Murder by Television (1935)

Murder by Television (1935)

Prof. James Houghland (Charles Hill Mailes) has invented a new technology for that newest of new products: the television. Multiple companies want his invention, and secretive people threaten him. During his demonstration, he is murdered. Nelson, the chief of police (Henry Mowbray) has many suspects, including Houghland’s assistant Dr. Arthur Perry (Bela Lugosi), medical experimentalist

El fantasma del convento (1934)

El fantasma del convento (1934)

Somewhat effeminate Eduardo (Carlos Villatoro), his wife Cristina (Marta Roel), and Eduardo’s more manly friend Alfonso (Enrique del Campo) get lost while walking in the woods at night. A strange man with his dog, Shadow, appears and offers to take them to the nearby monastery of the cloistered Order of Silence. There they are taken

El misterio del rostro pálido {Mystery of the Ghastly Face} (1935)

El misterio del rostro pálido {Mystery of the Ghastly Face} (1935)

Forceful and obsessed Doctor Forti (Carlos Villarías ) carries out strange medical experiments in his home, aided by his weak-willed son, Pablo (Joaquín Busquets). Pablo wanted only to play the violin and marry Forti’s beautiful ward Angélica (Beatriz Ramos) but instead does what Forti commands. Both Pablo’s Aunt Doña Engracia (Natalia Ortiz) and the butler

The Mad Monster (1942)

The Mad Monster (1942)

Disgraced mad scientist Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (George Zucco) has developed a serum that turns humans into werewolves. He plans to use it on his mentally deficient handyman, Petro (Glenn Strange), to seek revenge on the scholars who he feels have ridiculed him. His daughter, Lenora (Anne Nagel) finds their exile to a swamp troublesome and

Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

While I cannot say that each of the Swashbucklers I chose changed the genre, I can claim that each is a signpost in the genre’s development (or in some cases, its stability).  But Cyrano de Bergerac is an exception, it is not on that road; it is a detour.  It is different than its predecessors

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)

Mike, having found out that he is going to become an alien, or is already an alien, or is carrying an alien in his head (it’s not clear, and is never made clear) goes off on his own, chased, often in his dreams, by The Tall Man. Reggie tries to either rescue Mike or kill

On Borrowed Time (1939)

On Borrowed Time (1939)

Julian Northrup (Lionel Barrymore), the argumentative and crippled grandfather and caretaker for Pud, is in a custody battle with his deceased wife’s unpleasant sister (Eily Malyon), but he has run out of time. Death has come for him, but with a surprisingly simple trick, he manages to trap the agent of death, Mr. Brink (Cedric

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

In this fifth film in the Underworld series, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), last of the Death Dealers, is hunted by both vampires and lycans. Some want her dead. Some want her special blood. And some want information on the location of her child, who has even more special blood. The lycans, empowered by their new blood-addicted

Jonah Hex (2010)

Jonah Hex (2010)

In the old west that never was, Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) was disfigured and his family murdered by General Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). The events gave Hex the power to speak to the dead. Years later, Turnbull has returned with a plan to destroy the U.S. government, and President Grant wants Hex to stop him.

The Girl With All the Gifts (2016)

The Girl With All the Gifts (2016)

At a military base, ten years after a fungal plague kicked off the zombie apocalypse, a group of unusual children are kept in cells, allowed out only when strapped into chairs. Melanie (Sennia Nanua) is one of those children, happy even while abused by her military captors, particularly Sgt. Parks (Paddy Considine). She’s the best

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla (2014)

In 1999, a Japanese nuclear reaction accident, tied to the discovery of giant monster fossils in The Philippines, killed nuclear engineer Joe Brody’s (Bryan Cranston) wife. Now, Brody is obsessed with discovering the secret of what really happened, a secret that involves a giant monster known as a MUTO. Brody’s son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) gets

Life (2017)

Life (2017)

Six astronauts on the international space station—a medic (Jake Gyllenhaal), a Ryan Reynolds-like pilot (Ryan Reynolds), a handicapped biologist (Ariyon Bakare), a CDC safety officer (Rebecca Ferguson), a computer guy (Hiroyuki Sanada), and the captain (Olga Dihovichnaya)—recover a microscopic life form from a Mars probe and start to experiment with it. Naturally, it grows until