The Black Cat (1941) - Albert S. Rogell

Another survival/comedy horror movie that has the Old Dark House motif. It is loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe tale and more closely resembles The Cat and the Canary. To make things complicated. Bela Lugosi stars in a 1934 classic The Black Cat. These two are not related in any way. Aside from Lugosi. It's only saving graces are that the production quality is there and at least its a Universal Picture.

A group of fortune seeking relatives descend on the residence of an old woman that is dying. Henrietta Winslow had lived with her servants and cats for years. Now, after her passing away during the night. The relatives are left to survive thunder claps, the dark and cats. Usual fare for yet another old dark house tale brought to you by Edgar Allen Poe.

This movie is really well made and has a fantastic aura. However, it's boring and predictable. The only saving graces are the shallow characters and creepy overtones. Also, it's criminal that Bela Lugosi isn't in the picture more. However, the cast that was assembled would be better utilized in an original setting. This old dark house style has run it's course. This movie is appropriate for all ages, but I cannot stress how boring and unoriginal it is.

Director: Albert S. Rogell
Producer: Burt Kelly
Writer: Robert Lees, Robert Neville
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford and Bela Lugosi
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release date: May 2, 1941
Country: USA
Did ya know: Broderick Crawford's line "He thinks he's Sherlock Holmes" is a gag. At the time this was made, Basil Rathbone had already played in two Holmes films, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

Comments

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail. Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills. The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's

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Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t

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Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature. A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting

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