THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)

An old man hires a psychic investigator (Clive Revill) to stay at the infamous Belasco mansion, referred to as the "Mt. Everest of haunted houses," to get the facts on whether or not there is survival after death. The house is supposedly haunted by the malevolent spirit of the decadent Emeric Belasco, and previous attempts at finding the truth were disastrous. Revill brings his wife (Gayle Hunnicutt), a young medium (Pamela Franklin) and a young man who barely escaped with his life during a previous investigation of the house (Roddy McDowell). Franklin is a mental medium, McDowell a physical one, but somehow Franklin is involved in some physical manifestations—chandeliers swinging, tables jumping, ectoplasm extruding. The invisible spirit of Belasco's son Daniel plays shenanigans in Franklin's room. In addition to these apparently ghostly doings, mental and emotional strains appear among the four. Eventually, Revill uses electronics to "de-energize" the house, but it doesn't work and "mindless directionless power" is unleashed even as the investigators try to put the restless spirit of Belasco to rest.

Throughout this movie, I couldn't help but make comparisons to the far superior film THE HAUNTING (1963), with its similar plotlines about psychic experts in a haunted house. This is like a Hammer remake of THE HAUNTING, with the main difference being that any ambiguity about the existence of ghosts is gone; from early on, we see phenomena that cannot be explained away rationally. (Even the occasionally distorting camera angles from THE HAUNTING are used here.) The issue to be solved isn't whether or not the supernatural activity is real, but why Emeric Belasco is haunting the house—and is it actually Belasco behind it all? But the set-up, the house, and even the characters—the academic lead investigator, the emotionally off-balance team member (McDowell is the stand-in here for Julie Harris)—all call up the earlier movie, and this film, though it has its moments, will always lose out to Robert Wise's creepy classic. Still, this is worth seeing for horror fans. The screenplay is by the reliable Richard Matheson who wrote the original novel, the acting is fine if not stellar, with McDowell giving an "old pro" performance as the nervous and neurotic ghostbuster, and Revill nicely in command as the rational one. Not a masterpiece, but recommended for horror fans. Pictured are McDowell and Hunnicut. [DVD]

THE VULTURE (1967)

Ellen West arrives in Cornwall one rainy night and has her cab driver let her out near a graveyard, wanting to take a short cut through it. The driver says no good can come of being in a graveyard at night but she insists, though she soon regrets it when she sees the headstone of Francis Real, who died in the 1700s, start shaking. His grave erupts and something (that we don't see but that Ellen does) comes flying out and up into the sky. Understandably, this drives Ellen into hysterics. The next day in the hospital, she claims that what came out of the grave was a giant vulture with a human face. We are then introduced to our primary cast of characters: landowner Brian Stroud, his niece Trudy, her American husband Eric, Brian's brother Edward, and Prof. Koniglich, an older man who walks on two crutches due to a recent fall. We also piece together the story of Francis Real. He was apparently buried alive with his dead pet vulture and a box of gold coins. While some believe that it was the resurrection of the vulture that broke open his grave, calmer heads think that someone was trying to find the gold in the grave. However, we also hear that there may be a curse on the Stroud family, as they were responsible for Real's death, and it is suggested that the Strouds avoid the outdoors at night, just in case there is a giant vulture man on the loose. One night, Brian ignores the warning by stepping out onto his balcony, and sure enough, gigantic talons come down from above and take him away; his body is found smashed on the rocks. Edward is the next to die by the same method, which leaves Trudy vulnerable to the curse unless her husband can figure out what's up.

The premise sounds rather ridiculous in summary, though given a bigger budget and the expertise of some studio like Hammer, it might have been pulled off. But the very weak cast, convoluted script, and poor monster effects make this a tedious exercise indeed. Robert Hutton is uninspiring at best as the hero, and Oscar-winner Broderick Crawford clearly would rather be anywhere than in this movie. Diane Clare is drab as milk as Trudy, which leaves Oscar-nominated old pro Akim Tamiroff as the sole bright spot as the mysteriously crippled German doctor. But he can't carry the whole movie on his back (or is that, wings?). The folklore-ish tale of the Strouds is rather silly—there is an attempt to base some of this on an Easter Island bird-god named Manutara, but that goes nowhere. There is an interesting mix of legend (the story of Real and the vulture) and science (nuclear—pronounced by Hutton as "nook-u-ler"—transmutation) in the solution, but the number of scenes of expository dialogue and of people driving from place to place scuttle the storyline. This got shown with some frequency on my local Friday night Chiller Theater show in the 70s, but I never caught it, so I was sort of happy to finally see it, but it’s difficult to recommend. The poster (at right) is spookier than almost any scene in the movie. [YouTube]

KONGA (1961)

Botanist Charles Decker (Michael Gough) is missing and presumed dead when his plane goes down in uncharted African jungles, but a year later, he returns to England; having been befriended by a native tribe, he stayed with then for a time, studying the rather exotic carnivorous plants that bloomed near their village. He brings back a few of those plants, and is also accompanied by a chimp named Konga. Decker, theorizing that these plants have almost-human properties, thinks they may be a missing evolutionary link between plants and humans. He creates a growth serum from the plants and gives it, in controlled doses, to Konga who is soon human sized. When he gets in trouble with his university for making outrageous claims to the press, Decker hypnotizes Konga to follow his commands, and the first one is to kill the university dean. Later he sics the beast on a rival botanist and when Decker falls for a young student named Sandra, he has Konga get rid of her more age-appropriate boyfriend. When his housekeeper Margaret (who has an unrequited crush on Decker) gets jealous, she pumps Konga full of the serum, resulting in his explosive growth; he crashes through the roof of the house and goes on a destructive rampage through London. Unlike in KING KONG, Beauty won't kill this beast as Sandra winds up as food for the carnivorous plants. Here, it's Decker who Konga picks up to take on his rampage. Eventually, with military might unleashed, both meet their fate below Big Ben, and on his death, poor Konga shrinks back to baby chimp size.

KONGA was part of the late-50s-early-60s horror movie revival which often put young people front and center (THE BLOB, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN), and here we have the lovely Clarie Gordon as Sandra and the nice-looking Jess Conrad, a minor British pop singer, as her boyfriend Bob. But they are both overshadowed by old pro Gough chewing the scenery as another nutty older guy (see HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM) who gets more unhinged as the various passions around him--Margaret for him, he and Bob for Sandra--go out of control. The giant Konga effects mostly involve a man in a gorilla suit against miniatures and matte shots, and the scenes of Konga bursting the house apart are almost laughable. The worst effect is of Decker (holding stock still) in Konga's huge fist--it was done much better 30 years earlier in KING KONG. The best effects are some shots of the creepy carnivorous plants in Decker's greenhouse that chew and move in an almost sexual manner. If you're nostalgic for this monster movie era, catch it. [Streaming]

THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956)

At the end of REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, the Creature from the Black Lagoon was heading into the dark waters of the ocean to die from gunshot wounds after his brief stay at a Florida oceanarium. Now, the somewhat highly strung Dr. Barton is heading into the Everglades to find the Creature. He is accompanied by his disgruntled wife Marcia—what other kind of wife is there in these monster movies?— the hunky guide Jed Grant (love triangle, anyone?), and the handsome assistant Tom Morgan (the smart beefcake). Barton's plan is to experiment with the Creature to bypass evolution and change him genetically into a whole new kind of being. Tom warns against this (tampering in God’s domain and all), but they find the creature and dose him with a sedative. While getting him on the boat, he is accidentally set on fire. With his gills injured beyond repair, Morgan operates on him to allow him to breathe air, and he begins mutating in other ways to become more human. The docile creature is put in a cage and surrounded by bad behavior on the part of the humans—the boorish hunk Jed who keeps trying to get his hands on Marcia, and, despite his seeming good intentions, the deteriorating mad scientist Barton. In fact, as other viewers have pointed out, as the monster becomes more human, Barton becomes more monstrous, until among the physical (and psychological) wreckage, the Creature is the most pitiable figure of all, facing a very sad end. Though not as compelling a movie as the first two Black Lagoon movies, this is perhaps the most interesting thematically, with the Creature truly adrift in the world not his own. Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit repetitious: Jed keeps hitting on Marcia, Barton keeps getting crazier, and Tom stands around observing and trying to keep things on an even keel. Rex Reason (Tom) looks good as the smart hunk but doesn't get to do much; Jeff Morrow (Barton) is crazy-eyed from the beginning; Gregg Palmer (Jed) is passable as the loutish hunk; Leigh Snowden seems pretty much interchangeable with the other Creature heroines (Julie Adams in the original, Lori Nelson in REVENGE). While there's not a lot here to recommend—though the Creature on fire scene is very cool—there's no reason not to watch it if you’ve seen the other two. Pictured are Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason. [Blu-ray]

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955)

Two scientists are traveling down the Amazon hoping to find the legendary Gill Man (a cross between human and amphibian) and take him alive back to Florida where he can be kept in captivity and studied as a kind of "missing link" being. The captain of the boat, who was involved in the first human encounter with the Gill-Man (in 1954's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), warns the scientists against tampering with Mother Nature, but onward they forge. Hunky scientist Joe (John Bromfield) dives in and is attacked by the Creature, barely escaping with his life. Eventually they set off explosives in the river which bring the unconscious Creature to the surface and Joe transports him to Florida, to a kind of Sea World oceanarium, where the Creature is revived, chained up, and put on display in a giant tank with other sea creatures. Enter Prof. Clete Ferguson (John Agar) and grad student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson), both of whom are part of a research team who try to use behavior conditioning techniques on the Creature. Briefly, a love triangle is established between Clete, Helen, and Joe, but Joe soon steps out gracefully, to be replaced by the Creature who sometimes forlornly watches through a window in the tank as Clete and Helen cozy up to each other. When the Creature escapes with crowds of visitors at risk, poor Joe is killed trying to stop him. Despite a large manhunt, the Creature is not found until he stalks into a seaside restaurant and hauls Helen away with him into the night. Can she be saved from the clutches of her monstrous admirer?

This sequel to the first CREATURE movie is fairly predictable and a little sluggish at times, but there is still some fun to be had here. The movie has a more obvious three-act structure than most movies. Act I is on the Amazon, with Nestor Paiva reprising his role as the boat captain from the first film, and Bromfield being set up as the brave hero. But Act II subverts that expectation when Agar and Nelson enter. Because Agar is top-billed, we know he's going to the romantic lead, but frankly, Bromfield seems worthier in all aspects—maybe not as brainy as Agar is supposed to be, but certainly more charming and adventurous. This act is slow-going as it builds up the Agar-Nelson romance with the Creature mostly left to pine away in the tank. After the death of Joe, Act III picks up with the Creature on the run, causing panic and (as in the first movie) spiriting away his loved one—visually much as it happens in the Mummy sequels of the 1940s.The three main actors are likeable and competent, and the Creature, played when he's in the water by Ricou Browning, is energetically menacing. MST3K gave this their comedy commentary and, though it's funny as always, the movie doesn’t really deserve that treatment. [Blu-ray]

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1944)

In New Orleans, the former home of gypsy princess Marie Latour is now run as a museum of the occult. Marie was supposedly a werewolf; in that form, she killed her husband, escaped through a window, and was never seen again. Dr. Morris, curator of the museum, is about to publish a book revealing many of her secrets, but Marie's granddaughter Celeste (Nina Foch). who lives in a gypsy camp outside of town, has gotten wind of this plan. When Morris' assistant Elsa (Osa Massen) runs to the airport to pick up his visiting son Bob (Stephen Crane) who will be helping Dr. Morris finalize his work, Celeste enters the museum and sneaks off to a secret passage. When the house empties out, she (a werewolf like her grandmother) kills Morris and throws his manuscript into a fireplace. At first the police suspect Elsa, but her fingerprints don't match those left in the room--not to mention that some animal fur is found near the crime scene. A museum handyman, also a possible suspect, is later found dead, torn apart by a wolf. Celeste's gypsy family falls under suspicion, but when Bob meets Celeste, she gets a bit flirty with Bob, and sends him home with a voodoo love doll, and sure enough Bob decides that the gypsies had nothing to do with his dad's death. The clear-minded Elsa, however, isn't so sure, and soon Celeste is determined, through hypnosis or spells or some other supernatural power, to turn Elsa into a "sister" werewolf.

This B-horror film was an early lead role for Nina Foch, best known as Gene Kelly's patroness in An American in Paris and the foster-mother of Moses in The Ten Commandments. She's appropriately mysterious as Celeste, and pretty much single-handedly sustains any spooky atmosphere the film manages to work up, along with John Abbott as an ill-fated tour guide at the museum. Fritz Leiber, father of the famous fantasy writer of the same name, is OK as Morris, as is Blanche Yurka as a Celeste's gypsy protector. As for the rest of the cast, bland leading man Crane only made three movies (enough said), and old pro Barton MacLane is wasted as a somewhat bumbling cop. The mostly serious tone of the movie reminded me of the 1936 Dracula's Daughter, but this lacks that movie's poetic style. The most interesting plot point involves an unusual tradition of Celeste's people: as they travel through the year, they send the bodies of the dead to a New Orleans mausoleum where they are kept until the group returns home and holds a mass burial. Unfortunately, nothing much is made of this. The film's biggest flaw, however, is the disappointing presentation of the werewolf. We never see Celeste transform, and the creature itself is just a big, almost cuddly wolf who never seems very threatening. Though no classic, this could be satisfying viewing for an October evening as long as your expectations aren't too high. Picture above is a publicity shot of Crane, Massen and Foch. [TCM]

THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS (1960)

A couple who have been sunbathing on a beach at Cape Canaveral, near a military test missile site, head home and while driving down the road are attacked by two glowing blobs of light. The car crashes and the two die, but their bodies are possessed by the blobs of light, alien creatures who call themselves Hauron and Nadja. In what becomes a gross running joke, the man's arm is cut off during the accident and left hanging out the back window of the car. Najda scoops it up and reattaches it at their cave headquarters. Meanwhile, another missile test goes awry at Cape Canaveral and scientist Tom (Scott Peters) theorizes, because of some recent UFO sightings, that they are victims of alien sabotage. That night, when Hauron creeps up near the site, an MP's German shepherd attacks him, ripping his arm off again. We are introduced to our other main non-alien characters: researcher Sally (Linda Connell, pictured with Peters), who is Tom's girlfriend; Dr. Von Hoften who is Sally's guardian and doesn't approve of her seeing Tom; and a young couple, Bob and Shirley, with whom Tom and Sally are double-dating. While parked on the beach one night, the young foursome encounter mysterious static on the car radio and imagine it's coming from an illegal transmitter. Tom and Sally head off to find the source, and moments later the alien couple (who, in another running gag, bicker like crazy) abduct Bob and Shirley. Back at the cave, they somehow transport Shirley's body to their home planet for experiments, and use Bob's arm to attach to Hauron. While staring at Bob's armless corpse, Nadja muses, "He had a nice chin" and then uses it to replace Hauron's damaged one. Tom and Sally are captured to be transmitted like Shirley, and while the two are tied up, Tom proposes to Sally. Eventually, with help from the police and scientists, the aliens are defeated…or are they?

I think I've made this movie sound more fun than it is. The plot and situations have potential, the sick humor seems intentional, and the actors try hard. But the production values are just a notch above those of an Ed Wood movie and the direction by Phil Tucker (known for the notoriously awful ROBOT MONSTER) is inept. The orbs of light look like two flashlights superimposed on the screen; the missile lab looks fairly cardboard; Scott Peters (who went on to play dozens of supporting roles in movies and TV) and Linda Connell (daughter of the film's cinematographer and who did no other credited acting) are not bad as the central pair. For the record, Gary Travis and Thelaine Williams as fine Bob and Shirley. But the alien couple, Jason Johnson and Katherine Victor, are unappealing; he underacts and she overacts. The 69-minute movie is padded out in places, with lots of needless folderol involving the preparation of the bodies of Bob and Shirley for transmission. The downbeat ending is a surprise. I give points for the title, which, as a 10-year-old, I saw in Chiller Theater listings and thought was cool. But I never saw the movie back then; viewed now, it's just another cheap sci-fi flick that should be fodder for MST3K or Rifftrax. [YouTube]

THE WITCHMAKER (1969)

We see a young woman bathing in her bra and panties in a swamp in the Louisiana bayou. As she gets out, a man attacks her; he rips open her bra, hangs her upside down from a tree, paints an upside-down ankh symbol on her stomach, then slices her throat open and catches the blood in a bucket. It seems this is only the latest in a string of ritualistic murders in the area, as an old-timer cabin caretaker tells the group of folks he has escorted into the bayou by boat. The group leader, Ralph Hayes (Alvy Moore), says they are movie location scouts, but we soon find out that Hayes is actually a researcher of the paranormal, staying for a week in an isolated cabin (with no phone) with some grad students, a reporter, and a psychic "sensitive" named Tasha. Hayes has a theory about witches and hopes to discover the genuine one he thinks is behind the recent slayings. We know that the murderer is indeed a witch (or warlock) who calls himself Luther the Berserk (John Lodge); he is the head of a coven of witches who are hundreds of years old and they use the blood they've collected for rites to communicate with Satan—they rub the blood on the teeth of a fairly creepy demonic statue to which they pay homage. Luther's coven is one short, so he asks the immortal witch Jessie of Coventry for help to gain a convert: Tasha. Jessie agrees if Luther will tell Satan to give her back her youth. That is indeed arranged, and soon our vulnerable group is whittled down (mostly as resources for more ritual blood), until it's up to the skeptical reporter (Anthony Eisley) to try and save Tasha by substituting pig's blood for human blood in the final conversion rite.

I'd never heard of this movie until I found it in recommendations on Amazon, and though it may not be a classic, it's a solid piece of 60s B-horror which takes its devil worship a little more seriously than others of its ilk. A creepy atmosphere is built up from the beginning, and even the daytime scenes have a disturbing feel to them. The set-up, with exposition and some character development, is fine, though the middle drags a bit. But the ending makes up for that. Alvy Moore is mostly known as the bumbling Hank Kimball on the TV series Green Acres, so I expected him to be comic here, but he plays an academic fairly convincingly. Eisley, whom I know as one of the Hawaiian Eye detectives from 60s TV, is fine as the theoretical hero. German actress Thordis Brandt is mostly eye candy as Tasha, and Tony Benson is a somewhat cute grad student, but the best performance is from the beefy John Lodge as Luther who makes for a chilling villain. This is definitely low-budget filmmaking but it looks pretty good most of the time. Recommended. Pictured are Lodge and Brandt with the creepy statue. [Amazon Prime]

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)

Persistent reports of UFOs are coming in to the Hemisphere Defense Command. At the same time, the Command's Operation Skyhook is faltering; every attempt at sending satellites into space ends with them crashing back down to earth. As space scientist Hugh Marlowe is driving down a desert road bantering with his wife (Joan Taylor), a huge flying saucer buzzes right over them. At the launch of satellite #12, a saucer lands at the military base, vaporizes soldiers who fire at it, destroys some buildings, and spacesuited aliens kidnap a general, Joan's father. Foregoing government permission, Marlowe manages to communicate with aliens by radio and sets up a rendezvous. Inside the ship, the aliens tell him that they are the remnants of a dying race and want to colonize the earth. They ask him to arrange a meeting with world leaders but at the same time continue their destructive ways, showing Marlowe that they have emptied the brain of his wife's father and left him a zombie-like shell. Marlowe works on developing a weapon that will be effective against them, but soon the aliens' saucers are wreaking havoc all over the world, and Washington, D.C is next on their list.

Ray Harryhausen supervised the special effects here and they are the main reason to watch. Though primitive compared to what CGI can do, the shots of the saucers and their siege of the nation's capital are still effective. The look of the saucers and aliens influenced sci-fi movies (and UFO sighting reports) for years. The human aspect of the film is less compelling. Hugh Marlowe has to be one of the most wooden actors ever to carve out a long-lasting acting career in movies--this is one of his few leads, as he was mostly relegated to supporting parts (The Day the Earth Stood Still, All About Eve). He's about on a par with the average male lead in 50s science-fiction B-movies, though this film has close to an A-level budget. The rest of the cast is mostly OK, though let's face it, we don't come to these films expecting great acting. However, the weakest scene in the film is when Marlowe and Taylor first see a flying saucer; the matted effect is pretty scary, but their reaction is mild--Marlowe doesn’t even put on the brakes while driving. An influential film which still generally holds up as one of the early entries in the UFO invasion genre. [DVD]

BACK FROM THE DEAD (1957)

Dick and his pregnant wife Mandy are staying at a coastal town getaway house with Mandy's sister Kate, but Mandy feels uncomfortable and can't pinpoint why. One night, Dick plays a recording of eerie theremin music to which Mandy has a visceral reaction; later, she collapses and suffers a miscarriage, and when she awakens, she thinks she is Felicia, Dick's first wife who drowned years ago at this very location. Everyone takes this seriously because 1) Dick had never told Mandy about Felicia (way to start married life on the good foot!); 2) they know that theremin music was a favorite of Felicia's. Mandy has seemingly been possessed by the dead woman, a theory which is clinched when Mandy meets Felicia's parents and rattles off all kinds of details about Felicia's past. Felicia was a notorious flirt and John, an architect friend of Dick's who was present the night Felicia died (falling from a cliff in a possible act of suicide), still feels guilt over that night, afraid that his expression of disapproval of her slutty behavior may have led to her death. We soon discover that a group of Satanists, led by the mysterious Maitre Renault, is behind the possession, encouraged by Felicia's mother. Can our handful of vanilla heroes defeat the dark powers of evil and bring Mandy back?

Horror movies involving devil worship are relatively few and far between, and this one has potential. The plot sounds like the stuff of dark Gothic thrillers (it was based on a novel), and the seaside setting, the theremin music, a spot of human sacrifice, and the strong performance of Peggie Castle as Mandy/Felicia are all pluses. It doesn't quite rise to the occasion, however, thanks to dialogue-heavy scenes instead of action, a bland TV-movie visual style, and some sloppy plotting. I could never quite forgive the screenwriter (Catherine Turney, who also wrote the novel) for the odd touch of Dick never having told Mandy about Felicia, especially when they were staying a town where lots of people knew her. But having said all that, I stuck with it and was relatively satisfied, even if we never get to see any creepy Satanic rituals. Arthur Franz (Dick), Marsha Hunt (Kate) and Don Haggerty (John) are all OK. It helped that the movie kept reminding me of the junky B-classic TORMENTED, with occasional thematic strains of Dark Shadows. I think this showed up on Chiller Theater back in the day, but it's not widely available right now, so check YouTube now if you're interested. [YouTube]

THE BLOB (1958)

One night in a small Midwestern town, Steve and Jane are in his car necking when they see what looks like a shooting star. But instead of streaking across the sky, it comes slamming down to earth in some hills on the outskirts of town. As they drive off to find it, an old man who lives nearby the landing site finds a small egg-like object which cracks open to release a bit of glowing goop that attaches itself to his arm and won't let go. Steve and Jane find him writhing in agony and take him to the local doctor who is stymied by the substance. Soon the old man has been completely engulfed by this organism. The doc discovers that even throwing acid on it does nothing and soon he is consumed by this gooey blob which grows bigger and bigger and begins to run rampant in the town. Steve tries to get the police to investigate but they think he's pulling an elaborate prank.The blob traps Steve and Jane inside an empty grocery store and they manage to escape, but when it invades the local movie house, which is showing a midnight spook show, it gets bigger and bigger and soon the entire town is frantic for help. The military arrives with bombs but even those can't stop it. Things look hopeless until Steve remembers that the blob avoided the grocery meat locker--could the blob be vulnerable to cold?

I started my October horror and sci-fi viewing with this low budget teen exploitation film which has become a minor sci-fi classic, though I suspect it's only because it was the first starring role for Steve McQueen (pictured at left in yellow, who, though playing 19, looks 30, which is about how old he was). It's well shot and brightly colored, but it largely fails to build a truly scary atmosphere like Roger Corman would have done with even less money. In fact, way too much of the 90 minute running time is taken up with padding, chatter and plotlines that go nowhere. Time is taken for an incident in which fellow teen Tony challenges Steve to a midnight drag race, setting up a traditional teen turf conflict, but it turns out that Tony and Steve are too friendly to really be threatening to each other. Two cops are given personalities, amounting to one (Dave) being understanding and tolerant and the other (Bertie) being a pain in the neck, but little is done with this. Even Jane (Aneta Corseaut), after some mild resistance to Steve's continued attempts at necking, becomes just a warm body to get in the way of the blob. The oddest plotline involves a dog that belongs to the old man. Jane takes the dog with her from the man's house, but at some point it gets away only to be stalked by the blob in the grocery store. We think it gets eaten, but a teenager claims to have seen it get away, and we never see it again. The blob itself is very effective, though the theater scene, which gets a lengthy buildup, is ultimately disappointing. As other viewers have pointed out, there seems to be no meaning to any of this, not even a simple "Keep watching the skies!" lesson. OK but not really a classic. [Streaming]