Horror Movie Empire.com Reviews

1954 Warner Brothers

Enormous ants, products of the nuclear age, are killing and terrorizing people. Will they be stopped in time or will they go on a killing rampage destroying all of humanity?

Bloofer Lady loves this film even though she can’t stand ants in real life. Well, maybe that’s why I find giant ants getting their just desserts such a good time! Even though this film is now almost sixty years old it really does stand the test of time because it is pretty much a cautionary tale of what happens when humanity doesn’t think before it acts.

Ted Sherdeman wrote the screenplay and it is a thinly veiled warning at what can happen to nature when nuclear testing is done. Back then the Cold War was in full swing and nuclear testing was a normal occurrence in the American Southwest, so this subject is a very timely one during the era in which this film is made. The story follows scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and an assorted cast of characters as they try to figure out where the ants come from and where they are going. In the process we get to lean quite a lot about them, such as the fact that they inject formic acid into their victims. So, not only are you watching a monster film you are getting educated at the same time! Since this is the 1950’s there are some really funny scenes concerning sexist shots being made at Dr. Medford’s daughter Patricia (Joan Weldon) who also happens to be a scientist. She’s told by FBI agent Graham (James Arness) that after telling the team that she wants to go down into the ant’s nest that it would be no place for a woman! Well, she pays him no mind and goes down anyway! Good for her I say! Despite the fact that I personally hate ants I feel kind of sorry for the poor things because it’s not like the ants chose to become huge. Right?

Them! is directed by Gordon Douglas and I think he does a really good job, because despite the years that have passed since this film was made it actually stands the test of time. We don’t even see the ants for quite a while, and the tension in the film is built instead by us continuously hearing them. Since these scenes mainly take place in the desert it is both stark and very spooky to be hearing such things and not actually get to see them. The very first scene in which we see one is on a dirt ledge above one of the characters and we have to wonder whether they are going to see it before they get eaten! Talking about being eaten, I love seeing the ant with the human ribcage between its mandibles, and right after we get a scan shot of a bunch of human bones littering the area! Perhaps the very spookiest scene in the whole film is when the good guys go into a nest of ants after it is gassed. It’s dark and there is a thin layer of the noxious fumes still swirling about their feet as they see ant after dead ant. The ants themselves look very cool, and in my opinion are far more effective then a lot of the CGI effects being used in films these days.

The acting in this can be a little over the top at times, but hey it’s the 1950’s we’re talking about here! Edmund Gwenn plays Dr. Medford perfectly and the ccharacter is pretty much responsible for the audience finding out about what the ants are and how they are created. It’s a standard type of ccharacter for a 1950’s monster film, but Gwenn is very effective at playing the nerdy scientist. My favorite character is probably Sergeant Paterson who is played by James Whitmore because he is very earnest in the role. The only thing that puts me off about him is the uni-brow he sports. It can be very disconcerting at times, trust me! You may recognize him because he appeared in a lot of movies and TV shows throughout his career, and in fact just died in 2009. The only actor that somewhat bothers me is James Arness who plays FBI agent Robert Graham. I think it’s because the character himself is a sexist pig so maybe I should give the guy some slack!

Them! is a great and classic sci-fi/horror film that is not only great fun to watch but is a cautionary tale about what happens when we carelessly do things.

You can buy Them! at Horror Movie Empire

Bloofer Lady
Horror Crypt .

1971 Interfilme/Plata Films SA

    A young woman, Virginia (Maria Elena Arpon) is murdered in an abandoned medieval village named Berzano. Her two friends Betty (Lone Fleming) and Roger (Cesar Burner) go on a search for her there and come to find that the old town is the home to more than just cobwebs and rats; the ‘Warriors From The Orient’ have risen from the grave and are leaving corpses in their wake.

    Before I start I want to say that I viewed the Spanish language version of this film with English subtitles. It differs from the English dubbed version; it is longer and the knights are never referred to as being those of the Templar variety even though that is what they are pretty much supposed to be. With that put to the side this is definitely an early 70’s Euro-Horror film. You can watch it and instantly tell by the use of nudity, the token lesbian scene and the liberal amount of gore for the time period. Tombs Of the Blind Dead has issues, believe me, but the look of it makes up for that. It is the first of the Blind Dead series of films which also include the films Return Of The Evil Dead, The Ghost Galleon and Night Of the Seagulls.

    Amando de Ossorioand Jesus Navarro Carrion wrote the screenplay for Tombs Of The Blind Dead. I really like the concept behind this movie; an evil group of ex-communicated knights from the 13th century, who practiced satanic rituals, come out of the grave and kill unsuspecting people. These ne’er do wells aren’t exactly vampires or even zombies for that matter. Instead the knights are a strange kind of hybrid who rely on human blood but who are skeletal and blind in appearance. Through experimentation in ritual they have discovered the secret to eternal life, but in the process they have become gruesome undead creatures. With that being said there are some problems with the fleshing out of the actions of the characters in this film. For example Betty is raped, and instead of being freaked out afterwards she just kind of sits there like nothing happened. Was the whole point of the event meant to show us that she wanted to be forced to have sex with a man because of her past lesbian experiences with Virgina? Yes, there is the typical early 70’s soft porn lesbian scene in this film. However, it actually explains the passive agressive actions of Virgina and moves the plot forward. The ending itself kind of baffles me because if the knights are able to go through the actions that takes the movie to its conclusion, then why couldn’t they have done the same thing before?

    This is directed by Amando de Ossario and it really is a spooky film to watch. Every scene with the knights on horseback going after a victim is shot by him in slow motion. It gives these scenes an otherworldly look that they wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s as if the knights come from another time and place, which they do of course! Another part of the film that I like is how the flashback that Valerie has is executed; there is a soft foggy effect that surrounds the characters that places the scene firmly in the past. The effects in this are sort of hit and miss, but since it is a film from the early 70’s you have to give it some slack! A young woman gets slashed to death by the knights and it is very, very obvious that a fake torso made of rubber was used for this scene. Since they show boobies in this film anyway I don’t understand why this is done. On the other hand I am really impressed with the effects used in the scene in which a character burns to death. A separate negative with flames on it is superimposed on top of the victim making it really seem like she is all ablaze, and in my opinion it looks better than some of the modern CGI effects I have seen lately that attempt to do the same sort of thing. The knights themselves are very cool looking with convincing looking skull faces, and they are dressed in cobwebbed infested habits that look rotten.

    The acting in this isn’t really all that great, but then the characters themselves aren’t too fleshed out and can be quite one dimensional. Sometimes actors aren’t given that much to work with so in cases like this I will give them some some leeway. Lone Fleming, who plays Betty, has the best developed character in the film so it stands to reason that she gives the best performance. Maria Silva and Jose Thelman, who play Maria and Pedro, really annoy the living hell out of me because they overact to the point of being caricatures of the atypical oversexed whore and oversexed macho man type stereotypes. Maybe it was the intent of Ossario for them to come across like this, but it makes the actions of the two in the film seem kind of absurd. Who the hell is going to have forced sex in a spooky cemetery that is rumored to be seriously haunted, or make out while the people you are hooked up with go out for a walk? I wonder if the actors wondered what they hell they were doing those things when it was being filmed. I realise that those two things were meant to titillate the audience of the time, but they seem kind of trite now.

    Bloofer Lady thinks that Tombs Of the Blind Dead is a pretty good example of an early 70’s Euro-Horror type film despite its faults. It has a special look and feel that not many of its contemporaries have so therefore I recommend it.

You can buy Tombs Of The Blind Dead here: Horror Movie Empire
You can buy the Blind Dead Collection Coffin Box Set here: Horror Movie Empire

Bloofer Lady
Horror Crypt

Aliens and total world domination aside, John Carpenter’s They Live can easily be looked at as one continuous blues riff. Set against the backdrop of a depressing and dusty looking Los Angeles walks our homeless and jobless- yet still meaty hero Nada. The twelve bar blues chord echoes steadily in the background, and we are faced with the realization that if a semi retired pro wrestler can’t get a decent job- nobody can.  They Live may be the perfect film for our current declining economic situation, and through all the subliminal messages, the Orwellian imagery- and alien revealing shades, is a film that seldom gets the praise it deserves.

After finding work at an L.A. construction site, Nada (Roddy Piper) finds shelter at a local slum with the help of his coworker and equally needy friend Frank (Keith David “The Thing”). Set up in front of a church that harbors a non-stop choir practice, Nada soon gets the feeling that things aren’t quite what they seem. After the shanty town gets demolished by a group of riot police , and the minister gets beaten to a pulp, Nada returns to investigate the ruins. Although there isn’t much left, Nada finds a box full of sunglasses kept in a hidden compartment. After donning the glasses, Nada is horrified to learn that every bit of media is compromised of subliminal messages. And to make matters worse, a large portion of the public are revealed to be faceless, grimy skeletons. What does this all mean? Why, simply that Aliens have taken a hold of the country’s economic situation and taken control of every part of our lives of course!

One of the things that John Carpenter does so well in many of his movies, is that he fills the film with an overwhelming sense of mystery and dread. Things never seem to be quite right- and our goal as a viewer seems to be to help our hero out in the process. Although we are exposed to certain things that Nada is not- we still know very little once he find the sunglasses. That moment of reveal is one of the most eye widening experiences one can suffer. The mere fact that some people are skeleton alien ghouls and some are not only makes the puzzle become even larger- causing us to stick around for the movie’s entirety so that we can understand just what the message really is. Of course we are also sticking around because the movie is entertaining as hell.

Roddy Piper is perhaps the Terminator with sass. His cold and stony exterior is made instantly better in the moment that he starts rifling off some of the most entertaining lines in movie history. What makes this even more amazing is that many of Piper’s lines and actions were all created and done without a script’s prompt. Yes that’s right, Roddy Piper is a true comedic genius! This includes of course the famous alley fight between Piper and David. Carpenter had originally written the fight to take about 20 seconds- but thanks to some late night practicing and prior  pro-wrestling experience, the pair keeps it going for a little over 5 minutes. Carpenter loved the improv so much that he kept the entire fight in the film.

Of course even with Roddy Piper’s consistent comic relief- we are still faced with an inherent feeling of uneasiness. The idea that people are controlling us have existed for centuries- most notably in George Orwell’s 1984- a seemingly evident inspiration for the film- and the short story that the film was based on “Eight O’Clock in the Morning”  by Ray Nelson. People have always in a sense been taught to fear the TV and the media and to not give into the messages that exist below the radar. But just what happens when our jobs and homes are in jeopardy- and joining those “aliens” to receive that promotion or bonus means giving up our integrity? An intense stretch maybe, but if zombie movies are capable of  immortalizing our fears as a society- than so can skeletal aliens. Carpenter is a man that likes to make his audience think. They Live is no exception to this rule- as once the movie is shut off we look around with shifty eyes wondering if our annoying neighbor has a “formaldehyde face”.

If you’ve never seen this movie- or even if you have seen it but not in a long time- then the time is now. With our current economic situation hanging above our heads, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was all due to a stylish breed of aliens. Sure some of the movie is cheesy- but that’s what makes it GREAT! The themes, the imagery, the concept, and of course the wildly entertaining skills of Roddy Piper should all make you want to watch this movie as soon as humanely possible. While it may not be classified as a “horror movie” per say it is classified as a kick ass piece of entertainment- and it’s time we re-spread the word of it’s inherent greatness. Bring back They Live into your movie collection and relive the moments we all know and love. Just be careful that your sexual partners aren’t one of “them” and you’ll be fine. And don’t forget to always pay attention to your friendly neighborhood blind preacher.

“Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They’re all about you! All around you!”

Andre Dumas

The Horror Digest