Monster of the Day

Looking for a quick, super cheapie '50s monster flick on Amazon Prime? Well, there's Man Beast. And hey, it's only 67 minutes. On the other hand, it's 67 Jerry Warren minutes. Amazon Watch Party tonight! Hope you can make it.

Bill Jackson passed away the other day at the age of 86. That will be of import almost entirely to Chicago natives of a certain age--my age, to be exact. Back in the day, because of the powerhouse WGN--arguably the most influential independent TV station in the country back in the '60s and early…

By the '50s gorillas-as-monsters were in decline. Luckily, there was just enough time for Ed Wood Jr to write a script for one, Bride of the Beast. And why yes, that is an angora sweater. On Amazon Prime.

  Aside from the pretty good Dan Curtis / Jack Palance Dracula telemovie, there was the 1977 BBC production, Count Dracula, starring Louis Jourdan. It's comparatively faithful to the novel, but obviously short on special effects, and has a stately pace, as it last two and a half hours. Jourdan might be a bit…

I wouldn't show Beastmaster for a Watch Party because a) it's a bit too good (or rather, cheesy but not QUITE cheesy enough), and more important b) it's too long, running about two hours. Still, it's a quintessential piece of '80s fantasy action. Available for your viewing pleasure on Amazon Prime right now.  

Speaking of Amazon Prime (from Monday), I was worried for a while because they seemed to be dumping all their old schlock just when we started doing Watch Parties, leaving me to fear we would literally run out of good subjects. However, they're been restocking. Indeed, they have several Jabootu subjects on Prime right…

At the opposite end of the spectrum from yesterday's (presumably) low-budget practical effect driven monster movie, there was lots of theoretically cool cameos--he fights the Iron Giant!--in (which I completely forget) Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One. By the way, and this is no insult, but it's probably time for Spielberg to admit he doesn't…

I probably did this one recently, but I can't remember if I featured it as MotD of if it was just mentioned in notes. Anyway, no harm done if it's a recent repeat. It's on Amazon Prime for those who want to take a look. And in case it's a repeat here's a really…

Count Yorga and Blacula, while successfully bringing to (then) modern times a very traditional image of the undead, were kind of the last sputter of the Lugosi-esque Dracula type. After this caped vamps were basically used in comedies like Love at First Bite and Dracula Dead and Loving It. The Count Yorga movies were…

While Dracula was being made safe for kiddies--this is pretty natural, good at Godzilla's trajectory in Japan--others tried to update the concept to make it relevant for the modern, groovy age. Oddly, a few of these attempts worked. In 1970 actor Robert Quarry briefly became a thing by starring in two Count Yorga movies.…