Astonishing!  It’s the 1st of December, and here I am posting the November 2025 reviews!

How did this amazing thing happen?!  Because last month, I figured out that I might be wasting a lot of time with the longer reviews, and so, I did a poll on my Patreon site.  And guess what?  The patrons who voted agree that shorter reviews would be just fine.  That allowed me to not only finish the October reviews at the end of last week, but then catch up and finish the November reviews (without much trouble) over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Boy, did that feel good!  So, this morning (Monday), I finished the reviews for what I watched yesterday, did the banner for the month and… Here we are!  And in case you didn’t figure out, this is the New Thing that I promised last month: shorter reviews, hopefully faster.  Does it work for you?

In November 2025, I finished up my “watch it while I have Acorn cheap” blitz through one of my favorite shows, Brokenwood Mysteries.  I also finished up leftover horror stuff from Halloween and watched all of season 2 of Twisted Metal (as you can see from the banner).  I did a couple of days of war films in remembrance of Veterans’ Day.  My wife and I finished the new season of The Witcher and two associated/spin-off movies as well as Season 5 of Longmire.  I chased down some Yeti movies, the new Del Toro Frankenstein, and the old Branagh one, too.  Plus, I re-hooked myself on the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies from Universal (lifelong faves).  All that and more, including one of the worst Tarzan films I’ve seen.  Swing down and take a look!

Here’s the usual ratings system:

* – This film is not good. Avoid it unless you tolerate dreck well.
** – A flawed film. You may enjoy it if you like this genre or the folks in it.
*** – A good solid film. If you like this genre, you’ll probably like this film.
**** – A superior film within its genre. Thoroughly enjoyable.
***** – An outstanding film on many levels. A great example of its genre.

Note that some shows I’ve given a parenthetical star rating, usually adding (occasionally subtracting) stars, depending on how your amusement may differ from mine. I’ve explained the meaning in the reviews themselves. Mostly.

Carnival of Souls (1962) ***** Classic creepy story of a woman who survives when a car containing her and her friends plunges off a bridge into the water. The woman leaves town to take a job as a church organist, only to be haunted by mysterious visions and find her self drawn to the deserted carnival at the edge of a dying lake. Low budget horror films don’t get much better than this. Great.
Doom on the Doorstep (2019 short) *** Halloween starts for a young woman with trick-or-treaters on her door, but then a figure who looks like the grim reaper shows up. She tries to get him to go away, but he keeps coming back. And soon, there are more of him. Interesting short flick.
How My Dad Killed Dracula (2008) **** A kind of dorky dad tells his sons and their friends the story of how he just happened to kill Dracula and buried him in the back yard. When the kids call BS, the dad insists that they dig up Dracula, who he killed in bat form, to prove it. A clever and funny short.
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) ***** Abbott and Costello are who hapless delivery men who get mixed up with Dracula, the Wolfman, and a woman mad scientist scheming to put Costello’s brain into the body of the Frankenstein monster. This is still the best horror-comedy of all time and forms the template for many films — and not just films with Abbott and Costello — to come. With Lugosi as Dracula and Chaney as the Wolfman, it’s a horror masterpiece.
Brokenwood Mysteries 9-5 Shot of Love ***** Kristin, and Daniel are surprised when a man is found dead in a hotel room with only a small hole in his pants. Mike is away trying to get his ex to sign a final divorce form with Beth, who his ex seems to be bonding with. So, Kristin and Daniel decide to solve this one themselves, though Mike has trouble NOT working. Gina theorizes that the man was shot with a small caliber gun, and the shock of the groin shot, not the bullet, killed him. A rare but not unknown result. But how do you shoot a man lying in his bed inside a locked hotel room? A good mystery and interesting personal development.
Halloween II ** Michael Meyers gets away at the end of film one. Jamie Lee Curtis’ character, Laurie, is locked in a hospital at the start of film two and basically never gets out. We spend the whole of the film with Donald Pleasance looking for Meyers everywhere but in the hospital, which leaves the supernatural-type killer free to kill folks at the hospital until the climax. Didn’t work for me. A few fun kills, but huge letdown.
Brokenwood Mysteries 9-6 Motorcycle Mamas **** When a man getting married to a woman in an all-girl motorcycle man doesn’t show up for his wedding, it sets off hostilities in Brokenwood. So, it’s not too surprising when he’s found dead at the site of an apparent cycle crash. But how did he crawl from the site to drown with so many broken limbs? Our detectives must navigate a web of betrayal, sabotage, lesbianism, and old grudges to solve the case.
Maigret S1 (2025) ** I wasn’t too familiar with this world-famous detective before I started watching this new PBS/British series, but something felt off to me. So, I checked out some of the previous incarnations with Rowan Atkinson and Michael Gambon. (Both of which are very good.) I don’t think that bringing Maigret into the modern world is a fatal error, but I didn’t like the lead, his portrayal, or the writing. The series isn’t terrible, but… Maigret is too young, too gloomy, too inattentive to details and too close with information to be really likable. And that’s on the writers as much as the actor.  Also, I think it was a mistake to put 2 stories into every 2-episode arc. Doing so just muddied the cases. I kept wanting to rewrite things. Will a second season be better?
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-1 Brokenwood-o-saurus **** Brokenwood is excited when a new dinosaur bone is discovered which m ay prove the area was home to giant reptiles never before known in the area. But then, the bone is stolen, and the expert who confirmed its importance turns up dead. Further, the discovering paleontologist has difficulty with her religious daughter the daughter’s greedy boyfriend. Add a secretive landowner, and there’s plenty for Mike, Kristin, and Daniel to work out.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) ***(*) Godzilla had seemed pretty tame lately, but now he’s causing havoc again. People wonder why until a second Godzilla shows up to battle the first, which turns out to be a robot! The robot, Mechagodzilla, who was created by evil ape-like liens, has plenty of tricks, but Godzilla has a hidden ally in King Caesar. Mostly kid stuff, but if you like Godzilla, give it that extra-fun star.
Police Story (1985) ***** Jackie Chan hit is stride as stunt actor/martial artist supreme in this story of a good cop trying to overcome internal bureaucracy as well as evil criminals. Acton highlights include a car chase through a hillside slum and a running battle through a shopping mall. The comedy elements feel awkward, but how can you not love the rest? Spawned sequels for Jackie and many, many imitators in Hong Kong cinema. An action-comedy classic.
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-2 Day of the Dead **** Brokenwood’s Day of the Dead Festival (not held in October-November) seems to be a big success until on of tne pinatas hanging from a tree turns out to be a real corpse. The dead man was hanging within sight of his wife’s concession tent, but the two had marital difficulties, so his absence didn’t seem amiss. Someone, clearly had it out for him. Perhaps the vendor who opposed the festival as insulting to his Mexican heritage? And how did the body get hung up with no one noticing? Mike, Kristin, and Daniel myst navigate multiple mysteries.
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-3 Publish or Be Damned ***** A spa-type retreat for writers and aspiring writers, headed by a a famous author, seems a good idea, until the key speaker turns up dead in a saline flotation tub. Mike, Kristin, Daniel, and (of course) Gina must figure out group dynamics, affairs, and past histories to find the killer.
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-4 Love You to Death ***** A dentist’s wife is found dead with her head in an oven in a new house she was looking to buy. At first, it appears she killed herself, but Gina (naturally) knows better. Complicating matters for Mike and crew is a patient who’s become totally obsessed with the dentist after a freak anesthesia event during oral surgery. The dead woman was not well liked, even by her daughter and husband, for her bigoted views, despite the “perfect family” facade.
Tarzan’s Revenge (1938) **(*) This is NOT part of the MGM/Weissmuller Tarzan series, but it was made during the same time period by a company with a competing license. It’s obvious that these filmmakers tried to follow the standard story elements: white hunters, savage natives, hidden city, etc. They even picked two swimmers for the leads: Glenn Morris as Tarzan and Eleanor Holm as… Eleanor. Yes, they thought she was so famous people would be confused if they called her Jane. (They were wrong.) Nothing terribly wrong here, but nothing terribly right, either. Only Tarzan completists should give that extra star.
Valley of Gwangi, The (1969) ***** What is and will likely always remain the best cowboys and dinosaurs movie? This Harryhausen film, of course. A down on its luck rodeo discovers a the titular valley and its most famous predator, Gwangi a huge allosaurus. After some amazing stop-motion battles, the showmen — led by James Franciscus and Gila Golan — decide to capture the monster and take it back to be in their show. What could possibly go wrong? The roping scene and the climax remain classics nearly 50 years later. Great stuff.
Trolls World Tour (2020) *** The colorful trolls are back with the usual family friendly fun, though this is a little darker than the first in some ways. Every troll troupe has its own music, but the rock and roll trolls want to take over by claiming all the other magic strings. Then rock will rule and all else will drool.
Mummy, The (1932) ***** A mummy returns from the dead in the modern world to claim his reincarnated princess. The bandage wrapped version of the mummy (Karloff) only appears briefly, but even his “normal” makeup as Ardath Bey is super creepy. Zita Johann and the rest of the cast are terrific, as is the makeup by Jack Pierce (of course) and Karl Freund’s eerie direction Sure, there are plot elements similar to Universal’s Dracula, but they’re less stagey here. A classic.
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-5 House of Screams ***** Brokenwood’s local haunted house attraction is rocked when a teen turns up dead. Turns out he was both the dick boyfriend of an attractive woman and son of a real estate guy hoping to foreclose on the House of Screams. The dead teen was a privileged bully, not well liked by anyone, which makes the case harder for Mike, Kristin, and Daniel to solve. Local characters working in the house and Halloween costumes add to this episode’s amusement.
Brokenwood Mysteries 10-6 Three Gold Leaves of Jesus ***** Jesus is found dead by spear wound after he, local bad boy Johnny Oades, and two compatriots conspire to steal a golden icon from Brokenwood’s church. The robbery took place during a riotous nativity play with the thieves (and their donkey) performing all the parts. Turns out the guy playing our savior had a Jesus complex, which his longsuffering wife put up with, but most found annoying. Plenty of suspects for Mike and crew.
Destination Tokyo (1943) ****(*) Cary Grant leads a submarine crew into Tokyo harbor to help set up the first bombing of Japan by the allies. Plenty of suspense, good character work, and miniature work. Among the best submarine movies, and perhaps the only one without “crush depth.” 😀
Across the Pacific (1942) **** Bogart is an American whose been drummed out of the service on a dubious charge. Sydney Greenstreet is a businessman who is a Japanese sympathizer, looking to help extend the empire. Mary Astor is traveling south on family business. The three wind up on the same ship together, where Greenstreet wants Bogart to betray US military secrets, and Astor could be on either side. An entertaining wartime film reuniting much of the the cast as well as the director of the Maltese Falcon.
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-1 The Ghost in You ***** A crazy groupie falls from a tower during the tour of Stolen Arrow, a reformed band from years ago. The singer is an eccentric artist, and everybody in the band seems to have some kind of secret to protect. Did the groupie, who was in an asylum for years, know something that got her killed. Another fine episode with an interesting solution.
Mummy’s Hand, The (1940) **** The first of the Kharis mummy films uses much of the setup of the Karloff classic. A man is sentenced to be buried as a living mummy because he defiled the ancient laws to try and bring his princess, Ananka, back from the dead. In the present, a team of good-natured archeologists strive to find Ananka’s tomb and run afoul of the mummy and the high priest controlling him. A good combination of chills and comedy with Tom Tyler (with blacked-out eyes) truly creepy as the mummy.
Where Eagles Dare (1969) **** Richard Burton leads a team of commandos, including Clint Eastwood, to a remote German castle ostensibly to try to rescue a captured British officer. Naturally things start going wrong with their elaborate plan right from the start. Great action sequences, suspense, and locations, as well as a plot with plenty of twists and turns. Fun!
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-2 Sudden Death Round **** After hosting a drunken trivia contest night, a popular radio host gets blown up in the garden shed behind the school where the event was held. Though benefiting the local library, there seem to have been plenty of people who weren’t fond of the dead man. And why was Frodo dancing on a table during trivia night? Mike, Kristin, and Daniel must sort it all out.
Murder Before Evensong (S1) *** Another Anglican/Church of England priest turns detective after a man is found murdered in his church in the 1980s. It turns out the dead man was investigating a WWII secret agent group operating locally, and that somehow led to his death. The characters are interesting here, but the solution — though surprising — has some problems.
Mummy’s Tomb, The (1942) **** The old not-quite-dead high priest passes the secret of the mummy on to a new guy. That guy takes Kharis on a boat to the US to track down the Bannings and Babe and kill pretty much everyone who survived the first Kharis movie. The ruthlessness of this Universal flick sets it apart from the light comedy of the original. Good change of pace for the series.
Mummy’s Ghost, The (1944) *** Kharis is back from apparently being burned at the end of the last film, and he has a new high priest controlling him. Their plan to wreak havoc from their hideaway atop the long mining track/stairs. Meanwhile, an Egyptian college student might be the reincarnation of Princess Ananka, so you know the mummy’s gonna want to carry her off. More dark turns and an unexpected swampy ending make this worth seeing.
Witcher, The (S4) ***** Sure, there’s a new guy playing the Witcher, but you know what? He feels (and looks) mostly like the old guy. Plus, we’ve got a bunch of new and returning characters, including our heroes, Milva the dryad, Cahir, and some surprising new folks. Meanwhile, Yennefer and Triss are battling the evil sorcerers, and Ciri has fallen in with a group of thieves called the Rats. And then things get really messy, in a fun way. This season follows the outline of the books pretty well, and my wife and I really enjoyed it.
Mummy’s Curse, The (1944) ***(*) The last of the original Kharis mummy series switches the setting inexplicably from New England to near New Orleans, but other than that carries on pretty much from where it left off. Kharis is revived by a new priest in order to find Ananka (last seen sinking in a swamp) and take her back to Egypt. Naturally, infidels will have to die for this to happen. The darkness of the series continues, but what really makes this worth seeing is Ananka’s amazing resurrection from the swamp, mimed with amazing pathos by Virginia Christine. I’m giving it an extra star just for that. And though the ending could be the start of a sequel, it’s also a fitting finale for the star-crossed Egyptian lovers.
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) ***** This flick starts with a flashback featuring a victim being stuffed Rue-Morgue-like into a church bell. In the present, a cowardly priest breaks the ice, reviving the frozen Dracula. Meanwhile, the lovely Veronica Carlson plays the niece to a monsignor in love with a charming atheist. As the two visit each other across the rooftops, Dracula takes up residence in the cellar of an in and plots his revenge — and to cast off a pretty barmaid for our Veronica. With interesting characters, conflicts, great sets, and Lee returning as the count, for me this film finishes Hammers trilogy of great Dracula films. (Though the rest are fun, too.)
Curse of the Vampires (1966) *** A proud Filipino family family hides their matriarch, who has become a vampire matriarch in a nearby tomb. What could possibly go wrong? It should be no surprise that she returns to plague the family, turns her faithful son into a vampire, and get la lot of people killed. Some decent Gothic-style chills in this flick.
Captive Wild Woman (1943) *** Mad scientist John Carradine turns ape into Acquanetta (a.k.a. Paula the Ape woman) while Clyde Beatty look-alike fames lions & tigers (to use really Beatty wild animal footage). The not-Beatty circus hires Paula to help keep the tigers and lions in line, never suspecting she’s not human or that she’s falling in love with the circus star. Standard chills with a lot of stock footage and (icky) lion-tiger fights.
Jungle Woman (1944) **** Paula the Ape Woman is back from the dead thanks to kindly scientist J. Carrol Naish, in what turns out to be the best of this Universal trilogy. Acquanetta is back as Paula, but there’s not many monster shots in this flick. However, it makes up for it with superior atmosphere, suspense, and another masterful turn (as usual) from Naish. Some of the other previous characters return, too.
Jungle Captive (1943) ***(*) Paula the Ape Woman is revived again and working for a kindly doctor who also employs Rondo Hatton. Which makes you wonder… Hatton is his usual Creeper-like self, frequently sent on unsavory missions. We get more Paula in full fur this time, with new actress Vicky Lane in the role. The monster makeup looks good, though Rondo is the key attraction for fans, who’ll give it that extra star.
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-3 All Hallows Eve ***** It’s Halloween in Brokenwood, and what better way to celebrate than with a murder — in a locked room during a seance? This gives Mike, Kristin, and Daniel extra stuff to do, because Halloween apparently isn’t a big thing in New Zealand. The episode also features some great bits with Gina, and the alleged psychic keeps seeing the ghost of the dead man who barks at her like a dog. The whole is a real hoot and a later season favorite.
Frankenstein (2025) *** Del Toro’s new Frankenstein (on Netflix) looks great, but it seems to lose the Frankenstein the novel plots while, IMO, it deals with Del Toro’s usual struggles the Catholic church, not directly, but in its iconography and undercurrents. All that seems to get in the way of the actual Frankenstein stuff, and when the film does deal with the books ideas, it hits them on the head pretty hard. For me, a completely evil Frankenstein and completely innocent monster completely misses the point. And even this idea, the film undercuts with its story elements. There are many things to enjoy here, but in the end, I didn’t find the adaptation nearly as deep as it thinks it is — or even as deep as the original Universal or Hammer films.
War Gods of the Deep (1965 a.k.a. City Under the Sea) **(*) Handsome Tab Hunter and comic sidekick with chicken, David Tomlinson, get sucked into subterranean adventure when pretty girl, Susan Hart, gets kidnapped by undersea dwellers. In a tenuous Poe connection, the girl looks like the late wife of the immortal despotic ruler of the city beneath the sea, Vincent Price. The great Jacques Tourneur’s final film looks good, but threadbare plot and the wooden and camp acting of the “heroic” actors leaves Price and the scenery the only things to really watch. Price fans can give it that extra star.
Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936) *** Warner Oland returns as Chan as the detective who first tries to find the missing heir to a fortune. The heir turns up and is promptly murdered. Chan then tries to protect his friend, the rich old matriarch of the family, from someone plotting against her life, probably one of the people who would inherit if she were killed. A clocktower and a rifle feature prominently in the plots.
Snow Beast (1977) *** This TV film, basically Jaws with a yeti in place of a shark at a ski resort is actually better than it has any right to be. If it had let us see more of the monster (I.E. a better suit) it would be a genuine minor classic. As it is, Bo Svenson, Yvette Mimieux, Clint Walker, and a good TV cast give the film some life, and it’s very watchable, if occasionally slow.
Crater Lake Monster, The (1978) **(*) A fallen meteor shakes up Crater Lake waking a long dormant plesiosaur who wades ashore to cause terror to the local inhabitants. The stop motion monster is really good, and a much better actor than most of the human cast. Episodic and sometimes slow, it has a good climax and stop-mo animation fans can give it that extra star.
Rats, The – A Witcher Tale (2024) **** Told in flashback, this follow-up to The Witcher Season 4 details the background of the Rats and their defining heists. With the help of an unexpected ally, they plan a big score ripping off a high-stakes fighting arena. Naturally things don’t work out as planned when they run afoul of a very deadly bounty hunter (and future nemesis) as well as an old enemy. A really good addition/addendum to the newest Witcher season.
Beast of Hollow Mountain, The (1956) **(*) Cowboys in turn of the 20th century Mexico are having the usual struggles with bad men wanting to take over the open range end when they all end up attracting the attention of a (stop-motion) T-Rex, which shows them that real trouble comes with teeth the size of steak knives. The stop-motion dino is this, done with model replacement, is sometimes very good, but its blood-red tongue is often completely out of control. Nevertheless, this is a fun watch, though it takes way too long for the dino (extra star) to show up. Allegedly the first color, stop-motion dinosaur film, it occurred to me while writing this that Karel Zeman’s Journey to the Beginning of Time — a much better film — came out the previous year, 1955.
Snow Beast (2011) *** The title is the same as the old TV movie, but this isn’t actually a remake, though it does feature a hostile Yeti vs skiers. The main character is a naturalist, John Schneider, who comes looking for endangered wildlife with a small team including his rebellious teenage daughter. Plenty of “kills” because this was a Syfy film, but it has a decent monster suit, though the rubber mask face varies from shot to shot, sometimes looking very cool, other times super rubbery.
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-4 How the Other Half Dies **** A lot of weird things are happening in Brokenwood: a man is driving a tractor down the street nude, a rich man is stuck in a tree, a woman is giving away expensive jewelry, and a man has been killed by falling chandelier in his posh home. Signs worn by some of the victims lead Mike, Kristin, and Daniel to a group of young people campaigning against greed. But proving the group is blackmailing their “victims” proves difficult, as is connecting these crimes to the murder by chandelier.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) **(*) After watching Del Toro’s Frankenstein, I decided it would be interesting to go back and rewatch the 30-year-old Kenneth Branagh version starring the director as Frankenstein and Robert De Niro. And what I found was far different than what I remembered. This version is a frantic retelling of the book, hitting many of the novel’s high points, while adding its own wacky energy. Was it supposed to be a camp melodrama? I’m not sure, and De Niro seems to be acting in a different (and better) film. Yet, I enjoyed it, and if this sounds fun, maybe you’ll give it that extra star, too.
Siege of Ape Canyon, The (2025) ***(*) Smalltown Monsters details the search for proof of the legendary Ape Canyon bigfoot story, where miners were driven off their claim near Mount St. Helens, in Washington State. The tale goes that the miners shot at (or shot) the sasquatch band, who then retaliated by dogging them and eventually throwing large rocks at the miner cabin. Until recently, no evidence of the camp or cabin had been found. Recently, though, traces of a cabin and tools have been discovered, and members of the search team discover the actual mine in this documentary. The film features interviews with surviving family members of the original (1924) miners, but authorities at the time thought it a hoax or perhaps a prank by local scouts camping in the area. (Though the remote location of the cabin makes this seem less likely.) Interesting.
Witcher, The – Sirens of the Deep (2025) **** Another film accompanying season 4 of The Witcher, this animated outing puts our hero and Dandelion/Jaskier in a seaside kingdom where the minstrel grew up — a town he didn’t much like. The prince of that kingdom is in love with a mermaid princes, but the human king will have none of it and contemplates war. As with some of the original Witcher stories, this tale of love and war echoes familiar folklore without repeating the story exactly. I liked it a lot.
Abominable (2020) **(*) A group of scientists and mercenaries ventures into the Himalayan forests (which looks nothing like it’s portrayed here) to find a rare plant that may be a treatment for cancer and extend human life. Or maybe they’re actually looking to get samples from the yeti that also live in the area, or both. Whatever the case, there’s a research base, a bunch of gun-happy lunatics, and a pretty decent yeti costume that gets pretty bloodied, both from being shot and from tearing people to pieces. Give it an extra star if you like gore and monster costumes.
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-5 The End of the Line ***** A science teacher turns up dead on the end of a zip line during pre-semester retreat school retreat for a small group of teachers and incoming school prefects (class leaders). Opinions on the teacher vary, with at first everyone claiming to like her, but hiding animosity beneath the surface. And then there’s the affair she had with one of the staff members and the student who loved her. Plenty of motives for Mike, Kristin, and Daniel to sort out One of the fun things in the recent Brokenwood seasons is that supporting characters from one episode, who are not series regulars, may turn up as killers or victims in another episode, giving the series some extra continuity and depth.
Brokenwood Mysteries 11-6 An Oades to Christmas ***** Santa is found dead in the middle of the road, and it turns out that he was the uncle of one of the wacky Oades family — the least nutty of whom is coffee truck entrepreneur Frankie “Frodo” Oades. Things become stranger as a rich couple seems mixed up in the death, because the dead man was their gardener, and soon, more and more of the Oades-related characters get sucked into some kind of “secret” as Christmas approaches. Adding complexity to the case is that the man in the Santa suit sexually assaulted a bar worker during karaoke night and, at that point, the Santa may have been a rich man. Then, Santa’s body goes missing in this fun, funny, and macabre end to the 11th (2025) season of Brokenwood Mysteries. I can hardly wait for more!
In the Lost Lands (2025) **(*) Mila Jovovich is Gray Alys, a mercenary “witch” who can bend people’s minds. Dave Bautista is Boyce, a hunter and wasteland survival guide expert. The two of them team up in a quest across the wasteland to stop an evil tyrant… or something. This wasn’t a bad SF adventure, and had some good action sequences. But it was color graded all to hell — maybe to make the CG match the live action — and the amount of blindingly fake lens flares really got to me, losing it that extra star.
Curse of the Undead, The (1959) **** A war over land rights between neighboring ranches in the old west takes on a new bite when a vampire gunslinger comes to town and sides with the pretty girl who inherits her father’s ranch after he mysteriously dies. In fact, there are plenty of mysterious deaths here, and only the town’s heroic preacher seems to suspect what’s really going on. Easily the best Vampire Western I can think of, this flick has good performances, production, and cinematography. It’s a minor Universal classic!
Die, Monster, Die! (1965) ***(*) Nick Adams comes to Arkham, an isolated English village whose inhabitants are hostile to the Witleys, including the daughter Nick has come to visit. It seems there’s a strange decaying disease haunting the family and region, but mad scientist patriarch Boris Karloff wants to cover up all the horrible effects. Based very loosely on “The Colour Out of Space” by H.P. Lovecraft, the end monster isn’t as cool as some of the earlier ones, but Karloff fans can give it that extra star.
Mad Monster Party (1966) **** The second flick I watched for Karloff’s birthday, here he voices a stop-motion animated Dr. Frankenstein who’s invited all the monsters you can imagine (save IT) to his remote island to demonstrate his newest weapon — and hand his estate over to his milquetoast nephew. Naturally, things go batty. Done by the same Rankin Bass animation crew that did Rudolph and the other Christmas specials, this flick has some slow spots, but more than enough fun to make up for it. And its Mad Magazine-type origins are really obvious to me now. Not surprising as the great Harvey Kurtzman is one of the people who worked on the script. Family fun.
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) **** Doctor Watson is working in an old (dark) mansion converted into a convalescent home for shell-shocked veterans where weird things start happening. When the patriarch of the family owning the manor dies, Holmes comes to investigate, as the new heir must recite the Musgrave Ritual, a mysterious “nonsense” poem, which is somehow tied to the mystery. One of my favorites of the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, this is loosely based on an Arthur Conan Doyle story, “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.”
Ffolkes (1980 North Sea Hijack) **** Roger Moore is Ffolkes, a surly and strict leader of a group of anti-terrorist commandos hired by the British government to stop the hijacking of the most expensive and productive oil rig in the North Sea. Anthony Perkins is appropriately sleazy as the lead hijacker, and the film feels almost like a Bond thriller without the extra camp and world beaters. And despite his abrasive qualities, I ended up liking Ffolkes and the movie a lot. It’s a slow build to the action, but I didn’t mind.
Beyond Paradise (S3) **** Detective Humphrey and his restauranteur sweetheart Martha are back for another series of mysteries mixed in with their personal lives. The mysteries are good this season, I especially liked the sailboat race, but what really made it extra enjoyable for me was our childless heroes deciding to act as foster parents this season. That subplot added an often-touching complication to the pretty good mysteries. I look forward to future seasons.
Starcrash (MST3K) **(**) The lovely Caroline Munro is space heroine/rogue Stella Star in this Italian attempt to make Star Wars, featuring stop-mo robots, weird dictators, laser swords, and more. Marjoe Gortner plays Akton whose powers seem to change with every scene, David Hasselhoff — looking super beautiful — plays space Prince Simon, and — astoundingly — Christopher Plummer is the benign Emperor of the Universe. The plot is a hot mess dog’s breakfast, the special effects mostly sub-par, and yet, the film has a certain charm. Give it 2 extra stars if you watch MST3K riff it.
Harry Wild 4-7 You Are Cordially Invited to an Assassination **** Yes, Harry Wild season 4 ended in the summer. Yet, they just added a new, movie-length episode in November 2024. This picks up the assassination thread “cliffhanger” from the regular series. Harry, Fergus, and just about the whole damn cast end up at a wedding, where first there’s a poisoning followed by members of the wedding party being kidnapped and put into death traps. There’s a lot going on here, and the FBI shows up to complicate things, but it’s an enjoyable addition to the season.
Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman (1943) **** The Pyjama Suicides (Brit spelling) are all over the London papers while Holmes is believed dead in a vacation accident. He returns in disguise to find Watson about to give all his possessions to a museum and Holmes’ friends. After discovering certain connections, the master detective springs a trap to catch the killer, which turns out to be a plot using a deadly spider. Catching the spider’s owner proves trickier, as the titular Spider Woman is a clever adversary. Creepy and clever, this is another fine installment of the Rathbone-Bruce Holmes series.
Gorgo (MST3K) ***(*) Two treasure hunters turn up a monster aquatic reptile, Gorgo, off the Irish coast and decide to take it to a London circus to cash in. Little do they know much better problems lurk below the waves. The MST3K print of this film can’t hold a candle to the recent restoration(s), so I docked it a star for that, but then you can add it back for the riffs bringing it to 4 total.
Cry Wilderness (1961 MST3K) *(***) There are a lot of terrible bigfoot movies out there, and this is certainly one of them. A boy tries to convince a museum curator that he’s friends with bigfoot, and then tells this crazy tale of his father and a bigfoot hunter and an Indian and a bunch of wild animals.. and of course, bigfoot, all meeting it a Pacific Northwest woods filled with mountain lions, bears, and… tigers? It’s terrible near-incoherent stuff (with a very nice print/transfer), but the MST3K riffs make it very, very funny.
Backlot – MST3K 25th Anniversary, Big Changes **** Interviews with Joel and the other creators tell about their early days coming up with the show idea and the puppets, and the low-budget do-it-yourself shoestring-budget shows to follow. A great behind-the scenes look at the improvisation and no-rules mentality that makes something as new as MST3K was possible. (And it also reminds me of my Wild West early days at TSR, creating the modern form of Dungeons & Dragons.)
Longmire S5 **** The season starts with Walt being shot and his girlfriend kidnapped, and then gets even crazier for our stalwart lawman as he’s sued by the estate of a man he killed, confronts the Irish mob, and has a fist fight with his best friend Henry. We also get the weird resurrection of Hector, a new job for Cady, Ferg getting beaten up, personal complications for Vic, and Walt’s ongoing vendetta against Nighthorse and his casino. By the end of the season, Walt is pretty unlikable in some ways, but it’s a very good and suspenseful season. I’m looking forward to how it wraps up in the final season to follow, and hoping that Walt will get his head out of his ass — at least a little.
Theseus & the Minotaur (2017) ***(*) Joshua Kennedy’s low-budget take on the classic mythology pits heroic Theseus against the evil sorcerer Minos while trying to win the hand of Ariadne — on and keeping all the good guys from being killed by the Minotaur. The film features a lot of Kennedy’s usual rep players, and clever production often makes up for some of the more amateur moments. Kennedy himself chews scenery gloriously as Minos, and the stop-motion Minotaur and other monsters by animator Ryan Lengyel almost steal the show. Truth in advertising: I helped Josh write some scenes in this one, so look for me in the credits. If you’re a fan of the mythology, stop-motion monsters, or my work, give it that extra star.
Beast from Twenty Zillion Years Ago, The (2012) & Night of the Beast (from Twenty Zillion Years Ago (2015) **** Stop-motion animator Ryan Lengyel created his two-headed reptilian beast character for the first of these two short films, in it the beast chomps up some humans and battles a giant octopus in the desert. In the second film, the beast chomps more people — including B-Movie Cast regular (and my buddy) Nic Brown — and then battles a giant mutated Sea Monkey. Both films are fun and funny and very colorful, and Lengyel went on to do animation for several Joshua Kennedy films. I hope maybe someday he’ll do more with the beast, though.
Devil Doll, The (1964, Sven) ***(*) Hypnotist with a creepy act and even creepier ventriloquist dummy falls for a subject who came to his act and determines to make her his through whatever creepy means necessary. This doesn’t sit well with the woman’s boyfriend, nor apparently with his dummy, who seems to have a life of its own. This flick has an interesting sleazy-noir feel to it. I watched it on Svengoolie, but see the uncut Euro version for that extra sleaze star. Creepy and cool.
Very Brady Christmas, A (1988 House of Svengoolie) **(*) Fourteen years after the original series went off the air, most of the cast (except for “Cindy”) reunited for this made-for-TV holiday movie in which the Brady clan re-gathers from their separate lives for Christmas at Mike & Carol’s house, where housekeeper Alice has come to stay because her husband left her. (!) Naturally, all the grown kids have brought their problems home with them — which will of course magically work out before the end of the show. Oh, and Mike gets trapped beneath a collapsed building after he’s pulled off the project as architect for being too picky about safety. With no laugh track, this flick shows just how un-funny and lame the show could be, though there are touching moments here as well. If the House of Svengoolie hadn’t played this as a “horror” movie, I might not have watched it (again?) — though who doesn’t love Maureen McCormick? the Sven Squad had some very funny bits. Give them — or maybe Maureen — an extra star.
Twisted Metal (S2 2025) **** Separated from her at the end of S1, John escapes captivity and finds Quiet with The Dolls, a female-centered gang. John finds a relative he doesn’t remember, and he and Quiet settle their differences to form a kind of family with Mayhem, a young woman drifting the wastelands. All of them, plus Sweet Tooth and other former friends and enemies, join the Twisted Metal race/tournament, run by a mysterious (and annoying) man called Calypso. The prize for the winner is a Wish. (Yes, it seems like the creators read my TOURNAMENT OF DEATH series.) Naturally, everything goes to hell in an amusing and sometimes touching way. I enjoyed this season — maybe a little less than the first one — and the characters and actors are great. I certainly hope we’ll get a season 3.

So, that’s it for November 2025.  Thanks to my new workflow (a word all the kids are using nowadays) a whole lot of reviews a whole lot quicker than I’ve delivered them for… well, a long time!  And that’s good, right?  The number of reviews for November is a powerful 71 movies, series, and notable shorts, which brings the grand total for 2025 to a titanic 670!  That  means 700 for the year looks within reach.  Will I make it?  Stay tuned!

NEXT MONTH:  It’s the 1st of December (!) I have no idea what’s coming, except that I’ll be watching the next Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes film in production order, and my wife and I will likely be finishing up Stranger Things‘ final season — IF that last show comes out in December rather than on New Year’s Day or something.  (Which I think it might, but don’t remember for sure off the top of my head.)  So… Who knows what’s coming next?  Surprises in store for 2026!  And with any luck, more reviews coming out closer to the start of the month than to the end.  Fingers crossed!  See you in next year.

Happy Holidays!

Covid is still here — & other diseases we thought were licked are back — so YOU can still help!
Please…  #VaxUp! #BoostUp! #MaskUp! And get your kids & family vaxed, too!
Let’s Make the World Safer for Everyone!

Remember, you can support this and all my other writing work, including Frost Harrow, Dr. Cushing’s Chamber of Horrors, Monster Shark on a Nude Beach, and more, by joining my Patreon for a couple bucks a month, or by dropping me a tip on my Ko-Fi page.  Thanks!