the mad monster

1942



The Mad Monster is a horror film featuring a mad scientist and a werewolf as the main characters. The film, shot in black and white, was originated by Producers Releasing Corporation, a Poverty Row studio best known by the initials P.R.C. Directed by Sam Newfield and written by Fred Myton, the film, Poverty Row's only Werewolf movie, stars George Zucco, Glen Strange and Anne Nagel.

This film is available online as a free download.

the beast of hollow mountain

1956



The Beast of Hollow Mountain is a scifi/horror western about an American cowboy living in Mexico who discovers his missing cattle are being preyed upon by a carnivorous dinosaur. The film is notable for being based on a story idea by special effects innovator Willis O'Brien (King Kong) as well as for using a form of stop motion called replacement animation to bring the dinosaur to life. O'Brien co wrote the script under the pseudonym El Toro Estrella, O'Brien was also to have originally done the special effects for this movie but this did not happen for reasons unknown.

While the bulk of the stop motion work for The Beast of the Hollow Moutain was done with replacement animation, the close ups of the dinosaur were filmed using an articulated puppet. This was the first film with stop motion effects shot in Wide Screen and color.

The Willis O'Brien story idea that inspired the basis for his script for this film also inspired his earlier unmade script The Valley of the Mist which would later be made as The Valley of Gwangi by O'Brien's protégé Ray Harryhausen.

This film is available online as a free download.

it's alive

1969



In the latter half of the 1960s, self-proclaimed "schlockmeister" Larry Buchanan, was contracted with American International Pictures to remake some of its films as part of a TV package. Eight direct-to-television films resulted from this union. Buchanan wrote, produced, and directed the work under his own Azalea Films production entity. The titles include The Eye Creatures; Zontar, The Thing from Venus; Creature of Destruction; Mars Needs Women; In the Year 2889; Hell Raiders (presumed lost); It's Alive! and Curse of the Swamp Creature.



On average these films cost $20,000, cast out-of-favor leading men such as the former Disney child actor Tommy Kirk. Walt Disney had signed Tommy Kirk to a long term contract and Tommy appeared not only in the Mickey Mouse Club, but in full length Disney features as well including Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Babes in Toyland (1961) and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964). However, in 1964, the Disney factory found out that Tommy was gay and they immediately released him from his contract upon finishing the Merlin Jones sequel The Monkey's Uncle in 1965.

Buchanan was so thrifty that he recycled the green monster suit from Curse of the Swamp Creature in It's Alive.



This film is available online as a free download.