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TCM Genre movies schedule...

By the way, it's a bit off-topic, but recently at the library, I happened across a DVD set of three Roger Corman sci-fi movies from the '50s that I don't think I've ever seen -- the 1957 double feature Attack of the Crab Monsters and Not of This Earth, and 1958's War of the Satellites (which shared a double bill with Attack of the 50 Foot Woman). I've been in the mood for vintage sci-fi lately, so I checked it out. Crab Monsters and Satellites are both pretty cheesy and not very coherent, with seeds of promising ideas that they don't really do anything with; the main notable detail of the former is that it gives Russell Johnson some early practice at being stranded on a desert island in the South Pacific, while the latter is notable as a rare lead role for perennial Corman company player Dick Miller. But Not of This Earth is the one that really shines. It's a solid tale about a dying alien coming to Earth to experiment on humans to steal their blood and test whether we can be harvested like livestock to cure the degenerative disease his people have brought on themselves through nuclear war. Paul Birch makes the alien effectively intimidating and oddly sympathetic and urbane at the same time. And there are a number of nice touches to the writing, like how the doctor that the alien has hypnotically forbidden from discussing his case keeps finding subtle ways to deflect and change the subject, rather than going into some robotic trance or something.

EDIT: My favorite non sequitur from Attack of the Crab Monsters:

Friend of hero shooting at giant mutant crab monster: "It's no use! The bullets pass through it like x-rays!"
Giant mutant crab monster, immediately thereafter: "So! You have wounded me! It does not matter, for I can grow a new claw in a day!"

:wtf::shrug:
 
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Hey, folks, I'm too busy right now to do the movie schedule for October. If anyone else wants to, feel free. Although I'm not sure anyone still cares, since this thread isn't very active anymore.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed Captain Horatio Hornblower starring Gregory Peck. I was blown away by the naval battles, and all the VFX were generally spectacular.

As an added bonus, I could definitely see the influence on Kirk and TOS.
 
Friday night/Saturday morning.

Some confusion here: TCM's website states that they're showing DEADLY FRIEND at 2 AM tonight, followed by DEMON SEED at 3:45. But the Comcast guide on my TV set says they're showing DEADLY FRIEND, followed by the original Wes Craven version of SWAMP THING. Weird.

DEADLY FRIEND, btw, is a somewhat obscure Wes Craven movie in which a nerdy teenage science whiz brings his recently-deceased crush (played by Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy) back to life, Frankenstein-style. Things do not go as planned, also Frankenstein-style.

Haven't seen this since it first played in theaters back in 1986. Curious to check it out again.
 
What I've read about Deadly Friend in the past is that Craven wanted to make it a gentler, subtler story (just called Friend, IIRC), but the studio insisted that he conform to his recently gained reputation for bloody horror and tack on a bunch of new scenes to make it gorier and scarier. And the result was kind of a Frankensteinian patchwork that didn't hold together well.
 
We must get a different schedule here in Canada, Deadly Friend wasn't on last night. Swamp Thing was though.
 
Mummies are the Monster of the Month, according to Ben Mankiewicz's introduction. There's a couple coming up next week that I don't think I've seen: Mummy's Boys and Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy. I've got all the Universals on DVD, but I had TCM on anyway.
 
RJDiogenes said:
There's a couple coming up next week that I don't think I've seen: Mummy's Boys and Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy.
Click to expand...

The latter was the second episode produced in the first national-cable season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and possibly the first episode they aired nationally. It's actually the third film in the Mexican Aztec Mummy series, and a large portion of the film is an extended recap of the first two films.
 
Disney's The Black Hole (1979) is airing MONDAY, OCTOBER 15 @ 12:15 AM (ET)!

Fantastic visuals, interesting premise, dodgy execution. Disappointing, but historic, film.
 
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