remarkably good shape looking none the worse for wear, aside for some muddy looking hair and beard. The hulking conquistador then sets about terrorizing the town, leaving behind a trail of pulverized corpses.
This was debut feature film from industrial trade filmmaker turned b-movie director Richard E. Cunha, a guy who churned out three more of these low-rent horror flicks that very same year, which is mighty impressive. I have not seen any of these other movies yet, (She Demons, Missile to the Moon, and Frankenstein's Daughter, all made in 1958), but after enjoying this goofy slice of killer-conquistador mayhem, I am looking to see them all!
Notably, the killer conquistador make-up FX are done by Universal make-up legend Jack Piece (The Wolf Man) who at this point in his career after being let go by Universal was working on a ton of b-movie productions, and what we get here is sort of cheap looking but still effective. The hulking armor-clad conquistador makes for an imposing if not altogether frightening figure, with mud caked into his beard and hair and armed with an axe. It's a very modestly made monster-flick, but for fans of cheapie z-grade cinema there's plenty to love about Giant from the Unknown.
Audio/Video: Giant from the Unknown (1958) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters. The film is presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, it's a pleasing looking B&W image that has mostly solid contrast and decent black levels. There is a tiny bit age-related print damage but for the most part it looks terrific with pleasing amounts of fine detail in close-ups of clothing and facial features. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The audio sounds fine, it's a mostly dialogue driven film and the score from Albert Glasser (Earth vs The Spider) sounds terrific. See screenshots from the previous Film Detective Blu-ray HERE.
Extras kick-off with an Audio Commentary by author/historian Tom Weaver who gets into the earlier versions for the film on home video, info about the cast and crew, and even commenting on a certain actor wo might have had a sever case of hemorrhoids. Peppered throughout are recorded interview snippets with both director Richard E. Cunha and producer Arthur A. Jacobs. We get a second Audio Commentary by co-star Gary Crutcher who gives a personal recounting of making his acting debut and what that was like, some of which is repeated on the interview with him on the disc.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Author/Historian Tom Weaver and guests
- Audio Commentary with Co-star Gary Crutcher
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 71 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Nathan Juran
Cast: John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Robert Fuller, Thomas Browne Henry, Dale Tate
Late-50's sci-fi entry The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) was directed by Nathan Juran (The Deadly Mantis), and while it's not his best work it is a very entertaining bit of sci-fi about a surprisingly horny floating alien brain who attempts to take over Earth. In it the giant brain alien arrives on Earth in the hot Southern California desert where it takes refuge in a cave inside the aptly named Mystery Mountain. Nearby nuclear scientist pals Steve March (John Agar, The Mole People) and Dan (Robert Fuller, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?) take notice a weird amount of gamma radiation emanating from the area and set off to explore the source. Arriving at Mystery Mountain they encounter a terrifying giant brain with glowing eyeballs, an alien life-form named Gor from planet Arous who is all about taking over the Earth, with pans to use telepathic mind-control to enslave the human race and build a nuclear powered armada to take over his home planet. The big bad brain flash-fries Dan in a display of brain-powered atomic light and then inhabits Steve's body where it can remain undetected until it chooses to reveal itself to the world and showcase it's extortionary destructive ability. It all would have probably worked too but Steve's girlfriend Sally (Joyce Meadows, I Saw What You Did) notices a change in her beau's behavior, the alien is super-horny, power-hungry, and apparently a better kisser than normal Steve, and she teams-up with her father John (Thomas B, Henry, 20 Million Miles To Earth) and another floating brain-alien named, the benevolent Vol who has been sent to Earth to capture the fugitive Gor, to stop it before he can enact his diabolical plan to take over the Earth.
The flick is admittedly a bit clumsy in it's execution and both unintentionally and perhaps intentionally comical, but I have always thought that it was a fun slice of silly 50's sci-fi. My favorite stuff, other than the so-bad-it's-good big giant floating alien brain with glowing eyeballs, is b-movie icon John Agar as the seething power-hungry host tot he alien villain, cackling like a comic book baddie with strange silvery eyes and the power to explode planes passing overhead with just the power of his mind. As Gor inhabits his human host he makes some rather randy passes towards Steve's girlfriend, kissing her deeply and pawing at her like a horn dog as much as a late-50's film could anyway - there's a reason the alien planet is named after the Greek god of love!
A totally fun example of the sort of cut-rate budget 50's sci-fi that was popular at this time, director Nathan Juran helmed better flicks like The Deadly Mantis (1957) - a personal favorite of mine, the Ray Harryhausen team-up The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - arguably his best work, and the cheese-tastic cult-classic Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958). This diabolical brain from outer space endeavor might not be on par with The War of the Worlds (1953) or Invaders From Mars but it's still quite entertaining with a terrific over-the-top turn from Agar as the host of the intergalactic criminal, and I love that the bounty hunter alien Vor ends up inhabiting Sally's dog!
Audio/Video: The Brain From Planet Arous (1957) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters in 1080p HD in 1.85:1 cropped theatrical aspect ratio. The cropped widescreen looks comfortable and doesn't feel too tightly framed. The black and white image is sharper and more consistent than the previously reviewed DVD but not without issue, looking a tad soft in spots with weak contrast and outdoor scenes bathed in the sun looking a bit overblown, but it does maintain an organic filmic quality with course grain. There are some noticeable instances of minor print damage and faint vertical lines but overall it's a nice upgrade with some modest fine detail in the close-ups of facial features and clothing textures. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. A clean presentation that isn't overly dynamic but does the job, dialogue is rendered well and the Walter Green (The Pink Panther Show) sounds good. See screenshots from the previous Film Detective Blu-ray HERE.
Extras begin with an Audio Commentary with historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Larry Blamire and The Brain From Planet Arous stars Joyce Meadows. A solid track with Weaver offering hi usual warm, witty and thoroughly researched examination of the film, including pre recorded and printed interview excerpts with the stars, as well as Schecter offering insight into the budget Walter Green score. Ballyhoo Motion Pictures offer up two new featurettes, the 12-min The Man Before the Brain: Director Nathan Juran narrated by Author/Film Historian Justin Humphreys by and then the 14-min The Man Behind the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran featuring C Courtney Joyner. Both offering appreciations of director Nathan Juran, subjects examined include his early life, military career where he was exposed to filmmaking, forays into architecture, which lead to working for 20th Century Fox as an art director, winning the Oscar for How Green Was My Valley (1941), before moving to Universal where he created the mansion for the film Harvey (1950), which later became the iconic Munster mansion in the beloved TV series. They also explore Juran's first-time directing with the Gothic thriller The Black Castle (1952) starring Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. after the original director quit, which kickstarted his career, then going onto direct several westerns before getting into science fiction and fantasy in the 50's. There's also discussion of how he was quite serious about filmmaking and put a lot of effort into the cheapies, which put him at odds with budget-conscious producers like Jacques R. Marquette. These are the usual handsomely produced featurettes from Ballyhoo with movie posters and still, footage from the films and associated films.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary track by historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Larry Blamire and The Brain From Planet Arous star Joyce Meadows
- The Man Before the Brain: Director Nathan Juran (11:42)
- The Man Behind the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran with author/film Historian Justin Humphreys (13:52)
This new 2-disc set is pretty well-stocked with archival extras, but we do lose some of the disc extras from the previous standalone releases from the Film Detective, so just be aware of that. What missing on the discs? Let's get into it. Frankenstein's Daughter is missing the 10-min John Ashley: Man from the B’s, a new career retrospective featuring film historian C. Courtney Joyner, Giant from the unknown is missing the 14-min You're a B-Movie Star, Charlie Brown, an all-new interview with actor/screenwriter Gary Crutcher, the 10-min The Man With A Badge: Bob Steele in the 1950s, an all-new interview with author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner, the 2-min Theatrical Trailer, and The Brain from Planet Arous is absent the 12-min New Introduction by star Joyce Meadows - all of which were present on the previous Film Detective Blu-rays. Those previous Blu-rays also has the option to watch in widescreen or the alternate open-mattte 1.33:1 version and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio in addition to the uncompressed audio, but this new set only has widescreen and uncompressed audio. Also not included are the original booklets that accompanied the Film Detective releases, but we do get a terrific 18-Page Illustrated Booklet with a new essay by Tom Weaver encompassing all the films - so that's a win. The 2-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided wrap.
This 2-disc set from Film Masters comes highly recommended for lover's of b-movie cheese, cheap looking monster mayhem, and questionable regional filmmaking - it's got it all and plenty more delicious schlock from a bygone era, highly recommended!
Buy it!
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