Bill Makes Podcasts Posts

If there’s one thing that a true film aficionado obsesses over it’s lost media.

These are films that were made, or rumored to have been made, but, due to any number of circumstances, are lost to time, presumably never to be seen again.

In the horror genre, one such movie is the immortal Lon Chaney’s “London After Midnight”. In this silent detective/horror film, Chaney plays both the crime fighter and the criminal.  The last known print was lost in a fire in 1967, and the only way to see any version of it is through music and still photographs.

This is a movie that deserves to be found, a movie that there is a burning desire for film students to see again, and learn from.

Then, there are movies that are lost, and really don’t deserve to be found, and one of those is Craig Denney’s “The Astrologer”, a $4 million dollar vanity project made by, and starring a man who had no talent in any way, shape or form, in film making, screenwriting, nor acting.

“The Astrologer” has been found, and, after watching it, I want to punch the person who found it.

When it comes to movies, you would hope that the marketing department and the screenwriter put together a title that is enticing, exciting and descriptive of what the movie is about.

“The Mummy”, for example, certainly does have an undead priest of Egypt as the main character.

“The Giant Gila Monster” will show you, through the magic of special effects, a desert dwelling gila monster that seems to be the size of a dang house.

“Frankenstein”, however seems to cheat a bit, in that the title could be talking about the Doctor, the Baron or the Modern Prometheus, as Mary Shelly subtitled her novel.

In this month’s movie, “Frankenstein Meets The Spacemonster” well, the filmmakers pretty much lie to our faces.

I am proud and humbled to announce that “Bill Watches Movies” has again been nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award in the category of Best Multimedia Site (Podcast).

The 1970’s were Peak Made for TV Movies, and they tended to fall within three camps:
You had the good – Brian’s Song, a true story about the death of the Chicago Bears football player, Gayle Sayers – the one movie that made every man on the planet cry before Spock’s death in the Wrath of Khan came along.
You had the hidden potential – Duel, a young Steven Spielberg’s first foray into full length film that pitted ol’ Marshall McCloud himself, Dennis Weaver, against a homicidal big rig driver who just will. Not. Die.
You had the springboard – Shows such as The Night Stalker and Columbo came from Made for TV movies.

Have you ever seen a dragonfly larvae?

If not, hint: THEY ARE NOT PRETTY, but I think that we can absolutely agree that the final product is astoundingly beautiful, nature’s iridescent little Sikorsky helicopters.

The lesson here is that beautiful things can come from ugly things.
That within a bad idea, a great product can be brought into the world.

So it is with Hammer’s 1957 production of “The Abominable Snowman”.
Upon first blush, you’re like okay, it’s a Bigfoot movie, let’s not get too excited about it, but then – then you see that it has Peter ‘effin’ Cushing in it.

And you start watching it.

And you change your mind.

This movie is really, really good.

Made just three years after the classic “Gojira” by the same director, “The Mysterians” is one of those movies where you wonder just what the hell happened between initial idea and finished film.

A cautionary tale against the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons, we have flying saucers, a Giant Anteater Robot, Disco Overlords bent on world destruction and, of course, marrying our Earth women.

It’s just as bonkers as it sounds.

Sharks!
Nature’s Death Torpedoes, or Misunderstood Gentle Ocean Creature?

Before Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws”, people probably didn’t give sharks a second thought.

After the movie, well, it’s a different story, and sometimes that story should not have been told, which brings us to this month’s movie, “Mako The Jaws of Death”.

When one thinks of Great Britain, we think of Downton Abbey, Queen Elizabeth, punks with big mohawks, and of course, Winston Churchill.

We might think about Stonehenge, Rendelsham Forest, and of course, David Icke.

We do not, however, think about train stations, excavated UFO’s, and the desiccated corpses of giant grasshoppers who may or may not be, our Martian Mind Control Overlords, bent on Complete World Domination.

We do not think of “Quatermass and the Pit”.