Movies I Have Seen Lately

[The Baron]

Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.

[The Baron]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Tracy was bopping around on Amazon and ended up order every Frankenstein movie she found under $10, I don’t even know which ones but I think she ordered five or six. (Sadly, she didn’t order Bikini Frankenstein, though.) I intend to comment on those in the days to come, too.

I will use my magic powers of prediction to guess that she ordered as follows: "Frankenstein Unbound" (1990) with John Hurt. "Frankenstein" (2004) is a tv miniseries. "Frankenstein: The Real History" is a 2006 History Channel special. Both "Frankenstein vs the Mummy" and "Victor Frankenstein" are from 2015, and that she topped it all off with the 2010/2011 double feature "Attack of the Octopus People" and "Frankenstein vs Hitler."

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

Does anyone recall a TV movie called Dr. Franken, starring Robert Vaughn?

[The Baron]

No, but I remember a sitcom with Jack Elam as the monster.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"I will use my magic powers of prediction..."

That's pretty good, Carnac.

[The Baron]

"Sis-Boom-Bah!"

"What is the sound of a sheep exploding?"

[Ronald Morgan]

"What about a woman? Will you make me a woman?! Your grandfather promised me he would but he never did!"
 
The Baron said:

No, but I remember a sitcom with Jack Elam as the monster.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN: Gloriously bad. Lowest possible production values. It’s sad to see what Lon Chaney, Jr. was reduced to do to make a buck in this, his last movie. Dracula may as well have been “Count Expository Dialogue.” His voice was imbued with copious amounts of echo. J. Carrol Naish plays Dr. Frankenstein, actually “Dr. Duree.” He was descended from Frankensteins (the American branch, I assume), but raised by Durees. The monster is the “original” creature and was un-entombed by Dracula, so he wasn’t even created by Dr. Duree.

Lon Chaney plays Grotin, an idiot mute, whose sweaty red-faced look I can’t determine is due to make-up or Chaney’s own ill health. He decapitates young girls with an axe specifically for the purpose of being brought back to life again by Dr. Duree. There’s also a demented dwarf and something about Duree using the process to “cure” him and Grotin.

There’s a sub-plot of a buxom young showgirl looking for her sister, who was one of Grotin’s first victims. She ends up in a hippy community with a Timothy Leary type and another young couple helping with the search. There’s also a cop and a motorcycle gang, all delivering badly written lines badly.

If you’re into bad films, you’ll have to go a long way to find one worse than this.

[Ronald Morgan]

That's the one where the "battle" consists of Dracula effortlessly ripping the Monster to pieces while it completely fails to put up any sort of struggle? Was it my TV or does Dracula really have blue skin?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

That's the one. I forgot to mention Dracula's "power ring" which he uses to set people and things afire. His skin was not only blue, but he also looked a bit like Frank Zappa.

[JD DeLuzio]

This one started as an entirely different film, and some scenes were shot a year later.

However, it is superior to the other film by the same title released at the same time.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN: Gloriously bad. Lowest possible production values. It’s s

If you’re into bad films, you’ll have to go a long way to find one worse than this.

[Captain Comics]

My God, I've got a lot of movies to watch!

[Ronald Morgan]

How about Curse of the Headless Horseman? A man is told he's inherited a ranch, but only if he can make it prosperous in six months. His friends, who have nothing better to do for half a year, are happy to help him fix it up. They discover it mostly puts on Wild West shows for tourists now. Then the Headless Horseman turns up and starts attacking people.