TRAILERS #2: HORROR AND SCI-FI OF THE ‘50S AND ‘60S (1992) ***

After starting things off with a trailer for Val Lewton’s The Leopard Man, this second collection of horror and sci-fi trailers from Something Weird goes into serial mode with previews for Missile Monsters (a condensed version of Flying Disc Man from Mars), Radar Men from the Moon, and Panther Girl of the Kongo.  Along the way, we get lots of trailers for Roger Corman movies (The Wasp Woman, Beast from Haunted Cave, and The Little Shop of Horrors) and films starring John Agar (Invisible Invaders, Hand of Death, and The Brain from Planet Arous).  The trailer for The Bat, which is hosted by Vincent Price, is among the best on the tape, and contains the great tagline:  “When it Flies… Someone DIES!”  There’s also The Hypnotic Eye (“Stare if You Dare”), filmed in the wonder of “HypnoMagic”!, and the world’s foremost mask collector tells you all about the “Miracle Movie Fright Mask” you’ll receive when you see The Mask!  

I also had a lot of fun with the double feature trailers.  Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory and Corridors of Blood make up the “Nerv-O-Rama” Double Feature.  You’ll have to sign a “Fright Release” if you want to see the double bill of The Horror of Party Beach and The Curse of the Living Corpse.  Then, who can stand the horror of The Curse of the Fly and its co-feature, Devils of Darkness?

Even though this collection is called “Horror and Sci-Fi of the ‘50s and ‘60s”, there are a few trailers from the ‘70s (Young Frankenstein, Massacre at Central High, and The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula) and the ‘40s (Spooks Run Wild, Ghosts on the Loose, and The Invisible Ghost), which are always welcome.  Sure, I’ve seen a lot of these trailers on other compilations before, but many of them like The Electronic Monster, The Unearthly Stranger, and The Vulture rarely, if ever turn up.  There’s also a good mix of genres here like giant monster mashes (The Giant Behemoth), comedy (The Three Stooges Meet Hercules), and big budget studio films (Seconds).  That kind of variety helps make this collection another winner from Something Weird.

The complete trailer line-up is as follows:  The Leopard Man, Missile Monsters, Radar Men from the Moon, Panther Girl of the Kongo, Night of the Blood Beast, House on Haunted Hill, Half-Human, The Cosmic Man, The Giant Behemoth, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake, Invisible Invaders, The Woman Eater, The Giant Gila Monster, The Killer Shrews, The Bat, The Wasp Woman, Beast from Haunted Cave, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Blood Creature (AKA:  Terror is a Man), The Hypnotic Eye, The Electronic Monster, 13 Ghosts, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Fiendish Ghouls (AKA:  The Flesh and the Fiends), Village of the Damned, Black Sunday, The Snake Woman, The Mask, Hand of Death, Invasion of the Star Creatures, The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, Atom Age Vampire, Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory and Corridors of Blood “Nerv-O-Rama” Double Feature, The Haunting, My Son, the Vampire (AKA:  Mother Riley Meets the Vampire), Children of the Damned, a double feature of The Horror of Party Beach and The Curse of the Living Corpse, The Flesh Eaters, The Unearthly Stranger, Devil Doll, Curse of the Stone Hand, a double feature of Curse of the Fly and Devils of Darkness, Cave of the Living Dead, Seconds, The Vulture, Night of the Living Dead, Young Frankenstein, The Brain from Planet Arous, The Colossus of New York, Massacre at Central High, The Castle of Fu Manchu, The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (AKA:  The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Ghosts on the Loose, Spooks Run Wild, The Invisible Ghost, Bride of the Monster, Horrors of Spider Island, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Manster, Invasion of the Animal People, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, The Cabinet of Caligari, Zotz!, and Paranoiac.