THE MAN AND THE MONSTER (1958) see Hombre y el Monstruo

MAN BEAST (1955/Favorite Films) 65mins.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Jerry Warren; Sc: Arthur Cassidy.
Cast: Rock Madison, Virginia Maynor, George Skuff, Tom Maruzzi, Lloyd Nelson, George Wells Lewis.
When Connie, (Maynor), leads an expedition into the Himalayas to search for her missing brother, she encounters her brother's guide Varga who is actually the result of a union between an abominable snowman and a human woman. Varga pretends to help Connie, but he really intends to give her to the yeti because the creatures are recruiting human mates to try and produce less monstrous and more intelligent offspring. Connie and her companion Steve, (Maruzzi), escape and Varga falls to his death while pursuing them.

MAN EATER OF HYDRA (1966) see La Isla de la Muerte

THE MAN FROM 1997 (1957/NTA.) TVM.
Cast: James Garner, Gloria Talbot.
An immigrant procures a magic book that gives him the ability to foretell the future and gain enormous wealth, but a man from the future pays him an unexpected visit.
An early television drama.

THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951/UA./Sherrill Corwin/Mid Cenury) 70mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer; Prod. & Sc: Aubrey Wisberg & Jack Pollexfen; Ph: John L. Russell; Art: Angelo Scibetti; Sfx: Andy Anderson & Howard Weeks; Mus: Charles Koff.
Cast: Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, David Ormont, Raymond Bond, William Schallert, Roy Engel, Charles Davis, Gilbert Fallman.
An alien arrives on Earth to seek help for his dying planet, but he is confronted with hostility. A scientist captures the alien to try and make him reveal the secrets of the universe, forcing the alien to use his mind control ray to achieve results.
Shot in only 6 days, the strong idea is spoilt by weak production values, but still manages to maintain some atmosphere.

THE MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953/TCF.) 82mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Hugo Fregonese; Prod: Robert L. Jacks; Sc: Barre Lyndon & Robert Presnell Jr.; Ph: Leo Tover; Mus: Lionel Newman. From "The Lodger" by Marie Belloc Lowndes.
Cast: Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Frances Bavier, Rhys Williams, Sean McClory, Lillian Bond, Byron Palmer, Leslie Bradly, Harry Cording, Isabel Jewell.
Surgeon Slade, (Palance), lodging in London, is in actuality Jack the Ripper who kills prostitutes on foggy nights. When the girl he falls in love with turns out to not be as pure as he thought, he attempts to kill her in her dressing room.
Remake of The Lodger (1944) heightened by Palance's superbly evil portrayal, but when he isn't on screen the pace deadens.

THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT (1961/Independent Artists) 57mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Vernon Sewell; Prod: Julian Wintle & Leslie Parkyn; Sc: Malcolm Hulke & Eric Paice; Ph: Reg Wyer; Mus: Stanley Black.
Cast: Derren Nesbitt, Keith Faulkner, Carol White, Harry Locke.
The ghost of a murdered bookmaker haunts the two gangsters responsible for his death.
A creepy thriller, tautly directed and with a few frights.

THE MAN IN THE RUE NOIR (1959) see The Man Who Could Cheat Death

THE MAN IN THE SILVER MASK (1952) see El Enmascarado Plata

MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957/Universal) 122mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Joseph Pevney; Prod: Robert Arthur; Sc: R. Wright Campbell, Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts; Ph: Russell Metty; Ed: Ted J. Kent; Art: Alexander Golitzen & Eric Orbom; Mu: Bud Westmore; Mus: Frank Skinner. From a story by Ralph Wheelwright.
Cast: James Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Robert J. Evans, Roger Smith, Marjorie Rambeau, Jane Greer, Jim Backus, Jeanne Cagney, Robert Lyden, Dennis Rush, Danny Beck, Snub Pollard, Celia Lovsky, Jack Albertson, Rickie Sorensen, Nolan Leary, Simon Scott, Phil Van Zandt, Hank Mann, John George.
"Who were the women who twisted his life and love - gutting the flame of his incredible genius?"
A detailed and somewhat overly sentimental account of the life of horror actor Lon Chaney whose parents were deaf and dumb. On his deathbed Chaney takes a stick of greasepaint and writes "Jr." next to his name on a makeup box as his son, Lon Chaney Jnr., (Smith), looks on.
Cagney immerses himself in the part of the make-up master, but Westmore's rubber effects were no substitute for Chaney's original achievements.
The script received an Academy Award nomination.

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THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED (1962) 100mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Quentin Lawrence; Prod: Norman Williams; Sc: Lewis Greifer & Louis Marks; Ph: Stephen Dade; Mus: Philip Green.
Cast: Peter Cushing, Stanley Baker, Mai Zettering, Eric Portman, Naill MacGinnis, Nigel Green, Barbara Everest, Horold Scott.
German born Joe Newman, (Baker), returns to his homeland to find his father's death shrouded in mystery and becomes embroiled in a plot by spies.
An adaptation of a television series that becomes too complicated and lacks pacing.

THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF (1970/Excalibur/ABP.) 94mins. UK.
Credits: Dir: Basil Dearden; Prod: Michael Relph; Sc: Basil Dearden & Michael Relph; Ph: Tony Spratling; Ed: Teddy Darvas; Art: Albert Witherick; Mus: Michael Lewis. From "The Case Of Mr. Pelham" by Anthony Armstrong.
Cast: Roger Moore, Hildegard Neil, Olga-Georges Picot, Anton Rodgers, Freddie Jones, Charles Lloyd Pack, John Welsh, Thorley Walters, John Carson, Hugh MacKenzie, Alastair MacKenzie, Gerald Sim, Edward Chapman, Laurence Hardy, Kevork Malikyan.
After causing a road accident a respectable businessman, (Moore), finds that there is an evil double of himself that has taken over his job and now threatens to take his wife. When he goes to the doctor he is found to have two heartbeats. The evil double is inside him.
The original idea is let down by poor script development, a lengthy running time and in the second half the film struggles to rise above a moderate suspense story.

THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE (1956/Clover) 80mins. BW.
Aka: THE PETRIFIED MAN.
Credits: Dir: Leslie Kardos; Prod: Sam Katzman; Sc: Raymond T. Marcus; Ph: Benjamin Kline; Ed: Charles Nelson; Art: Paul Palmentola; Mus: Ross Di Maggio.
Cast: Victor Jory, Ann Doran, Charlotte Austin, William Hudson, Paul Cavanagh, Tina Carver, Jean Willes,Victor Varconi, Frederick Ledebur.
"Human or inhuman, no woman is safe!"
A group of eighteenth century scientists keep themselves alive into the twentieth century by taking the bio-electrical energy from women. They hide out in a girls remand home, but when they fail to obtain their regular treatment they turn to stone and die.
Some exceptional moments heighten this otherwise tedious schlock-horror tale.

THE MAN WHO WANTED TO LIVE FOREVER (1970/Palomar) TVM. Canada.
Aka: THE ONLY WAY OUT IS DEAD; THE HEART FARM.
Credits: Dir: John Trent; Prod: Terence Dene; Sc: H. Denker.
Cast: Stuart Whitman, Burl Ives, Tom Harvey, Sandy Dennis, Robert Goodier, Ron Hartman, Jack Creley.
A heart surgeon discovers that the owner, (Ives), of a private medical centre is using body parts taken from the patients in order to stay young.
An above average television film.

THE MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN (1969) see Fiend With the Electronic Brain

THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW EYES (1961) see Pianeti Contro di Noi

THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES (1963) see X-The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

THE MAN WITHOUT A BODY (1957/Filmplays/Eros) 80mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: W. Lee Wilder & Charles Saunders; Prod: Guido Goen; Sc: William Grote; Ph: Brendan J. Stafford; Ed: Tom Simpson; Art: Harry White; Mu: Jim Hydes; Mus: Albert Elms.
Cast: George Coulouris, Robert Hutton, Nadja Regin, Julia Arnall, Sheldon Lawrence, Michael Golden, Peter Copley, Norman Shelley, Tony Quinn, Kim Parker.
"A diabolical dream come true!"
A wealthy man who is dying because of a brain tumor hopes to transplant the head of Nostradamus onto himself so that he can continue living and tell people's fortunes. He revives the head and communicates with the seventeenth century sage, but when it is finally grafted onto his body he turns into a marauding monster.
An inept film with a pathetic monster. Some scenes are supposed to be amusing, but it is hard to tell which ones.

MANEATER (1969) see Shark!

MANIA (1960) see The Flesh and the Fiends

MANIAC (1962/Hammer/Columbia) 86mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Michael Carreras; Prod. & Sc: Jimmy Sangster; Ph: Wilke Cooper; Ed: James Needs & Tom Simpson; Art: Edward Carrick.
Cast: Kerwin Matthews, Donald Houston, Nadia Gray, Justine Lord, Liliane Brousse, Norman Bird, George Pastell, Arnold Diamond.
An artist on holiday, (Matthews), falls in love with a woman, (Gray), who runs an inn in the Carmargue, France, and agrees to divorce his present wife if he can help a killer escape from an insane asylum. The escape plan succeeds, but a series of murders with an oxyacetylene torch ensue. The wrong man is sent to the asylum.
Hammer again relied on the talents of Sangster to try and create an effective psychological thriller, but despite the clever plot twists this fails to intrigue like others released around the same time.

THE MANIAC (1964) see I Maniaci

I MANIACI (1964) Italy.
Aka: THE MANIAC.
Credits: Dir: Lucio Fulci.
Cast: Barbara Steele.

THE MANIACS ARE LOOSE (1965/Morgan-Steckler/Hollywood Star) 69mins. BW.
Aka: THE THRILL KILLERS; THE MONSTERS ARE LOOSE.
Credits: Dir: Ray Dennis Steckler; Prod: George J. Morgan; Sc: Gene Pollock & Ray Dennis Steckler; Ph: Joseph V. Mascelli; Ed: Austin McKinney; Art & Titles: Tom Scheman; Mus: Henry Price.
Cast: Cash Flagg (Ray Dennis Steckler), Liz Renay, Carolyn Brandt, Atlas King, Ron Haydock, Brick Bardo, Ron Burr, Gary Kent, Keith O'Brien, Herb Robins, Laura Benedict, George J. Morgan, Erina Enyo, Titus Moede.
Three escaped psychopaths go on a merciless decapitation spree in Los Angeles.
Supposedly one of Steckler's better ultra low budget films, most of which have led to a small cult following.

MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE (1966/Emerson)
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sc: Hal P. Warren.
Cast: Hal P. Warren, Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Mahree.
A vacationing family who stop to ask for directions at a strange castle become involved in bizarre rituals performed to Manos by his servant Torga. The arrival of the family eventually causes Manos to vaporise.
Terrible. Awful. Complete waste of celluloid, but then again...

LA MANSION DE LA NIEBLA (1970/Mundial Film/Tritone) 90mins. Spain/Italy.
Aka: MURDER MANSION; QUANDO MARTA URLO DALLA TOMBA.
Credits: Dir: Francisco Lara Polop.
Cast: Analia Gade, Andres Resino, Anna Lisa Nardi, Franco Fantasia, Evelyn Stewart (Ida Galli), Eduardo Fajardo.
When a young couple spend a night in a haunted house they encounter vampires and ghosts in a plot to drive the young wife insane.

THE MANSTER (1959/Breakston/Shaw/UA.) 72mins. BW. US/Japan.
Aka: THE SPLIT (UK).
Credits: Dir: George P. Breakston & Kenneth G. Crane; Prod: George P. Breakston; A.Prod: Robert Perkins; Sc: Walter J. Sheldon; Ph: David Mason; Ed: Kenneth G. Crane; Art: Nobori Miyakuni; Mus: Hirooki Ogawa. From the story "Nightmare" by George P. Breakston.
Cast: Peter Dyneley, Larry Stanford, Jane Hylton, Satoshi Nakamura, Terri Zimmern, Toyoko Takechi, Alan Tarlton, Jerry Ito, Norman Van Hawley.
"The terror that split a man in two...half human, half monster."
American reporter Larry Sandford, (Dyneley), interviews Dr. Suzuki, (Nakamura), who with his aide Tara, (Zimmern), has been transforming people with a secret enzyme. The doctor's wife is now a hideous dwarf and his brother is an ape like albino. Larry is given some of the serum and starts to grow fur, fangs and an eyeball on his shoulder that develops into another head. After the monster kills Suzuki it captures Tara and goes to a volcano where the gases accelerate the process and Larry splits into two beings. The short hairy creature born of the growth in Larry's shoulder pushes Tara into the bubbling lava, while Larry, now returned to normal, throws the creature into the volcano.

MANTIS IN LACE (1970) see Lila

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LA MARCA DEL MUERTO (1960/ADP. Prod./Alameda) 90mins. BW. Mexico.
Aka: CREATURE OF THE WALKING DEAD (US. version).
Credits: Dir: Frederic Corte (Fernando Cortes); Prod: Alfred Ripstein; Sc: Alfredo Varela Jnr. (Joseph Unsain) & Fernando Cortes; Ph: Richard Wallace; Ed: Jorge Bustos; Des: Luis de Leon; Sets: Mala Winter; Sfx: Nicholas Reye; Mu: Lester Andre; Mus: Gustav Carrion.
Cast: Fernando Casanova, Sonia Furio, Pedro de Auguillon, Aurora Alvarado, Rosa Maria Gallardo, Hortensia Santoveña.
US. Version (1963): Dir: Richard Wallace; Prod. & Ed: Jerry Warren.
US. Cast: Rock Madison, Ann Wells, George Todd, Willard Gross, Bruno Ve Sota, Lloyd Nelson, Robert Christopher, Chuck Niles, Katherine Victor, Fred Hoffman.
"The trouble with this job is you grab at straws and come up with broken fingernails" - newspaper reporter (US. version).
Dr. Malthus, (Casanova), kidnaps a young girl and transfuses her blood into himself to maintain his youth, however he is caught in the act and hanged for his crime. Ten years later his grandson, (Casanova), inherits the old house and discovers the decomposing remains of several young girls, killed to aid his grandfather in his experiments. The man retrieves his grandfather's body from it's tomb, kidnaps a girl and brings the old man back to life. The young blood causes his grandfather to become young again, but he needs constant supplies of blood to maintain his youth. Refusing to supply his relative with more girls the grandson realizes that his own medical career is now in jeopardy, so the gradually decomposing grandfather is forced to kidnap a girl for her blood and then tries to take his grandson's place and marry his fiance. The grandson eventually confronts his undead relative who dies in the ensuing laboratory fire.
The origianl remains hauntingly atmospheric and well photographed, but the pointless addition of "explanatory" scenes set in a massage parlor, with a secreatary, a doctor and a seance in the American version, are disjointed and overly wordy. Add to that the constant use of a voice over narration and the film becomes extremely irritating.

MARGUERITE DE LA NUIT (1955/SNEG./Gaumont Actualities/Duca) 126mins. France/Italy.
Credits: Dir: Claude Autant-Lara; Prod: Leon Carre; Sc: Ghislaine Autant-Lara & Gabriel Arout; Ph: Jacques Natteau; Mus: Rene Cloerc.
Cast: Michele Morgan, Yves Montand, Jean-Francois Calve, Massimo Girotti.
An old man signs a pact with the Devil to restore his youth, but when the man becomes young again he causes the death of the woman he loves.
An expensive retelling of the "Faust" legend.

THE MARK OF THE CLAW (1957) see Giant Claw

MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) see Hexen Bis Aufs Blut Gequalt

MARK OF THE GORILLA (1950/Columbia) 68mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: William Berke.
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Trudy Marshall, Suzanne Dalbert, Onslow Stevens, Slelmer Jackson, Robert Purcell, Pierce Lyden.
Jungle Jim, (Weissmuller), encounters Nazis disguised as apes searching for gold.
A nonsensical entry to the Jungle Jim series.

MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1957) see The Vampire

MARK OF THE WITCH (1970) see Hexen Bis Aufs Blut Gequalt

MARK OF THE WITCH (1970)
Credits: Dir: Ted Moore.
Cast: Marie Santell, Robert Elston, Anitra Walsh, Darryl Wells.
A three hundred year old witch terrorises folks in a college town.

MARK OF THE WOLFMAN (1968) see Marca del Hombre Lobo

MARQUISE DE SADE: JUSTINE (1969) see Justine le Disadventure della Virtu

LA MARRA DE SANTANAS (1956) see El Jinete Sin Cabeza

MARS INVADES PUERTO RICO (1965) see Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster

MARS NEEDS WOMEN (1966) 80mins.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sc: Larry Buchanan; Mu: Annabelle Weeinck.
Cast: Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, Byron Lord, Roger Ready Warren Hannack, Anthony Houston.
Five Martian men arrive on Earth to search for quality breeding stock with which to replenish the birthrate on their own planet. They chase a selection of pretty women and a go-go dancing scientist.
A grade-Z film made with plenty of stock footage and poorly dubbed sound. The sincerity of the actors provide some of the most humourous moments.
One of the Martians is played by Tommy Kirk, a former Disney studio regular.

MARTE, DIO DELL GUERA (1962/SPA Incel) 92mins. Italy.
Aka: VENUS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES.
Credits: Dir: Marcello Baldi; Sc: Marcello Baldi & Alessandro Continenza; Ph: Marcello Masciocchi; Mus: Gino Marinuzzi Jnr.
Cast: Massimo Serato, Roger Browne, Jackie Lane, Dante Di Paolo, Linda Sini.
The muscular Hercules battles magical incantations, man-eating plants and monsters.
A typical Italian sword-and-sandel adventure.
The title translates as "Mars, God of War".

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THE MASK (1961/Warner) 83mins. BW. 3-D Sequences. Canada.
Aka: EYES OF HELL; THE SPOOKY MOVIE SHOW.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Julian Roffman; Sc: Frank Taubes & Sandy Habner.
Cast: Paul Stevens, Claudette Nevins, Anne Collings, Bill Walker, Martin Lavut, Jim Moran.
A ritual mask causes those that possess it to hallucinate and murder.
An interesting experiment, but a hopelessly shoddy film. The cinema audience placed the cardboard mask equipped with 3-D filters on their faces at the same time as the screen characters, allowing them to also experience "the hallucinogenic horrors of the subconcious". The 3-D hallucination scenes were put together by montage expert Slavko Vorkapich.

THE MASK OF SATAN (1960) see Maschera del Demonio

MASK OF THE DEMON (1960) see Maschera del Demonio

THE MASK OF THE DEVIL (1960) see Maschera del Demonio

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964/Alta Vista/AIP.) 86mins. US.
Credits: Dir. & Ex.Prod: Roger Corman; Prod: George Willoughby; Sc: Charles Beaumont & R. Wright Campbell; Ph: Nicholas Roeg; Ed: Ann Chegwidden; Art: Robert Jones; Sfx: George Blackwell; Choreography: Jack Carter; Mu: George Partleton; Costumes: Laura Nightingale; Mus: David Lee. From "Masque of the Red Death" and "Hopfrog" by Edgar Allan Poe.
Cast: Vincent Price, Jane Asher, Hazel Court, David Weston, Patrick Magee, Skip Martin, Nigel Green, John Westbrook, Gat Brown, Verina Greenlaw.
"And darkness and decay and the red death held illimitable domain over all" - Poe.
In twelfth century Italy, Prince Prospero, (Price), a known satanist, holds a grand masked ball for his coutiers in his fortified palace while a pestilence called the Red Death is ravaging all those who live beyond his walls. Later the revellers become slowly aware that an evil presence is among them and that death has entered the building uninvited dancing macabrely around them.
An extremely stylish Poe adaptation filmed in Britain. Gone is the usual Corman spoof, replaced here with imaginative filmaking and impressive colour photography shot on sets left over from Hal Wallis' BECKET.
The British censor removed all the scenes depicting Devil worship.

MASTER OF HORROR (1960) see Obras Maestras del Terror

THE MASTER OF TERROR (1959) see The 4-D Man

THE MASTER OF THE DUNGEON (1970) see Guess What Happened to Count Dracula