LADRON DE CADAVRES (1956/Peliculas/Internacional Cinematografica) Mexico.
Aka: THE BODY SNATCHERS (US).
Credits: Dir: Fernando Mendez; Sc: Fernando Méndez & Alejandro Verbitsky; Ph: Victor Herrera; Art: Günther Gerszo; Mus: Frederico Ruiz.
Cast: Wolf Rubinskis, Columbia Dominguez, Crox Alvarado, Arturo Martinez, Eduardo Alcaraz, Guillermo Hernández, Alesandro Cruz, Yerye Berute, Emmauel Crux.
Commandante Robles tries to discover why some of Mexico's top athletes are disappearing, but despite his efforts a scientist named Carlos Requerme continues to kidnap the athletes, kill them and transplant animal brains into their skulls. Unfortunately most of his subjects die, but he succeeds with wrestler Guillermo Santa, (Rubinski), whose brain he replaces with that of a gorilla, and sends him back into the ring to fight another wrestler named El Vampiro. The mind of the gorilla takes over from the scientist's programming and he goes beserk. Requerme is killed and the creature kidnaps his former girlfriend, Lucia, only to be shot to death by the Commandante.
Wrestling mayhem that is as ridiculous as it sounds.

LADY IN THE IRON MASK (1952/TCF.) 78mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Ralph Murphy; Prod: Walter Wanger & Eugene Frenke; Sc: Jack Pollexfen & Aubrey Weisberg; Ph: Ernest Laszlo; Mus: Dimitri Tiomkin.
Cast: Louis Hayward, Patricia Medina, Alan Hale Jnr., Tor Johnson, John Sutton, Judd Holdren, Steve Brodie.
Princess Anne's twin sister is kept in a dungeon, (Medina), under the watchful eye of the executioner, (Johnson), her face covered with an iron mask. Muskateers discover her identity and help her take her rightful place on the throne.
A poorly made reworking of the famous costume drama notable for Johhnson's portrayal.

LA LAMA DEL CORPO (1966/Leone-Orphee) 87mins. France/Italy.
Aka: THE MURDER SOCIETY; THE MURDER CLINIC; REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Elio Scardamaglia (Michael Hamilton); Sc: Ernesto Gastalsi & Luciano Martino.
Cast: William Berger, Francoise Prevost, Mary Young, Barbara Wilson, Delphia Maurin.
A clinic and it's eccentric patients are terrorised by a razor slashing maniac who is really a plastic surgeon looking for parts to restore the face of a beautiful woman.
A suspenseful thriller with lashings of European gore.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1961/Regina/Ass. Prod.) 86mins. BW. US./Italy.
Released 1964.
Aka: L'ULTIMO UOMO DELLA TERRA; THE NIGHT CREATURES; WIND OF DEATH; VENTO DI MORTE.
Credits: Dir: Sidney Salkow & Ubaldo Ragona; Prod: Robert Lippert; Sc: Logan Swanson (Richard Matheson) & William P. Lester; Ph: Franco Delli Colli; Ed: Gene Ruggiero; Art: Giorgio Giovannini; Mu: Piero Mecacci; Mus: Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter. From the novel "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson.
Cast: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Umberto Rau, Christi Courtland, Tony Cerevi.
Robert Morgan, (Price), is the sole survivor of a wind carried plague that has decimated the world and left everyone, either dead, a vampire or a zombie. He remains in his house, adorned with garlic and mirrors, and is shocked to find a girl, (Bettoia), who has possibly developed an antidote to the plague. A blood transfusion with his blood may stop her from becoming a vampire and killiing him, but when Morgan is trying to destroy a group of vampires, he accidentally kills the girl's group of friends. For this crime, she kills him.
An effective adaptation even though Price is miscast and the tone is much to sombre.
Originally scripted by Matheson for Hammer Films in 1957, the studio sold the project to Lippert who filmed it for Fox on the cheap in Italy and then passed it on to AIP.

THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH (1960/Filmgroup) 71mins.
Credits: Dir: Roger Corman; Sc: Robert Towne (Edward Wain); Ph: Jack Marquette.
Cast: Edward Wain, Anthony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland.
A sudden and temporary reduction in the earth's atmosphere kills off the entire population except a crooked lawyer, (Wain), a gangster, (Carbone) and his wife, (Jones-Moreland), who were scuba diving at the time, with their own oxygen supply, in Puerto Rico. The two men must vie for the woman's attentions to continue the human race.
A tedious Corman quickie with a mercifully short running time.

THE LEGEND OF BLOOD MOUNTAIN (1965/Craddock) 76mins.
Credits: Dir: Massey Cramer; Prod: Don Hadley; Sc: Massey Cramer, Don Hadley & Bob Corley.
Cast: George Ellis, Zenas Sears, Shelia Stringer, Glenda Brunson, Erin Fleming.
A small town reporter, (Ellis), in search of a story encounters some pretty girls and a fungus monster.
Low grade monster film with an inept cast of unknowns made in Georgia.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (1972/P&L Prod./Cinemashares) 87mins.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Charles B. Pierce; A.Prod: Earl E. Smith; Sc: Earl E. Smith; Ph: Charles B. Pierce.
Cast: Willie E. Smith, John P. Hixon, John W. Oates, Jeffrey Crabtree, Buddy Crabtree, Herb Jones. Narrated: Vern Stierman
"...a right pleasent place to live...until the sun goes down."
Filmed like a documentary, this focuses on the sightings of a shaggy swamp creature in Fouke Arkansas and dicusses the results of its rampages including the slaughter of 200 pound hogs and a dog.
Although probably inaccurate, this is nevertheless believable, featuring some interesting shots of the supposed ape-man and a few good scares.
Sequel: RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK

LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE (1968/MGM.) 130mins.
Credits: Dir. Prod: Robert Aldrich; Sc: Hugo Butler & Jean Rouverol; Ph: Joseph Biroc; Ed: Michael Luciano; Des: George W. Davis & William Glasgow; Mus: Frank Devol. From a 1963 television play by Robert Thomas.
Cast: Peter Finch, Kim Novak, Ernest Borgnine, Coral Browne, George Kennedy, Milton Selzer, Rossella Frank, Gabriele Tinti, Valentina Cortese, Michael Murphy, Lee Meriwether, Ellen Corby.
A film producer, (Finch), finds a lookalike, (Novak), for a dead star and trains her to immitate the dead star's mannerisms in preparation for a film about her life. The uncanny ability of the lookalike far supasses the producer's expectations, so much so that he wonders if his new star may be possessed.
This surreal piece poses many questions, but frustratingly, never answers them, making the film somewhat pointless. Initial screenings brought laughs of derision from some audiences.

LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974/Hammer/Shaw) 89mins.
Hong Kong/UK.
Aka: THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA (US); DRACULA AND THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES.
Credits: Dir: Roy Ward Baker; Prod: Don Houghton & Vee King Shaw; Ex.Prod: Run Run Shaw & Michael Carreras; Sc: Don Houghton; Ph: John Wilcox & Ray Ford; Ed: Chris Barnes; Art: Johnson Tsau; Sfx: Les Bowie; Martial Arts: Tang Chia & Liu Chia Liang; Mu: Wu Hsu Ching; Mus: James Bernard.
Cast: Peter Cushing, John Forbes-Robertson, David Chiang, Shih Szu, Julie Ege, Robin Stewart, Chan Sen, Robert Hanna, James Ma, Liu Chia Yung, Feng Ko An, Wong Han Chan.
In 1804, a Chinaman makes a pilgramage to Castle Dracula in Transylvania, where the infamous Count, (Forbes-Robertson), possesses the man's body and returns to China to resurrect the legendary Seven Golden Vampires. In 1904, Van Helsing, (Cushing), travels with his son to Chung King to lecture on the occult sciences, but only one sudent believes in the existence of the Chinese vampires Van Helsing mentions and leads them to the city still terrorised by them. There, seven brothers and one sister, all expert in a form of martial arts, battle with the zombie-like vampire creatures and their undead minions, while Van Helsing confronts Dracula once again.
An uneasy, but interesting mixture of the two popular genres and Hammer Studio's final excursion into the Dracula myth. Christopher Lee, still fearful of typecasting, declined to play the role of Dracula.
The original American version runs 72 minutes.

THE LEGEND OF WITCH HOLLOW (1969) see The Witchmaker

THE LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTERS (1966/Steckler Prod.) 89mins. 16mm. US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Ray Dennis Steckler; Sc: Ron Haydock & Jim Harmon.
Cast: Cash Flagg (Ray Dennis Steckler), Carolyn Brandt, Ron Haydock, Mike Cannon, Larry Byrd, Jim Harmon.
Modern day teenagers enter a race and encounter a mummy, a gorilla, a lady vampire and a spaceman.
Steckler pays homage to the Bowery Boys in a cheap and incoherent production made from two of his earlier shorts THE LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE GREEN GRASSHOPPER and THE VAMPIRE LADY FROM OUTER SPACE, spliced together and featuring the dubious talents of his friends and relatives.

LESBIAN TWINS (1970) see The Virgin Witch

LETS KILL UNCLE (1966/Castle/Universal) 92mins. UK.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: William Castle; Sc: Mark Rodgers; Ph: Harold Lipstein; Mus: Herman Stein. Based on a novel by Rohan O'Grady.
Cast: Nigel Green, Pat Cardi, Mary Badham, Linda Lawson, Nestor Paiva, Robert Pickering, Reff Sanchez.
A twelve year old boy destined to inherit $5 million dollars and a girl become trapped in an isolated island mansion with their uncle, (Green), who tries to kill them in a variety of different ways including the use of tarantualas, sharks, poisoned mushrooms and hypnotism. The youngsters have no choice but to retaliate with equal measure.
Green's manic performance is a highlight in this unusual and enjoyable black comedy.

THE LIONMAN (1965) see Curse of the Voodoo

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS (1960)
see Caperucita y Pulgarcito Contra los Monstuos

THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960/Filmgroup/Santa Clara) 70mins. BW. US.
Aka: THE PASSIONATE PEOPLE EATER.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Roger Corman; Sc: Charles B. Griffith; Ph: Arch Dalzell; Ed: Marshall Neclan Jnr.; Art: Daniel Haller; Mu: Harry Thomas; Mus: Fred Katz.
Cast: Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Jack Nicholson, Mel Welles (Ernst Von Theumer), Dick Miller, Myrtle Vail, Leola Wendorff, Marie Windsor, John Shaner. Voice: Charles B. Griffith as Audrey.
"The flowers that kill in the spring!"
A florists dim witted assistant, Seymour, (Haze), discovers an unusual plant that he names Audrey Jnr. after the girl he loves and finds that it feeds on blood and fresh meat. Seymour resorts to murder to nourish the plant including the body of a sadistic dentist. The shop owner, Gravis Mushnik, (Welles), intends to turn Seymour over to the police, but because the plant is attracting so much new business that he decides not to, but when two detectives tail Seymour to the shop, he is eaten by the growing plant.
This low budget "Corman quickie" filmed for $27,000 in approximately two days, had very little going for it except the absurd plant and laughable cheapness, but it became a camp classic and in 1982 it was adapted as a stageplay that became a smash success. Nicholson appears briefly in one of his earliest roles as a masochistic dental patient.
The stageplay was adapted for the cinema screen in a 1986 remake.

LIVE TO LOVE (1959) see The Devil's Hand

THE LIVER EATERS (1968) see Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told

THE LIVING COFFIN (1958) see El Grito de la Muerte