War of the Satellites (1958) In response to the Russian Sputnik, Roger Corman slapped together and directed this tale of an alien force that is determined to prevent nations from launching satellites into space. The aliens have the ability to take the shape of humans and to duplicate themselves. Despite the pasteboard set, with its … More War of the Satellites (1958)
Entropy is the Damoclean sword Over our heads. Whatever we build breaks down: Pyramid schemes snap like a bungee chord, As stock markets crash and plutocrats skip town. Complexity science scales the world’s body Whose genetic drift spins ten times faster Than IQ scores for any minority That rank or caste can engineer stronger. … More THE KEY TO EVERYTHING
Nightfall (1988) A hippie version of Isaac Asimov’s short story, this movie luxuriates in burnished landscapes that the celebrated Paolo Soleri incorporated into designs to achieve what he called “Arcology,” “architecture cohered with ecology.” When finally Roger Corman could raise the money, Paul Mayersberg agreed to write an adaptation, provided he would direct. In … More Nightfall (1988)
Repo Man (1984) “The life of a Repo Man is always intense,” Harry Dean Stanton [as Bud] tells Emilio Estevez [as Otto], and no more so than when repossessing a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu full of alien bodies from outer space. Alex Cox wrote and directed this punk satire of science fiction and teen … More Repo Man (1984)
Tobor the Great (1954) Opening with an atomic blast to remind audiences of the communist threat breaking out in the Korean War, Lee Scholem cranked out this kiddie flick that explores the psychic relationship between a boy [Billy Chapin as Gadge] and his robot. Robert Kinoshita, having been interred in a Japanese camp in … More Tobor the Great (1954)
Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) Edward L. Chan directs this drive-in B-Horror version of The Mummy, this time with a reawakened id of a gladiator who perished during the volcanic destruction of Pompeii while trying to save his aristocratic mistress. Now stone-encrusted, this creature seeks out the reincarnation of his lost love in an … More Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Gold (1934) Brigitte Helm speaks! For ten minutes, she vamps in a science fiction film about corporate espionage made during the early Nazi period and directed by Karl Hartl. The ghost of the UFA’s great Metropolis lurks everywhere. John Wills (Michael Bohnen) is the villain, a British billionaire driven by greed to control world … More GOLD (1934)
Green Slime (1968) Director’s Kinji Fukasaku’s pop art interiors and space ships are filled not only with grade-B actors, but also with monsters that reproduce wildly into “an army of rubbery-looking goblins.” Their resemblance to R2-D2 remains uncanny. Ivan Reiner wrote and produced this story about a space station, Gamma 3, infected by these alien … More Green Slime (1968)
Island of Lost Souls (1932) 71 Min. Erle C. Kenton directed Philip Wylie’s adaptation of H. G. Welles’ The Island of Dr. Moreau in this Pre-Code horror from Paramount Pictures, in which a man (Richard Arlen), thrown off a ship, finds refuge on an obscure island where a doctor (Charles Laughton) is transforming animals into … More Island of Lost Souls (1932)
The Drowned World (1962) By J.G. Ballard. “These are the oldest memories on earth, the time codes carried in every chromosome and gene. Every step we’ve taken in our evolution is a milestone inscribed with organic memories. From the enzymes controlling the carbon-dioxide cycle, to the organization of the brachial plexus and the nerve pathways … More The Drowned World (1962) By J.G. Ballard
