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As the nights grow longer and the air turns crisp, it’s the perfect time to settle in with some of the best spooky films ever made. From eerie silent classics to modern horror hits, spooky cinema has evolved across decades, yet each era has its own spine-tingling gems. Whether you love atmospheric terror or heart-pounding scares, here’s a journey through the best films from the 1920s to today that will give you chills. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. 1920s - 1980s ‘The Haunting’ (1963) Cast: Julie Harris,...

Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man – Universal has brought them all back to the screen in the decades since their glory days in the 1930s and ’40s. But one classic Universal monster who hasn’t had a new movie since the 1950s is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill Man. The closest we’ve gotten is the unofficial version of the creature that was seen in the 1987 classic The Monster Squad… but last month, it was reported that genre regular James Wan and his production company Atomic Monster are developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that will lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.” Now, Deadline has learned that this Creature from the Black Lagoon reboot will be written by Sean Tretta.

Wan is expected to direct the film and will be producing,...

After merging his Atomic Monster film and TV production company with Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions earlier this year, James Wan looks to have finally set his next movie to direct, a remake of the 1954 monster horror film Creature From the Black Lagoon. More on this upcoming movie and Wan's potential involvement below.

Many people might recognize Wan as the creator of the highly successful The Conjuring Universe. He's also the co-creator of other successful horror franchises, such as the Saw franchise and the Insidious film series. But while he's been signed on as producer or executive producer on recent projects, he hasn't sat in the director's chair since 2023's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Now, it's been reported that he's in early talks to direct a Creature From the Black Lagoon remake for Atomic Monster and Universal Pictures. He will reportedly produce the film through his Atomic Monster production company,...

Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man – Universal has brought them all back to the screen in the decades since their glory days in the 1930s and ’40s. But one classic Universal monster who hasn’t had a new movie since the 1950s is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill Man. The closest we’ve gotten is the unofficial version of the creature that was seen in the 1987 classic The Monster Squad. But now Deadline reports that genre regular James Wan and his production company Atomic Monster are developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that will lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.”

Wan is expected to direct the film and will be producing, with Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott serving as executive producers. EVP of Production Development...

Plunging into the shadowy waters of cinematic history, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) emerges not just as a film but as a phenomenon that has captivated the imaginations of horror enthusiasts and film buffs alike for seven decades. Celebrating its 70-year legacy, this masterpiece has swum far beyond its origins, securing a revered spot in the heart of monster movie lore.

As we dive deeper, we’re embarking on a journey through time, revisiting the ingenious craft and visionary storytelling that have made the Gill-man a beloved icon of horror. This retrospective aims to unearth the secrets behind the movie’s creation, its groundbreaking achievements, and the enduring fascination it holds. Let’s submerge ourselves in the murky depths where the Creature lurks, to rediscover the magic that makes Creature from the Black Lagoon a timeless treasure of the horror genre.

Universal Diving Into the Depths: The Origin Story

Creature from the Black Lagoon...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Wicker Man 4K Uhd Steelbook from Best Buy

Best Buy will exclusively carry The Wicker Man on Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital on October 17 via Lionsgate. Richey Beckett designed the artwork. Pre-orders are live for $21.99.

In her recent 50th anniversary retrospective, Meagan Navarro called the 1973 British folk horror film “a classic horror movie whose legacy only seems to grow more potent with age.” Robin Hardy directs from a script by Anthony Shaffer (Frenzy). Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee star.

The 94-minute “Final Cut” has been restored in 4K with Dolby Vision/Hdr and Lpcm mono audio. Special features include “The Wicker Man at 50” featurette; interviews with Hardy,...

Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer hit the big screen early in the 3-D craze, in a much tamed-down adaptation. The camera legend John Alton handled the lighting and likely called the shots on the camera setups as well. As a detective noir it’s definitely flat-footed, with a bum script, weak direction and a miscast Biff Elliot as the vengeful tough-guy hero. But compensating are the seductive Dran Hamilton, Margaret Sheridan and especially Peggie Castle — the key ‘dame’ in the pulp fiction finale. The United Artists release has been mostly Mia for decades,and this release presents it three ways: flat in both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, plus a beautiful restored 3-D Blu-ray encoding.

I, the Jury

4K Ultra HD + 3-D Blu-ray + Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1953 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Special Limited Edition / Street Date November 8, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 34.99

Starring: Biff Elliot, Preston Foster, Peggie Castle, Margaret Sheridan, Alan Reed,...

Based on the Cosmopolitan story about a real-life health crisis, Earl McEvoy directs this uniquely noirish thriller from a script by Harry Essex. Evelyn Keyes stars as a smuggler sick with Smallpox trying to pass off some hot diamonds while infecting everyone she meets. The 1950 film features a great B-movie cast with Lola Albright and Whit Bissell. The music is by Hans Salter, composer for dozens of Universal monster movies.

The post The Killer That Stalked New York appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Beginning with The Andromeda Strain in 1971, disease movies quickly established themselves as a commonplace cinematic subgenre, usually within the science fiction umbrella. In the years that followed, we got the likes of Outbreak, Contagion, Virus, The Stand, 12 Monkeys, The Crazies, 28 Days Later, most post-Night of the Living Dead zombie movies, The Omega Man, Winds of Terror, and dozens of others.

It only made sense. Despite antibiotics and advances in medical research, new dread diseases continued to crop up on an annual basis, each one threatening (for a while there anyway) to become a pandemic that could wipe out millions. In recent decades, none of them had killed more than a few thousand people, but the threat and the fear were a constant presence. There was swine flu, various incarnations of bird flu, Sars, West Nile Virus, mad cow disease, Hantavirus ,superbugs, and Ebola. Add to that the...

Mill Creek and Kit Parker package nine mid-range Columbia features from the 1940s and 1950s, not all of them strictly noir but all with dark themes — crime, creepy politics, etc. None have been on Blu-ray, and all but one are in fine condition.

Noir Archive 9-Film Collection

Address Unknown, Escape in the Fog, The Guilt of Janet Ames, The Black Book, Johnny Allegro, 711 Ocean Drive, The Killer That Stalked New York, Assignment: Paris, The Miami Story

Blu-ray

Mill Creek / Kit Parker

1944 -1954 / B&W / 8 x 1:37 Academy; 1 x 1:85 widescreen / 734 min. / Street Date April 23, 2019 / 49.95

Starring: Paul Lukas, Nina Foch, Rosalind Russell, Robert Cummings, George Raft, Edmond O’Brien, Evelyn Keyes, Dana Andrews, Barry Sullivan.

Cinematography: Rudolph Maté, George Meehan, Joseph Walker, John Alton, Joseph Biroc, Franz Planer, Joseph Biroc, Burnett Guffey, Henry Freulich.

Written by Herbert Dalmas, Aubrey Wisberg, Louella MacFarlane, Philip Yordan, Karen DeWolf, Richard English, Harry Essex, William Bowers,...

Gavin Jasper Feb 20, 2019

The latest RiffTrax Live Kickstarter is in full effect with three movies on the menu, including an MST3K classic.

Watching RiffTrax tends to be a pretty great time, but nothing beats a good ol’ edition of RiffTrax Live. This tradition has lasted a good ten years, starting with Plan 9 From Outer Space back in 2009. Every year, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett watch some bad movies (or a bunch of bizarre shorts) in front of an audience and the whole thing is broadcast to hundreds of different movie theaters via Fathom Events.

Why, you can read more about it in my Complete History of RiffTrax Live!

The thing about these events is that they’re usually preceded with a big Kickstarter campaign to fund the shows. Originally, back in 2013, they tried to do a Kickstarter to fund a RiffTrax Live for Twilight (one of...

It’s controversy in the Black Lagoon! Universal releases a much-desired box of all three Gill Man epics — but goes cheap on the encoding and hands us a 3-D rendering of Revenge of the Creature at half-resolution. When is a Blu-ray not a Blu-ray? When it’s not even full HD. And all that after commissioning a state-of-the-art 4k 3-D video remaster!

Creature From the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection

Creature from the Black Lagoon (3-D + 2-D), Revenge of the Creature (3-D) + 2-D, The Creature Walks Among Us (2-D)

Blu-ray

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

1954-1956 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 79, 82, 78 min. / Street Date August 28, 2018 / 39.98

Starring: Julie Adams, Lori Nelson, Leigh Snowden, Nestor Paiva, Richard Carlson, Jeff Morrow, John Agar, Rex Reason, Richard Denning, John Bromfield, Jeff Morrow, Greg Palmer…

and as the Gill Man: Ricou Browning, Ben Chapman, Don Megowan, others.

Cinematography: William E. Snyder; Charles S. Welbourne; Maury Gertsman

Film...

Hard-boiled Hammer

By Raymond Benson

As 2018 is the official centenary of Mickey Spillane, we at Cinema Retro thought it would be a good idea to examine this excellent digest of the author’s works on the silver screen and on television.

Author and filmmaker Max Allan Collins (probably best-known for writing the graphic novel Road to Perdition, the basis of the 2002 film, but also author of 100+ other books) is the literary executor for the estate of Mickey Spillane. Not only has he co-written this excellent “bedside companion” on Spillane’s big-and-small screen adaptations, Collins has co-authored/finished manuscripts originally begun by Spillane before his death in 2006 at the age of 88. Co-author James L. Traylor has also had a long career of writing critical analyses on crime authors and novels. One can be confident, then, that in Mickey Spillane on Screen, the authors know what they’re talking about.

Mickey Spillane...

This spring, beware the Octaman, a 1971 creature feature rising from the radioactive depths to come out on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.

From Kino Lorber: "Coming April 2017! On DVD and Blu-ray!

Kl Studio Classics in conjunction with MGM!

Octaman (1971) Special Edition

Starring Pier Angeli (Sodom and Gomorrah), Kerwin Matthews (Jack the Giant Killer), Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth) and Buck Kartalian (Planet of the Apes) – Shot by Robert Caramico (Eaten Alive) - Written, Directed and Produced by Harry Essex (Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space)

Loaded with Extras! Bonus Features to be announced!"

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): "A scientific expedition to a remote Mexican fishing community discovers unhealthy amounts of radioactive waters. What they find is a seven foot tall mutant species of octopus with amazing strength and a lust for killing, and soon the expedition realizes that the monster is now on a bloody rampage.

Are you 3-D capable? This classic-era Sci-fi is one of the better '50s films ever designed for 3-D, and the restoration on this much-coveted new release is excellent. Meteors explode in your face! A rockslide in your lap! Bizarre superimpositions! Ray gun blasts! And don't forget Ray Bradbury's feel-good sense of wonder speeches, from wide-eyed Richard Carlson. It Came from Outer Space 3-D 3-D Blu-ray Universal Home Video 1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 4, 2016 / at present a Best Buy exclusive Starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes Cinematography Clifford Stine Art Direction Robert Boyle Makeup and Special effects Jack Kevan, Bud Westmore, David S. Horsley, Milicent Patrick. Film Editor Paul Weatherwax Original Music Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, Herman Stein Written by Harry Essex from a story by Ray Bradbury Produced by William Alland Directed by Jack Arnold

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...

An exercise in dizzy disorientation, this Cornell Woolrich crazy-house noir pulls the rug out from under us at least three times. You want delirium, you got it -- the secret words for today are "Obsessive" and "Perverse." Innocent Robert Cummings is no match for sicko psychos Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran. The Chase Blu-ray Kino Classics 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Lloyd Corrigan, Jack Holt, Don Wilson, Alexis Minotis, Nina Koschetz, Yolanda Lacca, James Westerfield, Shirley O'Hara. Cinematography Frank F. Planer Film Editor Edward Mann Original Music Michel Michelet Written by Philip Yordan from the book The Black Path of Fear by Cornell Woolrich Produced by Seymour Nebenzal Directed by Arthur D. Ripley

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...

After falling into the public domain, Phil Karlson’s 1952 film noir Kansas City Confidential became unfairly lumped into B-grade bracket, a disservice considering the title’s odd narrative and eventual influence on contemporary filmmakers. Karlson, who would eventually turn to mainstream efforts starring the likes of Dean Martin and Elvis Presley in the 1960s and 1970s, contributed several enjoyable minor noir efforts in the 1950s. These would include 1952’s Scandal Sheet with Donna Reed and Broderick Crawford, Kim Novak casino heist effort 5 Against the House, and that same year’s Tight Spot with a peculiar role for Ginger Rogers. But none have enjoyed the staying power of this particular heist drama, now restored with its most accomplished transfer yet.

Kansas City delivery man Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is at the wrong place at the wrong time when he’s nabbed by the cops as the driver of a heist involving...

Kansas City Confidential

Written by George Bruce and Harry Essex

Directed by Phil Karlson

U.S.A., 1952

From across the street in a quiet hotel room, a man (Preston Foster) attentively observes the coming and goings of security guards that transport hundreds of thousands of dollars to and from the bank across the street. A plan is brewing in his mind, a plan that will require the assistance of three pawns, all known criminals. They are: small time gambler Pete Harris (Jack Elam), cop killer Boyd Kane (Neville Brand) and Tony Romano (a young, moustache-free Lee Van Cleef). Each is invited to the man’s room on separate occasions, presented a plan to steal the doe from the guards and make a getaway. Everyone is to wear masks so that no one participant can rat on any other in the event that things go awry. For the masked convicts themselves,...

[Image via Every '70s Movie] Award-winning makeup artist Rick Baker, who is famous for his work in horror cinema (An American Werewolf in London, The Exorcist, Videodrome) is a frequent Tweeter. Thank goodness for that, since the FX designer recently took to the social media website to share a photo of the first gig he ever got. Octaman was unleashed on the masses back in 1971 and was met with dismal ratings. The monster movie, about a team of researchers who are terrorized by a humanoid octopus, has since developed a cult following. If you’re thinking, “Gee this all sounds awfully familiar,” you would be right, as director and screenwriter Harry Essex also wrote the famed Creature from the Black Lagoon. Octaman doesn’t pretend to be something...

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This past weekend, the World 3-D Film Expo wrapped up its third year at the Egyptian. As always, it was packed with golden age film luminaries, wonderful 3-D shorts, a bundle of nostalgia, all coming together with classic 3-D films made when the idea of 3-D didn’t make you shudder in terror.

What follows is an introspective on my experiences as well as a discussion of the films I saw. On this particular day, Friday the 13th, I was in store for two treasures: Jack Arnold’s It Came From Outer Space (1953) and Vincent Price in The Mad Magician (1954). It Came From Outer Space was one of four Arnold films screened for the Expo, along with Creature, Revenge Of The Creature, and The Glass Web

Before screening It Came From Outer Space in its original dual 35 mm format (we got to wear the classic paper white glasses), the treat...

The authors wish to acknowledge with gratitude the venues in which some version of this article previously appeared: Cinema Scope 24 (Fall, 2005), Trafic 62 (Summer, 2006), and the late and twice-lamented The New-York Ghost (Dec. 26, 2006).

In the Place of No Place

Every movie contains its alternates, phantom films conjured variously by excess or dearth: textures and movements that carry on their own play apart from the main line of the narrative, an obtruding performance or scene, an unexplained ellipsis or sudden character reversal, the chunk life of an object seizing the frame in an insert whose plastic beauty transcends its context.

Though the extremes of pure narrative economy (in which each detail exists purely for transmission of plot) or utter dispersal (in which no piece connects to any other) can never exist, we can tentatively use the concepts as limit-cases to differentiate films which make room for their phantoms (or, in the worst case,...

A Planet Fury-approved selection of notable genre releases for October.

Cinderella (1950) Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD Available Now

The Walt Disney classic finally makes it high definition debut. Though it was made over half a century ago, Cinderella remains a timeless work of animation. Part of its lasting appeal can be attributed to the amazing concept art of Mary Blair, whose gorgeous backgrounds and unique color palettes help to define its iconic visual style. Though she was only credited with color and styling, her influence in the look and feel of the finished product cannot be denied. Another aspect that is often overlooked is the lovely vocal contribution by actress Ilene Woods. She brings a measured confidence to the beloved heroine and her singing voice is as gorgeous as the animation.

Special Features:

• Tangled Ever After Animated Short

• Behind the Magic: A New Disney Princess Fantasyland...

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Directed by Jack Arnold

Written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross

U.S.A. 1954

The Universal monsters that so many people recognize and accept as iconic and saw the light of day on the cinema screen were products of the 1930s, the two most popular being of course Frankenstein and Dracula, each released as early as 1931. By the 1950s, the studio’s output with regards to ‘classic’ creatures had dwindled considerably, even though science-fiction flicks were tremendously popular by then, with plenty of adventures concerning the invasion of outer-space attackers descending upon our planet. There was one particular outing that would, in fact, have a lasting impact on the collective minds of monster movie fans, that being Creature from the Black Lagoon. Part of the film’s popularity had to do with its presentation in 3D. Yes, studios were testing that technology out even...

Universal Pictures' upcoming remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon has found a new writer in Dave Kajganich ( The Invasion ), says a story at The Hollywood Reporter . Universal released the original film in 1954, using the 3D technology of the day. It follows a geological expedition to the Amazon and the subsequent discovery of a menacing "Gill-man", dating back to man's prehistoric origins. Directed by Jack Arnold, The Creature From the Black Lagoon was written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross. The latter scribe is the father of The Hunger Games director Gary Ross who, some years ago, turned in his own draft for the remake. Although the studio is said to be looking for a page one rewrite, Ross is still attached to produce alongside Marc Abraham, Eric...

Octaman is a pretty terrible movie. I know this better than anyone; yet, I love every single second of it despite its numerous shortcomings. I love the monster, the baby monsters, you name it. Some may think I'm nuts, but I cannot help myself.

Finally, after decades of waiting, the film is getting an official DVD release from Bayview Entertainment/Widowmaker.

Octaman is the sought after (mainly by maniacs like myself) 1972 cult classic from director Harry Essex (Creature from the Black Lagoon) and comes to DVD in a newly remastered from 35mm widescreen edition. It features special effects makeup by future Academy Award winner Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) and stars Kerwin Matthews (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad), Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth), and Pier Angeli (Battle of the Bulge). The DVD has original trailers, video interview, and a Retromedia Drive-In wrap-around. The DVD also includes a bonus...

The literary world lost a truly great man this week: The outrageously talented, powerfully prolific, and overwhelmingly adored Ray Bradbury passed away at the age of 91. His body of work would be the envy of any working writer, and science fiction fans in particular quickly embraced the author as one of their favorite ambassadors. Heavy readers will of course know Mr. Bradbury from classic titles like The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and It Came from Outer Space (both 1953) -- Beast was loosely based on Bradbury's "The Fog Horn" (and boasts some fine Ray Harryhausen work) and Sea was an original story treatment that the author delivered to screenwriter Harry Essex. Jack Arnold's Outer Space is still considered one of the...

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By Ryan Rigley

Today is certainly a sad day for mankind. The world has lost one of history's greatest sci-fi writers, Ray Bradbury, a man whose works included "Fahrenheit 451," "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and "The Martian Chronicles." Passing away at the age of 91, Bradbury lived a long and fruitful life that is truly something to be admired.

Although he was primarily a novelist, Ray Bradbury had quite a significant effect on the movie industry. In fact, he was probably more influential to film in general than you'd initially think.

Click past the jump for our list of Ray Bradbury's greatest film achievements!

» Adaptations

There have been a ton of Bradbury classics adapted for film throughout the years, most notably being Francois Truffaut's rendition of "Fahrenheit 451." Bradbury even wrote the screenplays for adaptations of other authors' work, like Josh Huston's "Moby Dick." To this day, Bradbury's works...

Desperate

Directed by Anthony Mann

Screenplay by Harry Essex

U.S.A., 1947

One of film noir’s strongest, most unique qualities is its malleability. A film which fans and scholars deem as part of the genre need not be especially violent, nor especially thrilling, nor especially long, nor especially short, etc. Despite that so many take pleasure in listing the many ingredients they deem ‘essential’ for a movie to be described as noir, the reality is that the possibilities to play around with the elements allows for remarkable freedom for writers and directors. Anthony Mann is a name that should be very familiar with any self described noir buff, having directing more than a handful, among them brilliant gems such as Side Street and Border Incident. Much like in the latter of the the two mentioned pictures, the director takes noir by the horns and creates a sharp, tough story...

Today is the 91st birthday of a man who will live forever. Ray Bradbury had a profound effect on science fiction, on fantasy, on film, and on the future. Had he not become a writer, Bradbury would have been a magician, but in a lot of ways, he got to do both. Fortunately, some of his most iconic movies are available to stream right into your eyeballs using the wonders of technology (that Bradbury probably predicted). In case you want to discover the writer’s work or want to enjoy them all over again, here are five of those films and where to see them. 5. It Came From Outer Space (1953) The Pitch: In Universal’s first 3D movie, writer and astronomy hobbyist John Putnam (Richard Carlson) heads to the crash site of a meteor outside a small town in Arizona, but instead of space rocks, he believes it’s actually an alien spacecraft. Of...

(Celebrating award week with a look at one of Oscar’s most notable champions: The French Connection. Thirty-nine years ago, Connection – besides being one of the biggest hits of the 1970s – was the top winner at the Academy Awards walking away with gold for Best Picture [collected by producer Phil D’Antoni], Director [William Friedkin], Actor [Gene Hackman], Adapted Screenplay [by Ernest Tidyman], and Editing [Gerald Greenburg].)

“I grew up in a world where Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney …these were the heroes. Not the cops. Cops were the bad guys. Or they were stumbling around, couldn’t find their asses with both hands.”

So says Sonny Grosso, and it is a screen icongraphy he has worked hard to change. Grosso-Jacobson Communications has produced over 750 hours of programming for network and premium and basic cable television in its thirty-odd years. Though its output has run from Pee Wee’s Playhouse to adventure fare like Counterstrike, the most acclaimed of the company’s offerings...

The 50s was a golden era of big screen sci-fi. Here’s our pick of the decade’s ten very best genre films…

Off screen and on, the 1950s was a spectacular era for science fiction. In literature, Ray Bradbury kicked off the decade with his masterpiece, The Martian Chronicles, while digest magazines like Galaxy were publishing the works of such sci-fi luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.

In the cinema, every year brought forth a fresh wave of genre pictures, some brilliant in their awfulness (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Robot Monster), others simply brilliant. This article is devoted to the movies in the latter category.

Here, then, is my rundown of my ten favourite science fiction movies of the 50s:

Destination Moon (1950)

The 50s era equivalent of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Destination Moon was the brave attempt of producer George Pal to bring a...

Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 5, has dusted off eight films of the celebrated genre and adapted them to DVD format. Collections like these, which bring older films to newer light, are godsends regardless (to a degree) of which films are selected, because as timeless as some of these stories and performances might be, the barrier of being stuck in an old format can bury them forever. And these stories deserve to be told. If you watch a few well made noir thrillers you will no doubt see the seeds that were planted in the heads of crime-thriller filmmakers the likes of Martin Scorsese or Michael Mann. Though there are better films in the noir genre that this collection could have culminated, there are also a lot worse. Any fan of noir films or old mysteries and thrillers will be pleased at what this box set has to offer.

Desperate (1947)

Directed...

Variety is reporting that Carl Rinsch, director of February’s forthcoming remake of George Romero’s The Crazies, is in talks with Universal to direct the studios’ long gestating remake of the 1954 classic Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Recently Breck Eisner (Sahara) had been attached to helm the project, but left earlier this year.

Gary Ross (of Seabiscuit and Pleasantville) wrote previous drafts of the project. Fans will no doubt know that Gary Ross is in fact the son of Arthur Ross, one of the co-writers of the original Creature from the Black Lagoon (along with Maurice Zimm and Harry Essex).

Rinsch is currently next directing 47 Ronin, also for Universal, a samurai-adventure pic to star Keanu Reeves.

Universal is eager to continue resurrecting their classic monsters, the Black Lagoon remake would fall into place behind U’s The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving,...