“Night Tide” (1961) – American Mermaid/ Suspense/ Horror

Time for another Review in our month-long “Frolicking Under The Sea: Mermaid Fantasy Film Festival – August 2016”. This time out? How about an old B&W creature feature starring a young Dennis Hopper in one of his earliest film roles, 1961’s psychological mermaid suspense film “Night Tide”?

The synopsis reads: “While on shore leave, sailor Johnny Drake becomes enamored of Mora, a young woman who works as a “mermaid” at a sideshow attraction. But for Mora it’s no act. She actually believes that she really is a mermaid who is destined to murder men on the night of a full moon. Despite this, Johnny is still captivated by the mysterious woman, however, and begins to suspect that her boss, Capt. Murdock, may have something to do with Mora’s murderous thoughts.”

More carnival sideshow mermaid antics, along with some suspense and a bit of period fun. I first saw this one years ago on Saturday morning TV, and remembered it enough to want to take another peek just for you, o’ Gentle Visitors, so let’s jump in the “wayback machine” and get us some vintage chills and thrills… 😉

“Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone” (1983) – Classic American Space Opera

Time for another nostalgic trip back to a certain wacky Catgirl’s innocent childhood and a “Lil’ Kitten Classics” review of one of those films of my youth. Our subject this time? Why the 1983 Space Opera 3D epic, “Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone”. 3D? But… but… “Miyuki,” you ask, “Ummm… Don’t you reeeaaally dislike the eye wrenching torture of 3D movies?”. Yes, Gentle Visitors. Yes, I do… But as a wee girl, this particular one showed up at my local cinema in the early 80’s as one of that decades glut of such 3D films during the effect’s attempt at a revival back then. It was the legacy of those 80’s films that pretty much convinced me just how much I despised this particular film special effects gimmick.

Our synopsis? Ok.. ok.. just hold your horses, we’re getting to it. 🙂 “In 2136, an intergalactic bounty hunter named Wolff answers a distress signal that leads him to the plague-ridden planet of Terra Eleven, where he teams up with a spunky orphan girl named Niki to rescue three shipwrecked women from the evil clutches of the sinister mutant cyborg dictator Overdog and his twisted minions.”

Yep. Nothing amazing or novel about this one. It pretty much celebrates the two-fisted pulp scifi serials of an era bygone combined with the post-apocalyptic feel of an Italian “Road Warrior” rip-off. Still, back then it really did make a certain lil’ kitten one happy, happy lil’ girl one hot Saturday afternoon.  However, you do have to realize I was all of 10 years old  the summer this one came along…. 😉

So… wanna hear about it all? Then hitch up your blaster, boot up your trusty android companion, and buckle up for the jump to hyperdrive and by all means… “Read On”!!

“Secret of the Incas” (1954) – American Adventure/ Romance – “Thrilling Adventures!! March 2015″

Time for our latest installment in our March “Thrilling Adventures!!” Movie Review Festival here at the old Litterbox, with a trip to 1954 and a look at a classic old film, “Secret of the Incas”, starring Charlton Heston and Nicole Maury. One look at it and you’d be immediately struck by its resemblance to a certain adventure film starring Harrison Ford… Coincidence? Hmmmm?? Let’s find out. 😉

Our synopsis goes like this: “An ancient Incan folklore legend states that the Inca Empire was destroyed by their Gods when a gold and jeweled sunburst was stolen from the Temple of the Sun centuries ago by Spanish Invaders, and that the ancient civilization will be reborn once the treasure is returned. Harry Steele, a down-on-his-luck adventurer, part-time tour guide and full-time rogue, is seeking the artifact, as is his nemesis Edward ‘Ed’ Morgan. Along the way, Harry finds his attempts to uncover the treasure complicated by his becoming entangled in the troubles of lovely fugitive Elena Antonescu, an Iron Curtain refugee seeking help in reaching safety in the United States. Passions flare, greed rears its ugly head promising danger and the ever-present threat of death to any seeking to recover the hidden Secret of the Incas!!”

Hmmmm? So… never remember seeing this one on TV waaaay back when? Wonder why? This wee Catgirl knows she certainly does… Luckily I scored a really nice copy of this one on DVD just in time for our Festival. So, let’s grab our adventure gear, slip on our trusty bush hat and head off to exotic Peru for some classic romance, adventure, and thrills on the trail of the “Secret of the Incas”.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) – “Thrilling Adventures!! March 2015 – Miyuki’s Memories”

“California: 1981 – A blazing sun beat down on the land, raising rippled heatwaves on the horizon as intrepid jungle explorer Miyuki lay in the tall grass and watched the animals drink at the nearby waterhole. To the uninspired eye, they might have seemed nothing more than a couple of stray mongrel dogs lapping away at a puddle leftover from last night’s cooling rain, but little Miyuki knew better…. Squinting her eyes, the haze revealed that they were in fact tawny lions slaking their thirst before the hunt. But there were other foes… more savage than even these… lurking amid the savanna grass… for somewhere nearby she knew the deadly warriors of the Mkombé tribe were hot on her trail, fiercely angry at her for daring to trespass onto their tribal lands in search of Professor Samuels and his lost safari…”

Yep… that’s pretty much how the Summer of 1981 went for this lady. Warm sultry days playing about in the grassy meadows on the edge of my neighborhood and nearby park, dressed in my “safari outfit” and totting around an old leather purse full of snacks and all my “jungle stuff”. Very few things can compare to an 8 ½ year old’s imagination… especially a wee girl so full of wonder and wild imagination as I had back then. While other kids played… most days I spent “having adventures”. Sometimes along with other kids in the neighborhood, but often times all alone. Back then was a simpler time, and you could actually do that without worrying about any crazy kidnapping psycho jumping out and snatching a kid away.

Those adventures were fueled by a plethora of Saturday morning TV filled with old movies, serials, and oodles of Black & White adventure stories from decades past. Along with horror movies and my afternoon Kung-Fu films, these were the things that shaped this odd lil lady into the goofy woman she is today. Once in a great while I’d even go to a Saturday afternoon movie matinée at our local theater if either my Grandma or Dad could be convinced to take me. Oh my goodness, yes… and it was the Summer of 1981 when lil’ Miyuki first encountered Indiana Jones… 😉

Recently my mind has slipped back to those carefree days and all the fond memories I have of them, so it seemed only fitting to share them all with you Gentle Visitors by doing a “Nekolishous” review of that classic adventure film…. and… to gently pester my fellow blogging friends to share their own reminiscences as well. So without further adieu, let’s get right to it! 🙂

“I Married A Witch” (1942) – Classic Witchcraft Fantasy/ Romance

It’s not the “Witching Hour” quite yet, o’ Gentle Visitors, and although your Favorite Catgirl Princess is woefully behind things hereabouts, we’ve still got time for some Halloween Movie Festival Reviews. This time out… a wee peek at a classic from yesteryear, 1942’s witchy romantic comedy “I Married A Witch” starring the lovely Veronica Lake and Fredric March. Definitely a change of pace from my usual creepy fare, but it’s a Catgirl’s prerogative to shake things up now and again… 😉

Our synopsis? How’s this then? “As she burns at the stake, 17th century witch Jennifer, places a curse on her accuser, Jonathan Wooley, cursing all the future men in his family to suffer bad luck in love. When a lightning bolt strikes the tree she was killed on some three centuries later, she returns from the beyond and pledges to make the latest in the Wooley clan, Wallace, fall in love with her and torment him as none of his ancestors ever was. The only problem is that she accidentally drinks the love potion intended for Jonathan and swiftly proceeds to fall in love with him! But it is forbidden for a witch to ever feel love… curse or no curse.”

Hehehe…. sweet romance and a little witchy mischief. Just the thing for a “Movie Nite” with my sweetie. Sound like it could be your idea of Autumn movie fun as well? Then let’s all “Read On” and share the vintage movie memories….

“Godzilla” (2014) – American Monster Movie Remake

A new month and hopefully some well deserved free time for this wee lady following a busy few weeks. How best to celebrate? Well… how about we start off with another of our trans-Atlantic shared film reviews with our fellow Asian film fanatic Stephen over at Gweilo Ramblings? Yep… now that’s just the ticket… 😉 Our film choice for this time out? Well how about we skip our usual cozy DVD-at-home for an evening out at the real cinema and a quick look at the recent Americanized reboot of an old monster movie classic, “Godzilla”? Giant monsters… army guys fighting said giant monsters… lots of crazy destruction and mayhem to be had by all. Hehehe.… and they even do it all with mostly English dialog to boot. My sweet Carolyn will be soooo happy… 🙂

Not sure “Godzilla” is really a method of celebration! But thanks for welcoming me back to the Litterbox. Now this one is a film I was somewhat suspicious about. The trailers didn’t look hopeful, but I knew the director had a lot of genre love for monster movies. But for me – could it beat that one scene in “Pacific Rim”? Anyway, how about you give us a little cat girl-styled synopsis?

Let’s see… our synopsis goes like this here: “In Japan, dedicated nuclear power-plant manager Joe Brody reports to work at the plant with his wife Sandra, who works in the reactor, where not all is well. Joe has begun to suspect that some recent suspiciously patterned seismic activity may be something more sinister than shifting tectonic plates and is actually a grave threat to the plant itself. Once there, a freak earthshock causes the plant to go into meltdown and Sandra gets caught on the wrong side of the containment door, dying literally before Joe’s eyes. Following the disaster a massive cover-up ensues. Fifteen years later, Joe’s son Ford has grown up and become a bomb-disposal expert in the U.S. military. He’s just returned home to his wife Elle and their son Sam when he gets word that his father been arrested in Japan. Long estranged from his father, who was written off as a conspiracy theorist nutcase for his failed efforts to prove the Japanese government was attempting to hide something about the earlier disaster, Ford nevertheless ventures to Japan to get him out of jail. Once there, he is drawn into his father’s obsession and reluctantly agrees to join him in traveling to their old home in the quarantined zone. Subsequently taken into custody, the pair end up in the very plant where Joe used to work, and where scientist Dr. Ichiro Serizawa is studying a massive cocoon-like structure that appears to feed on radiation. The situation turns critical when the events of the present begin to mirror those of the past, and a terrifying winged-creature dubbed a “MUTO” is unleashed. Meanwhile, as the military attempts to devise a plan to destroy the beast, signals indicate that it had been calling out to something before it broke free, and the scientists learn that it has also awoken a towering, godlike leviathan dubbed “Godzilla”, that has lain dormant for decades, and may be mankind’s only hope for restoring the balance of nature.”

Ok … sounds like it’s a pretty basic plot. So then, there’s no possible way they could screw this up, right? Weeeelll… don’t forget… we Americans have tried this before. (At least this time they haven’t invited Matthew Broderick to the party…. Thank goodness…) So with that in mind, let’s all see how it plays out shall we? Grab your popcorn… 😉

Maybe best not to waste too much time on the last effort by Hollywood. That was an awful disappointment!

“The Day of the Triffids” (1963) – British SciFi/ Horror/ Apocalypse

I’m back with more Apocalyptic fun and another Review in our “End of the World As We Know It” movie marathon here at the Litterbox with another nostalgic “Lil’ Kitten Classic” from 1963… the British Sci-fi horror classic, “The Day of the Triffids”. A horrible global epidemic of blindness… a savage worldwide attack by ambulatory carnivorous plants… and civilization crumbles!! Ummmm? Wait a moment? “Killer Plants”? Really? Seriously? Oh yes, indeed, Gentle Visitors…. Add this to your list of possible Doomsday scenarios. The entire human race reduced to nothing more than walking Miracle-Gro for an invasion by hungry walking plants from outer space. 🙂

Our synopsis? How’s this grab you: “On a beautiful clear night in 1963, people all around the world are treated to a once -in-a-lifetime blazing spectacular from deep space… a meteor shower. In London, merchant seaman Bill Masen misses the show as he’s hospitalized with damaged eyes following emergency surgery. The following morning he awakens to find no one answering his bell. He removes the bandages himself and soon realizes that he one of the few people still left with sight as everyone who observed the meteor shower is now blind. Society quickly collapses beneath this unexpected event coupled with the sudden onslaught of the Triffids, flesh eating plants that are now surprisingly ambulatory, spreading  rapidly and devouring the helpless human race.”

Yep…. I know, I know…. it all sounds pretty darn goofy. But… not really any more goofy than the sudden reanimation of the brain munching undead, our old friends, the Zombies. Lil Miyuki saw this one on a Saturday morning “Creature Feature” TV waaaay back in the late 70’s (Or so my vague memories tell me…) and I remember being pretty darn sacred by the whole notion of big killer weeds with poison stingers. Scared enough to still remember it all fondly some 30 odd years later, and that’s saying something… So, if you recall this neat lil’ story too, than how about you “Read On” Gentle Visitor and share some of those feeling with this wee Catgirl? Unlike the Triffids, I promise I won’t bite…. 😉

“When Worlds Collide” (1951) – American Doomsday Sci-Fi Classic

So… if we’re gonna do a proper “End of the World As We Know It” festival this month, then it’s a given that I’m gonna have to do a review of the classic 1951 George Pal film, “When Worlds Collide”. (Psssst! It also lets me do a nostalgic “Lil’ Kitten Classic” Review too at the same time… Gotta love those nifty 2-for-1’s!! 😉 ) This granddaddy of cinema Sci-fi doomsday stories has it all… volcanic disruptions, forest fires, earthquakes, massive tsunamis and floods, along with the pre-apocalyptic breakdown of society right before our earth gets gobbled up by a rampaging alien sun. Yep… you really can’t get anymore “Doomsday” than that…

If you’ve been unlucky enough not to have seen this classic, then our synopsis for it goes as follows: “A dying star hurtles through space on an unavoidable collision course with Earth. The last hope of Earth’s citizens lies in the hands of daredevil pilot Dave Randall and brilliant astronomer Doc Hendron, who will supervise the construction and flight of an interplanetary rocketship that will carry a handful of lucky human survivors to start the race anew on a strange new planet.”

Now this one is a real classic. Schlocky and dated and oh, soooo darn melodramatic, it’s still manages to be a big screen cinematic experience that even today still holds up as great entertainment, at least in a certain goofy movie loving Catgirl’s honest opinion. What? You need convincing? Why then just “Read On” and let this wee Catgirl plead her case and perhaps make it one of your favorite “old movies” too! 😉

“House On Haunted Hill” (1959) – Classic American Ghost/ Horror

Time to drift back to the shadowy Halloweens of Yesteryear when this Catgirl was nothing more than a wee lil smidgen of a kitten watching all those classic black & white horror movies that dominated television around this time of year. What would Halloween be without some nostalgic memories to make one feel young again? Our theme this year is Haunted House movies… and we’ve got perhaps the best of those old horror movies on tap, William Castle’s 1959’s “House On Haunted Hill” with the great Vincent Price.

The synopsis goes as follows: “Vincent Price stars as millionaire Frederick Loren, who resides in a sinister mansion on a sinister hill, where seven murders have occurred. He makes a proposal to several strangers, offering $10,000 to any one of them if they can last the entire night. Without being killed before dawn, of course, by either man or spirit…”

Yep… a true “haunted house” classic… and the fabulous Vincent Price to boot. What more could you want? So.. Gentle Visitors, without any further adieu let’s all indulge in these warm childhood memories together as we remember this great old movie. Ah… nostalgia, isn’t it wonderful? 😉

"Galaxy of Terror" (1981) – Classic Scfi Horror/ Exploitation

This time out… perhaps the oddest choice for a “Lil’ Kitten Classics” review, Roger Corman’s New World Pictures  1981 scifi exploitation film “Galaxy of Terror”. Oh yeah… you all remember this one…. the one with the giant worm raping a female space cadet to death… Definitely a movie not for the kiddies. So why is it a “Lil’ Kitten Classic”?

Our synopsis for it reads: “At the orders of the mysterious “Planet Master”, the rescue vessel “Quest” journeys to the eerie planet Morganthus on a mission to discover the fate of another starship, the “Remus” and her crew that have crash landed on it’s forbidding surface. The hastily chosen crew of “Quest” is ill prepared for the unearthly terrors that await them on Morganthus… Horrors that may only be their in imaginations, or perhaps they are all too real…. and deadly.”

I think I must have been 13 or 14 the year it ran on late night cable TV, but….. well… this one was one of those films lil’ Miyuki wasn’t supposed to see back in the early 80’s… not by any way, shape, or means. Too nasty… too “sexually explicit”…. just not the sort of movie for a child my age. However… I’ve always been a bit of a willful girl, and telling me I wasn’t to watch it only made me want to see it all that much more. One thing about me that neither of my parents ever quite grasped…. With that in mind, I waited patiently until it was being shown on cable, either HBO or Cinemax, I don’t remember which, and promptly set my alarm clock to whatever ungodly hour it was on that night. Hidden away under my pillow, that alarm always managed to wake me, but was never audible even a few feet beyond my bed… Hehehehe!! Sneaky lil’ kitten, wasn’t I?

A quick ninja like scamper downstairs to my dad’s study and his portable TV and I was all set to watch this forbidden piece of cinema fruit. And see it I did… every low budget, creepy, space opera horrific, freaky worm raping minute of it. It was the perfect bit of pre-teen rebellion… That is, until I got caught by my Dad on the way back up to my room at 3 in the morning. D’ohhh!!!

He knew me pretty well…. and also exactly what I’d been up to, and after that day, his study door remained locked at night and I got a stern lecture about how “No really means no, Miyuki…” and was also grounded for a whole month… So, after all that fuss, was the movie even at least worth it?

Only one way to know, Gentle Readers….