I love our local Carolina Cinemas but I’ve always wanted to go to the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. They have such wonderful screenings. Today (April 5th) they are having a showing of the Vincent Price classic, The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) in honor of Roger Corman’s birthday. Knoxville (Tennessee) Horror Film Festival is presenting two Roger Corman films on 16mm on the 7th – Battle Beyond the Stars and Death Race 2000.

That said there are plenty of Roger Corman goodies on instant Netflix. Here are just the ones he directed (before moving into producing):

Five Guns West (1955)

“An early effort by director Roger Corman — who would become famous for a long run of entertaining B-grade exploitation films — this Western tale follows five outlaws who are promised a pardon if they’ll take on a mission for the Confederacy. John Lund stars as Govern Sturges, the Confederate officer who leads the band of prisoners in their search for Union gold. Jazz great Buddy Bregman provides original music for the film.”

The Wasp Woman (1959)

“No longer the young stunner she once was, the queen bee (Susan Cabot) of a struggling cosmetics company turns to a potions expert (Michael Mark) who extracts an age-defying enzyme from the jelly of royal wasps. But no one’s prepared for the new cream’s side effects. Cult movie king Roger Corman directs this shocking black-and-white classic — and also appears in a quick, uncredited cameo as a doctor.”

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

“Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) is a shy busboy at a hip coffeehouse where beatnik poets perform. Yearning to be accepted into the world of avant-garde art, Paisley finally gets his chance when his sculpture of (and containing) a dead cat turns him into an overnight sensation. Barboura Morris, Ed Nelson and future game show host Bert Convy co-star in B-movie king Roger Corman’s classic black comedy.”

Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

“Down-on-his-luck plant-shop employee Seymour (Jonathan Haze) thinks he’s got it made when he develops a new Venus flytrap hybrid. Not so fast, Seymour: Turns out, the plant has not only a voice but also a voracious appetite … for human flesh! This 1960s cult classic directed by B-movie master Roger Corman and co-starring Jack Nicholson inspired a hit Broadway musical, a TV cartoon series and a 1986 remake.”

I wear a T-shirt with the movie poster for this film on it every time I go to the dentist. Thanks, Maya!

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

“Francis (John Kerr) visits the gloomy Spanish castle of his late sister Elizabeth’s husband, Nicholas (Vincent Price), to learn the reason for her death. Nicholas fears his wife isn’t really dead and that her spirit wanders the halls at night. Seems Nicholas’s father was a feared leader of the Spanish Inquisition; as a child, Nicholas saw his father torture his mother and bury her alive, and he’s convinced Elizabeth has suffered a similar fate.”

Tales of Terror (1962)

“It’s a triple threat of terror from the master of the genre: Edgar Allan Poe. This collection of three films — The Black Cat, Morella and The Case of M. Valdemar — offers everything horror fans can’t get enough of, from murder and dementia to live burials, open tombs, resurrection and zombies. And with three of horrordom’s greatest villains (Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone) in the lead roles, the chills are guaranteed.”

The Terror (1963)

“Lt. Andre Duvalier (played by a very young Jack Nicholson) is an officer in Napoleon’s army. When he pursues a mysterious woman into the castle of an elderly baron (Boris Karloff), he uncovers a bizarre plot: A witch (Dorothy Neumann) is planning to drive the baron to suicide. Duvalier soon finds himself in a world of supernatural treachery where nothing is what it seems in this thriller shot in just three days by B movie king Roger Corman.”

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

“At a 12th-century masked ball from hell, dissolute satanist Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) torments his guests, forcing them to participate in a variety of gruesome lethal games in this Roger Corman-directed horror flick based on two stories by Edgar Allen Poe. While most of the games end in someone’s death, those who survive Prospero’s amusements must endure the nightmare of torture and unthinkable depravity.”

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

“From director Roger Corman comes this supernatural tale of undying love set in the early 19th century. After the death of his wife, Ligeia, eccentric Verdon Fell (Vincent Price) will do anything to replace her, even if he must sacrifice his new wife, Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd). Plagued by eerie events in her new home, the terrified Rowena seeks help from former suitor Christopher (John Westbrook), but can he thwart Fell’s plan to revive Ligeia?”

The Secret Invasion (1964)

“After the Nazis lock up an Italian general who was about to become a turncoat and hand his army over to the Allies, five convicts are given a chance at redemption in exchange for infiltrating enemy territory and rescuing the general. Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes, Henry Silva and William Campbell play the commandos — led by British intelligence officer Stewart Granger — in this tense World War II drama directed by Roger Corman.”

The Wild Angels (1966)

“When someone steals Hells Angels member Loser’s bike, Loser (Bruce Dern) asks his buddy Blues (Peter Fonda) and his other pals to help him get the bike back — and get the guys who stole it. Unluckily, however, the cops show up while the Angels are in the middle of payback. When Loser gets shot while fleeing the cops, Blues devises a plot to rescue him from the hospital, but things go horribly wrong in this gritty biker flick from Roger Corman.”

Bloody Mama (1970)

“Shelley Winters stars in Roger Corman’s Depression-era gangster drama as Ma Barker, who leads her family on a crime spree. Loosely based on the real Barker gang, Corman’s film focuses on the family’s perversions. Look for a young Robert De Niro as a glue-sniffing druggie, Bruce Dern as an ex-con who joins the gang and climbs into Ma’s bed, and Robert Walden as Dern’s former cell mate and lover who isn’t happy about his mother’s new boyfriend.”

Well after three dentist appointments, two oral surgeon visits and three prescriptions I’m temporarily back to writing. I say temporarily because I have about a good half dozen visits to go in the next month. I hope to get ahead in the next few days so my schedule will be a little less unpredictable.

Apparently Netflix made some kind of deal to get Roger Corman movies because a slew of them became available today. I look forward to some schlocky drive-in goodness soon.

Humanoids from the Deep (1980) – Rated R

“From schlockmeister Roger Corman comes this creepy chiller about some mutant fish monsters who bring mayhem to a sleepy oceanside community as they kidnap — and mate with — the town’s nubile teenage girls.”

Grand Theft Auto (1977) – Rated PG

“When Sam and his wealthy girlfriend decide to run off to Las Vegas and get hitched, they steal a Rolls-Royce from the girl’s father and head for Sin City as their angry parents, a private eye and a gang of mobsters all give chase.”

Women in Cages (1971) – Rated R

“Gerardo de Leon directs a chick flick of a different sort. When sadistic women’s prison warden Alabama isn’t harassing her female inmates in her torture chamber, she’s maniacally seducing them, forcing them to bend to her every sexual whim.”

Caged Heat (1974) – Rated R

“A new inmate at a women’s prison falls in with a tough band of sex-starved chicks. When they incur the wrath of the prison’s sadistic warden, the girls are tortured with electroshock therapy. Now, the only thing they want is revenge.”

Crazy Mama (1975) – Rated PG

“In this joyous, unrelentlessly kitschy celebration of 1950s America, three outlaw ladies head back to their hometown to take over a family farm that was lost during the Great Depression. Along the way, the ladies pick up some strange men.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979) – Rated PG

“This musical comedy cult classic follows Vince Lombardi High School’s fervent love of rock ‘n’ roll — particularly The Ramones — and the students’ quest to party. After a few principals have gone nuts and quit, the latest one tries to end the fun.”

The Big Bird Cage (1972) – Rated R

“The girlfriend of a radical guerilla leader named Django, buxom bad girl Blossom and her man devise a plan to liberate the inmates of a local women’s prison when Django’s mercenary friends itch for some female companionship.”

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) – Rated PG

“With the peaceful planet of Akir in peril, seven mercenaries join forces to protect it from the plottings of an intergalactic megalomaniac in this Roger Corman-produced sci-fi fantasy inspired by The Seven Samurai.”