FRANKENSTEIN (1931):
http://radiation-scarred-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/frankenstein-1931.html"Look closely at this film. This, along with DRACULA (also 1931) mark the birth of American horror cinema. These are the films that showed the Hollywood moguls that there was mucho moolah to be had in scary movies. Every American-made horror film since 1931 owes its existence to these two films."
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935):
http://radiation-scarred-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/bride-of-frankenstein-1935.html"I'd like to talk for a moment about Dr. Septimus Pretorius, as I find him to be the most interesting character in the film. He comes across as a distinctly Mephistophelean figure with his sly, knowing smirk, occasional references to black magic and aside comments like "You know, Henry, there was a time when you and I would have been burned as wizards for this experiment." There's just such a Faustian feel to this film, and even with no outright Satanism about Pretorius, there some lovely little hints."
BATTLE ROYALE (2000):
http://radiation-scarred-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/battle-royale-2000.html"The children are plunged into the center of a Hobbesian state of nature, a true hell hole where trust is the last thing you want to consider and all of your time, energy - simply put, your entire life - must be spent covering your own ass so that some prick down the road doesn't take it all. And they will take it all eventually, until either only one is left or an ordered society based on trust and hard law is put in place to keep things together. This movie is basically a fascist imposed lesson on Leviathan, with guns and Japanese school girls."
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959):
http://radiation-scarred-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/attack-of-giant-leeches-1959.html"The atmosphere of the film is amazing. The film just ended and I'm sitting here thinking I want a shower. You can feel the greasy, swampy humidity in this one, folks. It's in the setting, certainly, the oiliness of the swamp itself, but also in the cast. The swamprats look like genuine, snaggle-toothed inbred hicks. David Walker's heavy body seems to literally pour with sweat, and even Liz has a greasy sheen to her, which sort of accentuates her trampy, sleazy sexuality."
THE KILLER SHREWS (1959):
http://radiation-scarred-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/killer-shrews-1959.html"In regards to supplies, the shrews might get into the food, but God help them if they go near the liquor cabinet because that's when the big guns will come out. There's even a scene where Jerry walks up, takes Sherman's martini, slugs it down, and puts the empty glass back in his hand! I can't imagine that was scripted, that must have been ad-libbed and kept in."
