Night World (1932) I watched this mainly because the dance numbers are by Busby Berkeley - small nightclub chorus numbers, nothing really spectacular, but it opens with a really nice 3 minute Night Life montage, and it features Boris Karloff as the heavy. Depicts the events of one night in a night club. Doorman Clarence Muse was the most sensitive and thoughtful character. It's really hard to grasp Karloff in a role that doesn't have some sort of horror angle attached, but he's pretty scary anyway. 5/10
Over-Exposed (1956) Shapely Cleo Moore plays a b-girl who learns there is no gender barrier to advancement in the world of professional photography. Gangly young Richard Crenna is the peevish and embittered would-be love interest. This is an "anything for money" story, and her blackmailing ways eventually turn around and bite her. Might have been a good vehicle for a better actress like Ida Lupino or Susan Hayward, but Moore does okay - it's a good story with some sharp and witty writing. 6/10
Viy (1967) Based on a story by Gogol, a young priest must read prayers for three nights over the body of a witch. The demonic manifestations become more intense and bizarre each night, with the beautiful young witch corpse coffin-surfing around the chapel and startling gruesome ogres pouring out of the walls. The atmosphere is wonderful, with a fascinating depiction of life on a medieval Russian farmstead. A very nice thing to see. 8/10
Night of the Big Heat (1967) Also known as Night of the Burning Damned, this is based on one of John Lymington's novels. I own, and have repeatedly read, more of his novels than anyone you know. In most of them there is a small group of people trapped somewhere - on an island, inside an inexplicable barrier, in a pocket in time or space. A vague, world-destroying threat is on its way - from space, or the earth's core, or another vibrational level, or a possible future; which manifests itself as a sound, a vibration, fog, heat - that causes them to become agitated and lose their inhibitions and judgement, and causes the appearance of ghostly or other-dimensional entities. The source or cause of it all is a manor-house or scientific installation where high-frequency radio broadcasts or scientific experiments are taking place. I have read most of them two or three times, and I think this is the third time I have seen this, and I couldn't tell you why. I guess I am trying to figure out why he would write the same novel so many times. This is a pretty good film of one of his stories; insular, paranoid, discomforting and a bit tedious. Not really exciting or interesting, just strange. Everybody gets real hot and sweaty and some of them go crazy. Phones stop working and televisions explode, and there is something crawling around that burns people up. 3/10
The Girl Hunters (1963) Mickey Spillane plays his famous character Mike Hammer in this slightly odd thriller. Locations shot in New York, but the studio work was done in England. Kind of bad in the same way as his novels - in a sort of good way. This is a One Song Universe, where the same background melody they play when he walks down the street comes on when someone turns on the radio. Fun to see but there's a lot of better stuff out there. 4/10
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