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This 1954 3D classic was meant as a follow up to "House of Wax" and except for not being in technicolor the opening scene is almost identical to the earlier film. Other reviewers have covered the details of the story but I just wanted to add that it recently became available in 3D on blu-ray! It's really the only way to watch this movie and I highly recommend it!

Great news! Kino plans to release a restored version of this movie in Blu-Ray 3D on November 24 2015 so the fantasy sequences should really be effective. Those scenes were really the only reason to watch an otherwise banal movie but they were released in anaglyph 3D which was never that effective to begin with. Seeing it in f/s Blu-Ray 3D will be a whole new experience and should be a real trip! Basically the story deals with a psychiatrist who is troubled by the suicide of a patient until he receives a package from the man that was sent just before his death. It contains an ancient Aztec mask but when he puts it on the doctor experiences wild hallucinations. This low budget Canadian production is notable only for those sequences and they should be awesome in this newly restored version.

I had a look at this in 3-D and must confess that there are not enough D's in the world to save this puppy. A little girl who lost her whole family to an attack by Bigfoot during a camping trip grows up haunted by nightmares and determined to exact revenge against the creature. With the help of a sympathetic veterinarian she returns to the scene of the crime to investigate with catastrophic results. The acting is uniformly bad, all the characters are unappealing, the direction is non-existent and the photography is poor. Even the 3-D is so exaggerated that it makes you cockeyed. I usually admire any independent group who has the drive and ambition to get a movie produced and released but these folks really need to hang onto their day jobs!

A rich but very kind man dies and his spoiled son returns to his village to take over his property. Egged on by his cold hearted and promiscuous girl friend he abuses his father's former neighbors and tenants and tries to force the local hero to sell him his fish pond. Since the young man makes his living from the pond he refuses and so the rich son first sends his goons to force the issue through their martial arts and finally poisons the pond and kills all the fish, as well as kidnapping the hero's girl friend and holding her hostage. This leads to the final showdown when the hero goes to confront the bad guy at his home only to be met by an army of hired fighters. After defeating them he has to face two special hired assassins (the only non-Chinese actors in the film) before finally taking on the villain himself. After beating the bad guy and freeing the girl the hero turns away without killing him out of respect for his late father only to have the man pull a knife and try to stab him in the back. Plenty of kung fu action here all honestly shown with no trick photography or wire action. Although the name Eddie Hodges appears in the credits it belongs to an African-American actor and not the former child star.

I understand "Hellzapoppin'" was originally a stage production in New York and you could go see it every night of the week and never see the same show twice. The film version makes fun of the fact that they had to stick to a script but is as surrealistic and anarchic as possible anyway. Many, many hilarious skits are tied together as loosely as possible and people step in and out of movie screens a la "Purple Rose of Cairo" whenever they feel like it. It's loaded with memorable lines too such as one where Olsen walks past a sled with "Rosebud" stenciled on it, glances at it momentarily and comments "I thought they burned that". And remember, this film was made in 1941.

Although this wonderful movie is unavailable on video from the major distributors Moviesunlimited is offering what appears to be a commercial VHS version for sale on their web site; some years ago it was shown on Canadian TV and I made a very high quality recording from my satellite dish at that time. It remains a cherished possession.

In a dilapidated old farmhouse in Maine an elderly lady lies dying while her solicitous son looks on. He is soon joined by his three brothers and a dark tale of violence and perversion ensues! The house reeks of decay and death and so do the boys as they squabble over missing money, ancient crimes, long hidden secrets. The tensions among them are utterly believable even as every attempt to reach some resolution just unearths another mystery. The viewers' loyalty shifts from one brother to another as each in turn progresses from sympathetic to monstrous; from victim to predator.

The cast is universally excellent and the script and direction would do David Lynch proud! The story is rich enough to reward multiple viewings and is a perfect example of why we need independent productions like this so desperately; it actually makes you think all the way through!