Spooks Run Wild (1941)

Spooks Run Wild (1941) - Phil Rosen

Spooks Run Wild is a hilarious romp. I never thought I would use that term but here we are. The East Side Kids are not as annoying as you would think. The movie feels like it was filmed years before 1941, but that is just due to a pretty low budget. Bela Lugosi stars and does a pretty decent job. I liked this movie much more than any other of his post-Dracula vehicles.

A group of teens is sent out to a camp for "special kids". A small group wanders off and gets lost. These are the East Side Kids. The Kids end up walking through a graveyard. One of them gets shot and they take refuge in the nearest home. That home happens to belong to a mysterious vampire-like stranger played by Bela Lugosi. He offers to help them and insists that they stay at his home for the night. Weird things start to happen and the East Side Kids try to escape before they meet their demise.

This movie was incredibly surprising. I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Sometimes it gets tedious, going back and watching these old movies. Don't get me wrong. I love these old classics. It's just that this movie goes right back to the old Old Dark House theme and it's tired. That is the worst thing about these old features. They tend to just ride on that theme and it's been going on since the early 1900's. It's the one of the oldest plots.

This is another example of Bela Lugosi not being able to shake off that vampire gimmick. The people loved it and it made his career. He was pigeonholed. No matter how much he hated it, it made him famous. His performance in this is actually really good. It's not just a throw away casting choice. He gets a really decent amount of screen-time and is intricate to the storyline. This isn't one of his best, but damn if it isn't impressive.

This is a comedy through and through. It may have a horror theme around it, but the coating is comedy. The East Side Kids are a comedy troupe and this is just one of their showcase movies that happens to have Bela Lugosi in it. If you are looking to have nightmares than you might be disappointing. This isn't that type of film. Kids can watch this and not miss a beat of sleep. I recommend this to anyone that wants to follow Bela's career or has a love for old comedy. As I said above, it is enjoyable for all. I had a great time watching it even if it isn't scary.

Director: Phil Rosen
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan and Huntz Hall
Style: Old Dark House Comedy Horror
Country: USA
Studio: Monogram Pictures

Did ya know?

Filmed June-July 1941.The second of Bela Lugosi's 9 Monogram features, and the first of two with the East Side Kids.

The copyright expired and was not renewed, so the film fell into "public domain", meaning that virtually anyone could copy it and sell it without having to pay royalties. That's why there are so so many shoddy, badly cut, grainy copies of it on the market, put out mainly by companies that specialize in public-domain films.

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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