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Beast From Haunted Cave, a review by Danae Cassandra

Beast From Haunted Cave
Year of Release: 1959
Directed By: Monte Hellman
Starring: Michael Forest, Sheila Carol, Frank Wolff, Wally Campo, Richard Sinatra
Genre: Horror
Rating: NR

Overview:
Beast from Haunted Cave is a chilling thriller about four gold thieves who unwittingly awaken a bloodthirsty spider-like creature in its lair.  Little do they know that the beast has left its lair to quietly prey upon them from the eerie shadows as they flee for a hideout in the woods.

My Thoughts:
Overall this is a pretty dull film, and though I did really dislike the villain, the hero was so dull I couldn't root for him and his love interest is an equally dull drunken, cynical moll.  The last fifteen minutes or so of the film are the best, but I disliked the ending.  I liked the design of the monster quite a lot, especially considering this film must have had zero budget.  Not nearly as fun as Sting of Death.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 1.75/5

(From B-Movie mini-marathon on March 20th, 2013)

The Killer Shrews, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Killer Shrews
Year of Release: 1959
Directed By: Ray Kellogg
Starring: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gordon McLendon, Baruch Lumet
Genre: Horror, Science-Fiction

Overview:
A fierce hurricane strands a group of strangers on a remote island.  They stumble upon a crazed scientist working on a way to shrink humans to solve the over-population problem.  Unfortunately, his wild experiments have created some giant shrew creatures hungry for human flesh.

My Thoughts:
This is a laughably bad movie that takes itself way too serious for a film with this title.  The characters are stock, the dialog is lame, the outcomes are completely predictable, and the monster killer shrews are played by dogs that appear to be wearing bathmats!  Or, for closeups, an extremely bad puppet. 

Yet - cue ominous music! - it's still an entertaining watch if you like B-grade monster movies from the 50's.  The premise is sound enough, and the cast and crew seem to actually be giving it a good effort.  It's a kind of bad movie with spunk.  The actors, for the most part, are giving it their all and trying to portray and develop their stock personas into characters.  The hero is a bit more articulate than usual, the scientist not exactly mad, and the brutish spurned lover is also a coward.  The hero's best friend is also the token black guy, so naturally he's the first to go - but how often do you see a friendship across color lines in films of this age anyway?  I can't remember very many.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys 50's B-grade monster movies.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 2/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 17th, 2013)

Smallville: The Complete Fourth Season, a review by addicted2dvd

Smallville: The Complete Fourth Season (2004/United States)

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Stars:
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Erica Durance as Lois Lane

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• DVD-ROM Content
• Closed Captioned

I have now finished season 4! And yes... I am still enjoying re-watching this series very much. Yes... I am indeed hooked again! This season introduced 2 new characters. The first being Lois Lane played by Erica Durance. During it's original run I thought it was too soon to introduce this character. I mean after all... she wasn't supposed to show up until After Clark became Superman. But her being there grew on me quickly. She ended up being one of my favorite characters of the series! She definitely added something to the series. The other new character was Jason Teague played by Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) This character I hated from his very first appearance. There was something about him I just didn't like. Thankfully he is only in the one season. I do however think Jensen Ackles is fantastic on Supernatural. This is also the last season of Clark and the gang in high school.

Now bring on Season Five!!!




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on August 24th, 2011)