Video Cheese: Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943)
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Video Cheese: Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943)

Wait till you see what crazy stuff they didn't bother to reference in that poster. And in the upper right-hand corner, Tarzan's supposed to be in mortal danger there. The artist really captured that aspect in Tarzan's face, don't you think? I was never a Tarzan guy. Indeed, I’m never even seen the comparatively…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Playgirl Killer (1966)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Playgirl Killer (1966)

"Psycho artist can't get his models to hold still, so he kills them." During the first half of Playgirl Killer, the phrase "sensory overload" kept running through my brain. It seemed at times that the film had been made specifically for me! Beautiful print, gorgeous color. Low budget 60's exploitation movie shot in Los…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Creature of the Walking Dead (1964)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Creature of the Walking Dead (1964)

"A doctor reanimates the corpse of his mad scientist grandfather, THEN figures out it was a bad idea!" Even for the dedicated genre movie fan like myself, Jerry Warren movies are often a challenge to watch, and few of them warrant repeat viewings. His actual 'movie' movies are better than his imports, although I…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: The Deadly Mantis (1957)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: The Deadly Mantis (1957)

"Universal International unleashes another mammoth insect upon 1950's America. Peter Gunn is on hand to handle the situation." The 1950's were, in almost every way, the zenith of American pop culture. You'd be hard pressed to find a time in which a better aesthetic and audible quality of entertainment existed. Certainly, monster movies were…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Scream for Help (1984)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Scream for Help (1984)

"A 17 year old girl thinks her step-father is trying to kill her and her mother." All in all, not a bad flick. Not terrific, but a workable suspenser. The plot is simplicity itself: a girl thinks her step-father is trying to kill her mother, digs into his activities, then believes she too has…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Mysterious Two (1979/1982)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: Mysterious Two (1979/1982)

Editor Ken: Apologies for the dearth of stills. This film isn't particularly well documented, even on the web. "An enigmatic man and woman promise some vague enlightenment for their cult-like followers, but what are they really up to?" A young Robert Englund plays a good guy! He's a deputy in a small desert town.…
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: High Desert Kill (1989)
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Rock Baker’s Video Cheese: High Desert Kill (1989)

"Something is hunting the hunters in the New Mexico badlands." This was a real treat. It reminds one that TV movies used to be just as good as theatrical films. During much of the 70's and 80's, in fact, they tended to be better than theatrical offerings. TV products, after all, still had to…
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Tuesdays with Lorre: They Met in Bombay (1941)
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Tuesdays with Lorre: They Met in Bombay (1941)

It’s a crapshoot looking at lesser known studio films.  Occasionally you find a diamond in the rough, or even a sleeper classic. More often you stumble across mediocrity. I can’t say They Met in Bombay is really bad. I’d like to think it’s the worst film I’ll watch in my quest to view previously…
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Passage to Marseille (1944)
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Passage to Marseille (1944)

While during production Casablanca was considered a disaster in the making, it did OK at the box office and is still remembered fondly by a few film buffs today. So it's unsurprising that Warners decided to pimp that success with this rather similar venture, doing all they could to recreate the magic. Unsurprisingly, the…
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