Dinner and a Movie with Moxie

 Heavy Metal (1981) I suppose a lot of folks fell in love with animated films through the classic Disney films, but for me though I appreciated some of the classics like Aristocats, I found a lot of the Disney films to be patronizing and to talk down to kids like they aren't capable of intelligent thought, and I felt insulted.   The films that made me fall in love with animated films were (probably in this order) Heavy Metal, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, and Wizards.  I remember when I was, I don't know maybe, 9 or 10 years old I watched Heavy Metal for the first time.  It had an amazing soundtrack featuring some bands that I loved at the time, the film was rude and crude, and had this dark grittiness, it didn't shy away from nudity, sex, violence, and graphic images, it had fantasy, science fiction, and great music!  How could I not love this film.  It's been around 30 years since I first discovered and fell in love with Heavy Metal, and I still love the film, and st

  Black Friday (1940) In 1940 Karloff and Lugosi once again appear together on the screen, in a strange film, that is a hybrid of science-fiction/horror and gangster movie.  Lugosi and Karloff are both legendary film monsters, but in Black Friday from 1940, Karloff is playing the role of a doctor who's friend is seriously injured in an accident where he is accidently run down by a mobster's car, and both men are injured.  So Karloff swaps their brains, so that his friend will live and the mobster will die.   He then discovers that the mobster holds a secret to a huge fortune, so he tries to see if the mobster brain in his friend will hold the clues to the location of the money.  Of course we all know how these films work, the his friend develops a split personality, where he is himself at times and the mobster at other times.   Originally Karloff was cast to play the friend, and Lugosi the doctor, but Karloff didn't think that he was good enough an actor to play that role,

  The Invisible Ray (1936) 1936 found horror giants Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff again sharing the screen, originally the plan was to put the two in an adaptation of Bluebeard, though that was scrapped and instead they were put in a science-fiction horror film The Invisible Ray.  This would place Karloff as the obsessed scientist who loses everything and turns evil, and Lugosi as the more level head scientist who is an opportunist, and capitalizes on Karloff's characters discover.  Though Lugosi's character doesn't seem to do it as a malicious act, and credits Karloff's character for the discovers...but with his wife leaving him, and him feeling that another science was stealing his inventions, he seeks revenge.   This is a delicious bit of science-fiction horror, where a man obsessed becomes a monster. The Invisible Ray was directed by Lambert Hillyer, though originally Stuart Walker was set to direct, but he left because he was unhappy with the script and wanted more

 The Raven (1935) The Raven released in 1935 was the last of the Universal trilogy based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe starring Bela Lugosi, this film was also an early example of a horror film being enforced by the Hays Code and was banned in several locations for its graphic violence and it was accused of being "horror for horror's sake" and not offering anything of a higher purpose.   To be fair this is a film about a Dr. who has gone mad and has recreated torture devices based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.   This film isn't really an adaption of Poe's poem, but it is inspired by the torture that is used in multiple Poe stories.  Bela Lugosi's character plays a doctor who is obsessed with Poe, and throughout the film he can be heard reciting the poem.  Let's be honest, to hear Bela Lugosi recite Poe's The Raven is reason enough for me, and then to see Boris Karloff as a supporting character, playing a hideous monstrous character, while Lugosi g

  The Black Cat (1934) In the 1930s the biggest names in horror were Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and Universal was the top film company for quality horror films.  In 1934 Universal Pictures put their two biggest stars together for the first time, with Bela Lugosi who played Dracula, and Boris Karloff who played Frankenstein, this would be the first of eight films that the two would appear in together.  This film was one of the top grossing Universal films in 1934, and it was one of the first horror films to feature a musical track throughout the whole film, and also one of the first psychological horror films.   This was an amazing film that pushed boundaries, and might be one of the greatest films that the two horror legends would be in together.     The Black Cat was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, with a screenplay by Peter Ruric.  Though the film claims to be based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat, it bares no real resemblance to Poe's story.   Carl Laemmle Jr

  Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932) After the release of Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931, Universal Pictures had built its place at the best studio for "talkie" era horror films, and stars like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff were the rising stars of the genre.  Lugosi's status as horror film monster playing Dracula resulted him to also be offered the part of Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein, which he turned down feeling the role of a grunting monster was below his acting ability (though years later he would ultimately end up playing the monster).   Edgar Allen Poe stories were ideal for being turned into horror films, and in 1930 director Robert Florey suggesting a film adaptation of Poe's Murders In The Rue Morgue, though Universal was busy with Dracula and Frankenstein, and wouldn't begin filming until 1931 with a 1932 release date.  Lugosi having turned down the part of Frankenstein's Monster accepted the part of the evil Doctor Mirakle in Murders

  The Crawlers aka Troll 3 aka Contamination .7 aka Creepers (1991/1993) What the hell is this movie?  Troll 3 which has nothing to do with Troll 2, which in turn had nothing to do with Troll 1, but it is also Contamination .7 though it has nothing at all in common with Contamination, and then it also received the names Creepers and The Crawlers...what the hell is this movie?   This is a bizarre film about a nuclear power plant in a hick small town somewhere in Western part of the USA is dumping nuclear waste in the forest, and it has created killer mutant roots that start killing people, and somehow the townspeople have to stop this? The Crawlers is an Italian film, which was shot in and around Porterville Utah, which was also the filming location for the notoriously bad film Troll 2.  The film was directed by Fabrizio Laurenti (under the pseudonym Martin Newlin), with addition scenes directed by Joe D'Amato.  If that name Joe D'Amato sounds familiar, he also directed Troll 2,