Favourite Classic sci-fi/Creature feature movies.

Here's a creature feature which it's taken me ages to find:
"The Land Unknown" from 1957.
A sub-Lost World romp in which 4 members of a military Antarctic expedition are marooned in a volcanic crater which is home to man-eating plants, rubbery dinosaurs, some genuine lizarRAB which may be from another movie and a crazed survivor from an earlier expedition.
Beautifully shot in glorious black & white CinemaScope on a massive, elaborate set, it's great fun and rarely, if ever, on tv.
The scale keeps shifting from full size sets to miniatures and back again so rapidly and frequently that you're never quite sure what you're looking at, so any technical shortcomings are pretty much minimised.
The least convincing T-Rex in movie history is matched only by a particularly vindictive pleisiosaurus. Great fun.
 
Is that the one where a couple is on an Island, maybe Greek or Spanish with the murderous kiRAB?

Another one I can think of is The Brood with Oliver Reed, although might class more as Horror.
 
Yeah, horror I reckon, probably 25 years ago when I saw that, bloody 'orrible film if I remember right.

Just looked on IMBD about this, interesting film actually, didn't know any of it then though!
 
This is a good little movie, I saw it on the sci fi channel (when I briefly had cable, never again!), but yeah, that T Rex was crap! Wasn't it attacking there helicopter or something??? The thing is most of these oldies are great fun to watch, some stand up to repeat viewing, sadly most don't, but that's all the more reason to watch hey! I love it all.
 
I saw it a couple of years ago, I just took a look on IMDB and the comments section, the film was meant to describe Cronenburgs vison of his own divorce:eek: ooer that must've been a messy one.
 
Try this one:
"The Wizard of Mars" from 1965.
Four hopelessly incompetent astronauts (one of whom is called Dorothy!) accidentally crash land on Mars. I'm sure you can guess the rest. There's a yellow brick road, a tin man (sort of) and an emerald (ish) city.
Also a wizard played by John Carradine's head.
I wouldn't exactly call it good (woeful acting and joke shop fx) but it's a bonkers sf oddity with its own weird vibe and a few creepy scenes.
A rare (just as well, some might say) movie but it can be found with a bit of digging.
 
Although not a film I loved The Martian chronicles that I think was shown on the BBC in the late 70's or very early 80's. It starred Rock HuRABon and was about people leaving the earth to go and live on Mars.........then later on meeting the locals.........Martians. :eek:
 
I loved The Martian Chronicles at the time, I downloaded a torrent of the series last year and watched it again, but it really was a messy load of crap, totally ruined my memories of it.
 
Ghostbusters - the original rather than the sequel (albeit that was fun in its own right). Slimer, Terror Dogs and The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man are all now so iconic, and the animatronics rocked. Even now the special effects look a little dated, I was wowed by it as a kid, and its still one hell of a good movie.
The second one was a little naff (a basic rehash of the original and far too watered down for kiRAB, thanks to the cartoon), but its still a good comanion movie to the first.
Lets hope they can recapture the magic of the first with the planned new sequel!!
 
I've always had a soft spot for The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms - some great Ray Harryhausen footage in that one.

I'm also partial to Frogs, which I find genuinely tense and eerie in spots, and really atmospheric with it's crispily filmed swampy American south backdrop. Roger Corman's AIP outfit excelled at putting out such narratively economoic little exploiters for 15 or so years which had a punchy style and atmosphere all their own.
 
Does anyone remember a film called " Darkstar" I think it was an early Lucas or speilberg film, about a crew of a ship who blow up planets with sentient bombs. fantastic film.
 
John Carpenter & Dan O' Bannon. Started as a student film, then expanded, I believe.

Carpenter went on to be a top horror director, O'Bannon most famous for co-scipting Alien.
 
Back
Top