#samuel arkoff

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962)

[kekwcomics]

TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000 (Robert J. Gurney Jr, 1958)

[oldshowbiz]

Wild in the Streets (1967)

[schlock-luster-video]

On July 29, 1977, Empire of the Ants debuted in New York City.

[criscostarr]

Penetration, collage, 2024

I was really hoping this collage wouldn't look like a total ripoff of Rectal Itch, and I think I was successful in making it different. Consider it a series with more parts to come. I included several nods to the first collage (a switchblade, a prominently featured "sex-change movie" poster) but where the first was focused on horror, I focused more on sexploitation with this piece. I did, however, include a tribute to exploitation movie legend Samuel Z. Arkoff. Don't overlook David Bowie, Jayne Mansfield, and a teen clutching to a giant woman's breasts from Bert I. Gordon's "Village of the Giants."

[moviesandmania]

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF Review and free on YouTube

I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film about a hypnotherapist who uses a serum to transform a temperamental teenager into a lycanthrope. starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager, Whit Bissell as the primary adult, and Yvonne Lime as his girlfriend, Arlene. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, directed by Gene Fowler Jr and was one of the most successful…

[esonetwork]

Teenage Caveman | Episode 385

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/teenage-caveman/

Teenage Caveman | Episode 385

Jim reflects on a Roger Corman classic from 1958 – “Teenage Caveman,” starring Robert Vaughn, Darah Marshall, Leslie Bradley, Frank De Kova,June Jocelyn, Jonathan Haze,Beach Dickerson, Ed Nelson and Robert Shayne. In a land of dinosaurs, a young primitive man questions his clan’s laws and seeks to explore the “forbidden regions” nearby. Find out more on this episode of MONSTER ATTACK!, The Podcast Dedicated To Old Monster Movies.

[ronnymerchant]

WAR OF THE COLASSAL BEAST (1958) cast and crew on the cover of Boxoffice magazine-that's James Nicholson and Samuel Arkoff of AIP with Dean Parker.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Frogs

A very young Sam Elliott paddles through a swamp taking pictures at the start of George McCowan’s eco-horror THE FROGS (1972, Prime). With the first shot, the frame freezes on two large lizards with the names of AIP’s founders, James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, superimposed over them. At first, I thought someone was slagging the executives, but all the credits play over freeze frames of various noxious critters, litter and pollution, so unless someone hated everybody working on the film, I guess that wasn’t the case. Nonetheless, any time those two lizards turned up, it seemed the money men were on set making sure nobody was wasting money. At times, they even helped kill off various characters, possibly so they could stop paying them. But that’s enough whimsey for now. The film depicts the animal kingdom revolting against humanity after years of abuse. Its heart is in the right place, but its brain is nowhere to be found. A boating accident leads to nature photographer Elliott’s staying with ruthless tycoon Ray Milland’s family during a reunion celebration, but the script is so inept it takes forever to establish the blond young man (David Gilliam) always by Milland’s side is his grandson and not some random boytoy. For that matter, it’s hard to keep clear which characters belong to which parents. Most of the deaths are laughable, but dotty Aunt Iris (Hollis Irving), done in while hunting a butterfly for her collection, actually works, as the creature leads her deeper and deeper into the swamp, and she becomes progressively disheveled. Some of the actors — Elliott, Joan Van Ark (in her film debut), Judy Pace and Nicholas Cortland — do decent work within the limitations of the inane script. Milland snarls his way through until almost the end, and Lynn Borden whines so much as his daughter-in-law it was a mercy to the audience she was finally done in by a large tortoise. The film has good atmospheric photography by Mario Tosi, though there are times the footage cuts between day and night with no logic. And Les Baxter creates an eerie score with random notes that seem inspired by the sound score for Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS (1963). Of course, this is an obvious attempt to up the ante on that film. Sadly, the ad campaign didn’t warn us “THE FROGS is coming,” but they did advise, “If You Are Squeamish Stay Home!!! Cold green skin against soft warm flesh…a croak…a scream.” The scream, I fear, would mostly likely be from laughter.

[jmreynolds]

Blacula Vs Sugar Hill (1975)

Blacula Vs Sugar Hill (1975). Starring William Marshall, Marki Bey and Yaphet Kotto. Based on a screenplay by Bill Gunn and directed by Larry Cohen.

In 1975, American International Pictures decided to roll the dice one last time on the Blacula franchise; but this time, the vampire would be facing another AIP original – Sugar Hill. With a script by Ganja & Hess (1973) writer and director Bill Gunn, and directed by Larry Cohen, Blacula Vs Sugar Hill (also known as Blacula Lives!) found a reluctant William Marshall returning to the role of Prince Mamuwalde, and Marki Bey once again sliding into the white jumpsuit of Diana ‘Sugar’ Hill.

Other members of the cast included Yaphet Kotto as the menacing bokor, Mr. Sunlight; Julius Harris as hitman turned vampire, Turner; Art Lund as scheming mob boss Morgan; Don Pedro Colley as Baron Samedi; Geoffrey Holder as Baron Cimitière; Zara Cully as Mama Maitresse; Don Mitchell as Justin Carter; Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordon Thomas; with a special cameo by Pam Grier, who reprised her role as Lisa Fortier in a stunning dream sequence that Roger Ebert called ‘phantasmagorical and indulgent’.

A sequel to both Scream Blacula Scream (1974) and Sugar Hill (1974), the film opened with Mamuwalde’s resurrection by the villainous Mr. Sunlight. Sunlight, working for mob-boss Pretty Johnny Morgan, has drawn Mamuwalde back to the land of the living for one purpose: to destroy the woman who calls herself Sugar Hill.

What follows is an overstuffed-but-exciting seventy-minute psychedelic showdown between the living, the dead, and the in-between. Zombies battle vampires; Baron Samedi is captured by Sunlight’s magics; Mamuwalde’s old foes, Justin Carter and Gordon Thomas, are summoned by Baron Cimitière to fight the vampire; Mr. Sunlight matches his mystic powers against those of Mama Maitresse; and in the gore-soaked finale, Mamuwalde and Sugar Hill put aside their differences and invade Sunlight’s island-fortress, battling undead mobsters in an effort to reach the man responsible for their respective difficulties.

The film proved to be a moderate success, revitalizing AIP’s then-waning interest in horror films. Marki Bey was quickly signed to a two-picture deal for further Sugar Hill sequels, including Sweet Babylon (1977) – written and directed by Gunn – and Sugar Hill in Hell (1979), written and directed by John Carpenter, with a script consultation by Dario Argento. Kurt Russell had a notable role in the film as lycanthropic gangster Johnny Moon.

Marshall, less interested in returning as Mamuwalde, was nonetheless convinced to give it a fourth and final go in Blacula, Prince of Darkness (1976), which was the first – though not the last – of AIP’s joint-ventures with overseas studios – in this case, Hammer. In the film, Mamuwalde finally comes to grips with Dracula – played by an equally reluctant Christopher Lee – in a ‘senses-shattering showdown of the supernatural’.

While neither actor is what one might call invested, the very act of sharing a screen seemed to bring out the best in both Lee and Marshall, and the confrontation between them proved memorable – just as senses-shattering as promised. Appearances by Don Mitchell as Justin Carter and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing cemented the film’s status as a cult classic, as did Gene Page’s return for the soundtrack.

The success of its horror catalogue kept AIP financially afloat in the difficult years ahead. A revitalised Samuel Arkoff turned his attentions to new properties, including The Mist (1980) and Escape from Detroit (1981), both written and directed by John Carpenter, with script assistance from Nick Castle and Bill Gunn. Escape from Detroit was followed by two sequels – Escape from Hollywood (1984) and Escape from Hell (1985). All three films starred Kurt Russell and Yaphet Kotto, with Lee Van Cleef as the embittered Bob Hauk.

But with both Bey and Marshall moving on to greener pastures in the early eighties, AIP was forced to get creative with its horror films. Fresh off of his run on Ironside (1967-1975), Don Mitchell agreed to reprise his role as Justin Carter for further films. The first of these, Q (1982), was directed by Larry Cohen and found occult expert Carter locked in battle with another supernatural menace and lumbered with a conniving sidekick, Jimmy Quinn, ably played by Michael Moriarty.

The duo proved to be popular enough that Cohen agreed to direct another two, including The Substance (1985), which finds Carter and Quinn investigating an alien menace, and Monster Cop (1988), which had the distinction of being written by Cohen himself, and saw the duo go up against Robert Z’dar’s titular undead cop.

The Carter and Quinn films were followed by a short lived and largely forgettable television series, Carter & Quinn, that lasted for a single season. Even a surprise appearance by William Marshall as Mamuwalde in the season finale did little to perk up the ratings but it found a new lease on life later, on DVD.

More happily, Cohen and Z’dar would go on to write Monster Cop II: Bloody Justice (1990), which positioned Z’dar’s monstrous Cordell as an anti-hero, fighting a corrupt police force. Bloody Justice was the first of a popular direct-to-video series, and co-starred Robert Davi and Laurene Landon. While a possible crossover with several of AIP's other horror stars were posited, Cordell never encounters his predecessors. The closest he comes is an encounter with Don Pedro Colley's Baron Samedi in Monster Cop IV: Voodoo Beat (1995). Cohen, a fan of the 'AIP Expanded Universe' as some critics have begun to call it, encouraged fans to view it as an unofficial Sugar Hill crossover.

By the late Nineties, the well of creativity at AIP was at last beginning to run dry. Arkoff had long since retired, and AIP was soon bought out by a struggling Orion Pictures Corporation. When Orion was bought in its turn by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, the AIP catalogue vanished into the vaults – until 2018, when remastered Blu-Ray editions of the Blacula and Sugar Hill films were released to great acclaim.

[milona]

The Beach Party Genre from The Royal Ocean Film Society on Vimeo.

Start protecting yourself on the web at NordVPN.com/royaloceanfilm or use code royaloceanfilm and save 77%!

Before John Hughes, before Dazed and Confused, and before Twilight, there were the Beach Party films – one of the first times Hollywood produced films that were specifically designed for and marketed to teenagers. Let's dive in to what is undeniably one of the oddest subgenres in films history (but maybe one that was also pretty fun?).

You can support this channel at Patreon- http://bit.ly/2v27J8x

Sources/Further Reading- The History of the Beach Party Genre - https://bit.ly/2NS0p4N The History of American International Pictures - https://bit.ly/2NQceIQ Hollywood Beach Bonanza by Peter Bart - nyti.ms/2LGnbiK Samuel Arkoff- The Last Hollywood Mogul - https://bit.ly/2uYpXGt Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag - https://bit.ly/1uTJe2a

You can follow me through: Twitter- twitter.com/andymsaladino YouTube- youtube.com/c/theroyaloceanfilmsociety

Music by: Jeff Kaale - soundcloud.com/jeff-kaale French79 - 'Hush Hush' - smarturl.it/French79OlympicDV

[docrotten]

THE RAVEN (1963) – Episode 183 – Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

“If I would have been sober, which I admit doesn’t happen very often, but, it would have been an entirely different story! Entirely different.” Yes. Things are always different when you’re sober. Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Doc Rotten, and Jeff Mohr – as they share the hilarity of Roger Corman’s The Raven (1963)!

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 183 – The Raven (1963)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

A magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.

Directed by: Roger Corman

Writing Credits: Richard Matheson (screenplay); Edgar Allan Poe (poem, 1845)

Executive Producers: Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson

Producer: Roger Corman

Music by: Les Baxter

Cinematography by: Floyd Crosby (director of photography)

Editing by: Ronald Sinclair

Production Design/Art Direction by: Daniel Haller

Selected Cast:

Vincent Price as Dr. Erasmus Craven

Peter Lorre as Dr. Adolphus Bedlo

Boris Karloff as Dr. Scarabus

Hazel Court as Lenore Craven

Olive Sturgess as Estelle Craven

Jack Nicholson as Rexford Bedlo

Connie Wallace as Maid

William Baskin as Grimes

Aaron Saxon as Gort

Leo Gordon as Grimes (voice) (uncredited)

Dick Johnstone as Roderick Craven (uncredited)

This episode is Doc’s pick, and he identifies it as one of the three films that made him a monster kid! With that in mind, it’s no surprise that The Raven (1963) is loaded with horror cred – Karloff, Price, Lorre, Hazel Court, Nicholson (Jack, that is), Corman, Matheson, Poe  – all at the top of their game delivering this horror comedy with skillful glee. You get your man-to-bird-to-man-back-to-bird transformation, bodies in coffins, magic wands going limp, and a magician’s battle of the century. The Classic Era Grue-Crew have a magical time in this talkabout!

At the time of this writing, The Raven (1963) is available to stream from Amazon Prime, Tubi, PlutoTV, and Freevee. It’s also available on physical media as a Blu-ray disc from KL Studio Classics.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next in their very flexible schedule – this one chosen by Jeff – is 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)! Harryhausen! Perry Mason’s Paul Drake (William Hopper)! Earth vs. the Flying Saucers’ Joan Taylor! A fast-growing creature from Venus running amok in Rome, fighting an elephant, and carousing on the Colosseum. What’s not to like?

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel, the site, or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

Check out this episode!

[kosmos2999]

Saturday’s Late Night Sci-Fi Cinema

Assignment Outer Space (1960 film)

Italian (left) and American release posters

Main cast:

Rik Van Nutter as Ray Peterson (IZ 41) Gabriella "Gaby" Farinon as Lucy (Y 13) David Montesor as George the Commander Archie Savage Al (X 15) Alain Dijon as Archie (Y 16) Franco Fantasia as Sullivan

Production staff:

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony Daisies - Italian version) (as Anthony Dawson - American version) Screenplay by: Antonio Margheriti (uncredited), Ennio De Concini (as Vassilij Petrov), Jack Wallace (American narration only) Cinematography by: Marcello Masciocchi Special effects by: Caesar Peace Music by: Lelio Luttazzi and Carlo Savina (uncredited) Produced by: Samuel Z. Arkoff (executive producer) Hugo Grimaldi (executive producer) Presented by: Fred Gebhardt Production companies: Titanus and Ultra Film (Italian version), American International Pictures (American version) Released by: Titanus (Italy), A Four Crown (US) Original release date: August 1960 (Italy), December 13, 1961(US) YouTube channel: Sci-fi-London

In December 17 of the year 2116, Ray Peterson, reporter of the Interplanetary Chronicle of New York was sent aboard the Spaceship Bravo Zulu 88 to the International Satellite Zulu Extra 34.

His mission is to write a story about the check-up of infra-radiation flux on Galaxy M12.

What should be a routine procedure suddenly changes. Before the spaceship crew were leaving to Base 12 on Mars, they tried to communicate with the Spaceship Alpha 2, but they get no answer.

They assume its pilot is dead.

During the passage to the red planet, they have to attend an emergency with Spaceship Metro Sierra 13.

After landing on the Martian moon, Phobos to rescue the only survivor of the Metro Sierra 13 -- who was dying -- the Commander received an order to move to the Interplanetary Base on planet Venus.

Their mission there was to intercept the Alpha 2. This ship is out of control and has two photonic deflectors activated creating an intense heat shield capable of destroying all life on planet Earth.

It's time to Peterson to prove his worthiness despite the Commander and some others of his fellow crewmates see him as "a leech".

Assignment Outer Space is a 1960 space opera film. An English dubbed release of the original Italian movie, Space-Men. Presented in its original color format.

Fascinating facts:

This is the debut of Antonio Margheriti as a director.

To simulate the effect of weightlessness due to the lack of gravity in space, actors were instructed to move in slow motion. Actor Archie Savage aced this technique because he was also a dancer.

In the US, it was released almost a year after its original Italian release in a double feature with an black-and-white American film presented on this blog on April the first, The Phantom Planet.

[oldshowbiz]

The American International Hotel Room

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 14, 1968, Tales of Terror debuted in Madrid, Spain.

Here's some new Peter Lorre art!

[frankendykes-monster]

Watching The Amazing Colossal Man (1957). You know shit is gonna go down when you see Samuel Z. Arkoff's name in the credits.