Night of Terror (1933)

A rather inventive dark house mystery with some good twists.

A maniac is on the loose leaving a trail of dead behind him. The latest killing is near to the Rinehart estate, though the mad scientist son of Rinehart, John (Bryant Washburn) is busy with his new formula which can help someone survive being buried alive for hours. 

His sister Mary (Sally Blane) is more interested in her reporter boyfriend Tom (Wallace Ford) - who has plenty of wisecracks of course! The Rinehart servant Degar (Bela Lugosi) adds a creepy feel to this story though it remains a crime drama not a horror.

The Rinehart family start being bumped off one by one, so as to lessen the competition for the inheritance for someone, but who? Degar is of course accused of the crime but is the murderer someone else entirely, maybe someone who we thought would have a cast iron alibi?

This is a fine film with some good twists and red herrings plus the usual dark house mystery tropes of random screams, hidden passages and doorways and a steady body count. One notable red herring is the maniac himself who in the end we find had nothing to do with the goings on in the house!

Crash Landing (1958)

A perfectly serviceable aeroplane disaster movie, more serviceable than the engines on the plane anyway.

A flight is half-way between Lisbon and New York, over the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the engines fail suddenly and now the tough Captain Williams (Gary Merrill) has to decide whether to ditch in the drink or try and make land. Williams has a very low threshold for failure, as we see in a flashback with his wife (Nancy Reagan) and son. However, as the adventure unfolds Williams learns how to be a human, be a better father and save everyone onboard. Give that man a payrise!

The rest of the crew and passengers are the usual collection of stereotypes, some of whom also have their happy redemption stories. Though the cliches are sometimes not fully developed.

The film is fine enough, if rather slow at times and static. However, the overall story and effect are worth staying around for. 

Killpoint (1984)

Lots of violence though not a lot of plot, but this isn't that unusual for a low-budget 1980s action movie.

Nighthawk (Stack Pierce) under the orders of the somewhat deranged Marx (Cameron Mitchell) steals a lot of firepower from the state National Guard armoury. These guns are then sold to local gangs who go on bloody murder sprees and robberies. 

Federal agent Bryant (Richard Rountree) is tasked with bringing the gun runner to justice (though considering the body count there doesn't seem a great deal of urgency from the authorities). He is helped by Detective Long (Leo Fong) who is still mourning the rape and murder of his wife. Crimes which the gun runners and the gangs were involved with...

There isn't a lot of plot, what plot the film has is mostly there as a flimsy skeleton to hang the frequent violent action set-pieces off. Oh and there is a lot of violence in this film, guns and martial arts and murder. The film is rather shoddily made and hard to follow at times but for what it is, its fine, even pretty good. Just not very subtle.

Just Off Broadway (1942)

Michael Shayne is in court, though luckily in the jury and not the dock!

Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) is doing jury service, with Lillian Hubbard (Janis Carter) the defendant. A witness is killed in the court room by a mysterious man throwing knives. Shayne decides to investigate what is really going on even though it means violating the jury rules. 

He sneaks out and with the help of reporter Judy Taylor (Marjorie Weaver) investigates a trail leading to a nightclub singer (Joan Valerie) and a club owner (Don Costello). Of course, Shayne can't let anyone know he is out and about, but Higgins (Phil Silvers) is out to get a photo of him!

A fine entry in the Michael Shayne series though not quite as good as earlier instalments, credibility is maybe stretched a little far with the many shenanigans which take place on the one night but the film is a fun watch. 

African Story (1971)

A cool if somewhat strange early 1970s drama.

Producer Arnold Tiller (Stephen Boyd) dislikes his hot pop star Rex Maynard (Michael Kirner), especially when Rex elopes with his daughter (Sue Kiel) to South Africa. 

Arnold has other problems though, as the mob are blackmailing him. Rex has to deal with a fake kidnapping and then a real one...

A rather odd film and not without plenty of flaws including some rather obvious dubbing at times, however it does look good and has plenty of charm and style, the character of Rex in particular is fun. The film also has an unexpected and slightly unusual ending.

The Dancing Masters (1943)

One of the later Laurel and Hardy films, a flawed film but the magic is still there.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy operate a dance academy, after a short interlude where they get swindled into an insurance policy by a very young Robert Mitchum, they begin to help a young inventor (Robert Bailey) with both his new death ray invention and his love life with Trudy Marshall...

This is a great little film, filled with the trademark Laurel and Hardy humour and slap stick antics. However, the story line is stretched a little too far though, plus the final runaway tram scene goes on a little too long. It isn't perfect but it is still wonderful.

Eye of the Evil Dead (1982)

A young girl is possessed by an evil ancient Egyptian spirit while on holiday, well that is certainly a holiday souvenir you don't want.

Susie (Brigitta Bocolli) is on holiday with her archaeologist father Professor Hacker (Christopher Connelly) in Egypt. Susie encounters a mysterious old woman who gives her an amulet. Once the family return to New York, anyone around Susie is in danger as she now possesses evil diabolical powers. Hacker, who has been blinded by energy blasts while opening a tomb, enlists the help of Adrian (Cosimo Cinieri) who is, er... an antique dealer, to save Susie and stop the terror...

This isn't a great film and does not make a lot of sense. It has plenty of mystical ancient Egyptian magic and evil though which is always entertaining. The film could have been pretty decent if the plot had been heavily edited.