Death Ship (1980)

A superbly chilling and at-times gory film, completely ridiculous but it is a horror film after all.

A mysterious cargo ship, seemingly without a crew, is sailing across the sea. It approaches a cruise liner, despite all warnings it isn't stopping, it wants to ram! Later on a few survivors of the liner, including the captain Ashland (George Kennedy), lie on a raft. The cargo ship looms behind them, the survivors not knowing this was the ship which caused their plight.

They board the ship, which is deserted and rusted and old. They discover it is a World War 2 German ship, they also discover it has a mind of it's own as the survivors are picked off one by one, including being grabbed by cranes, terrified to death in a shower of blood and being crushed in a net of corpses. Ashland, meanwhile, has donned the uniform of a German Navy captain and now calls the ship his own. Crenna (Trevor Marshall) and Nick (Nick Mancuso) discover the ship was used for Nazi tortures...

A superbly weird and macabre film. The derelict ship setting makes for a very eerie film. Often the best horrors have the threat coming from a faceless and unknowable entity, in this case it is an entire cargo ship! It makes little sense but is a great horror film.

The Astro-Zombies (1968)

A complete mess of a film, cheap and confused though rather compelling but you'll seldom know what is going on. A mad scientist called Dr DeMarco (John Carradine) is aiming to build a super-human zombie who can live in space, by creating a creature out of various human bits and applying some technology to make it all work. Unfortunately his prototype has gone on the rampage and is killing people... mostly women and he seems unable to kill them without also ripping off their clothes...

The Feds, led by Holman (Wendell Corey), spies from an unnamed foreign power led by the remarkable Satana (Tura Satana) and the mafia are all after DeMarco's secrets. A confused search begins for the mad scientist before he can create a refined version of his zombie, plus try and capture the original...

Much weirdness follows and much unnecessary (to the plot anyway) female flesh too. We're never told why DeMarco's weird assistant Franchot (William Bagdad) spends much of the film menacing a young woman in a bikini, whom he has strapped to a table but it's just that kind of film. In the great tradition of trash movies it makes no sense whatsoever.

Supersonic Man (1979)

A shameless but also hilarious superhero movie. Supersonic Man, born on another planet, is sent to Earth to combat a growing threat there, he takes on the appearance and personality of Paul (Antonio Cantafora). The threat is from the diabolical Dr Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) who sends his laser gun armed goons, and rather ridiculous looking robot, to steal nuclear materials so he can build a death ray and conquer the Earth.

Gulik also kidnaps the scientist Professor Morgan (Jose Maria Caffafrel) to assist with his plans though Morgan refuses to help. Gulik sends his men, led by Petersen (Frank Brana), to kidnap Morgan's daughter Patricia (Diana Polokov). That is when Paul/Supersonic Man starts to intervene and foil Gulik's evil plans...

A fun film with laughable special effects and very cheesy and goofy superhero antics. The film rips off a number of other better known films including Superman itself. The film is often quite strange with numerous misfiring attempts at comedy thrown in. Why that is needed when the main premise is so ridiculous and funny is a question even Supersonic Man's powers have no answer for. Unfortunately no one makes a "I'll make a supersonic man out of you" joke.

Busy Bodies (1933)

A classic Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedy short with some of their most iconic and ambitious set pieces. Stan and Ollie are working as carpenters at a sawmill, obviously mayhem ensues and much destruction follows. This includes Ollie getting a brush glued to his chin, getting caught (and later catapulted out of) a vent and finally destroying the manager's office after falling off a ladder. Health and safety certainly is absent in the Laurel and Hardy universe!

A superb film. There obviously isn't much story other than to hang on a series of comedy set-pieces and slapstick stunts. But who cares, this is true genius.

Four Sided Triangle (1953)

What is worse than a love triangle? A four sided love triangle. Bill (Stephen Murray) and Robin (John Van Eyssen) are childhood friends and mad scientists who are feverishly working on a machine that can duplicate matter. While their mutual childhood crush Lena (Barbara Peyton) and their mentor Dr Harvey (James Hayter) watch on, the scientists succeed. The British government begins the process of crushing the development with bureaucracy, meanwhile Robin marries Lena... Bill is distraught.

With the help of Dr Harvey, Bill modifies the machine to be able to duplicate living things! He manages to convince Lena to let him duplicate her... creating Helen. Unfortunately Helen is an exact duplicate and also loves Robin and not Bill...

A fascinating film, the science is baffling (with the usual sparkling electricity and dials, though what all the test tubes and flasks bubbling with liquid are for is not explained) but at it's heart this is an interesting examination of what really makes a person. A decent film as long as you suspect enough disbelief.

The Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism (1967)

A macabre but also campy horror, very Hammer-like and not just because of Christopher Lee. The sadistic Count Regula (Lee) is torn apart by wild horses as punishment for murdering twelve virgin maidens. Thirty five years later the lawyer Roger (Lex Barker) and piano teacher Baroness Lilian (Karin Dor) receive strange invites from the Count Regula. As they approach his castle, they find villagers recoiling in fear, though the priest - apparently - Fabian (Vladimir Medar) isn't afraid and joins them for the trip.

They find themselves in a terrifying castle, the guest of Anatol (Carl Lange). He brings Count Regula back to life. The Count reveals that Roger is the last member of his executioner's family and Roger must die to complete his revenge. Lillian will be the thirteenth maiden to die by his hand, this will enable him to complete his twisted experiments and create an elixir of eternal life...

Not the most original of horror films, it seems to take many elements of well-known horror tropes, including a pendulum pit and iron maidens and mixes everything up in a fairly psychedelic and very grotesque romp. Christopher Lee gives a great turn as the evil count (but of course you would expect nothing less!) 

Manhandled (1924)

A top draw actor can lift an otherwise average plodder of a film into something decent, as happens with this film starring Gloria Swanson as a shopgirl (Tessie) with a talent for mimicry. She manages to escape her dreary job thanks to her talent for pretending to be other people. She ends up pretending to be a snooty Russian aristocrat in order to attract customers to a posh establishment.

Tessia soon forgets about her boyfriend Jimmy (Tom Moore) but when he becomes a success himself he comes back for her and accuses her of letting herself be taken advantage of (manhandled as per the title)...

Truthfully this is a fairly forgettable comedic morality play but Swanson's comedy performance is well worth watching, especially the crowded subway train scene.