The Atomic Brain (1963)
Also known as Monstrosity, this is one of the first movies where decay is given as the reason for the diminished intelligence of zombies. It also features plenty of people better known for other things, like narrator Bradford Dillman, Commerical pitchman Frank Gerstle and Marjorie Eaton, who played the original Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back before the special […]
Promises! Promises! (1963)
This 1963 movie — released betweeb the end of the Hays Code and the start of the MPAA rating system — was the first Hollywood motion picture release in decades to feature a mainstream star nude. And that star was Jayne Mansfield, bearing Marilyn Monroe in the buff in 1962’s uncompleted Something’s Got to Give. […]
The Whip and the Body (1963)
Directed by Mario Bava under the name John M. Old, this film — known as What! and Night Is the Phantom in the U.S. — was removed from Italian theaters due to its BDSM themes, with censors claiming “several sequences refer to degenerations and anomalies of sexual life.” It was written by Ernesto Gastaldi (billed as Julian Berry), […]
La Invasion de los Vampiros (1963)
Invasion of the Vampires is directed by Miguel Morayta, who also made one of my favorite strange south of the border films, Dr. Satan. Finally, a vampire who has it all figured out. If anyone kills Count Frankenhausen, all of his dead victims rise from the grave in his place. That’s way better than the way […]
Mondo Cane 2 (1963)
New Guinea, Germany, Singapore, Portugal, Australia, America and beyond, no country is safe when Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi have their cameras rolling. Paolo Cavara, who helped make Mondo Cane, had moved on to make other films, including Black Belly of the Tarantula and Plot of Fear. This time around, their journey takes us through vivisections, lynchings, […]
Women of the World (1963)
La Donna nel Mondo hustled its way into theaters months after the success of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara and Franco Prosperi’s Mondo Cane. Where the first film was unfocused and just shows, quite literaly, a dog’s life, the sequel lives up to its name: you are going to see women all of the world. We start […]
Ecco (1963)
Offsetting the globetrotting shock of this film — watch a woman bite off a reindeer’s scrotum with her bare teeth! — is the voice of George Sanders, perhaps way too sophisticated a man for such an endeavor. That said, money is money, and it’s time for Gianni Proia to take us all around This Shocking World […]
Santo en el Museo de Cera (1963)
You have to hand it to the people who made Santo movies, this time Alfonso Corona Blake (who made Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro) and Manuel San Fernando (who made three Santa Claus movies and the American version of Johnny Socko). Santo is an obsession for me, as he perfectly finds himself in nearly every genre […]
Santo en el Hotel de la Muerte (1963)
Federico Curiel had no idea how to make a Santo film. Instead of putting the Man in the Silver Mask front and center, he was a side character as normal people became the heroes. Nobody wanted that. However, this one does have a great poster and some atmosphere. The real stars of the movie are […]
From Russia With Love (1963)
Was this movie a success? Well, it made $78 million on a $2 million dollar budget, which would be like $661 million in today’s money. Yeah. This is the very definition of success. United Artists had doubled the budget available of Dr. No, which allowed them to film on location for the first time. There […]
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