Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
American International Pictures LLC is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979.
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 independently made American science fiction horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. It was produced by Bernard Woolner. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna, and the original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was distributed in the United States by Allied Artists as a double feature with War of the Satellites.
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is a 1992 American science fiction comedy film directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and the second installment of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series. Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Amy O'Neill, and Robert Oliveri return as the Szalinski family, while Keri Russell makes her film debut as Mandy Park. In the film, the family's two-year-old son Adam is accidentally exposed to Wayne's new industrial-sized growth machine, which causes him to gradually grow to enormous size. Wayne's coworker, Dr. Charles Hendrickson, wants the giant Adam stopped at all costs, and wishes to take control of Wayne's invention. The franchise continued with a direct-to-home video sequel, a television series, and theme-park attractions.
Village of the Giants is a 1965 American teensploitation comedy science fiction film produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon. Based loosely on H. G. Wells's 1904 book The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, it contains elements of the beach party film genre. The story concerns a gang of rebellious teens who gain access to a chemical substance called "Goo", which causes living things to grow to gigantic proportions. The cast is composed almost entirely of teenaged actors and young adults portraying teenagers. Also making musical guest appearances are The Beau Brummels, Freddy Cannon, and Mike Clifford. Gordon would later direct another adaptation of Wells' story, titled The Food of the Gods.
Bert Ira Gordon was an American filmmaker and visual effects artist. He is best known for screenwriting and producing and/or directing science fiction and horror B-movies such as King Dinosaur (1955), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Earth vs. the Spider (1958), Village of the Giants (1965), and Empire of the Ants (1977).
Planet of the Vampires is a 1965 science fiction horror film produced by Fulvio Lucisano, directed by Mario Bava, that stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell. The screenplay, by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Roman and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian-language science fiction short story, Renato Pestriniero's "One Night of 21 Hours". American International Pictures released the film as the supporting film on a double feature with Daniel Haller's Die, Monster, Die! (1965).
Mark Hanna was an American screenwriter and actor. He was known for writing the screenplays for many science fiction B movies in the 1950s, particularly Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. His first major screenplay was Gunslinger in 1956. He continued to be prolific through the mid-1960s, after which his film credits become sporadic. His last screenplay was for Star Portal in 1998, five years before his death from stroke complications.
Albert Glasser was a composer, conductor and arranger of film music, primarily in the realm of B-movies during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He scored approximately 200 films during his career, many for American International Pictures and director Bert I. Gordon. For the US War Department, Glasser composed for Frank Capra's Special Services Unit and for Office of War Information radio shows for overseas broadcasts. For television, he composed the score for the early western, The Cisco Kid. For radio, he composed scores for Hopalong Cassidy, Clyde Beatty, and Tarzan. Glasser joined ASCAP in 1950, and his popular song compositions include "Urubu", "The Cisco Kid", "Someday" and "I Remember Your Love". In addition to his composition work, Glasser was an amateur radio operator (K6RFU).
War of the Colossal Beast is a 1958 black-and-white science fiction film, written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon for his Carmel Productions, and starring Dean Parkin, Sally Fraser, and Roger Pace. It is the sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the bottom half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People. The film's storyline picks up where The Amazing Colossal Man left off, although it was not marketed as a sequel and features a different cast. The film's brief death-scene finale was filmed in color.
Attack of the Puppet People is a 1958 American black-and-white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon. It stars John Agar, John Hoyt and June Kenney. Gordon also supervised the film's special effects. American International Pictures released the film on June 30, 1958 as a double feature with War of the Colossal Beast.
The 1950s mark a significant change in the definition of the B movie. The transformation of the film industry due to court rulings that brought an end to many long-standing distribution practices as well as the challenge of television led to major changes in U.S. cinema at the exhibition level. These shifts signaled the eventual demise of the double feature that had defined much of the American moviegoing experience during Hollywood's Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s. Even as the traditional bottom-of-the-bill second feature slowly disappeared, the term B movie was applied more broadly to the sort of inexpensive genre films that came out during the era, such as those produced to meet the demands of the burgeoning drive-in theater market.
Earth vs. the Spider is an independently made 1958 American black-and-white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, who also provided the plot upon which the screenplay by George Worthing Yates and Laszlo Gorog was based. Though the title suggests a global crisis, the film focuses entirely on a small town being terrorized by a giant spider. The film stars Ed Kemmer, June Kenney and Eugene Persson. The special effects were by Bert I. Gordon and Paul Blaisdell. Earth vs. the Spider was released by American International Pictures as a double feature in different film markets with either The Brain Eaters or The Screaming Skull.
The Cyclops is a 1957 American science fiction horror film written, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, starring James Craig, Lon Chaney Jr. and Gloria Talbott.
George Worthing Yates was an American screenwriter and author. His early work was on serials shown in cinemas; he later progressed to feature films, primarily science fiction. He was the nephew of the head of Republic Pictures, Herbert Yates.
Alex Gordon was a British film producer and screenwriter.
Beyond the Time Barrier is a 1960 American science fiction film. It was released in September 1960 on a double bill with The Angry Red Planet. It starred Robert Clarke and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Ulmer's wife Shirley acted as a script editor while their daughter Arianne Arden appeared as a Russian pilot. It was one of two low budget sci-fi films shot back-to-back in Dallas, Texas by Ulmer. The combined filming schedule for both films was only two weeks.
Blood of Dracula is a 1957 American black-and-white horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Sandra Harrison, Louise Lewis and Gail Ganley. It was co-written by Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen.
Paul Blaisdell was an American painter, sculptor and visual effects creator, best remembered for his work in science fiction and horror B movies of the 1950s.
William Cassady Sizemore was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing Dr. McCarty in the third and fourth season of the American western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
