Movies... For Free! House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


House on Haunted Hill, 1959.

Directed by William Castle.
Starring Vincent Price, Carolyn Craig, Richard Long, Elisha Cook Jr., Carol Ohmart, Alan Marshal and Julie Mitchum.

A low-budget b-movie horror from 1959, William Castle's House on Haunted Hill stars Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren, who invites five random strangers to attend a party for his fourth wife Annabelle (Carolyn Craig). Loren then offers them a proposal: to spend a night in his haunted mansion - the location of a series of brutal murders - in return for $10,000 each, payable upon their survival. Warning the guests that their host is psychotic, Annabelle soon commits suicide and the strangers begin to experience a series of macabre events with no means of escape from the terror...

Director Castle employed a unique promotional gimmick known as 'Emergo' during the film's original theatrical run, which utilised a pulley system to frighten the audience by dragging a plastic skeleton above their heads. House on Haunted Hill proved to be a huge financial success and prompted Alfred Hitchcock to develop a low-budget horror of his own, resulting in the 1960 classic Psycho, while it was also the subject of a remake in 1999 starring Geoffrey Rush and Famke Janssen.


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Movies... For Free! Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Howl's Moving Castle, 2004.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Featuring the voice talents of Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal, Emily Mortimer and Josh Hutcherson [English dub].


Based on British author Diana Wynne Jones' 1986 childrens' fantasy novel and adapted by legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle is one of the most financially successful Japanese films of all-time (with worldwide receipts of $235m) and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2006 Academy Awards.

It tells the story of teenager Sophie, who is turned into an old woman by the evil Witch of the Waste and finds refuge as a cleaner in the castle of a young wizard, Howl, who is reluctantly preparing for war with the neighbouring realm at the behest of the King. On board Howl's castle Sophie befriends Calcifer, a fire demon bound by a contract to the young wizard, and Howl's apprentice Markl, and together they set about to lift the Witch's curse and bring peace to the kingdom.

The English dub presented here was overseen by Pixar's Pete Doctor (director of Monsters, Inc. and Up), and received a theatrical release in North America courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.

For more on the works of Hayao Miyazaki, be sure to check out Trevor Hogg's comprehensive five part profile Drawn to Anime.

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Short Film Showcase - On Your Mark (1995)

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Movies... For Free! Night Tide (1961)

Showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


Night Tide, 1961.
Directed by Curtis Harrington.
Starring Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir and Luana Anders.

A low budget offering from American International Pictures and writer-director Curtis Harrington, Night Tide stars Dennis Hopper as young sailor Johnny Drake. Enjoying his shore leave in Venice Beach, California, Johnny meets a mysterious 'mermaid' called mora (Linda Lawson) at a marina carnival attraction. Sparking up a relationship, Johnny discovers that all of Mora's previous lovers have died in suspicious circumstances. Mora believes herself to be a descendent of the Sirens, seductresses from Greek mythology who lure sailors to their deaths, and is frequently visited by the sinister Madame Romanovitch (Marjorie Eaton), who calls out for Mora to fulfil her destiny. Will Johnny become the latest victim, or can Mora resist her temptation?

Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival in 1961, it would be a further two years before Night Tide saw general release via Roger Corman's Filmgroup as part of a double-bill with The Raven (1963). It also features Corman regular Luana Anders, who would appear in later Hopper works including The Trip (1967) and Easy Rider (1969), and was selected for preservation by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.


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Movies... For Free! Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

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Plan 9 From Outer Space, 1959.

Directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.
Starring Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Dudley Manlove, Vampira and Bela Lugosi.

Ed Wood's farcical sci-fi horror Plan 9 From Outer Space is routinely cited as the worst film ever to grace the screen, although its multitude of goofs, continuity problems, cheesey effects, absurd dialogue and no-budget set design have seen it gain cult status as one of the best unintentional comedies around.

Originally conceived as a vehicle to promote as Bela Lugosi's final film (the actor had died in 1956 after shooting a few minutes of footage with Woods for a horror entitled Tomb of the Vampire), the plot surrounds an alien plan (number nine, naturally) to resurrect Earth's dead as zombies. Lugosi makes only a fleeting appearance (with the remainder of his role filled out by 'lookalike' Tom Mason a.k.a. Ghoul Man with Cape Over Face) - while the cast also features Woods' regulars The Amazing Criswell and Tor Johnson alongside 50s TV horror personality Vampira.

Since being popularised in the 1980s Plan 9 has been used as the basis for an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and featured prominently in Tim Burton's biopic Ed Wood (1994), while a couple of remakes - Plan 9 and Grave Robbers From Outer Space (the film's original title) - are also in the works.



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Movies... For Free! Häxan (1922)

"Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


Häxan a.k.a Witchcraft Through the Ages, 1922.

Directed by Benjamin Christensen.
Starring Benjamin Christensen and Maren Pedersen.

Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen's Häxan is a documentary examining the history of witches and demons within medieval culture and is inspired by the director's own studies into The Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on witchcraft by two Catholic Inquisitors which is said to have been one of the key factors in the witch-hunts of Early Modern Europe.

The film begins by illustrating the medieval view of the heavens and in particular Hell through the use of photographs, models and animation, before a series of dramatic reconstructions including The Devil (Christensen) tormenting a group of monks and a fameous, controversial sequence whereby The Witch (Pedersen) describes in great detail the events of the Witches' Sabbath. Finally Christensen looks to demonstrate how the medieval superstitions could be explained today, arguing that those accused of witchcraft may have suffered from mental illnesses unrecognised by the science of the time.

The most expensive silent film in Scandinavian history, Häxan was highly controversial due to its graphic content (including torture and sexual perversion) and was banned from release in the United States. A re-edited version running just 77 minutes and featuring narration from the novelist William S. Burroughs was released in 1968, while the full-length original is presented below...


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Movies... For Free! Death Rides a Horse (1967)

"Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


Death Rides a Horse, 1967.

Directed by Giulio Petroni.
Starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.

Death Rides a Horse (Italian: Da uomo a uomo) is a Spaghetti Western directed by Giulio Petroni and featuring a musical score from the legendary Ennio Morricone (The Dollars Trilogy). Cult actor John Phillip Law (Barbarella) stars as Bill Meceita, a young gunfighter who fifteen years earlier had witnessed the execution of his family by a gang of outlaws. Driven by a thirst for vengeance, Bill sets out to track the gang members and soon encounters Ryan (Western veteran Lee Van Cleef), an aging gunman with his own score to settle.

Featuring gritty action and a dark, revisionist approach that sees innocent women and children brutally murdered by members of the 'civilized' Old West society, Death Rides a Horse is a fine example of the Italo-Western sub-genre. Director Quentin Tarantino would pay homage to the film with his two-part martial arts thriller Kill Bill (which reuses Morricone's main theme and employs a number of similar visual techniques and plot elements) and although it naturally fails to reach the heights of Sergio Leone's classics, the film is certainly highly recommended.



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Movies... For Free! The Fast and the Furious (1955)

"Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


The Fast and the Furious, 1955.

Directed by John Ireland and Edward Sampson.
Starring John Ireland and Dorothy Malone.

The first offering from American Releasing Company (which would go on to become American International Pictures the following year), The Fast and the Furious stars John Ireland as Frank Webster, a man wrongfully convicted of murder and heading for Mexico after breaking out of jail. With the police hot on his heels, Frank enters a cross-border race after kidnapping a young woman (Dorothy Malone) who happens to be the proud owner of a flash sports car.

Based on a story by low-budget maestro Roger Corman (who also produces and features on-screen as a race car driver), The Fast and The Furious was co-directed by its leading man and also features cinematography from Corman regular and Academy Award winner Floyd Crosby (Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, 1931).

Apart from sharing the same title (the rights of which were purchased by Universal) this 1955 effort bears no resemblance to Rob Cohen's 2001 Vin Diesel franchise-starter, while the plot was also reused in the 1994 comedy adventure The Chase, starring Charlie Sheen and Kirsty Swanson.



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Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
The Last Woman on Earth (1960)
The Intruder (1962)
Dementia 13 (1963)

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Movies... For Free! The Outlaw (1943)

"Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


The Outlaw, 1943.

Directed by Howard Hughes.
Starring Jane Russell, Jack Buetel and Thomas Mitchell.

Silver screen siren Jane Russell makes her debut in the controversial romantic western The Outlaw from legendary American industrialist and film producer Howard Hughes, who took over directing duties after an uncredited Howard Hawks left the project in favour of 1941 war biopic Sergeant York. The film centres on a fued between famed Old West gunslingers Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) and Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) after the young outlaw seduces Holliday's girlfriend Rio (Russell), and also features Thomas Mitchell as newly appointed Lincoln, NM sheriff Pat Garrett.

Production originally wrapped in 1941, but Hughes - who had embarked on a nationwide search to find an actress with suitable 'talents' for the part of Rio - ran into major difficulties with the Motion Picture Production Code due to the film's highly sexualised content and emphasis on Russell's cleavage. After making a number of cuts the film was finally approved but Hughes decided to shelve the movie when local state censors demanded further revisions. The controversy surrounding The Outlaw (along with a provocative advertising campaign) resulted in the film becoming a box-office hit when it eventually received a general release in 1946.



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His Girl Friday (1940)
Lady of Burlesque (1943)

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Movies... For Free! The Intruder (1962)

"Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


The Intruder a.k.a. Shame (reissue) a.k.a. I Hate Your Guts (reissue) a.k.a. The Stranger (UK), 1962.

Directed by Roger Corman.
Starring William Shatner.

Legendary low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman produces and directs this 1962 drama about segregation and racial tensions in the American South. The film stars a pre-Star Trek William Shatner in the lead role of Adam Cramer, a racist who sets about to incite hatred against the black minority of the fictitious small town of Caxton as they prepare to integrate the local high school. Using his charm to manipulate the views of many of the townsfolk, Cramer's extremism culminates in the creation of a lynch mob, with only a handful of residents brave enough stand against the violence.

Despite being regarded by many as one of his best movies, The Intruder is the only picture in his catalogue where Corman admits to losing money, with the film released under a number of different titles in an effort to turn a profit. Corman blamed William Shatner's performance - far removed from his now familiar persona - for the film's poor box-office, with Shatner later joking that the title I Hate Your Guts was aimed towards him. Nevertheless, the film makes for memorable - albeit disturbing - viewing due to its controversial themes and edgy content.



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The Fast and the Furious (1955)
Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
The Last Woman on Earth (1960)
Dementia 13 (1963)

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Movies... For Free! M (1931)

Welcome to this week's "Movies... For Free!" column, where we showcase classic movies freely available in the public domain (with streaming video!). Read the article and watch the movie right here!


M, Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, 1931.

Directed by Fritz Lang.
Starring Peter Lorre and Otto Wernicke.

M is the first sound feature from acclaimed Expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang - described by the British Film Institute as the "Master of Darkness" - and is a highly influential masterpiece of the thriller genre. Written by Lang along with his wife Thea von Harbou, a Nazi sympathiser who would later join the NSDAP, M is a powerful, cold and brutal piece of cinema that explores themes of morality, justice and hysteria.

The film stars Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert, a German child killer and presumed paedophile whose brutal crimes are terrorising Berlin. When the police investigation headed by Inspector Lohmann (Wernicke) fails to identify the murderer, members of the underworld join in the manhunt in order to protect their business interests in the city. This leads to a race between the police and criminals, who eventually trace and capture Beckert and subject him to a kangaroo court that serves to explore the twisted and tormented mind of the killer.

Considered by Lang to be his finest work, M was a success upon release and helped to launch the international career of Peter Lorre, who would often return to the role of the villainous psychopath (see his turn in Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much). It also served as a breakthrough for Otto Wernicke, who reunite with the director and the character of Inspector Lohmann in Lang's next movie, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933).

The film is rumoured to be inspired by the real life case of "The Vampire of Düsseldorf" Peter Kürten; a suggestion denied by the director.



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Movies... For Free! The Street Fighter (1974)

Welcome to this week's "Movies... For Free!" column, where we showcase classic movies freely available in the public domain (with streaming video!). Read the article and watch the movie right here...


The Street Fighter, 1974.

Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa.
Starring Sonny Chiba, Goichi Yamada, and Yutaka Nakajima.

After the phenominal world-wide success of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973), which really introduced the martial arts genre to Western audiences, Japanese production house Toei Company decided to capitalise on this new market with the release of The Street Fighter, starring Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba.

Chiba stars as Takuma Tsurugi, a master martial artist who is approached by Yakuza gangsters to kidnap Sarai (Nakajima), the daughter of an oil tycoon. When he refuses the Yakuza sentence Tsurugi to death, so he tracks down Sarai and offers to protect her from the gangsters who are pursuing them both. Cue lots of martial arts action, blood and brutality.

Sonny Chiba had previously appeared in numerous TV and film productions in his homeland but was largely unknown in the West, with The Street Fighter proving to be his breakthrough international role. It spawned two sequels - Return of the Street Fighter and The Street Fighter's Last Revenge - along with a spin-off Sister Street Fighter (each also released in 1974), and helped to position Chiba as the premier Japanese martial arts star of the 70's and 80's.

Please note that the film is split into two parts - the second part will load automatically after the first has finished, simply click play to resume.



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Movies... For Free! The Driller Killer (1979)

Welcome to this week's "Movies... For Free!" column, where we showcase classic movies freely available in the public domain (with streaming video!). Read the article and watch the movie right here...

The Driller Killer, 1979.

Directed by Abel Ferrara.
Starring Abel Ferrara (as Jimmy Laine) and Carolyn Marz.

The Driller Killer is a cult grindhouse horror about a New York artist, Reno (portrayed by director Abel Ferrara, making his feature debut both sides of the camera), who is struggling to complete his masterpiece in an apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Carol (Marz) and her friend Pamela (Baybi Day).

Driven to madness by the incessant music from a neighbouring apartment, Reno begins to murder the homeless using a drill. When his painting is rejected by the head of the art gallery and Carol decides to return to her ex-husband, Reno is pushed completely over the edge and sets about extracting a bloody and brutal revenge.

Ferrara's debut is notable for the controversy that surrounded it during the U.K. video nasty moral panic of the early 1980's. Despite being more of an art-house film that concentrates on the psychological aspects of Reno's character as opposed to out-and-out gore, the film's violent promotional imagery brought The Driller Killer to the attention of the BBFC, who subsequently banned the movie under the Video Recording Act of 1984.

The Driller Killer was eventually passed for release in 2002 and a remake by British filmmaker Jed Shepherd is set for 2010.

Please note that viewer discretion is advised!



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Movies... For Free! Reefer Madness (1936)

Showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!)...


Reefer Madness, a.k.a Tell Your Children (1936)

Directed by Louis Gasnier.
Starring Dorothy Short, Lillian Miles, Dave O'Brien and Thelma White.

Originally intended as a cautionary anti-marijuana morality tale and financed by a church group under the title Tell Your Children, the movie was acquired by exploitation film-maker Dwain Esper who was looking to capitalise on the hysteria surrounding cannabis use in the U.S. at the time (see 1937 Marihuana Tax Act).

Reefer Madness begins at a P.T.A meeting, where parents are being lectured on the dangers of cannabis use, and the tragic events that occured when a group of high-school students were lured into the murky world of "reefer" cigarettes. The narrative then switches to the students whose addictions ultimately lead to chaos, committing hit-and-run, rape, manslaughter and suicide as they all lose control.

Although the movie did not find an audience upon release it re-emerged in the 1970's, gaining popularity among cannabis-users and college students who viewed the film as a comedy with it's cheap production values and exaggerated acting and plot-lines. Having achieved cult-status, there is much for contemporary audiences to enjoy in Reefer Madness.



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Movies... For Free! Nosferatu (1922)

Welcome to the next edition of "Movies... For Free!", showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!). Read the article and watch the movie right here! This week...

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (1922).

Directed by F.W. Murnau.
Starring Max Schreck, Greta Schroder, and Gustav Von Wangenheim.

Unable to acquire the rights to Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, German-born Expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau decided to make an unofficial adaptation of the tale and in doing so, he laid the groundwork for the entire vampire genre.

Sent by his employer's to the Carpathian Mountains to help finalise the sale of Count Orlok's castle, realtor Thomas Hutter discovers "The Book of the Vampires" and, after spending time in Orlok's company, he soon comes to suspect that the Count is in fact Nosferatu, the undead.

Loosely following Stoker's classic work, Nosferatu features a compelling turn from Max Schreck as the repulsive Count Orlok, producing what is perhaps the most iconic villain of the silent-era. While Bela Lugosi's later take on Dracula has become synonomous with the character, here the Count is portrayed as vile and despicable, a grotesque creature of pure evil.

Schreck is outstanding in the role and his performance led to many rumours on-set that the actor was actually a vampire himself (see the 2000 horror-comedy, Shadow of the Vampire, starring Willem Dafoe as Schrek and John Malkovich as director Murnau for a fictionalised account of the making of this film).

Nosferatu was hit with lawsuits from Stoker's estate upon completion and the film went unnoticed for a period due to limited releases. Highly influential, it has since become a cult classic and is cited by many as the best of all Dracula adaptations.


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Movies… For Free! Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Welcome to the first of a regular column showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain (with streaming video!). Read the full article and watch the movie here!


Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Directed by George A. Romero.
Starring Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea.

First up is George A. Romero’s black and white indie classic, Night of the Living Dead – the film that revolutionised horror and launched the archetypal zombie into popular culture. Made on a budget of $114,000, the movie went on to gross over $30 million world-wide and spawned five sequels, including the masterful Dawn of the Dead (1978).

When the recently deceased begin to rise from the grave, a young woman, Barbra, narrowly escapes an attack and seeks refuge in an old farmhouse. There she discovers the film's hero, a black man named Ben (in a controversial casting decision for the time), a young couple and a family with a sick daughter. Together they must try to fend off the increasing hoard of flesh-eating monsters if they are to have any hope of surviving the night.


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