Cleopatra (1912)

A classic early silent movie, full of dramatic gestures and many extras in period costumes (of dubious historical accuracy). This tells the story of Cleopatra (Helen Gardner) after the murder of Julius Caesar and her seduction of Marc Antony (Charles Sindelar) and blah blah blah. The history, or at least William Shakespeare's version of it, is very familiar and doesn't need to be repeated here.

At the start of the film, the slave Pharon (Mr Howard) professes his love to Cleopatra. When she finds out she offers him ten days of love after which he must kill himself. He agrees though Pharon's lover the handmaiden Iras (Pearl Sindelar) is not so keen on this and later uses this against her Queen...

This is a lush historical epic to which regular colour tinting adds another dimension. The film is fairly low budget though and the sets reflect that. The camera is also pretty static, it is more like a filmed stage play than an actual film but still an interesting watch all the same.

The House on Sorority Row (1982)

Nowhere near as good as it could have been (though equally nowhere as bad as well!) A group of college girls want to hold their leaving party at the house they live at with the tyrannical Mrs Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt). Mrs Slater is eager for the girls to leave as soon as possible so the girls decide to play a prank on her. As the prank involves a gun and getting her to fall into a rancid pool its a rather mean prank. Especially as she dies during it...

Despite causing their landlady's apparent death, the girls party continues as planned (which is probably the funniest part of the entire film). Then the girls start disappearing one by one, killed off by a largely unseen assailant. Then the only one left is Katharine (Kate McNeil) - who to be fair is the only one with any the slightest inkling of what is going on. But then she gets drugged and left as bait...

Full of cliches and yet another 1980s slasher horror with plenty of gore. The acting is fairly mediocre and most of the characters loathsome though the film isn't without it's good points and unintentional humour, just that you have to wait some time for it,

Party Girl (1930)

An awkward early talkie and a rather cheap exploitation film involving the sleazy world of escort girls and the men who pay for them. Jay (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) is the son of a rich businessman who finds himself dragged into this world, targeted by Leeda (Judith Barrie) and her cunning mother. Jay is tricked into marrying Leeda, for her personal gain. Jay's plans to marry Ellen (Jeanette Loff), his Dad's secretary, lie in tatters. Yet another rich sucker.

However, the law are planning to move in and shut the scam down. Will Jay and Jeanette get dragged into their necks?

A rather racy film for the day which leaves little to the imagination. It suffers from the usual problems of many an early talkie and is quite shameless and not very good to be honest. The most notable thing about the film is the young Douglas Fairbanks Jr having to appear in it, just showing that all stars had to start somewhere. The sets and club scenes are superb though.

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.

The Loves of Hercules (1960)

A hilariously bad sword and sandal tale. The wife of Hercules (Mickey Hargitay) is killed by the treachery of Licos (Massimo Serato) who blames his King (and who Licos kills as well). Hercules turns up wanting revenge but is faced by the King's daughter Deianira (Jayne Mansfield) instead. Hercules falls in love with Deianira (and thus seems to get over his wife rather easily!)

However, Licos is continuing his schemes as he wants the throne, and Deianira, for himself. He has Deianira's fiancé murdered and Hercules is blamed. Hercules goes away and gets entangled in the land of the Amazons and subject to Hippolyta's (Tina Gloriani) sinister lusts and is in danger of being turned into a tree...

The film is ridiculously campy nonsense with poor dialogue and acting, rather ropey action and mediocre special effects. The Hydra, which Hercules fights, looks a bit like a carnival float. However, the film is great fun and a complete cheese fest.