Really Awful Movies: Ep 214 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

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A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers fossilized evidence of a mysterious creature in the form of a skeletal hand with webbed fingers.

On this episode of the podcast, travel to Brazil with us (OK, Florida) as we discuss Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Expedition leader Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) orders his two assistants to stay in camp while he visits the marine biology institute to get answers about his find.

Maia reunites with his friend and former student, ichthyologist Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson). Dr. Reed works at an aquarium in California, but more recently he has been a guest at Maia’s institute in Brazil to study lungfish. Reed persuades his boss, Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), to fund a return expedition to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton down river.

Soon, the research expedition gets wind of a certain gilled amphibious humanoid thing down in the depths.

Director Jack Arnold’s first foray into the science-fiction genre was the fun, It Came from Outer Space (1953). Jack achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with this film, a well-crafted reworking of “Beauty and the Beast”. Revenge of the Creature (1955) was a (semi) worthy sequel.

Critic Leonard Maltin said about the film that it was an “Archetypal ’50s monster movie has been copied so often that some of the edge is gone, but … is still entertaining, with juicy atmosphere and luminous underwater photography sequences.”

Really Awful Movies: Ep 213 – Hell Night

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Watching this is a hellish experience. Well, not really, but close enough to warrant the terrible pun. Hell Night is one of those forgotten films from the slasher boom, and only known today because of two things: 1) incredibly cool cover art and 2) the presence of genre icon Linda Blair in the lead role as sorority/frat pledge Marti Gaines.

When a movie has “hell” in the title, there are basically three places it can end up: 1) a stone-cold classic like Hellraiser, 2) perfectly serviceable like The Legend of Hell House, or 3) total ineptitude like Motel Hell. Hell Night is the latter, although not even that fun.

The premise is pretty straightforward: a bunch of pledges are put through their paces in an initiation rite. They have to spend a night at a dwelling where SOMETHING TERRIBLE TOOK PLACE.

This is boilerplate horror, stretching back to House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. And with the frat kick, it’s a bit like Pledge Night with that singer from Anthrax with the poodle hair who is killed in a frat stunt. Either way you slice it, Yawn Town population, you.

So, in a perfect world, what do you get when there’s a neat backstory, attractive people and a scary scene setting? Usually, there’s a twist, nudity, and filmmakers exploiting the terrifying sense of place. In Hell Night, none of the above happens, which is…hella weird, it should be said.

Hard-partying coeds are all talk (and all clothed). The killer isn’t all that interesting…and the “haunted/cursed” house is pretty and candle-lit, but meh.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we put this film in context.

We talk about our indifference to Linda Blair post-Exorcist, we chat about Passover seders (for the first time on the show!), silly plot devices, heroism in Hell Night, the old house motif, Italian Gothic horror, and movies similar to this one.

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Really Awful Movies: Ep 212 – Grabbers

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Grabbers! Grabbers! What’s a grabber? It’s some kind of octopus-like tentacled creature.

On this St Patrick’s Day episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk Ireland, JP Donleavy, Brendan Behan, Father Ted, pub culture, drinking, and cultural similarities between Canada and Ireland.

We have quite a few listeners in Ireland, and we thought we’d reach out to them and say “hi.” And what better way to do it, than through a fun, crazy, booze-fueled Roger Corman-esque tale?

Grabbers starts out with trawler fishermen who encounter strange tentacled things out on the high seas, later dubbed “Grabbers” by one of the denizens of a nearby island when they’re attacked by the creatures.

Have no fear, there’s a police presence. Barely. Garda O’Shea (Richard Coyle) is a useless drunk who barely keeps things in check in terms of getting folks to uphold the law. His partner, Nolan, is fresh from fighting real crime in Dublin. She’s visiting the island for a brief stint, to get away from big city problems.

Once the Grabbers take a foothold, it’s up to these two to marshal the forces of the island to combat them.

Turns out Grabbers are allergic to booze. Alcohol is toxic to these creatures, so this is used to wonderful comedic effect to rebuff them. The film turns into Assault on Precinct 13, with a publican and his patrons battening down the hatches to battle these beasts, all the while getting “pissed as a newt”. Sh*tfaced. Drunk as a lark. Drunk as a lord. Pissed.

If you’re a fan of monster movies, you’ll find yourself enjoying Grabbers. There are delightful characters, choice references to similar films (Predator and Alien) and compelling performances all around.

Join us every Friday on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, subscribe, and listen to fun (occasionally informed) genre film chat.