Scream Scene Podcast

From Warner Bros comes THE BAD SEED (1956), directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack! The original novel from William March was an instant best seller; the Broadway adaptation by Maxwell Anderson won a Pulitzer; but is the film version as subversive as it really wants to be? Strap in, children, for this jam-packed episode! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 42:36; Discuss...

Hypnotized! Your deadicated hosts experience THE SHE-CREATURE (1956) from director Edward L Cahn and starring Chester Morris, Maria English and Lance Fuller. Plus, an exciting announcement awaits! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 22:12; Discussion 37:48; Ranking 1:09:08

Roger Corman is back with the sci-fi horror film IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956) starring Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef (no really!), Beverly Garland and Sally Fraser. Will this Venusian save us from ourselves?? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 19:30; Discussion 33:52; Ranking 1:02:03

Your deadicated hosts return to Japan for YOTSUYA KAIDAN (1956) from director Masaki Mori and starring the Lone Wolf himself, Tomisaburo Wakayama! The previous 1949 adaptation failed to make the list... will this B-movie version suffer the same fate? Please note the episode includes discussion of domestic violence, sexual assault and suicide due to the plot(s) of YOTSUYA KAIDAN. Context setting 00...

Can the sympathetic werewolf figure be separated from Lon Chaney's Larry Talbot? We try to answer that question with THE WEREWOLF (1956) from director Fred Sears and producer Sam Katzman! Steven Ritch plays the science-based werewolf facing off Don Megowan's small town sheriff. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 13:14; Discussion 30:20; Ranking 50:13

This 1956 throwback to the classic Universal horror of the '40s strikes at your hosts' hearts and brains! It's THE BLACK SLEEP from director Reginald LeBorg starring horror icons Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 27:29; Discussion 43:18; Ranking 59:22

Will Gill-man finally get his girl? The final Gill-man movie and the end of Universal's classic monster series arrives with THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956) from director John Sherwood and starring Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason and Leigh Snowden. Ricou Browning returns as the (water-based) Gill-man while big boy Don Megowan plays Gill-man on land. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 22:45; Discussion 42:5...

What would auteur theory have to say about Jerry Warren? Listen and find out! Jerry Warren produces, writes and directs MAN BEAST (1956) starring Tom Maruzzi, Virginia Maynor and Brianne Murphy. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:58; Discussion 24:46; Ranking 39:05

They're here! And you're next!! Your deadicated hosts enter 1956 with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS from director Don Siegel and producer Walter Wanger, based on the Jack Finney novel. The film is often viewed with a Cold War, Red Scare lens, but is it really Communism we're supposed to be afraid of? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 43:38; Discussion 1:00:33; Ranking 1:35:49

From the studio that brought us Roger Corman, it's THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES (1955, Milner) featuring Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs and a sad mutated sea serpent! The film includes our first female suit actor Norma Hanson and a few other easter eggs... but will this horror be "excellent" or will it sputter out to sea? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:19; Discussion 38:19; Ranking 1:02:00

So you find yourself locked in a shelter with 6 strangers after a nuclear war, fending off starvation and mutants alike? Consider this movie a how-to guide! It's DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955) directed by Roger Corman with Richard Denning, Lori Nelson and Paul Birch! A precursor to the likes of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, will your deadicated hosts survive to the end? Listen an...

The experimental and surreal DEMENTIA (1955, Parker) aka DAUGHTER OF HORROR confounds and delights your deadicated hosts! The strange offspring of film noir and German expressionism stars Adrienne Barrett and Bruno Ve Sota with music by George Antheil. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 33:43; Discussion 50:49; Ranking 1:28:14

Hammer Film Productions begins their journey into horror with THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955)! From director Val Guest, this sci-fi horror flick makes a splash on British and American silver screens. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 37:53; Discussion 54:43; Ranking 1:14:01

Roger Corman returns with THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES (1955, Kramarsky et al), starring Paul Birch, Lorna Thayer, Dona Cole and featuring the first collaboration between monster creator Paul Blaisdell and producer Roger Corman. Isolation, paranoia and killer birds threaten a local family, with love being the only way out of the surrealist horror the characters find themselves in. Context setting...

We go back in time, briefly, to introduce esteemed B-movie producer Roger Corman to the Scream Scene universe with MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954, Ordung). See the humble beginnings where Corman first steps into showbiz, as well as discussion about why he made it while Ed Wood did not. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 24:50; Discussion 34:56; Ranking 53:09

From Ishirō Honda comes JÛ JIN YUKI OTOKO (1955), his followup to GOJIRA featuring Akira Takarada, Akemi Negishi and Sanshirō Sagara! Sealed away by Toho due to protests by the Buraku Liberation League, will this film hold up to its reputation? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 50:07; Discussion 1:08:28; Ranking 1:34:42

Back from vacation, we sit down to watch THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955), the first and only film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish and Billy Chapin. With stylish stark lighting and intense tone setting, your deadicated hosts discuss horror for children and religion in this southern Gothic fable! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 1:11:45; Discussi...

From Universal Pictures, it's CULT OF THE COBRA (1955, Lyon) slithering its way into your homes... and your hearts?! Starring Faith Domergue, Marshall Thompson, and Richard Long, the film questions if the real horror are the snakes, or post-war guilt! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 21:01; Discussion 47:04; Ranking 1:13:19

The last 3D movie from "the golden age of 3D," it's REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955) from director Jack Arnold! Revenge is a dish best served like a cold fish as Gill-Man rampages across MarineLand! Starring John Agar, Lori Nelson and John Bromfield. Plus, the appearance of teens and the first acting job of... CLINT EASTWOOD?? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 27:30; Discussion 44:34; Ranking 1:13:49

Submitted for your approval are THREE CASES OF MURDER (1955, Toye, Eady, More O'Ferrall, Welles), an anthology film from Britain featuring Alan Badel and Orson Welles. Some segments are better than others, but all are restrained in that British sort of way... are they thrilling enough to be horror? Context setting 00:00; First segment synopsis 32:04 and discussion 37:45; Second segment synopsis 45...

The screen's master of the WEIRD in his newest and most daring SHOCKER! Bela Lugosi stars in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955) from Ed Wood! The film also stars Tony McCoy, Tor Johnson and Loretta King. Plus, hear your deadicated hosts talk about GLEN OR GLENDA and the pathos of Bela Lugosi! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 30:38; Discussion 46:40; Ranking 58:28

Your deadicated hosts received an appeal of CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943, Dmytryk), currently ranked at #62. To see the full list of films ranked, visit screamscenepodcast.tumblr.com

What came first, horror or thriller? Is something horror from what it inspires? Did the chicken or the egg come first? Your deadicated hosts ask the real, hard, philosophical questions as they watch LES DIABOLIQUES (1955, Clouzot) starring Véra Clouzot and Simone Signoret. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 39:08; Discussion 51:38; Ranking 1:09:41

We enter the mysterious mind of Herbert Tevos for MESA OF LOST WOMEN (1953), directed by Tevos and Ron Ormond! There's a giant spider (gross) and sexy spider babes (better). Just what does this strange movie have in store for your hosts?? Starring Jackie Coogan, Robert Knapp, Harmon Stevens, Tandra Quinn, and featuring the voice of Lyle Talbot. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 23:54; Discussion 45:...

We go back in time to Finland for the earliest example of folk horror: 1952's VALKOINEN PEURA from director Erik Blomberg! The film, The White Reindeer in English, is a special fairytale featuring a vampiric were-reindeer witch inspired by Sami myth. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 29:01; Discussion 48:19; Ranking 1:11:16