On this day, 22 May, in 1958, Vertigo went into wide release. It had its premiere on 9 May in San Francisco. Then it was released in the UK. Finally, the week after, it was released in the US.

People who have been reading me for a while are probably thinking, “Oh no! Not another hit piece on Hitchcock!” But it’s not! Rather, I want to look at the other side of it.

Imagine Destroying John Carpenter’s Career

One of my favorite filmmakers is John Carpenter. There is no filmmaker who consistently delights me more. A number of his films are my very favorites: The Thing, They Live, and In the Mouth of Madness.

(There is so much more to love in Carpenter’s catalog. In addition to all the usual ones that people mention, there’s Vampires, which I really enjoy. And Escape From LA has really grown on me.)

But if people spoke of John Carpenter as though he was some brilliant art film director, I wouldn’t be able to take it. And I say that knowing that Carpenter is as skilled and creative a director as you will find. If he wanted to make art films, they’d be wonderful.

But he doesn’t make art films. (I wouldn’t love his work as much if he did.) It would be an insult to him to pretend that he does — an insult to him but also an insult to the kinds of films that he makes and that I love.

Hitchcock Was Better Than Vertigo

I wish that I could do something for poor Alfred Hitchcock. He deserves better. Above all, he deserves to have his great films admired. I think Vertigo is a joke.

The contortions I’ve seen critics go through to justify why it is a great film! Oh yes, the boring pastels of the film are so meaningful! And the boring plot? Pure genius!

Vertigo is the Alfred Hitchcock film for people who don’t like Alfred Hitchcock. Almost any other Hitchcock film would be a better symbol of his talent. And it shows that all those critics and film “scholars” who supposedly love his work so much don’t really appreciate it at all.

Rather than Vertigo, watch Shadow of a Doubt or The Birds or Strangers on a Train. Or better yet, watch Halloween.

Other 22 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930): Creator of Sherlock Holmes.
• Richard Benjamin (1938-): Actor known for Westworld and Saturday the 14th. He is also a very successful director who made My Favorite Year.
• Paul Winfield (1939-2004): Actor known for The Terminator, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and much else.
• Michael Sarrazin (1940-2011): Actor known for many things but especially Frankenstein: The True Story.

Films:

• Svengali (1931): A music teacher uses hypnotism to control a singer.
• The Immoral Mr Teas (1959): Premiere of Russ Meyer’s first film, a charming nudie-cutie.
• Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969): My favorite of the Hammer Frankenstein films.
• Outland (1981): People are dying while mining on Io.
• The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988): TV movie based on the TV series.
• Alien 3 (1992): The third film in the franchise, which makes the ending of Aliens pointless.
• Mission: Impossible (1996): Film based on the series.
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997): Turns out there is a second island.
• Boa vs Python (2004): Kinda obvious, right?
• Tormented (2009): Undead slasher comedy.
• Poltergeist (2015): Remake of the Tobe Hooper classic starring Sam Rockwell.

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Vertigo (1958) poster via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.

On this day, 21 May, in 1954, Lippert Pictures released Monster From the Ocean Floor. It is most known for being the first film that Roger Corman produced.

It tells the story of Julie (Anne Kimbell) — a young artist vacationing in Mexico. She hears the story of a sea monster. Then, a dead diver is discovered. So she decides to search for it rather than act like a regular human.

Corman apparently got the idea for the film when he learned about the one-person submarine that is featured in the film. It’s also its worst aspect. Maybe it wasn’t at the time. But now, it just seems like a weird technology. And it is ridiculous!

There’s a subplot about the local people’s belief that if “the fairest” is sacrificed, they will all be safe. And an old woman forces a young man to do what must be done. But when it comes to it, he can’t.

The Monsters

The actual monster in the film is unimpressive — even compared to It Conquered the World. And we don’t see much of it. That’s true. Both because the underwater scenes just don’t look as clear as the scenes in Creature from the Black Lagoon (which I assume was shot in a tank). But also: it just doesn’t get much screen time.

What’s really impressive is the sequence with the shark. Kimbell is in the water with a shark that is about six-feet long. And it clearly swims past her a couple of times — once in quite a menacing way.

I have no idea how they did this. For one thing, the shark makes several passes. These scenes were shot in the ocean. How did they get the shark back? More important, how did they get Kimbell to do these scenes?!

Well, they didn’t! See my article, The Shark in Monster From the Ocean Floor. It’s wild!

The shark is doubtless not one known to attack humans. But I don’t care! It could be a vegetarian for all I care. There is no way I would get in the ocean with that shark! My hat is off to whoever did the scene!

Other 21 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Sam Jaffe (1891-1984): Actor known for Lost Horizon and Gunga Din.
• Raymond Burr (1917-1993): Actor best known for Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
• Ross Hagen (1938-2011): Actor known for The Hellcats and other low-budget delights.
• Richard Hatch (1945-2017): Star of the original Battlestar Galactica TV show.
• Judge Reinhold (1957-): Actor known for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the Beverly Hills Cop films.
• Fairuza Balk (1974-): Actor known for The Craft and The Waterboy.

Films:

• The Vampire’s Ghost (1945): A vampire bar owner is tired of the life.
• Gorath (1962): A planet is on a collision course with the Earth.
• The Green Slime (1969): Astronauts bring back a monster from space.
• Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971): The apes go back in time to modern Earth.
• Embryo (1976): A scientist accelerates pregnancy with dire consequences.
• Grizzly (1976): An enormous grizzly bear kills people in a national park. One of the better monster movies. Starring Christopher George.
• The Milpitas Monster (1976): The film made by a high school! You should definitely watch it!
• Crawlspace (1986): A landlord is a serial killer.
• Carnosaur (1993): A genetically created dinosaur escapes.
• Terminator Salvation (2009): John Connor at war.
• Bite (2015): A spider bites a woman who becomes an insect. This is one of the best body horror films ever. Absolute must see!
• Aquarium of the Dead (2021): Fish become zombies at an aquarium.
• Army of the Dead (2021): Mercenaries go to an area with a bunch of zombies.

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Drive-in advertisement from 1954 for Monster from the Ocean Floor and The Queen of Sheba via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.

On this day, 20 May, in 1936, the actor Anthony Zerbe was born. And he’s still alive. So happy 90th birthday, Anthony!

It’s also James Stewart’s birthday, but I didn’t choose him because I really don’t like him. I like many films he’s in But he makes them worse. He very nearly destroys The Philadelphia Story. Really: I don’t understand how he was ever a star. He was a very annoying guy!

Younger people probably know Zerbe as the least annoying Councillor in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. But he’s a character actor and that means he’s been in a bunch of different things.

He had notable performances in Rooster Cogburn, Who’ll Stop the Rain, and The Dead Zone. But I know him best in the part of Matthias in The Omega Man.

He lost the sight in one of his eyes due to an incident during the filming of this last film. It is unfortunate. But it made him look really cool.

The thing I most like about Anthony Zerbe is that he’s always interesting. Second is that he’s always likable, even when he plays bad guys.

I’m glad he’s still around and still working. Let’s watch The Omega Man.

Other 20 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• David Hedison (1927-2019): Actor best known for the title role in The Fly.
• Timothy Olyphant (1968-): Actor known mostly for Deadwood.

Films:

• The Curse of Frankenstein (1957): The first of the Hammer Frankenstein series.
• Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962): Hot space alien babes try to conquor the world in this Jonathan Haze-scripted cheapie.
• Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone (1983): Space bounty-hunters rescue hotties from mutants.
• Willow (1988): Fantasy road picture.
• Witchcraft II: The Temptress (1990): Continuation of the first film.
• The Psychic (1992): Psychic vs serial killer who is also his romantic rival.
• Mosquito (1995): Gunner Hansen and others try to survive giant mosquitoes.
• Dr Jekyll & Mistress Hyde (2003): Gender swap on the classic.
• Vampire Vixens (2003): Vampire and nerd team up.
• Black Ops (2008): Rescue mission goes wrong.
• Godzilla (1998): The usual but with Matthew Broderick.
• Danny Johnson Saves the World (2015): Christopher R Mihm made one for the kids!

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Anthony Zerbe via Get Great TV under Fair Use.

Concorde Pictures released Food of the Gods II in the United States on 19 May 1989.

This film is a hoot! It has many scenes that are explicitly comedic. One is almost unbelievable until you see it. The main character injects himself with the growth serum and then has sex with his girlfriend. He grows very large, and his girlfriend apparently really appreciates it.

But most scenes are done very seriously. And they are so extreme that they are even more humorous than the comedy scenes. It’s all just incredibly fun!

Yet it doesn’t seem to have found an audience. And that’s sad. All psychotronic fans should find it and watch it fast! (Actually, you’ve already found it. It’s embedded below!)

Its full name is Gnaw: Food of the Gods II. It is about giant rats. So the “gnaw” really sells it!

Supposedly, it is a sequel to Bert I Gordon’s Food of the Gods. (I rank it in the top half of his films.) Like that film, this one also has other giant creatures. Well, one: a young boy. He’s actually the crux of the plot.

The film has been widely criticized for its bad special effects. I thought they were fine. The editing uses them effectively. But most of all, they are very much in keeping with the original film.

If you don’t like this one, I have some romantic comedies I can recommend. (Really! I have nothing against romantic comedies. I’m just not sure why you’re reading Psychotronic Review!)

Other 19 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Bruce Bennett (1906-2007): Actor known for a couple of Tarzan films and The Alligator People.
• Renée Asherson (1915-2014): More a theater actor, she had small parts in The Others and one of my favorites, Theatre of Blood.
• Peter Mayhew (1944-2019): Actor who played Chewbacca in all the Star Wars films through 2015.
• André the Giant (1946-1993): Actor known for The Princess Bride.
• Grace Jones (1948-): Actor known for Conan the Destroyer and Vamp.

Films:

• Witchfinder General (1968): Vincent Price is a vile witch-hunter who uses his power against the people.
• Night of the Cobra Woman (1972): A woman bitten by a cobra can now turn into one. But she must consume young men!
• Fright Night Part 2 (1989): More vampires.
• Road House (1989): Kung Fu guy becomes a bouncer. I don’t remember anything more. It’s that kind of film.
• Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995): One sequel past watchable. By-the-numbers action. Over-long and under-creative.
• Shrek 2 (2004): Ogre meets in-laws.
• Frankenstein’s Bloody Nightmare (2006): The usual story but in the service of reanimating his dead girlfriend.
• See No Evil (2006): Teens sent to clean an abandoned hotel are tormented by a psychopath.
• Beast (2007): Low-budget horror that seems to be about a couple of guys who have to feed a monster. Looks like it’s worth a watch!

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Food of the Gods II (1989) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

On this day, 18 May, in 1958, Allied Artists Pictures released Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

I’m a great admirer of 1950s science fiction films. But they aren’t my thing. I rarely seek them out. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is different. I really like it.

Part of it is what I’m coming to think of as the Dolls Effect. After decades of films where justice plays little role in the resolution, I really like films where the bad people get their due. I call them “feel good” films.

Yvette Vickers is perfect as the comically evil “other woman.” And William Hudson plays the unfaithful husband with a surprising amount of subtlety. He’s clearly pulled in two directions.

Meanwhile, Allison Hayes goes well beyond her pin-up girl good looks and presents a very sympathetic but troubled character. It’s something of a relief when she turns into a monster.

On the downside, the effects in the film are not great. I choose to embrace them. Anyway, it could just be that space alien giants (and their victims) are partially transparent.

The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna, who co-wrote The Amazing Colossal Man the year before. I really like it too but it doesn’t have the heart of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Other 18 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Chow Yun-fat (1955-): Actor known mostly for action roles such as The Killer and The Replacement Killers.

Films:

• War of the Satellites (1958): Roger Corman science fiction-horror film starring Dick Miller. What’s not to like?! It was released as a double feature with Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
• The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971): They killed Vincent Price’s wife (maybe). And now he has delightfully cruel murders for them!
• Martin (1978): George Romero’s best film was shown at Cannes on this day.
• Teenage Space Vampires (1999): High school horror nerd saves the world from a space alien invasion.
• Shrek (2001): Bad-tempered but loveable ogre saves a princess and finds true love.
• Hard Ride To Hell (2010): A family vacation takes a dark turn when they witness satanic bikers performing a sacrifice.
• Battleship (2012): Film based on the game but with space aliens because what else?!

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Attack of the 50 foot Woman by Reynold Brown — Wrong Side of the Art; in the Public Domain.

Hispamex Films released The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman in Spain on 17 May 1971. Of course, they released it as La Noche de Walpurgis.

This film is part of an 11-film series, Hombre Lobo. It’s a 12-film series if you believe that Las Noches del Hombre Lobo (The Nights of the Wolf Man) was a film. I do not.

Paul Naschy starred in all of them. He also wrote them all with one exception. Fred Olen Ray wrote and directed the last, Tomb of the Werewolf. Interestingly, Gary Graver shot the film. Naschy was pushing 70 when it was released.

The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman was the most successful of the series. It was a low-budget effort. But you wouldn’t know it. It was shot on 70 mm film. And it looks great. Of course, there are few sets and actors. It’s the kind of thing we see in Corman’s Poe Cycle.

The film features an easy plot device that we saw over and over in the Hammer Dracula films. Some blood drips on the dead vampire and… She’s back! Similarly, the werewolf was brought back by simply removing the silver bullets. Of course, Hammer only made one werewolf film, so they never had to stoop to that!

But other than that, this film is very different from the Hammer films. They more anticipate Lucio Fulci’s horror films from later in the decade. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. If a scene works to frighten the audience, it’s included!

Still, the base plot is simple enough. Two female college students are on a road trip to investigate an old legend about a female vampire. They stay with Count Waldemar Daninsky, the recently revived werewolf. One of the women bleeds on the vampire corpse, bringing her back. The vampire turns the bleeding student into a vampire. The other college student falls for the werewolf. the werewofl defeats the vampire. The college student, because she loves him, kills the werewolf.

But don’t worry! He’ll be back in 7 more films!

Other 17 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Maureen O’Sullivan (1911-1998): Actor who played Jane in six Tarzan films throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s.
• Dennis Hopper (1936-2010): Iconic actor in Blue Velvet and Waterworld.
• Bill Paxton (1955-2017): Actor known for Aliens and Twister.
• Matthew McGrory (1973-2005): Actor known for House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects.

Films:

• The Cat Creeps (1946): Murder mystery starring Noah Beery Jr.
• She-Wolf of London (1946): June Lockhart thinks she might be a werewolf.
• Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974): Chase film starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
• Galaxy Hunter (2005): Space alien cop saves Earth.
• Ghost Lake (2005): People drowned a century earlier are rising from the dead.
• Sci-Fighter (2005): Kung Fu virtual reality.
• Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman (2005): Native folk horror and shockingly not a porn parody of Star Wars.
• Zombiez (2005): Woman versus zombies.
• John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019): The most ridiculous John Wick yet!
• The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024): A couple in a remote cabin are stalked by three masked men.

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The Werewolf vs Vampire Woman (1971) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Today, Danny Trejo is 82 years old. He was born on 16 May 1944.

Trejo is a character actor who somehow became a star. His backstory seems to be more legend than anything. He started using drugs very early in life. This led to spending much time in jail and eventually prison. I don’t doubt that. But by the age of 25, all that was in the past. And he seemed to find a good life as a working man in Southern California. That led to work as an extra. And the rest is pretty well documented.

On screen, he comes off as a mean guy. But I saw him at the 2024 FAN EXPO San Francisco, and he reminded me so much of all the men I grew up with in the construction industry. He seemed downright sweet with an obviously fake humility. It would not have been surprising if he’d said, “Gee! I can’t believe all you people like me!”

Of course, no one gets upwards of 500 screen credits without being easy to work with. If he were anything like the characters he plays, he would have gone back to lawn care long ago!

Trejo is a classic screen actor. He always seems authentic. But he doesn’t exactly play varied characters. It’s absurd to imagine him being hired to play an old Scottish man from Ferguslie Park. That’s not what he does. Nor is it what he should do! And I’m not waiting around to see his Broadway debut. (Just the same, I don’t think he is any more limited as an actor than Robert De Niro!)

So let’s celebrate Danny Trejo’s birthday by watching him in his iconic role in Machete. It’s a wonderful film. And extremely funny. It is Robert Rodriguez at his over-the-top best!

Other 16 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Henry Fonda (1905-1982): Actor known for 12 Angry Men and Once Upon a Time in the West.
• Barry Atwater (1918-1978): Actor known for playing the vampire in The Night Stalker.
• Yvonne Craig (1937-2015): Batgirl on the Batman TV series.
• Pierce Brosnan (1953-): Actor who was the best Bond and starred in The Ghost Writer.
• Debra Winger (1955-): Big star who was in Legal Eagles and Black Widow.

Films:

• Peeping Tom (1960): A serial killer films his murders — for science!
• The Blood Beast Terror (1969): Half woman and half moth needs blood.
• Don’t Look in the Basement (1973): Things go wrong at an insane asylum.
• The Bare Wench Project (2000): Jim Wynorski’s sexy parody of The Blair Witch Project.
• Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (2002): The second of the first (but really the second) trilogy.
• Slaughterhouse Phi: Death Sisters (2006): Slasher mystery.
• The Parchene Conspiracy (2009): Space alien birds.

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Danny Trejo by Super Festivals under CC BY 2.0.

On this day, 15 May, in 1905, the actor Joseph Cotten was born.

People tend to associate him with art films. And he has starred in some great ones. There are the obvious ones: the Orson Welles’ classics Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons.

Joseph Cotten Psychotronics

But I associate him more with psychotronic films. He played a truly menacing psychopath in one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films, Shadow of a Doubt. He was also in noir films like Journey into Fear, The Third Man, and Niagara. And he had a notable part in the dystopian classic Soylent Green.

Cotten also starred in a number of horror films. Most notable is Mario Bava’s Baron Blood. But he was in a couple of TV movies, The Screaming Woman and The Devil’s Daughter.

For me, 1971 was Joselph Cotten’s best year. He starred in two important films that year. The first was as Dr Frankenstein in the exceptional Lady Frankenstein.

The second was in The Abominable Dr Phibes. He is notable in being the only person in either it or the sequel who I feel sorry for. That’s not to say that everyone else gets what they deserve, only that the murders are so delightful that it’s hard to care about fictional characters dying.

Sadly, Joseph Cotten had a stroke in 1981, which ended his career. He didn’t perform in anything for the last 13 years of his life. But I do appreciate that his career declined from the 1950s onward so that he left us some great supporting roles in lower-budget films.

Let’s celebrate Joseph Cotten’s birthday by watching Shadow of a Doubt.

Other 15 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• L Frank Baum (1856-1919): Writer known for the Wizard of Oz books.
• James Mason (1909-1984): Actor I most like for two two-part TV miniseries: Frankenstein: The True Story and Salem’s Lot.
• Andre de Toth (1913-2002): Director of House of Wax and many crime and western films.
• Joseph Wiseman (1918-2009): The original Dr No.
• Brenda Bakke (1963-): Actor known for Death Spa and Trucks.
• Ashlynn Yennie (1985-): Actor known for The Human Centipede films.

Films:

• The Mad Monster (1942): A mad scientist creates a werewolf.
• Red Planet Mars (1952): Weird and peachy Christian Cold War science fiction film.
• Phantom From Space (1953): Invisible space alien crashes on Earth.
• Invisible Invaders (1959): John Agar saves the world from invisible space aliens who take over dead bodies. The zombies in suits are very cool.
• The Black Zoo (1963): Zoo owner uses animals to kill people he doesn’t like.
• Paranoiac (1963): Dead man returns for inheritance.
• Battle Beneath the Earth (1968): China attacks the US via a tunnel under the Pacific Ocean.
• The Fan (1981): A dissed fan turns.
• Happy Birthday To Me (1981): Children go missing at a boarding school.
• The Gate (1987): Teens release demons from a hole in their yard.
• Ishtar (1987): Two singer-songwriters get involved in a revolution in Africa.
• Lethal Weapon 3 (1992): The third film — with even more comedy.
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003): Overlong half-sequel to the original.
• Curse of the Zodiac (2007): Horror based on the serial killer.
• Gothic Vampires From Hell (2007): A band learns that record execs are vampires.
• Hunger (2009): Five people are locked in a dungeon.
• Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): Furiosa helps five wives of a water despot to escape.

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Joseph Cotten via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.

On this day, 14 May 1971, United Artists released Support Your Local Gunfighter (strangely, in the UK).

I had remembered the film from seeing it in the theater as a kid. I would have been 7 years old. But all I remembered was the ending where the bad guy (Chuck Connors) freaked out about not wanting to die with his boots on — a reversal on the standard idiom.

Sheriff vs Gunfighter

As with most things when I was a child, it made no sense to me. Nor did I remember the name of the film or even that it was a comedy. As an adult, I was surprised to learn that it was more or less the sequel to Support Your Local Sheriff.

What’s interesting here is that while Sheriff is a pleasant and easily loved comedy, little me can be forgiven for not thinking Gunfighter was a comedy. And I say that as someone who thinks that it is a far better film.

I think there’s an analogy to computer science here. There is a tendency when creating a second version of a piece of software to fix all the things you thought weren’t quite right in the first version. But normally, this just annoys the users.

But if you get some distance, you can see that the second version really is better. I think all the easy charm of Sheriff is present in Gunfighter. But it was no longer new and so not enough to appeal to viewers. It probably also didn’t help that there is a lot more comedy and that it is more sophisticated.

If you’ve written it off, I encourage you to watch it again. It is funny. It’s just that it’s a lot richer and you have to give it more time.

Other 14 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Kenji Sahara (1932-): Actor known for various kaiju films.
• George Lucas (1944-): The Star Wars guy.
• Yutte Stensgaard (1946-): Actor who worked for a short period most notably in Lust for a Vampire.
• Joseph Zito (1946-): Director of films such as Bloodrage and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
• Robert Zemeckis (1951-): Director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Death Becomes Her.
• Rob Tapert (1955-): Producer of The Evil Dead and Darkman along with co-creating Xena: Warrior Princess.
• Brett Leonard (1959-): Director of films such as The Lawnmower Man and Man-Thing.
• Tim Roth (1961-): Actor known for The Hit, Pulp Fiction, and much more.
• Danny Houston (1962-): Character actor in a lot of genre films including the remake of Clash of the Titans.

Films:

• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): The Errol Flynn film we all love.
• King of the Zombies (1941): Mad scientist controls zombies.
• The Awful Dr Orlof (1962): A mad scientist abducts women and takes their skin to heal his daughter.
• Nightmare in Wax (1969): Another wronged man coats people in wax. A good one!
• Blood and Lace (1971): Truly sick “evil orphanage” film.
• Conan The Barbarian (1982): A big-muscled man seeks vengeance.
• The House Where Evil Dwells (1982): Ghosts from an ancient lovers triangle and murder-suicide haunt a modern lovers triangle, and…

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Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Universal Pictures released Werewolf of London on 13 May 1935. This was just a week after they released Bride of Frankenstein nationally. And you can see the difference! Carl Laemmle Jr produced the latter. But he really was not at all involved with Werewolf. Instead, Carl Laemmle Sr’s son-in-law, Stanley Bergerman, produced the film. That’s not a knock on him. He did a good job producing it. But it lacks the style that came with having twice the budget.

Werewolf of London was the first werewolf film of the sound era. I know of only two other werewolf films before it. First was The Werewolf — a 1913 20-minute silent film that has been lost since 1924. It was based on Native American legends and was about a witch transforming into a wolf to get revenge against White invaders. It sounds really interesting. But it isn’t what we normally think of as a werewolf film.

Wolf Blood was a silent feature film released in 1925. In it, a man is badly beaten in a fight. The doctor gives him wolf blood because no one else will provide him with human blood. This leads to his having dreams about wolves and people thinking he’s a werewolf. It turns out he isn’t. The film is primarily a romance.

I find it curious that these two films are so different from the standard werewolf film. Because the biggest problem with werewolf films is that they all tend to tell the same story. And it isn’t a great or malleable story!

Werewolf of London itself is a bit more interesting than later films. It features two werewolves throughout. And they are competing for a limited supply of a “moon flower” that stops lycanthropy. This is first introduced in a great scene where we only see the lead character’s hand get hairy and then recover.

Overall, the film works pretty well. It has enough comedy and romance for those not interested in horror. And the make-up from Jack Pierce is as good as ever.

Other 13 May Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Zohra Lampert (1937-): Actor who played the title role in Let’s Scare Jessica to Death.
• Harvey Keitel (1939-): Actor in Mean Streets, Pulp Fiction, and more.
• Joe Johnston (1950-): Director of Jumanji, The Wolfman, and more.
• Robert Pattinson (1986-): Actor known for Cosmopolis and the Twilight films.

Films:

• Eaten Alive (1976): People at a remote hotel are killed by the owner, who feeds them to his crocodile.
• The Car (1977): Demonic car terrorizes a small community.
• Day of the Animals (1977): Environmental destruction makes animals attack.
• Maniac Cop (1988): A serial killer dressed as a cop harasses New York.
• The Crow (1994): Murder victim rises from the grave to avenge.
• Scream Bloody Murder (2003): Slasher-comedy where teen girls get stuck at a junkyard.
• The Last Horror Movie (2005): Serial killer uses horror video rentals to find victims.
• Mindhunters (2005): FBI trainees are stalked by a serial killer.
• The Dead Undead (2010): Vampires battle zombies (who are also vampires).
• Attack the Block (2011): Teens defend their block from space aliens.
• Priest (2011): Priest vs vampires.
• The Darkness (2016): Pilfered Native American stones bring evil into a family.
• Firestarter (2022): Girl starts fires with her mind.

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Werewolf of London (1935) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.