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Last year, legendary filmmaker John Carpenter teamed up with Shout! Factory to host a kaiju movie marathon called Masters of Monsters, which consisted of the original Godzilla film, Rodan; Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, and The War of the Gargantuas. That marathon was re-run earlier this month. Now the folks at Far Out magazine have dug up a 1996 article from Film Comment magazine in which Carpenter named The War of the Gargantuas as “the ultimate Japanese monster movie” – and included it on a list of his seventeen favorite “guilty pleasure” movies. It’s a fun list, so we have it included below, with thanks to this site.

Carpenter started out the Film Comment guilty pleasures article by saying, “I wasn’t raised a Catholic, so guilt never played much of a role in my life. We Methodists don’t worry about guilt all that much. In terms of cinema, however, guilt has always been very important.

Filmed under the title The Trance of Diana Love, this period time travel fantasy is one of Roger Corman’s most distinctive Aip cheapies, wackily conceived and almost absurdly ambitious, but resourcefully shot on a shoestring. Probably the sexiest showcase the statuesque Allison Hayes ever had. We get witches, imps, reincarnated courtesans and the Devil himself, played outrageously by Corman regular Richard Devon. Lots of fun.

He sings, he fixes cars, and he takes punches better than De Niro’s Raging Bull. Elvis Presley excels in one of his few ’60s pictures that shows an interest in being a ‘real movie,’ a remake of a boxing saga with entertaining characters and fine direction from noir specialist Phil Karlson. Plus Charles Bronson, Lola Albright and Joan Blackman in standout roles.

Kid Galahad

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1962 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson, Robert Emhardt, Liam Redmond, Judson Pratt, Ned Glass, George Mitchell, Roy Roberts, Michael Dante, Richard Devon, Jeff Morris, Edward Asner, Frank Gerstle, Seamon Glass, Bert Remsen.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

Written by William Fay, Francis Wallace

Produced by David Weisbart

Directed by Phil Karlson

What, a good Elvis Presley picture?...

While other releases in the Shout! Factory’s Roger Corman’s Cult Classics focus on his producing credits, the recent Sci-Fi Classics showcases three of his early directorial works. Oh, he also produced all three, worked with the writers on the scripts and even pitched the projects to investors. Like many directors today, when you call something a "Corman film", it’s because he’s influenced the project from the start.

First up is Attack of the Crab Monsters, which manages to be quite effective despite its ludicrous premise. A group of scientists arrive on a remote Pacific island to study the effects of fallout from recent nuclear testing in the Pacific. They also want to discover what happened to the first team, which disappeared without a trace.

It’s not long before mysterious things start to happen. A sailor is pulled out of the water without his head, the...

Hey Fiends! Happy Monday! Got another list of flicks on the format of your choice.

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Triple Feature (Attack of the Crab Monsters / War of the Satellites / Not of This Earth)

Format: DVD

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Three Films Produced And Directed By Honorary Academy Award Recipient And King Of B-Movies, Roger Corman: With All New Film Transfers From The Negative!

In Attack Of The Crab Monsters, a group of scientists become marooned on an island while investigating the disappearance of researchers who were looking into atomic activity in the Pacific. They quickly fall prey to giant, mutant crustaceans that have the ability to absorb the minds of their prey. Starring Russell Johnson (Gilligans Island), Richard Garland and Mel Welles (Little Shop Of Horrors).

An alien comes to Earth, masquerading as a human, to scout our planet for a new blood source in Not Of This Earth. He needs...

Does claustrophobia set in easily for you? Then you may want to steer clear of the video aisles of your favorite stores as last year's intense buried alive flick (starring the future Green Lantern) is coming on home.

Being that this is another light week release wise, you don't have too many other options. That is unless you're in the mood for high speed chases featuring coffin-looking vehicles that could end up causing just as much anxiety.

Or maybe you'd just like to find comfort in another Roger Corman fest from a kinder, gentler era - a triple treat that has nothing to do with coffins. Yay!

Buried (Blu-ray Review)

Directed by Rodrigo Cortés

Starring Ryan Reynolds, and the voices of Samantha Mathis, Erik Palladino, José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky

Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up six feet underground with no...

In 2010 Shout! Factory delivered us stellar editions of some truly classic Roger Corman films. The best part? They have no signs of slowing down in 2011! That's right, kids, five more flicks are on the way on January 18th that are bound to bring a smile to your horror-loving face!

From the Press Release

Roger Corman’S Cult Classics: Sci-fi Classics Triple-feature Collector’S Edition 2-dvd Set

In Attack Of The Crab Monsters, a group of scientists become marooned on an island while investigating the disappearance of researchers who were looking into atomic activity in the Pacific. They quickly fall prey to giant, mutant crustaceans that have the ability to absorb the minds of their prey. Starring Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island), Richard Garland and Mel Welles (Little Shop Of Horrors). Attack Of The Crab Monsters is a Roger Corman Production. Produced and directed by Roger Corman; screenplay by Charles B. Griffith.

Character actor Richard Devon was a familiar face in films and television from the early 1950s. He was often cast as desperados and gangsters in western and crime films. He was also noted for his roles in a handful of Roger Corman cult classics in the 1950s. Devon was featured as Satan in the supernatural tale of past lives, The Undead (1957), with Pamela Duncan and Allison Hayes. He was King Stark of the Grimolts in the campy The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957), with Abby Dalton and Susan Cabot, and was the alien possessed Dr. Pol Van Ponder in the sci-fi feature War of the Satellites (1958) with Cabot and Dick Miller.

Devon worked his way through drama school in Los Angeles, performing chores in lieu of paying tuition. He also worked in early local television, and played a recurring...