The Crater Lake Monster (1977)

A very strange film indeed. A meteorite crashes into a lake awakening some kind of Lock Ness like monster (with some decent stop-motion animation) and begins to eat people. So far so good. However the film is made so badly with random sub-plots and weird characters. We have a couple of rednecks Arnie (Glenn Roberts) and Mitch (Mark Siegel) who hire out boats on the lake and seem pretty oblivious to everything that is going on around them. Their attempts at humour are as painful as being eaten by a monster...

Half way through the film we suddenly see a rather botched shoot out in a liquor store, what has this got to do with the rest of the film (apart from the fact the gunman eventually ends up another snack of the monster)? Why was this character added so late into proceedings? Like much of this film it doesn't really make a lot of sense.

The Sheriff (Richard Cardella) is a hoot, early on the film he seems the laziest cop in the world but in the end is willing to take on the monster on his own with a bulldozer and a handgun.

Not a good film at all, the acting is poor, the plot and pacing all over the place and continuity mostly missing. It is good fun though, camp nonsense. The monster special effects are not bad, especially for their day.

Phase IV (1974)

A remarkable film, at first glance yet another "creepy" insect horror film but it is far more of that.

A mysterious force in outer space has taken control of ants on Earth, merging them into a super intelligence. Dr Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) and Lesko (Michael Murphy) are investigating the phenomena.

The ants have driven people from a desert town, and built strange structures. Hubbs and Lesko have built a domed research base, but who is really under investigation? Ants... or humans? The ants soon prove deadly, killing a family of farmers except Kendra (Lynne Frederick) who is rescued by the scientists. However the ants' plan is not to destroy...

The film has some incredible visuals, many close-ups of ants of course. The story is developed slowly, maybe too slowly for a monster movie, for an intelligent science-fiction movie it is perfect though. The ending is suitably mind-bending. The twists are what makes this film special, especially when we realise that it is the scientists in their dome who are really in an experiment.

Infra-Man (1975)

Incredible sci-fi kung fu mayhem. The Earth comes under attack from an army of monsters led by Princess Dragon Mum (Terry Liu) who wants to rule the world and make mankind her slaves. Normal weapons (well fists and pistols anyway) are useless against the monsters, however at a secret science base led by the Professor (Hsieh Wang) he converts Rayma (Danny Lee) into Inframan.

Inframan is a bio-electronical marvel who is powered by the sun (although still seems to be able to fight in the dark). He manages to turn the tide of the fight against the Princess and her army. However the Princess isn't finished yet and has plenty of diabolical plans...

Many highly entertaining fights involving people in rubber suits follow. The film is remarkable cheese though plot wise is a bit basic (not that that really matters too much in this kind of film). The film includes many strange scenes to enjoy, one of the best being the scene after the Professor is captured by the monsters and is taken to their lair in a speed boat, flanked by two rubber suited monsters!

Dogora (1964)

A rather confusing film. Although this is a Toho movie and involves a monster destroying perfectly made minature buildings, the main focus of the film is a crime story involving diamonds. Though the monster, a giant jelly fish from space, likes eating diamonds (and coal) so the stories are linked!

The crimes (and monster) is being investigated by Inspector Kommei (Yosuke Natsuki) and gaijin Mark Jackson (Robert Dunham), as well as bearded scientist Dr Munakata (Nobuo Nakamura).

The problem with the film is that is it neither one thing or the other. Most of the film is taken up with the diamond case, which is rather confusing though the actual crimes are well done. The monster seems a bit tacked on and doesn't take up much of the film, those does provide for the opportunity for some special effects... and destruction. Not a great film but it looks good.

Octaman (1971)

Half-man half-octopus and he is on a killing spree in this fun trash. Octaman is a mutation caused by radiation and he doesn't like scientists like Susan (Pier Angeli) and Dr Torres (Kerwin Matthews) capturing his octopi kin in Mexico. He kills people who get in his way with his large tentacles, usually by hitting them over the head.

The scientists are investigating radioactive pollution in Mexico and the changes it is causing to local fauna. However to fund the expedition the scientists have had to bring along a ranch owner who wants a new attraction for his zoo. Octaman doesn't care, he is an equal opportunity killer.

The plot is barely present but that doesn't really matter because Octaman just has to be seen to be believed. This film takes men pretending to be monsters in silly rubber suits to a new level. It is silly nonsense and hilarious.

The Mighty Peking Man (1977)

A superbly weird film just as you imagine the HK version of King Kong would be. Johnny Fang (Danny Lee) heads to the Himalayas to track down the mythical Peking Man or Utam, some sort of gigantic (although the size seems to vary between scenes) monstrous ape. Finally he discovers the creature but he is about to be crushed by it... until the arrival of a female Tarzan called Samantha (Evelyne Kraft) who was lost as a child in a plane crash in the Himalayas and bought up by Utam in the ..er.. jungles of the Himalayas.

Samantha falls for Johnny and he persuades her to bring Utam to HK so the whole world can see him. Utam ends up in a show but you just know it will end up badly...

An epic in monster mayhem, the destroyed buildings are so obviously models but the action scenes are tremendous set pieces. Samantha is a terrifically strange character, the fact she seems to hate wearing clothes adds to the sheer camp of much of the film. However amid the camp there is a lot of darkness in this film, Utam dies with honour, many of the humans die after being crushed by his giant feet. In fact Samantha (and maybe Johnny) apart, the humans in this film act terribly.

From Hell It Came (1957)

A rather odd little monster horror film... the monster in this case being a walking tree stump! A idyllic island in the South Pacific is troubled by radioactive dust and a native prince being killed by the tribal chief Maranka (Baynes Barron), under the advice of the scheming witchdoctor Tano (Robert Swan), for being overly friendly with American scientists...

The prince comes back to life as an accursed Tabanga, a dangerous tree stump. The monster begins to wreck havoc, can the scientists Tod Andrews and Tina Carver defeat native dark magic with science? Tabanga meanwhile slowly stomps around the island throwing people into quicksand.

The premise is fairly familiar though the monster in this case is a bit unusual. The film is slow to get started, the monster doesn't appear for a long time and when it does it is pretty laughable. The low budget makes for pretty shoddy production values but this does add a lot to the cheese value. Don't expect enlightened attitudes to Pacific islanders, but do expect a walking tree with eyes.

Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)

A 1970s science-fiction film thus everyone is in rather uncomfortable looking polyester jumpsuits (and big moustaches are obviously space fleet regulation for the men). A malfunction on their ship maroons the crew on an uncharted planet with few supplies and no idea when/if help is coming. One big problem is that the planet is inhabited by dinosaurs...

The survivors are led by Captain Lee (Louis Lawless) but his decisions are always questioned by butch Jim (James Whitworth) - who relishes the chance to go full caveman - and the annoying company owner Harvey (Harvey Shain) who would relish most a cool drink. The rest of the crew including Nyra (Pamela Bottaro) give random screams and grunts as the situation vaguely demands.

Much of the film is fairly aimless as they wander around swamps and hills, with the occasional monster attack. The dinosaurs are a reasonable example of stop-motion animation. The best thing about the film is the synth heavy prog rock-ish soundtrack which is oddly jarring from the actual onscreen action. Despite the film's (many) flaws it is entertaining tosh and has an unexpected ending.

The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy (1958)

Some films are so bad they are good. Some are just bad. Despite the sheer nonsense of the premise this film falls a bit closer to the latter than the former unfortunately. Which is a shame as you want a film about a robot fighting an Aztec mummy to be nothing short of great...

The main problem with the film is that it takes too long to get going, the actual meeting and battle between the robot and mummy is right at the very end (and isn't the most amazing battle in movie history if we are to be honest though is mercifully short). The film is slow because it includes a recap from the two previous mummy films in the series so at least you can save time by just watching this one and not the others i guess.

As to the film plot, the mummy Popoca (Angelo de Steffani) is guarding ancient treasure which mad (of course) scientist Dr Krupp (Luis Aceves Castañeda) wants for himself. As the mummy usually kills all who try and steal the treasure Krupp builds a cyborg robot (Adolfo Rojas) to destroy the mummy. Then he plans to use the loot to build an army of similar robots and conquer the world. Though if we are to be honest i suspect the world's armed forces would have the ability to defeat an army of robots that move incredibly awkwardly and slowly.

Like the robot the film isn't very good, the best part of the film is the title. However it is worth watching once just for that.

Gammera the Invincible (1966)

A Soviet atomic bomb goes off when a bomber crashes in the Arctic accidentally awakening a gigantic turtle called Gammera who seems to want to destroy the world. How unlucky is that?! Unfortunately Gammera seems to be indestructible so that is quite a problem for Japanese scientist Dr Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi).

So basically this is Godzilla's cousin in a shell and like his more famous counterpart Gammera also enjoys slowly smashing his way through half of Tokyo. This version of the film adds some American characters to add a more international air to the Japanese original though it doesn't add a great deal to the story. At the end of the day it is still a man in a rubber suit crushing model buildings.

The film is fun but frequently ridiculous. Including the music that appears to rip off the Batman theme. The main problem with Gammera in this film is that he isn't very scary, he just seems to waddle around destroying things by accident.

Konga (1961)

Unintentionally hilarious British rip off of King Kong.

Dr Decker (Michael Gough) goes missing in Africa for a year, when he finally returns to London he claims he will change the world with the new discoveries he has found. In his own lab he has rather suspicious looking plants which, when a serum is made from them, can greatly increase growth of animals. Naturally he starts injecting his pet chimp, who soon is a huge ape and who will do Dr Decker's bidding... i.e. kill.

Dr Decker is a fascinating character, dark and single minded. Killing means nothing to him, whether it is his cat which he shoots without a second thought or directing Konga to kill his rivals. His long suffering assistant Margaret (Margo Johns) has a bit more moral ambiguity. But only a bit more, she is happy to let Dr Decker continue on his way as long as he loves her. Unfortunately he has his eye on one of his buxom young students...

The film is remarkable cheese, with a man in an ape suit running rampant. The final act however oddly runs out of steam, as does Konga who just stands there while the army expend most of their Cold War stockpile to finally bring him down. Of course one major plot flaw is that when the chimpanzee is given growth serum it turns into a gorilla...

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

Very low budget monster and rock & roll thrills. Deep in Texas a giant monster (which just happens to look like a normal lizard - but scaled up) has gone on a rampage. Killing kids who just want to make out in their souped up hotrods and drink coke.

Local mechanic Chase (Don Sullivan) and his French girlfriend Lisa (Lisa Simone) know that something is amiss but the authorities don't realise what is going on until the monster attacks a train. The monster then heads to town where the youth have gathered for some rock & roll, can Chase save the day with a car load of nitroglycerin?

Although a cult classic, this is a pretty awful film all in all. The "monster" is just a lizard attacking models and with the camera zoomed in close to make it look large (and not always succeeding). It is great fun though, largely because it is such nonsense.

Behemoth the Sea Monster (1959)

Nuclear testing has unleashed a long dormant monster to wreak havoc on mankind. Yes that does sound familiar...

In the case of Behemoth the Sea Monster (the film is also known as The Giant Behemoth) the monster wreaks havoc on London not Tokyo. Before that the monster kills some Cornish fishermen and lots of fish.

The earlier part of the film works better to be honest as you don't actually see the monster, after the unveil of the beast later on it does descend into a bit of a model building destroying romp. The monster scenes are pretty well done though. The budget wasn't huge. Lots of people unconvincingly run around in a British version of panic.

The main problem with the film is the British-ness of it all. I'm not sure stiff-upper-lip characters work that well when the enemy is a giant sea monster and not the Luftwaffe.

Overall its not a bad film but its not very original...