The Thing From Another World

Betty Field, Priscilla Lane and Theda Bara are 3 more AFI Old-Timey Actresses who get crossed off the list with this episode of Blues In The Night and A Fool There Was. In Blues, the women directed by Anatole Litvak are polar opposites. Field is a goody-two-shoes…and part of a band led by the troubled Richard Whorf. Lane is the bad girl he falls hard for, while the cast plays the blues and/or does crime (and things get deadly) in a bar in Jersey. Then Bara gets to vamp it up in Frank Powell's 1915 silent flick as a succubus who latches onto dumb men (like Edward Jose) and sucks them dry of everything they have. Money, will to live, all of it. So plop this one about Blues In The Night and A Fool There Was into your device as I throw episode #773 your way. Check me out on the socials (@moviefiend51 on Twitter and ryan-ellis on Bluesky), plus I do the Letterboxd thing (RyanHYES). My email is [email protected]. Subscribe to this podcast in your app and, if you would, also toss off a rating and a review.

After talking about 9 scary movies in October, comedy kicks off November on Have You Ever Seen with Three Amigos. John Landis' joke-packed western has Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short playing faded movie stars who are hired to save a Mexican village from vicious (and rather dumb) bandits. Unlike the classics this was riffing on (Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven), these dopes are in way over their head. They're not gunslingers. They're dopey actors who intimidate no one when cameras aren't rolling on their same-old, same-old. There are too many funny highlights to mention, so doff your sombrero, thrust out your crutch and do the Three Amigos salute as you cue up my 772nd episode. Meantime, subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your app. Rate and review. Email me ([email protected]). Find me on Twitter (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) and Letterboxd (RyanHYES).

Neil Marshall might surpass The Descent one day, but his second movie is his magnum opus. And it's an outstanding aural and visual experience. The authenticity of his 6 spelunking women and a bunch of stuntmen playing hostile creatures who live in underground caves and hunt humans help make this set-bound production feel oh so real. But what IS real, what's not...and just how feral does Sarah actually get? Shauna Macdonald is very good as the emotionally-shattered-yet-ferocious Sarah, while Natalie Mendoza is as cool as she is stunning playing the tough, reckless and dishonest Juno. The Descent has one of the most effective jump scares in modern horror (or in EVER horror), but Marshall has several other big jolts in store too...not to mention the bleakest of bleak endings. Yes, The Descent is another intense movie in Scary Movie Month, complete with copious gore, violence, feats of derring-do...and constant fear. Episode #771 is a right corker...and don't forget to stay tuned for "So I Got Thinkin'." Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your podcasting application. Rate the show a healthy 5 stars and even whip up a review suggesting others give this thing a chance. Contact options are: "@moviefiend51" on Twitter, "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky, "RyanHYES" on Letterboxd and "[email protected]" via email.

The 8th of 9 films on this channel in Scary Movie Month is a B&W sci-fi-thriller directed by…well, was it Christian Nyby or was it his producer Howard Hawks? Whoever led Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Margaret Sheridan and James Arness through their paces did a solid-enough job. There's paranoia in The Thing From Another World, but John Carpenter's 1982 take on the material is just far superior...partly because it does paranoia and isolation so much better. The original DOES have an infamous jump scare with the alien, plus there IS tension and uncertainty throughout. When WILL the veggie vampire come looking for blood? So put on warm clothes and remember to look up from time to time as we go up to the North Pole and I gab about The Thing From Another World in episode #770. Subscribe to the 'cast. Rate and review it too. Follow on Twitter (@moviefiend51) and Bluesky (ryan-ellis). On Letterboxd, the handle is RyanHYES. Email is [email protected].

Before Grindhouse, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up in From Dusk Till Dawn to make a macho gangster-comedy that turns into a vampire-action film. It wasn't what people were expecting from these 2, but the friends pulled off a violent, bloody, slick, nasty and often tacky fangs flick. George Clooney's progression from TV star to movie star was helped in large part by working so well here with Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek, writer/irritating actor Tarantino and director Rodriguez. And how about that scene-stealing Cheech Marin! After that review, I spent 20 minutes rattling off facts & figures and doling out some personal feelings about many of the greatest vampire movies. The Draculas, the Nosferatus, the Sinners, the etc. So everybody be cool in an ancient strip club as episode #769 delves into From Dusk Till Dawn. Subscribe, rate and review. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @moviefiend51. Bluesky: ryan-ellis. Letterboxd: RyanHYES.

Takashi Yamazaki wrote and directed one of the great monster movies of recent decades...and it IS the best Godzilla flick I've ever seen. The kaiju that wreaks so much havoc on Japan right after the country was decimated during WWII is no hero to the humans in Godzilla Minus One. It's actually a bit of an angry god who means them much harm with its atomic breath. They devised some incredible Oscar-winning VFX shots of the big beast and its carnage, yet Yamazaki also knows how to show human moments with Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe raising a baby girl who isn't even their own. This thrilling movie about guilt and perseverance has so much heart. So gather your courage (and get over your PTSD) to go on a suicide mission against a mutated water freak because, yes, episode #768 gets into the nuclear guts of Godzilla Minus One. Tasks for you? Subscribe, first of all. Rate the podcast and review it. Email me: [email protected]. Tweet me (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or follow me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES).

Robert Weine was on the forefront of German expressionist filmmaking and the director's Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari is one of the greatest films made in that style. The bizarre sets and odd camera angles (not to mention the all-encompassing nightmarish quality) remain one of a kind. Weine even goes and gives us a twist ending that turns all we've seen on its head! His wonderfully weird silent movie starring Werner Krauss as the doctor and Conrad Veidt as his somnambulist puppet/killer has often been called the first-ever horror film. So settle in for episode #767 as Scary Movie Month Fridays it up with a dig into The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. To connect with me, try Twitter (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or Letterboxd (RyanHYES). My email address is "[email protected]." Also, please do the subscribing, rating and reviewing things.

Celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada or Columbus Day in America with episode #766. Even though this continues to be Scary Movie Month, laughs one-up scares in Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Charles Barton's flick has comedy legends Bud & Lou hamming it up with horror icons Dracula, the Wolfman and…you know who. Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. got one more crack at playing their most-famous roles. Several gags in the last 20 minutes are funnier than anything in the first hour, but the whole enterprise is consistently amusing. So try to get your buddy (CHICK!) to finally listen to your worries that Universal monsters are planning to steal your brain as I jam about Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Connection section: subscribe, first of all! Rate the show (5 stars) and jot down a positive review. Email me ([email protected]). On Letterboxd, I'm "RyanHYES", on Twitter I'm "@moviefiend51" and on Bluesky I'm "ryan-ellis."

Adam Wingard went on to direct a few Godzilla blockbusters, but his You're Next is one of the most-successful, low-budget mumblecore movies. Or, in this case, "mumblegore." Ti West and Joe Swanberg are big parts of the mumble movement too, although Sharni Vinson is the standout in this cast. She's excellent as the final girl who can REALLY fight back in a star-making role that wasn't. She defends her boyfriend's house mostly alone from a home invasion by masked men who use crossbows & axes to whack one family member at a time. There are 3 funny "upend the genre" moments in You're Next. Those beats (and Vinson) are the main reasons to see this. So enjoy a Friday episode as I yip about You're Next. Rate and review this podcasting venture for me during this 11th Scary Movie Month (or any time), but also become a subscriber. All that is free, as is sending me a message on social media ("@moviefiend51" on Twitter and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky). Letterboxd? That's "RyanHYES." My email is "[email protected]".

Punk rockers have to fight back against their drug-peddling, murderous hosts in the second edition in Have You Ever Seen's 11th Annual Scary Movie Month. Green Room isn't going to make you jump in fright or sweat out every pore, but it IS an intense experience as Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Imogen Poots try to avoid being murdered by Patrick Stewart and his jerky group of neo-Nazis. Arms are left in very bad condition, dogs go for the jugular and the body count is enormous for a fairly contained movie. The violence isn't gratuitous in Jeremy Saulnier's dark thriller, but it IS brutal...and there's much bloodshed. So 1-2-3-4 listen to episode #764. the 10-year-old Green Room. Well, Actually: Alia Shawkat should be pronounced as it looks: "Shaw-cat," not "Shaw-cot." Also, I've seen Rebel Ridge since recording this episode (which is intense and well-acted like Green Room is...and I recommend it too). Subscribe to this show in your podcast app. Drop a 5-star rating. Jot down some words in the form of a review. Contact me via email ([email protected]), Twitter (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or Letterboxd (RyanHYES).