The Munsters

"The Munsters" original TV series from 1946 - 1966, created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward but developed by Norm Liebmann and Ed Haas. 

A horror comedy about a family of monsters living in a spooky house in an American suburb called Mockingbird Lane. The main stars of the show include Grandpa, Herman, Lily, Eddy and Marilyn. Grandpa is the count vampire from Transylvania who makes a lot of experiments in the dungeon lab and he's played by Al Lewis. Herman Munster is the huge dad, a Frankenstein's monster, who works every day at a funeral parlour, and he's played by Fred Gwynne. Lily Munster is daughter of grandpa and wife of Herman, played by Yvonne De Carlo, is a vampire and mother. Her son is Eddie, a werewolf boy, played y Butch Patrick. Marilyn is the niece of Lily, and a teenage girl that looks stunning and normal in appearance to her monster family but is rather gothic. She was played by Pat Priest and then Beverley Owen.

The Munster family have pets too! A bat named Igor, a cuckoo clock raven called Charlie, then a black cat named Kitty that roars, and a fire-breathing dragon named Spot that lives under the house. Other monsters in the family include Charlie Munster, Herman's twin brother, then Victor Frankenstein, Cousin Wolverine, Cousin Gilbert (an amphibian), Frank Munster, Lester Dracula, Medusa and plenty others that show in the series and later spin offs. 

The series itself is very atmospheric for those who like horror, and is extremely funny yet creepy. The sitcom of this loveable monster family has two season with about 70 episodes. There was a film made and later more films and a TV comeback series. A new prequel film made in 2022 about when Herman and Lily first met, simply called "The Munsters" was directed by Rob Zombie. I rate this childhood favourite a 9/10.

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Equinox (1970)

"Equinox" is a 1970 fantasy/horror film made for television. It was group directed by Jack Woods, Dennis Muren and Mark Thomas McGee. The stars include Edward Connell and Barbara Hewitt. 

A young man suffering a mental breakdown is kept in hospital for treatment. It's discovered that a while ago, he and some friends went on a picnic but then discovered a mysterious castle and a magical book. What followed afterwards were nightmarish fiends chasing the friends all through a weird landscape of forests, invisible walls and monsters. His far fetched story wasn't believed although he was traumatised for losing a cross.

This was a student film project made over two years. One of the locations was at Bronson Canyon and another was in someone's own property! Parts of the film were real clips of actual forest fires. The film is loosely based on fiction by H.P. Lovecraft. The original title is "Equinox: A Journey Into the Supernatural" and there's an alternative version with different music score and credits. 

A weird adventure story with creepy monsters. I rate this patchwork a nice 4/10.

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Theatre of Death

This is a 1967 horror film directed by Samuel Gallu. "Theatre of Death" stars includes Christopher Lee, Julian Glover and Lelia Goldoni. A police surgeon visits a strange theatre with brutal plays because he's meeting his girlfriend, one of the actresses there. The theatre's director is played by Christopher Lee, and is hypnotic and dangerous. Two friends have to act out in a horrific scene about a witch execution in front of a party. Meanwhile there's been a lot of unusual deaths with the victims drained of blood.

Gorgeous sets and very beautiful indoor theatre with secret passages and rooms with cobwebs, old props,  a creepy portrait and a workable guillotine. There is a fortune teller, who gives a reading to one of the characters and some other crazy stuff. This is kind of a vampire themed film set in modern France at the Theatre du Grand Guignol, meaning "big puppet". There are some twists, broken plots and plenty of atmosphere. This gets a 6/10.

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The Unearthly (1957)

"The Unearthly" is a 1957 horror sci-fi film directed by Boris Petroff, and the stars include John Carradine, Myron Healey, Tor Johnson and Allison Hayes. 

A mad scientist has been doing secret experiments on patients in his hospital to find a formula of eternal youth. His methods have resulted in monsters and some fatalities. People that just arrived to the hospital are in the dark about what's really going on. All of his patients have no family, so it comes as a shock when one of the patients has a relative asking about them.

One of the doctor's assistants is a character named Lobo, played by Tor Johnson, who also appeared as Lobo in films "Bride of the Monster" and "Night of the Ghouls." One of the mutants is played by Karl Johnson, the son of Tor Johnson. The film was made in six days. Certain elements of the film were rather creepy and it had some horrible surprises. I rate this an okay 5/10.

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Malenka, the Vampire's Niece

"Malenka, the Vampire's Niece" is a 1969 horror film directed by Amando de Ossorio, and the cast includes Anita Ekberg, Gianni Medici and John Hamilton. 

Sylvia is a glamorous model from Rome who visits her ancestral castle for the first time. She finds that her strict uncle is the Count living in the creepy castle with his loyal servants. There's a portrait of a beautiful woman named Malenka who was burned as a witch. Sylvia learns that she's under a curse and has got to remain in the castle so she writes to her boyfriend, who is a doctor. Worried, the doctor goes looking for her but finds the local villagers scared and putting up garlic. However, a girl also dies mysteriously and then she returns from the dead.

Some of the story doesn't make much sense because of changes made to the film. There's a different ending to the English release. It's a very gothic and atmospheric film with lovely sets. There are pretty awesome scary scenes like when the vampire girl crawls out of her grave. There are two alternative types of this film!!! The English language version of the film makes it a vampire story while the Spanish version is psychological story. This film is also titled "Fangs of the Living Dead" elsewhere. I rate this a 7/10 because it's a beautiful film.

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The Dungeon of Harrow

This is a horror flick made in 1962, directed by Pat Boynette and the stars include Russ Harvey and William McNulty. It's the 19th century and Aaron Fallon and the captain are shipwrecked on a remote island. They find that a woman was savagely killed by dogs near a remote castle on the island. Count Lorente de Sade lives there with his hidden zombie wife and brainwashed servants. He keeps the shipwrecked survivors as his prisoners in the creepy castle.

The film has a number of shocks including scenes of torture. There are some twists in this low budget gothic film, which is quite atmospheric. Despite being set on an isolated island castle, which has a late summer feel, this was filmed in a studio in Texas. The director Pat Boynette created art for the movie's poster and then he went onto work in comic books. I rate this film a gruesome 6/10

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