Author Archive: Retro

Also known as Alraune and Mandrake, The Unnatural is a kinky science fiction film, elevated by the bravura performance of Erich Von Stroheim. Playing a mad scientist (again?), Von Stroheim artificially inseminates an addled prostitute with the sperm of a vicious murderer. The result of this unholy union grows up to be Hildegarde Neff, who is none too stable herself. Combining the worst traits of both her parents, Neff lures unsuspecting males to premature deaths. Just when Neff is about to consummate her first genuine romance with Karl Bohm, she is killed by Von Stroheim, who has long harbored incestuous feelings for his “foster daughter.” Officially, The Unnatural was adapted by Fritz Rotter from a novel by H. H. Ewers, but one has the impression that Von Stroheim might have dropped a few suggestions of his own here and there.

Inventor designs a TV receiver which can pick up a signal anywhere in the world. When he’s found murdered, an FBI agent must use the invention to find the killer. Dir. Clifford Sanforth

Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives at the isolated Stephens Sanitarium to work only to learn that Dr. Stephens was murdered by one of the patients and his successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, is in charge and not very eager to have her working there. Charlotte finds her job hard as the patients torment and harass her at every turn. But that’s only half of it as Charlotte slowly discovers that Dr. Masters is not who she says she is for the whole asylum has been taken over by the patients bent on murder and mayhem, and Masters turns out to be one of them.

Crazy old man living in Furnace Flats, Texas makes a deal with the devil to return after death as his younger self. Soon, strange things begin happening in Furnace Flats…. Dir. Charles R. Rondeau

A little seen gem from suspense master Dario Argento. An American novelist visiting Rome becomes a suspect in a series of murders.

Young architect must reconstruct and solve a murder where the suspects are six shopowners who work in the building he designed. Written by Elmer Clifton. Dir. Elmer Clifton

Two old maid sisters are running a little family hotel in Spain. They are very religious and the moral of the foreign tourist girl is too much for them, they start to kill them.

Quirt Evans, an all round bad guy, is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth, a Quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose between his world and the world Penelope lives in.