Bonus 50s horror films! - Godzilla and Hammer

 Hi there!

So a good friend of mine, Cedric, asked what Sin and I were thinking of some of the Godzilla sequels and some other Hammer films we didn't have on our list. So, I started looking things up and realized that, first of all, we weren't far behind if we wanted to tackle those films, and second, that there really weren't that many.

So I added three kinds of films to our spreadsheet: all the Godzilla sequels, all the Hammer series sequels (The Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, and actually the whole Quartermass Trilogy), and independent (as in, non-series) horror films Hammer did.

I spent the past week-ish catching up on the other 50s films that matched those criteria, and my reviews are below!

The first of these films was Godzilla Raids Again from 1955. Predictably, it didn't have much in the way of plot, but I liked Aguaris as a monster. Good film to have on while doing work, for sure.

The Quartermass Xperiment, also from 1955. Pretty generic sci fi horror, for sure. But I did enjoy that this was technically Hammer's first horror film. I saw a fascination with melting faces that continued in their first Frankenstein movie, so that was pretty interesting. Dull movie on the whole though.

X the Unknown from 1956. As an intended sequel to Quartermass, it was just as dull with more face-melting. Had a cool monster though.

Quartermass 2 from 1957. The actual sequel still was pretty bad. Don't recommend. More face melting though.

Abominable Snowman from 1957. This was really bad on the whole. But you gotta love Peter Cushing at least.

The Revenge of Frankenstein from 1958. Holy shit. I absolutely loved this movie. I think it was the best Frankenstein movie so far. It had the doctor surviving the original, rather than the monster. And the doctor actually did the experiment better this time. It was a much sweeter story, even as it had its horrors. Highly recommend this one.

Stranglers of Bombay from 1959. A very racist and problematic film about Middle Eastern people having a killing cult that attacks the colonists who've come in. However, I will say this about it. I think I noticed some adventure horror tropes that would set the stage, direction-wise, for the later Mummy films. The ones with Brendan Frasier.

Ugly Duckling also from 1959. Wow, I loved this movie. I think I've had a great time with the rising horror comedies though anyway. This film was a comedic adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde, and boy did it deliver. I laughed at numerous points, even though it's really just slapstick. I definitely saw some points that inspired The Mask though, from cha-cha dancing gangsters to a device that brings out the suave cool side of yourself.

All in all, a good time! At the moment, we are still working our way through the start of the 1960s. It's not that bad, but the year 1960 itself is pretty packed.