Grizzly (1976)

What do bears do in the woods? We know they do that, but they also leave a trail of dead bodies behind them in this film...

Kelly (Christopher George) is a park ranger who has to handle the hunt for a killer grizzly bear as well as the usual stereotypes in this kind of film, Kittridge (Joe Dorsey) the reckless park administrator and Allison (Joan McCall) the female interest - but then who disappears in the last act of the film. 

Kelly is helped by a Vietnam vet helicopter pilot (Andrew Pine) and a naturalist (Richard Jaeckel) who both end up victims of the giant bear. Kelly, though, has a rocket launcher...

It is an enjoyable, if fairly unoriginal romp in the woods. The hunt for the bear is rather aimless and repetitive, to be honest even the bear seems to end up getting bored as he ends up finding them in the end. The gore is high though often ridiculous. Fun if you can bear it. Jaws in the woods.

Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)

Has the mighty flying turtle met his match in a creature from New Guinea which has a freeze ray?

Hirata (Kojiro Hongo) and Onodera (Koji Fujiyama) head to New Guinea to retrieve a massive opal hidden during the war. They head into a scorpion filled cave despite the warnings of native girl Karen (Kyoko Enami) and indeed find the huge gem. However, Onodera decides he doesn't want to share anymore and tries to kill Hirata. He heads to Japan on his own. But the opal actually isn't, it is an egg. It hatches in Japan, the huge monster Barugon begins to wreck the usual kind of havoc.

Gamera is attracted by the mayhem and fights Barugon though is defeated by it's freeze ray. Hirata and Karen are now in Japan and help the military with various schemes to try and defeat Barugon, despite the treachery of Onodera. The schemes fall short but Gamera is revived just in time to fight Barugon in an epic final battle.

This is the usual Japanese monster movie fare, plenty of destruction, plenty of waddling monsters destroying buildings and tanks. Barugon's rainbow ray is a rather lovely effect. The jungle scenes and Onodea's antics add a bit more interest beyond the usual monster battles.

The Ape (1940)

Slightly sinister but mostly ridiculous monkey business. The idea of this film (mad scientist dresses as ape to kill men to enable his forbidden human experiments) sounds terrific though in reality it is all a little too cosy to truly work.

Dr Adrian (Boris Karloff) is an unpopular MD in a small town who is well-meaning but obsessed with helping Francis (Maris Wrixon) who is crippled after polio. The doctor devises a possible cure using spinal fluid but he runs out of fluid. Meanwhile, an ape has escaped from the circus. The ape attacks the doctor but he manages to kill it.

Doctor Adrian begins to use the skin of the ape to kill bad men and drain their spinal fluid so he can continue his treatments. Another Doctor (Selmer Jackson) becomes suspicious of Adrian and his methods...

This is a strange film, the ape is so obviously a man in an unconvincing suit (in fact it was Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and there is little actual menace because of that. A fun enough film all the same.

The Lost Continent (1968)

A superbly weird film. Captain Lansen (Eric Porter) has a rusty old tramp freighter full of explosive cargo and a group of passengers who all have secrets. Despite a hurricane warning, Lansen ploughs across the ocean but in the storm wrecks havoc, the crew abandon ship. The survivors awake amid a mysterious hellscape of carnivorous weed. Soon they find the ship, now trapped in a graveyard of other vessels.

One of those vessels is a Spanish galleon, the survivors seeking out other crews to seize their supplies to keep their twisted society of Conquistadors led by the boy king El Supremo (Darry Reed). Lansen and his fellow survivors including Eva (Hildegard Knef) and Tony (Harry Tyler) have to battle the Conquistadors and various bizarre monsters...

A terrific monster romp though we never actually get to see the "lost continent" which is a shame as there is apparently a society of survivors living on there though we only get to see one of them, Sarah (Dana Gillespie). A bit confused but great fun.

The Lost World (1960)

A load of tosh but an enjoyable monster romp all the same. Professor Challenger (Claude Rains) returns from the Amazon with an amazing discovery, though not one he can prove, he has found dinosaurs atop a remote plateau! Despite official scepticism, Challenger assembles a new expedition to gain the proof. Unfortunately his team is a motley team including a sceptical scientist Summerlee (Richard Haydn), a dodgy adventurer Lord Roxton (Michael Rennie), a journalist Malone (David Hedison) and... a young woman Holmes (Jill St John) who brings her little yapping dog for an adventure to find dinosaurs!

The group find the plateau thanks to helicopter pilot Gomez (Fernando Lamas) but things soon take a turn for the worse when a dinosaur wrecks their helicopter and chases them into the jungle. Really you wonder why they were not a little more prepared. Soon things get worse as they are captured by a native tribe after finding a native girl (Vitina Marcus) and are prepared for the chop...

The plot is obvious but the film is good old fashioned adventure fun though fairly ridiculous in many ways, including the low budget "dinosaurs" which are basically large lizards with horns and plates glued to them!

Indestructible Man (1956)

A kind of variation on the Frankenstein theme. "Butcher" Benton (Lou Chaney Jr) is a hardened criminal who goes to the gas chamber without telling the police where the loot from an armed robbery is stashed. His corpse is stolen by mad scientist Professor Bradshaw (Robert Shayne) for his medical experiments. Somehow his experiment brings Benton back to life, and what is more he is now virtually indestructible!

After killing the Prof, Benton goes in search of his moll Eva (Marian Carr), and his old gang. The latter he kills in his single minded pursuit of revenge. While Police Lieutenant Chasen (Mac Showalter) ...er.. chases down the gang (that name surely has to be an in-joke?), the police begin a search for Benton. Unfortunately, as bullets don't work on Benton, they come armed with bazookas and flamethrowers!

It is all a lot of nonsense but pretty entertaining. The film is pretty dark and violent as well as ridiculous. It is basically a noir crime drama with a supernatural/monster addition and pretty enjoyable.

Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

Although featuring the B-team of Japanese monsters, this is a perfectly decent film. A vile pterodactyl like monster called Gyaos emerges during construction of a motorway in the mountains and wrecks havoc. The boy Eiichi (Naoyuki Abe) is captured by Gyaos but is saved by the turtle monster Gamera. Unfortunately Gyaos possesses  many fiendish powers including a cutting ray that can slide objects like planes or cars in half, and also cuts Gamera's arm forcing a retreat.

The military effort is led by Dr Aoki (Yoshiro Kitahara) and Tsutsumi (Kojiro Hongo) but mankind's weapons fail over and over again against Gyaos. The beast has a number of flaws including an aversion to sunlight but he manages to thwart the human's plans. Finally, Gamera is able to bring his A-game and finally defeats Gyaos...

A decent kaiju film. Gyaos is an excellent villain, with it's harsh looks and merciless arsenal of weapons it has a real sense of menace. A sub-plot of greedy villagers trying to stop a road construction project as they want more money is a bit of a bore but fills out the running time.

Dinosaurus! (1960)

On a tropical island paradise, which the white men are blowing up and bulldozing of course, Betty (Kristina Hanson) discovers two monsters underwater just off the beach. The monsters are frozen and have been released from the depths by the explosions. Bart (Ward Ramsey) orders the two beasts bought up to the surface, they are dinosaurs! A tyrannosaurus and a brontosaurus to be exact (well an apatosaurus really but this isn't a film to come to for palaeontological accuracy to be honest).

However, a storm overnight cuts the island off from the mainland and the dinosaurs are coming to life. Crooked local overlord Hacker (Fred Engelberg) discovers that a neanderthal was also released from the depths, he seeks to sell the neanderthal to become rich. Once the dinosaurs are active and causing havoc, Bart orders everyone to an old fortress. 

Unfortunately the local annoying kid Julio (Alan Roberts) has run off and is having an adventure with the neanderthal and the brontosaurus. Bart has to save Julio and stop the crooked plans of Hacker and avoid becoming a tyrannosaurus' lunch...

Not a terrible stop-motion monster film, the addition of the neanderthal gives the film some comedy when he is scared of a toilet flushing! Although not very original this is straight forward and enjoyable monster action.

Atragon (1963)

The ancient Mu Empire, from under the seas, is launching an attack on the world above. They are trying to seize engineers and experts, which brings them to the attention of Japanese photographer Susumu (Tadao Takashima) and retired Admiral Kusumi (Ken Uehara). The agents of Mu also try to kidnap Kusumi and Makato (Yoko Fujiyama), the daughter of the Admiral's former comrade Jinguji. Makato thinks her father was lost in the war but Mu seems to think he is alive and building a new super submarine...

Kusumi admits it is true and they go to find Jinguji, taking along in tow a reporter (Kenji Sahara) who is so overtly a Mu agent it is ridiculous! On a remote island in the Pacific they find Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) and he shows them the incredible flying submarine he has developed in secret. However, as Mu begins it's attacks on the world above and turns a big chunk of Tokyo into a crater... Jinguji won't help! He says his submarine is only for the glory of the Japanese empire! Can Kusumi and Makato persuade Jinguji to change his mind before the mighty forces of Mu led by the Empress (Tetsuko Kobayashi) conquers the world?

Very good Japanese sci-fi / monster nonsense (Mu has a living god sea serpent though it is beaten rather easily). The film drags at times and some of the storyline doesn't make a lot of sense but this is a fun film overall full of terrific special effects and mayhem. Jinguji's tension, torn between duty and his love for his daughter adds a welcome bit of depth to the film.

Marabunta (1998)

Jim (Eric Lutes) arrives in Alaska for a spot of fishing, but his holiday gets off to a bad start when he finds a dead moose which has been eaten down to the bone in hours. Not long afterwards a human similarly consumed. And whats more... no fish!

Luckily Jim is an entomologist and soon discovers that meat eating ants from South America are to blame (obviously). With the help of the Sheriff (Mitch Pileggi) and teacher/future love interest Laura (Julia Campbell), the town is evacuated but no plan goes that smoothly...

Trapped in the town, our heroes are surrounded by ants as the town is overrun by the little things. As flamethrowers, guns and chemicals are not enough to stop the ants wiping out Alaska, Jim has a plan to blow up a dam to drown the ants. Only problem is to get the explosives required means going back into the midst of the ants...

Insect based monster films generally are cheesy and terrible, but Marabunta must rank as one of the worst. Low budget, ropey special effects, average acting and (as this was a TV movie) the action is nicely packaged for the regular advert breaks. It is terrible and somehow brilliant at the same time.

The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

One of many films in the 1970s when Doug McClure ends up punching lots of men and monsters. During World War 1 a German u-boat torpedoes a British freighter. Bowen (McClure), Lisa (Susan Penhaligon) and Bradley (Keith Barron) amongst the few survivors. When the u-boat surfaces Bowen leads his small band of men to capture the u-boat from the command of von Schoenvorts (John McEnery).

Due to sabotage the u-boat is sent off course and ends up at a strange uncharted island in the Antarctic. The crew discover that beyond the icy cliffs there is a lush tropical paradise inside... inhabited by cavemen and dinosaurs! Bowen and team have to try and survive in this strange world, mostly by shooting anything which moves...

This is a fun monster romp with good use of stop motion animation and models. The effects are only let down by the pterodactyls which fly around without moving a muscle. While the submarine scenes can drag a bit once we get to the "Land That Time Forgot" the action and excitement really picks up. Reflections on the morality of war and the nature of civilisation elevate this film over the average monster film.

At the Earth's Core (1976)

Dr Perry (Peter Cushing) and David (Doug McClure) head into solid rock using a giant tunnelling machine. The machine goes slightly wrong and they end up marooned in a strange new tropical world deep underground instead of Wales. It is a strange world inhabited by dinosaurs and girls in skimpy ragged outfits (so probably not Wales then). Perry and David end up captured and sent as slaves to the sinister Mahar, avian dinosaurs who control their underlings with psychic powers...

David fights his way to freedom, linking up with tribal leader Ra (Cy Grant) and falling for the lovely Dia (Catharine Munro). He and Perry unite the disparate human tribes to fight and destroy the Mahar. Then they can repair their tunnelling machine and head home happily for tea...

And it is all wonderful tosh with questionable (though at times pretty decent) special effects, cliched fights with beasts and weird monsters. Don't ask how the humans in this underground world can speak English though, it remains unexplained like much of the film!

Cry Wilderness (1987)

Young Paul (Eric Foster) has a secret, he has a friend in the forest... Bigfoot! Of course the adults, including his teacher, do not believe such nonsense. When Paul is visited by Bigfoot at his boarding school by Bigfoot and warned his father (Maurice Brandmaison) is in danger, Paul runs away and returns to the wilderness.

His father Will and his friend Jim (John Tallman) are hunting for a tiger which has escaped from a circus. Will is under pressure to catch the tiger before it kills someone, wannabe 80s action hero Morgan (Griffin Casey) is drafted in to pose in a tank top and wave guns around. This cardboard character also believes in Bigfoot... and  wants to kill it. Can Paul save his father, capture the tiger and save Bigfoot?

A terrible film in reality, which has rapid and random changes of terrain and weather. One scene its winter, then next summer. Still they had to pad the film out with stock footage. Those strange woods eh? The film is unintentionally hilarious with ridiculously one dimensional characters and inept execution.

Reptilicus (1961)

Everyone was doing a monster movie in the 1960s, and here is the Danish "Godzilla", a rather ridiculous looking reptile which destroys Copenhagen. The preserved remains of a strange beast are found by Svend (Bent Medjing) a miner. Back at the lab, Professor Martens (Ashjorn Andersen) is carefully analysing the remains. When a mistake thaws the remains out the remains begin to regenerate...

During a thunderstorm the regeneration completes rapidly, the result being a huge armour plated killing machine. The Reptilicus (as it is called) escapes and begins to destroy. US General Grayson (Carl Ottosen) is tasked with stopping it but the army weapons have little effect as the creature descends on the city...

A very strange film with odd stilted dialogue and stiff acting, plus incredibly ropey special effects. For some reason the creature spits green goo, which has little effect on whatever it hits. It also has a lot of trouble destroying even the most cardboard of building. The film is complete nonsense and also hilarious and hugely enjoyable of course.

The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)

A Western / Monster movie... however it makes you wait so long for the monster it can't help but be a bit disappointing when it finally arrives. Jimmy (Guy Madison) is a gringo with a cattle ranch somewhere in Mexico. Local lovely Sarita (Patricia Medina) has caught his eye, much to the distaste of Enrique Rios (Eduardo Noriega) who is her fiancé and also wants Jimmy's ranch. Enrique and Jimmy have a hilariously bad fight in the town, which seems to mostly consist of them knocking over every stall in the market.

But some of Jimmy's cows are disappearing, are they falling into the swamp, being stolen by rustlers or some other reason? After what feels like a lifetime we finally discover it is the other reason... a highly dubious looking monster. He snacks on the hapless Pancho (Pascual Garcia Pena) but can Jimmy save the day with some nifty rope action?

Truly this is not a good film. The monster effects are poor even by the standards of the day. The film also makes you wait for it too long. For cheese value the film isn't bad, and it is undeniably fun once the monster action gets started. It is just a shame it takes so long to get there.

Pulgasari (1985)

The North Korean Godzilla film. Considering the fact the director Sang-ok-Shin and lead actress were South Koreans kidnapped by the North to make movies... and the Japanese Toho studio were tricked into helping by thinking they were filming in China... and the undoubted propaganda nature of the film... this isn't that bad a film at all!

In Ancient Korea the evil (imperialist no doubt) King (Yong-hok Pan) is starving his population. Villagers rise up and the King orders a new army formed, weapons to be made by Takse (Gwon Ri) using iron seized from the villagers. He refuses and dies in prison, before hand he gives a strange little figure of a monster to his daughter Ami (Son Hui Chang). She accidentally drips blood on it and the monster, Pulgasari, comes to life. Pulgasari eats iron to grow and is soon a huge monster... however he obeys Ami and helps Inde's (Ham Gi Sop) rebel army fight the King...

This is an interesting mixture of period drama and monster movie. The special effects are quite poor and Pulgasari doesn't get to destroy as many buildings as usual in these kinds of film, however when he does it is pretty spectacular. The film has lots of action, though can get a bit repetitive after awhile. The twists in the story, the monster being the hero and then the enemy, keep your interest. The sheer novelty and strange nature of this film makes it well worth a watch and it certainly isn't the worst monster movie made by any means.

Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)

The South Korean Godzilla, bought to life by a nuclear explosion. A mysterious earthquake travels across South Korea before Yongary finally emerges and starts doing the usual monster thing of destroying flimsy model buildings. 

It is quite some time until we get to Yongary though, the first part of the film can drag a bit and includes a couple of newly weds menaced by Icho (Kwan Ho Lee), an annoying child, who borrows secret technology from the lab which has a conspicuous lack of security. For some vague reason the wedding night is ruined by the groom being ordered into space. While he is up in orbit radio contact is lost and the earthquakes begin. Finally, Yongary emerges from the Earth. Yongary is largely immune to conventional firepower, though doesn't like a certain chemical...

The film is great fun once Yongary makes his appearance and we get the usual scenes of destruction, terrible looking tank and helicopter models, and people running in terror. The film doesn't make a great deal of sense (for example the scientist Illo (Oh Yeong-il) taking his girlfriend (Nam Jeong-im) along with him on a helicopter flying above the fire breathing monster as if its some kind of day trip!) however is a decent entry in the genre.

The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961)

A delightful and silly children's film. Uncle Dick (Ronald Howard) has bought back some eggs and other specimens from Malaya. One huge egg is not labelled so naturally and he doesn't know what it is... so naturally he gives the egg to his nephews to look after! 

David (Michael Wade) takes the egg to school where it hatches a small reptile which resembles a dragon. As the creature is growing very quickly, David and his friends Sophie (Rachel Clay) and Chris (Terry Raven) are forced to release the creature into the lake on Hamstead Heath. Trouble comes when a couple of crooks try and steal it...

A fun little film with some decent stop motion animation. Scientifically implausible maybe but certainly a novel 1960s monster film, one that doesn't involve crowds of people running in terror from a rampaging beast for a change.

The Last Shark (1981)

A pretty shameless Jaws rip-off. The annual wind-surfing regatta is due, which the Mayor (Joshua Sinclair) is planning to use for his re-election campaign. But... a huge angry Great White Shark is also moving in on the area. The rather unusual pairing of horror writer Peter Benton (James Franciscus) and grizzled sea dog Ron Hamer (Vic Morrow) try to get the regatta called off but the Mayor has put a whole year has work has gone into it apparently (must have a small staff). The regatta goes ahead... and the shark gatecrashes.

The hunt is therefore on for the shark. Unfortunately for the seaside town the various attempts by Peter and Ron, a bunch of kids and the Mayor in a helicopter end in failure/death basically because they seem to involve dangling lumps of meat in the water and then not knowing what to do next...

It is nonsense and rather silly. The shark easily outwits the dumb humans. The special effects arn't too bad though cheaper than... the other shark movie. It isn't that bad a movie, just a bit unoriginal. The way Peter finally finds to defeat the shark is quite inventive though...

Monster from Green Hell (1957)

There was an obsession with radiation causing giant size mutation in animals in 1950s cinema. This is yet another tale of a rocket taking something up into space (wasps in this case). When the rocket lands the wasps becomes a giant monsters and starts killing everything in their path! Dr Brady (Jim Davis) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin) head to Africa to investigate. The path to the remote part of Africa known as Green Hell is tough though, with attacks by tribes of natives and poisoned streams.

Once Brady and Dan reach the village near Green Hell they discover the local doctor (Vladimir Sokoloff) is dead, killed by the monster. They head into Green Hell with the doctor's daughter Lorna (Barbara Turner) to face, and stop, the monsters...

A fairly standard monster sci-fi film, padded out with plenty of stock footage of African safaris. The monster special effects are suitably ridiculous and cheap looking. Fun nonsense if a bit generic.