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What makes a scary movie scary

by Ludovico Cudia

Created on: March 07, 2009   Last Updated: March 08, 2009

In the early eighties when I was a teenager, there was a program on in the Boston area called Creature Double Feature. This was a great program. Every Saturday between 1PM and 4PM the couch was reserved. My brother and I loved to see which B-rated 50's or 60's movie they would show each week.

Granted most of these movies were old and the quality was not always that great. With names like "The Amazing Colossal Man", "The Monster that Challenged the World" and Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster" some people would say no thanks. However, these movies were actually very entertaining. Although the sound quality and special effect weren't always the best and quite literally hilarious at times these movies seemed to always give us a little scare now and again.

One movie in particular really stuck with me when it came to scary movies. Over the years my brother and I and later my wife and I became what some would call horror movie junkies. We see them all and rate them accordingly. Most are the same old stories rehashed into another boring satire of zombies, mutants, mutant zombies or zombie mutants whatever, possessions, ghosts and the like. Some of the truly good ones are hard to find. Anyway, back to the movie that stuck with me. For all of its mistakes and quality issues it is a really scary moving. The name of the movie is The Astounding She-Monster AKA Mysterious Invader. The original name was going to be The Naked Invader. When you see the movie you will see why this name would have been perfect.

This movie was released in 1957 in black and white. Written by Frank Hall and directed by a man named Ronald V. Ashcroft. This was the first of Ashcroft's many 50's era B-rated horror flicks, hence the poor quality. The main character the She-Monster was played by a little known actress actually a former stripper model by the name of Shirley Kilpatrick a true cult classic beauty. She wore a form fitting, needless to say very form fitting suit throughout the entire movie. Very sexy woman with a killer body, stare and touch. The movie is set in a remote cabin hide away with a gang of miscreants who have just kidnapped a California socialite. The leading man is played by Robert Clarke who just so happens to be a scientist. HAHA, very funny, trust me the movie is silly but, very cool. This is the epitome of Atomic Age Cult Classics that anyone that loves horror flicks should see for themselves.

Now back to the plot! The bad guys bring the socialite to this remote cabin where the

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