Month: June 2021

Queen of Schlock! The Beginning of the End

Beginning of the End is a 1957  science fiction film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon. It stars Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, and Morris Ankrum. An agricultural scientist, played by Graves, successfully grows gigantic vegetables using radiation. Unfortunately, the vegetables are eaten by locusts (the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers), which quickly grow to a gigantic size and attack the nearby city of Chicago. Beginning of the End is generally known for its “atrocious” special effects, “and yet,” writes reviewer Bill Warren, “there is something almost compellingly watchable about this goofy little movie”. {source Wikipedia}

If you are into 1950s b-movies about giant bugs, this is your movie! It stars two of my favourite b-movie actors Peggy Castle and Peter Graves and has some of the best/worst special effects you could possibly hope for! Many critics suggest that Bert. I. Gordon was taking advantage of the success of Them! (my all time favourite giant bug movie), but I say Pswah to those critics. This movie is a lot of fun! I have seen this movie a few times and love introducing it to other b-movie fans. It’s also a great movie to watch if you need some light, fun entertainment.

The movie gets right into the action in the opening scene. One of my issues with many other creature features is you don’t always see actions this fast, or the creature reveal doesn’t happen until halfway through the movie. If you want to get my attention and keep me engaged, get your creature on the move right from the get go! You don’t necessarily need to show us it’s hideousness in all of its glory immediately, but at least give us a taste.

If you are a fan of really bad special effects, then you honestly need to give this movie a watch. My favourite part is when you see the bugs sliding off of the…. “building”. You will understand when you watch it. My other favourite scene is when the army arrives to fight the giant locust.

The bonus is, you can watch it for free on YouTube! Them! isn’t available there. (though I strongly suggest you seek out a copy)

If you watch and enjoy this movie, I suggest that you get to know Bert I. Gordon a bit better. Here are a few of this other movies that I highly recommend.

The Amazing Colossal Man 1957
Earth vs The Spider 1958
Attack of the Puppet People 1958
Empire of the Ants 1977

What is your favourite giant bug movie?

Each month I run a b-movie night called Killer B Cinema. Join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a monthly evening of b-moves from the 1950s to 1990s! Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

Queen of Schlock! The Summer of Giant Insects

Ah yes! It’s that time of year again. Summer is beginning and so is the invasion of bugs… insects… critters. I thought, what better way to prepare for the many mosquito/black fly bites and invasion of ants, wasps and hornets, is to share some of my giant insect movies with you!

I will have to say if you can only watch one of these, I strongly suggest Them! It is beyond brilliant. If you can squeeze a second one in and need your William Shatner cheese fix, also watch Kingdom of Spiders.

There are so, so many more giant insect movies out there, but these are my all time favourites.

When possible I will post links to full movies.

Them! (1954) trailer

The Beginning of the End (1957)

Monster from Green Hell (1957)

The Deadly Mantis (1957) trailer

The Black Scorpion (1957) trailer

Cosmic Monsters (1958)

Killer Bees (1974)

The Savage Bees (1976)

Empire of the Ants (1977)

Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

Each month I run a b-movie night called Killer B Cinema. Join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a monthly evening of b-moves from the 1950s to 1990s! Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

Queen of Schlock! Claudia Barrett

When I started getting interested in b-movies from the 1950s, one of the very first movies I watched was Monster Robot. That was many, many moons ago. It did two things for me, made me realize how much I loved the baddest of the bad and introduced me to Claudia Barrett.

If you are unaware of what Robot Monster is, it was made in 1953 and has one of the most iconic monster costumes in the history of monster costumes. It also stars Claudia Barrett as Alice. The Ro-man is sent to earth to destroy humanity and runs afoul when he becomes attracted to the human Alice. She is the eldest daughter of a surviving scientist, and he refuses to harm her. The movie itself if pretty dark, especially if you pay attention to the actual story. Claudia is perfection and am sure was and still is the iconic b-movie goddess.

When I heard of her death (April 30, 2021), I read many tributes to her and in the eyes of her friends, family and colleagues she was and absolutely wonderful, giving person and loved by many.

Claudia’s career was mostly in television, but for b-movie fans, she will always be remembered for Robot Monster. Claudia loved being an actress and even after her agent told her not to take the now iconic role in Robot Monster, she accepted the offer anyway. Here is a quote from her. “When you decide to make a movie, the decision is made for various reasons: money, fame, or working with a particular star or director. I just wanted to act. I was a professional actress for 14 years, and I really loved the business. And Robot Monster was a movie I enjoyed making.”

In 1964, Claudia Barrett retired from acting, but stayed in show business, working in her dream job for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She passed away from natural causes at the age of 91.

I think a fun way to toast Claudia is to give Robot Monster a watch!

(this isn’t the greatest copy, if you find a free/better copy, please let me know)

Each month I run a b-movie night called Killer B Cinema. Join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a monthly evening of b-moves from the 1950s to 1990s! Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

Queen of Schlock! The B Movies Queens: Peggie Castle

Once up on a time, in a place called Hollywood Land a beautiful blonde was discovered while sipping a malt in a drug store. Is this fantasy? Or. Is this reality. The story of how Lana Turner was discovered has always been a driving factor for why so many actresses migrated to Hollywood. They pinned their hopes on being discovered in an every day setting. Many said that the Lana Turner story was only made up for publicity, yet, there are many actresses who have a very similar story. One of those actresses is Peggy Castle.

Peggy was discovered by a talent scout while eating in a restaurant in Beverly Hills and soon after signed a seven year deal with Universal-International. In the 30s/50s many starlets would be signed to long contracts and only be used as bit players (if they were even that lucky). Being signed to a studio didn’t guarantee work. In Peggy’s case, she was off to the races almost immediately making her debut in a When a Girl’s Beautiful. (1947) This movie was followed up by Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Payment on Demand (1951), The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951) Invasion U.S.A. (1952), Wagons West (1952), 99 River Street (1953), Beginning of the End (1957) and Arrivederci Roma (1957),  and Hell’s Crossroads (1957).

Eventually, she moved onto television, starring mostly in westerns.

Sadly, Peggy died at the young age of 45 from cirrhosis due to alcoholism.

One of my favourites of all of her movies is Beginning of the End (1957). I have posted it below along with as many of her other movies that I was able to find. Enjoy!

Invasion USA (1952)

Finger Man (1955)

Hell’s Crossroads (1957)

Back From the Dead (1957)

Beginning of the End (1957)

Each month I run a b-movie night called Killer B Cinema. Join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a monthly evening of b-moves from the 1950s to 1990s! Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

Bat Adventures – Research and Science!

This week in bat adventures… we didn’t actually make it out for any, well, bat adventures. However, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on bat researchers and wanted to share what I found! I also threw in some books you might find interesting.

Famous bat researchers:

If you are anything like me and my love of bats, you will also want to know about famous bat researchers. There are many out there, all over the world, who continue until this day, to educate themselves and others about the magical flying creature.

Below is a short list of some researchers you should know about. Because of them, we know more about bats than ever before. Seriously, read up about them, you will learn many new things about bats!

Dr. Brock Fenton, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, Western University and Dr. Bonnie Schmidt, Founder and CEO, Let’s Talk Science, will deliver our invited lectures at OBD 2019. {source Western Science} https://www.uwo.ca/biology/directory/emeritus/fenton.html

Gerrit S. Miller JR. (December 6, 1869 – February 24, 1956) was an outstanding early twentieth century bat biologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Miller’s work on the evolutionary relationships of chiropteran families and genera to one another still strongly influences taxonomic thinking about bats today. {source North American Society for Bat Research – https://www.nasbr.org/miller}

Thomas H. Kunz (June 11, 1938 – April 13, 2020) was an American biologist specializing in the study of bats. He was credited with coining the study of aeroecology; additionally, he wrote several fundamental textbooks and publications on bat ecology. {source Wikipedia} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kunz

Donald Redfield Griffin (August 3, 1915 – November 7, 2003) was an American professor of zoology at various universities who conducted seminal research in animal behavior, animal navigation, acoustic orientation and sensory biophysics. In 1938, while an undergraduate at Harvard University, he began studying the navigational method of bats, which he identified as animal echolocation in 1944. In The Question of Animal Awareness (1976), he argued that animals are conscious like humans. Griffin was the originator of the concept of mentophobia: the denial of the consciousness of other animals by scientists. {source Wikipedia} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Griffin

Books about bats:

The Families and Genera of Bats, by Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/16306

The Bat Scientists by Mary Kay Carson https://sciencemeetsadventure.com/the-bat-scientists/index.html

Each time I post, I am going to also suggest music that goes with bat adventures! Today I’m suggesting

Bats: A World of Science and Mystery by M. Brock Fenton, Nancy B. Simmons https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/bats-a-world-of-science/9780226065120-item.html

Type of bats: N/A
No. Mosquito bites: 0

Here is a link I’ve created to all of our bat sightings.

Important: Do not handle bats. They can carry the rabies virus. Only those who have been properly vaccinated and have knowledge of bats should be handling them. If you find a bat in your home call a bat rescue. Do not call an exterminator, call a rescue. Bats are important for our environment. I have links below for rescues.

Types of bats in Ontario: https://onnaturemagazine.com/bat-guide.html
High Park Nature Centre: https://www.highparknature.org/wiki/wiki.php?n=Mammals.Bats
Bat rescues: http://www.ontariowildliferescue.ca/wildlifecentres/?care=bat

Queen of Schlock! Beach Party Monsters!

As soon as the warm weather hits, so does the craving for Beach Party Monster Movies/Creature Features. I generally kick if all of with all of The Creature From The Black Lagoon movies, even though they aren’t technically beach movies, they still are my all time favourite creature features.

If you want to watch along, I’ve created a list below of the ones we’ve watched or will be soon. These are mostly 1950s/60s bmovies, but as you know, it seems to be the era that is my go to!

When possible, I post links to full movies.

It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)(trailer) This movie is a lot of fun and if you can find a copy of it, I highly recommend it, the special effects make it all worth while!

The Horror of Party Beach (1964) This movie has it all! A cheesy monster, a beach, music and babes! The dialogue and acting might be laughable, but it’s a fun watch, especially just before heading the beachside.

The Beach Girls and The Monster (1965) I‘ve lost count how many times I’ve watched this movie and I keep coming back for more. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good prints of it out there. This seems to be the best. One day I hope to track down a bluRay copy!

The Monster of Piedras Blanca (1959) Another favourite. Mostly because…. well.. wait until you see the costume!

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) The first time I saw this movie was when I was a kid. I watched it with my dad and remember laughing all the way through it. When I rewatched it as an adult and wondered if I was high on sugar as a child. Either way, another bmovie winner for creature features.

Each month I run a b-movie night called Killer B Cinema. Join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a monthly evening of b-moves from the 1950s to 1990s! Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!