B-Movie Celebration 2008

Director: Edward L. Cahn. John Agar, Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, John Carradine, Robert Hutton. Aliens are threatening to take over the Earth in 3 days. They are doing this by occupying the bodies of the recently dead. Director Cahn started at MGM directing Our Gang shorts before spending the 50s and early 60s directing all kinds of B-flicks (from westerns to war movies to sci-fi to juvenile delinquency), of which this is one of them.

Director: Sidney Pink. John Agar, Greta Thyssen, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich, Carl Ottosen. In the near future, a group of astronauts take an excursion to Uranus. There, they discover an alien brain that can turn thoughts into reality. Pink also directed “The Angry Red Planet” (1959), “Reptilicus” (1962) and “Finger on the Trigger” (1965).

Director: Jimmy Sangster. Ralph Bates, Yutte Stensgaard, Barbara Jefford, Michael Johnson, Suzanna Leigh, Mike Raven, Christopher Neame. In this sequel to “The Vampire Lovers,” Carmilla, the seductress from the previous film, preys on students at a girls’ school. More fun and games from the Hammer horror factory.

Director Cy Endfield. Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Michael Callan, Gary Merrill, Herbert Lom. A group of prison escapees take over an air balloon, but are blown off course. Finding an uncharted island, they encounter a barrage of prehistoric animals. Taken from a two-part novel by Jules Verne, this one features special effects by Ray Harryhausen and a score by Bernard Herrman (“Citizen Kane” (1941), “Taxi Driver” (1976) and many, many Alfred Hitchcock thrillers including “North By Northwest” (1959) and “Psycho” (1960)).

Director: Bruce Malmuth. Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, Nigel Davenport, Rutger Hauer, Joe Spinell, Catharine Mary Stewart. An international terrorist is on the loose and it’s up to Stallone to stop him. Filled to the brim with hair-raising action, this one keeps the pace up all the way. Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame, did the score.

The future. The corrupt regime broadcasts the illusion of a beautiful city to the chip in your head, when in fact the city is in ruins. The rebels know the truth and seek to foment revolution. A Gift From Roger Corman

Director: Thom Eberhardt. Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Geoffrey Lewis, Mary Woronov, Sharon Farrell, Michael Bowen. Two Valley girls get left behind when the world comes to an end. What do they do? Go shopping, of course! This engaging sci-fi comedy is regarded as a special favorite of many.

Director: George A. Romero. Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Russell Streiner, Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne. The one that started it all! Newly dead zombies prey on a group of unfortunate souls barricaded in an abandoned farmhouse. You don’t need anyone to tell you that Romero’s first zombie picture remains a bona-fide horror classic…but we will anyway.

Directed by Sergio Leone , Henry Fonda , Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards and Charles Bronson A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in this long frontier epic. Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties is explored amid lightning fast gun battles and stylish vistas.