Random Comic Cover

Princess Pantha Gets her Man.


-Swinebread

Betty Paige Dead at 85

Bettie Page, the 1950s secretary-turned-model whose controversial photographs in skimpy attire or none at all helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, died Thursday.


from the AP here




-Swinebread

Movie of the Week: The Neanderthal Man

"The story concerns a deranged scientist (Shayne) who develops a formula which will cause animals to regress to the form of their primitive ancestors, and tries it on himself with disastrous results." from wikipedia

couldn't find a video

-Swinebread

Movie of the Week: Canadian Mounties vs the Atomic Invaders

Sorry no vid... this time

-Swinebread

Movie of the Week: Cat Women of the Moon

see link for trailer here


-Swinebread

Vampira's Last Interview

The April issue of Rue Morgue contains the last interview ever conducted with the grand dame of horror Vampira.

Just prior to her passing earlier this year, Rue Morgue was fortunate enough to have the final conversation with Maila "Vampira" Nurmi, the world’s first horror host and glamour ghoul. Plus: Her long-time friend Dana Gould paints an intimate portrait of Nurmi from her halcyon years to her golden years, a look at the new Vampira documentary, as well as her last feature film appearance in the Ed Wood-penned I Woke Up Early the Day I Died.

It’s so sad they didn’t record any of her shows for posterity’s sake. I have a chilling feeling that I would have been a huge Vampira fanatic if her TV appearances were available nowadays. Here’s the only bit of video we have. The intro to her show.


There are lots of wonderful pictures of her so that’s something…


What I like most about Vampira, besides her overt goth sexiness (hubba hubba), is that she changed the perception of women in horror. No longer did the members of the “fairer sex” need to be the victims, but they could be the monsters as well. She paved the way for all the other scary gals that came later. If modern horror has a ghoulish godmother Vampira is it. She wasn’t a big star but she should have been.

-Swinebread

Speaking of Ray Harryhausen...

-Swinebread

20 Million Miles to Earth

I had the distinct pleasure of watching Ray Harryhausen’s 20 Million Miles to Earth. This wonderful monster movie was recently re-released on DVD for it’s 50th anniversary in color. This was one of Harry’s films that I hadn’t seen yet and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a delectable 1950s, atomic horror treat.

A secret mission to Venus by the American Military spells trouble for Europe when a returning US Spaceship crashes off the coast Sicily. A reptilian alien, brought back by the crew, hatches from a gelatinous egg and grows unnaturally huge in earth’s atmosphere. Because of bungling and mistreatment the enraged creature rampages through Rome in a climatic battle causing death and destruction.

20 Million Miles to Earth has everything a classic science fiction fan could want; stiff acting, repressed sexual tension, “funny” foreigners, cold war allegories and amazing effects. Setting the film in Italy is pure genius; in fact it’s downright sexy! There’s just something so right about a cosmic beast battling troops in the remains of the forum and the coliseum. It’s a well-paced movie for a ‘50s film, and still exciting with tons of B-movie clichés twisted just enough to keep it interesting. It’s well done and a nice break from the overproduced sci-fi stuff we see today.

The DVD comes in a two-disk set with lots of goodies including, a retrospective documentary, a colorization process short and an interview with Harryhausen. The colorization of the film is quite good, although it's not as great as Ray Harryhausen raves it is. The monster and the coliseum are some of the best-colored parts of the film but there are some weak spots. For the purists, the DVD also includes the original black and white version.

20 Million Miles to Earth proves that without Ray Harryhausen, fantasy films would have been a whole lot less fun. This film was an international blockbuster in its day, and it’s easy to see why.

Note: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms are all set to get the same colorization treatment.

Here is the theatrical trailer:


-Swinebread