Show Notes
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we dive into The Gorilla (1939), a film that can’t decide if it wants to be a horror, mystery, or a comedy routine — so it stumbles into being neither. Starring the Ritz Brothers, who spend most of the runtime mugging for the camera, and poor Bela Lugosi, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, the movie offers a killer gorilla that spends less time on screen than the family butler. I take you through the paper-thin plot: a wea...
More from The Introverted Obelisk
Send us Fan Mail James Whale’s Frankenstein didn’t invent the mad scientist, the laboratory full of questionable equipment, or the idea of creating life where nature probably intended otherwise, but it brought them together so perfectly that horror movies have been borrowing from it ever since. Released by Universal in 1931, Frankenstein stars Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein, a young scientist determined to discover the secret of life, and Boris Karloff in the role that transformed both his...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, Obie Knox digs into 1941’s The Wolf Man, one of Universal’s defining monster movies and one of the most influential werewolf films ever made. After an encounter with a mysterious wolf leaves Larry wounded and Bela the fortune teller dead, Larry begins to fear that the old legends are true and that he has become a werewolf. We look at Lon Chaney Jr.’s sympathetic performance as the doomed Larry Talbot, Claude Rains as his father Sir ...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we venture into the Amazon to revisit Universal's 1954 classic, Creature from the Black Lagoon. After exploring the fascinating history behind the creation of the Gill-man—including Milicent Patrick's long-overlooked contribution to the creature's iconic design—we dive into the film itself, following an expedition that discovers far more than a fossilized claw. As scientists push deeper into the mysterious Black Lagoon in search of ...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, Obie Knox journeys back to 1932 to explore one of the films that helped define classic horror: The Mummy. Long before shambling bandaged monsters became Halloween staples, Universal introduced audiences to a far more unsettling vision of the undead—an ancient Egyptian priest whose greatest weapon isn't brute strength, but patience. The story begins when an archaeological expedition uncovers the tomb of Imhotep, an ancient priest bur...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, Obie Knox travels to 17th-century Moldavia for Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (1960), a gorgeous Gothic nightmare that begins with one of the more memorable executions in horror history. Barbara Steele stars as Princess Asa Vajda, a witch condemned to death by her own brother and fitted with a particularly unpleasant spiked mask before promising revenge on his descendants. Two centuries later, an unfortunate encounter with her tomb sets ...