150 Movies You Should Die Before You See - Miller Steve [38]
Thumbs Down Rating:
The Crappies
The Worst Actor Award goes to … Dolph Lundgren for portraying a plastic action figure with a kung fu grip rather than the Punisher.
And the Worst Director Award goes to … Mark Goldblatt for first reducing the Punisher to a generic action movie character and then — much worse — making him boring.
They Really Said It!
Frank Castle: If you're guilty, you're dead.
Betcha Didn't Know
Production company New World Pictures was founded by B movie heavy-weight Roger Corman in 1970. He sold it to other investors in 1983.
This was the first of three Punisher movies, each of which is disconnected from the other in its story.
Trivia Quiz
What superhero battled the Punisher in his first appearance?
A: Captain Marvel
B: Captain America
C: Spider-Woman
D: Spider-Man
Answer: D. Spider-Man. Due to the restrictions on violence imposed by the Comics Code in the 1970s, the Punisher's automatic weapons were loaded with stun bullets during this first appearance.
THE RAVEN
Universal Pictures, 1935
PRODUCER Uncredited
WRITERS David Boehm (script), Edgar Allan Poe (poem)
DIRECTOR Louis Friedlander
STARS Bela Lugosi (Dr. Richard Vollin), Boris Karloff (Edmond Bateman), Irene Ware (Jean Thatcher), Samuel S. Hinds (Judge Thatcher), and Lester Matthews (Dr. Jerry Halden)
After saving a young dancer (Ware) from certain death through a miraculous feat of neurosurgery, the mentally unstable Dr. Vollin (Lugosi) becomes obsessed with her. All he has to do with the aid of a wanted murderer (Karloff) is eliminate Jean, her fiancé, and her father.
Why It Sucks
Why were Hollywood-types so afraid of making a Poe movie that's true to Poe? The Raven, rather than being about the haunting lament of a man for his dead love, is the tale of an evil and insane man so rich and so obsessed that he's built a house full of secret doors, secret basements, and entire rooms that serve as elevators … all so he can re-enact scenes from Poe's writings. That's pretty cool, I admit, but I still have to wonder.
Thumbs Down Rating:
The Crappies
The Worst Actor Award goes to … Boris Karloff for playing the weakling assistant to Bela Lugosi's mad doctor. One of the great actors of B movies comes off here as dull.
And the Worst Director Award goes to … Louis Friedlander for tepid direction, uninspired lighting, and set design that leaves most of the potential of this film unrealized.
They Really Said It!
Judge Thatcher: Try to be sane, Vollin!
Betcha Didn't Know
This was the first feature film directed by Louis Friedlander. He later changed his name to Lew Landers and eventually became one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood history.
Boris Karloff's salary was larger than Bela Lugosi's on every film they appeared in together, even the ones where Lugosi had the larger part.
Trivia Quiz
What Universal Pictures comedy did Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi both appear in?
A: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
B: The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)
C: A Comedy of Terrors (1923)
D: Gift of Gab (1934)
Answer: D. Gift of Gab, where the actors had cameos in a comedy centered around an arrogant radio presenter.
CHAPTER TEN
MONSTROUS MONSTER MOVIES
From the moment Victor Frankenstein bellowed, “It's alive!” in James Whale's 1932 classic
Frankenstein, monsters have been the go-to guys for horror movies. Sadly, the only horror you'll find in the movies here is that you'll never get those eighty-two minutes of your life back.
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (AKA “The Giant
LEECHES” AND “DEMONS OF THE SWAMP”)
American International Pictures, 1959
PRODUCERS Roger Corman (executive producer) and Gene Corman