Special 35mm Edition (1958) Paul Hubschmid, Madeleine Fischer, Fiorella Mari, Peter Meersman, Ivo Garrani, Dario Michaelis.  Most of the video copies around of this title are pretty awful, so it’s amazing how much better this Euro-science fiction thriller is when you’ve got decent picture quality.  The movie starts off with a rocket preparing to lift off for the moon...

(1967, Upgraded 4/16/21) Yeong-il Oh, Jeong-im Nam, Cho Kyoung-min, Kwang Hoo Lee, Moon Kang.  A scientific experiment seemingly sets off a series of earthquakes that ravage central Korea.  However, it turns out that they’re being caused by Yongary, whom the experiment awakened. Yongary just happens to be a gigantic, gasoline-consuming reptilian monster...

(1949) Keiju Kobayashi, Teruko Akatsuki, Katsuko Wakasugi, Den Obinata. A forgotten horror/sci-fi classic!  Considered by some historians as the first Japanese sci-fi film, though the sci-fi elements are, admittedly, somewhat slight.  A young woman becomes the prime suspect in a murder mystery. Her gal pal and boyfriend set out to prove her innocence.  They soon end up in a forlorn, out of the way house filled with mystery and dread...

(1958-1975, Updated 03-21-25) Bob Clymire, Jan Swihart, Bill Simonsen, Dennis Kottmeier, Ruth Ann Mannella.  This film has a weird history.  Most of it is a movie made in 1958 (some say 1963) that sat unreleased for many years. It was called Teenagers Battle the Thing. In 1975 they shot some new introductory footage and it was released as Curse of Bigfoot.  

(1960, Upgraded 1/12/23) Peter Williams, Harold Goldblatt, Gerald Flood, Gillian Ferguson. A seven-part mini-series about a trip to the moon and all the dangers involved.  It’s good old fashioned space opera, even if the special effects are a bit crude.  It starts with four scientists taking off for the moon.  A second rocket, an auto-piloted supply ship, is to follow.  However, when the auto pilot goes awry on the supply ship, it must be manually flown or the explorers will die in space...

(1966, Upgraded 12/10/20) Sonny Chiba, Emily Takami, Osamu Kobayashi, Andrew Hughes.  One of the most over-the-top schlock-infested Japanese sci-fi movies ever made. The world appears doomed when Nazo, an insane alien causes the planet Icarus to leave its orbit and rush headlong toward Earth.  Chiba and his scientists plan to destroy the onrushing globe with their “super destruction beam cannon,” which can literally blow a planet out of the sky...

(1967) Paul Stevens, Claudie Lange, John Heston. Every so often we come across a movie that is so bad it nearly defies description.  Flashman is one of those movies.  Flashman is actually a spoiled British Royal who doesn’t have any superpowers or gadgetry whatsoever—so what’s the point of the costume?  There are lots of villains running around, including a mafiosa type guy who kills a scientist for his invisibility formula, then robs banks while he’s invisible... 

(1972) Alfred Edel, Helga Skalla, Curt Jurgens, Hark Bohm.  This futuristic piece of sci-fi was was originally made as a TV movie.  Willi (Edel) wants to get away from the horrors of galactic war, even if it means leaving his family.   He ends up becoming a PR man for a big wig in the space fleet...

(1973) Glenn Corbett, Cameron Mitchell, Lew Ayres, Sharon Acker, Dean Jagger, George Colouris.  Corbett plays an astronaut who, after a mishap in space that leaves his fellow astronauts dead, finds himself in a strange medical center where no one is able to give him any answers.  After escaping, he soon realizes he’s no longer on Earth but a similar planet...

(1977) W. Gordon Allen, Juan Fava, Uri Geller, Trevor Constable. This film was one of a plethora of sci-fi and horror exploitation documentaries to come out in the wake of Chariots of the Gods. In this one, we’re led to believe that UFOs may actually be visiting us from another dimension.  There are lots of supposedly “authentic” UFO occurrences...

(1961) Kirk Morris, Frank Gordon, Bice Valori, Liana Orfei.  A couple of boxing promoters use a time machine to travel back to ancient times.  They end up needing Hercules to save them from Genghis Khan and his Hordes...

(1966, Updated 3-18-25) Tony Kendall, Brad Harris, Ann Smyrner, Dan Vadis.  Tony and Brad protect a lady who’s a kidnap target in this thriller that has a bit of everything:  sci-fi, ancient temples, martial arts, big explosions, jungle thrills, etc...

(1941) Aleksey Krasnopolsky, Pavel Kiyansky, A. Andriyenko-Zemskov.  This is a terrific Russian version of the classic Jules Verne science fiction-adventure tale.  Five fugitives escape from a mob during the middle of a Civil War battle by stealing a hot air balloon.  They soon find themselves deposited on a crag-riddled island filled with peril, including wild apes marauding pirates, and a primitive caveman...

(1958) Adam Faith, Sidney James, Carole Lesley, Terence Longdon, Clive Dunn, Charles Hawtrey.  This is a fine little British adventure-comedy with a nice touch of science fiction at the film’s climax.  A down on his luck writer thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he decides to write a book about the Loch Ness Monster...

(1969) Uldis Pucitis, Jüri Järvet, Lembit Peterson, Mikk Mikiver, Karlis Sebris.  It’s a post-apocalyptic world in which mankind has been decimated by an unknown plague.  Cities are on fire; millions have died.  A young couple is detained by the government and sequestered into a beach house to conceive a child in an effort to save mankind. They are soon visited by strange riders and a massive whale dies on their beach...

(1956) Tony Quinn, Sydney Tafler, Patti Morgan, Harry Fowler.  An eccentric scientist creates a new explosive device that uses sound (in this case, the sound of Big Ben striking the hour) as a detonator.  He places an explosive charge, along with a miniature version of his new detonator device, into several ordinary pens.  Unfortunately, one of his pens falls into the hands of drug dealers.  What follows is an intricate tale of crime and intrigue with many twists and turns...  

(1954, Updated 03-25-25) Peter Graves, James Seay, Barbara Bestar, Steve Pendleton, John Frederick. We all saw this a million times on TV when we were kids. Graves is a scientist captured by invaders from outer space who are dug in inside a massive cavern with a complex set of caves. The ping pong ball eyed-aliens have hatched a horrible plan against Earth. Graves tries to escape but...

(1957) Arturo Cordova, Ana Luisa Peluffo, Raul Meraz, Augusto Benedico. A businessman discovers the body of a freshly murdered man in his office building late at night. He is blamed and convicted of