Started Halloween madness a couple weeks early so here’s a roll-up up classics as of November 30 (plus a few odds and ends from earlier in the year). 

1896 – A Nightmare – Well, at one minute long, you can’t get bored. Interesting to watch for the simple fact it’s from the 19th century… and what even is a movie? Georges Méliès is playing with camera cuts and editing.

1955 – The Quatermass Xperiment – the first manned rocket into space crash lands in a random English field with only one survivor… who is infected by an alien organism, of course. I’ve seen this story many times before… but this might be one of the earliest. Not a bad little flick… of course it’s a little creaky and very mannered. But interesting.

1957 – The Deadly Mantis – a not-so-great 1950s giant bug movie. Seen it done better in Them (and even Beginning of the End). Giant mantis puppet was pretty good… but all the stodgy stock footage of jet fighters in the world can’t liven this creature as it doesn’t actually attack much of anything as it buzzes about.

1957 – I Was a Teenage Werewolf – Michael Landon’s early film and a better example of a youth run wild 50s flick than a werewolf movie. Mad scientist injects angry teenager and turns him into a wolfman in a letterman jacket. The movie is barely a movie and ends pretty quickly without much in the way of thrills or scares.

1975 – The Giant Spider Invasion – B grade shlock made in the 70s that makes 50s B grade shlock look good in comparison. Incompetent and inept… and just really boring when it should be good creature feature fun. 

1976 – Mako: The Jaws of Death – A surprisingly unique shark movie that came out only a year after Jaws. Instead of a killer shark, it stars an unhinged eco slasher who loves sharks so much he’ll murder any sports fishermen (or poachers) killing his friends. Very different… surprisingly decent.

1976 – Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot – I also rewatched The Legend of Boggy Creek just to get me some 70s bigfoot action. Sasquatch is a bad film wrapped around some pretty but pointless in the age of YouTube nature documentary. Very dull and padded… and the bigfoot encounter was lame. Somehow Boggy Creek outclasses it easy.

1978 – The Star Wars Holiday Special – I’d gone my whole life never seeing this turkey, but I rewatched the Prequels and figured it was time to really subject myself to suck. It’s as bad as everyone has said, though curiously fascinating at times on a sociological or archeological level. What was it in culture that they thought this was a good idea? The mind wobbles,

1983 – All the Right Moves – Early Tom Cruise film that I somehow just never saw. Thought it was a teen sex comedy all these years and it turns out its more a drama (about a kid trying to get out of the dead-end steel town life). Not a bad film… gets a little lost in its rather dull football scenes (says the guy who doesn’t care for sportsball). 

1985 – Phenomena – an Italian giallo film by horror master Dario Argento… starring American Jennifer Connelly, Brit Donald Pleasance, and featuring at least on song by Iron Maiden. And a chimpanzee. Can’t forget the deus ex chimpanzee. I dug this utterly random and nutty little flick… could have used some energy and pep in the second half, but the ending was certainly a surprise.

1986 – An American Tail – like All Dogs Go to Heaven (below), I avoided this film as well. I shouldn’t have – it’s Spielberg produced joint about the immigrant experience. I like those two things… but I think something about kid-ifying or custesy-fiyng it didn’t appeal. But having seen it now, I think I get it. It’d have been too traumatic to tell a story about a Jewish pogrom and desperate relocation using humans. It’s a good flick… maybe runs a little too long for my patience, but good otherwise.

1989 – All Dogs Go To Heaven – I’ve basically avoided this – somewhat intentionally – all these years. Just never been a Don Bluth fan and something about the title and the ideas don’t appeal. Really didn’t enjoy it… though I do give some extra credit for being a very weird movie for kids (what with the dogs dying). Mostly I was bored.