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Mark Gellis

@mgellis.bsky.social

495 followers 269 following 1.1K posts

Husband. Father. Retired professor. Mean old boomer. Occasional war gamer. Command: Modern Operations scenario writer. Anime, sci-fi, and horror fan. I love the Northwoods. Fond of cats. Am Yisrael Chai!

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Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 15h

Movie of the day...I know people love Gamera, but... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #Letterboxd #scifi #kaiju #Gamera

A ★½ review of Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

The English dub of a Gamera movie can truly be a perfect storm of awful. A construction company is trying to build a highway. They’ve been delayed by volcanic eruptions and also by farmers who do not ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Movie of the day...more Godzilla... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #scifi #Godzilla #kaiju

A ★★★ review of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

Solid monster matinee entertainment from the 1960s. A young fisherman searching for his missing brother, two idiots, and a thief end up shipwrecked on a mysterious island. An island controlled by a si...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Movie of the day...more people climbing mountains who really shouldn't be climbing mountains... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #scifi #yeti

A ★★ review of Man Beast (1956)

Ah, yes. Another movie where annoying people go to a strange location, irritate what lives there, and some of them die. This time, it’s the Himalayas and they’re looking for a yeti. Actually, one of t...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Movie of the day...don't drink the water... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #WilWheaton #HPLovecraft

A ★★½ review of The Curse (1987)

A cheesy but tolerable adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space.” Zack (Wil Wheaton), his mother (Kathleen Jordon Gregory), and his younger sister (Amy Wheaton), live on a farm with Za...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #scifi

A ★★ review of The Unknown Terror (1957)

[FYI...Friends, I will be taking a vacation for a week or so and may have limited access to the Internet. If I don’t post reviews for a while, or post them less consistently than I usually do, that’s ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Movie of the day...don't lose your head... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #gothic #ChristopherLee #JohnnyDepp

A ★★★★ review of Sleepy Hollow (1999)

A love letter from Tim Burton to fans of old school horror movies. In 1799, New York City constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), disliked by his superiors for his insistence on using modern scientific...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #Letterboxd #FoundFootage

A ★★ review of The Last Broadcast (1998)

Some good ideas, but it did not hold my interest. This mockumentary about fictional murders asks what really took place in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey when the cast and crew of a low budget cable t...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #scifi #Letterboxd

A ★★½ review of The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

It’s another process shot extravaganza from Bert I. Gordon. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) is one of the military officers observing a test of the new plutonium bomb. When a small plane inexplic...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Movie of the day...more snakes...well, one large snake... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #OliverReed #monsters #snakes

A ★★½ review of Spasms (1983)

Not what I expected from the title. Jason Kincaid (Oliver Reed) is a wealthy industrialist who suffers from visions. He believes he is somehow psychically connected to a large and unique poisonous ser...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Movie of the day...with tentacles... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #monsters

A ★★½ review of Kraken (2026)

A monster movie with a lot of potential, but ultimately a bit disappointing. Marine researcher Johanne (Sara Khorami) is sent to investigate unusual happenings at and around a salmon farming facility....

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #RoddyMcDowall

A ★★½ review of It! (1967)

A very curious British attraction. Assistant museum curator Arthur Pimm (Roddy McDowall) discovers a grotesque statue after a warehouse burns down. Soon afterwards, his boss is mysteriously killed. Th...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Movie of the day...this one is a doozy... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #demons

A ★★½ review of Alucarda (1977)

What the hell did I just watch? It’s a Mexican horror movie filmed in English. I suppose there’s a plot…a young woman gives birth, tells someone who might be a servant to take the baby the convent, an...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #Letterboxd #Bigfoot #monsters

A ★ review of Night of the Demon (1980)

More reasons I don’t go camping. Professor Bill Nugent wakes up in a hospital, hideously disfigured. Several of his students are missing. They were searching for Bigfoot. He tells the police and his d...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Why did it have to be snakes? Because snakes are awesome. letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #scifi #Letterboxd #snakes

A ★★★ review of King Cobra (1999)

Sometimes you just need a dumb-ass creature feature. King Cobra delivers. In fact, as dumb-ass creature features go, it's one of the good ones. Scientists genetically engineer an extraordinarily aggre...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #monsters #horror #horrormovies #movies #horrorsky #moviesky #Letterboxd #kaiju

A ★★★ review of Dogora (1964)

I’m surprised this one is not better known. A strange alien creature moves into orbit around Earth and blows up one of our satellites. At the same time, a tremendous number of diamond thefts start bei...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's a standalone story. Nothing to do with the Purge franchise. It's basically making fun of some of the cliches in slasher movies and it's pretty funny. (More details in the review.)

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Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #Letterboxd #comedy #parody

A ★★★½ review of Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

An entertaining horror comedy. Our story begins with several college students going camping in the woods of West Virginia. They cross paths with a couple of…well…hillbillies, Tucker (Tyler Labine) and...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #horrormovies #BelaLugosi

A ★★ review of Invisible Ghost (1941)

All right, this is a weird one. Charles Kessler (Bela Lugosi) lives with his daughter Virginia (Polly Ann Young). Years ago, his wife ran off with another man. Every year, on their anniversary, Kessle...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Movie of the day...Japanese spirits AND sword fights! What's not to love? letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #film #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #moviesky #filmsky #Letterboxd #yokai #ghosts

A ★★★ review of Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts (1969)

A ghostly tale of justice. Gangsters planning to ambush one of their enemies are warned by an old man not to shed blood on sacred ground or they will be cursed. In fact, he tells them, this would be a...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #filmsky #Letterboxd #giallo #PaulNaschy

A ★★★ review of A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975)

It’s Paul Naschy! And he’s not a werewolf this time! Someone is killing prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, and others, leaving ornamental dragonflies as calling cards. Tough police inspector Paolo Scap...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Just say no, kids... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #filmsky #film #movies #moviesky #exploitation #Letterboxd

A ★ review of One Way Ticket to Hell (1955)

Also known as Teenage Devil Dolls, this cautionary tale about addiction is basically Dragnet’s younger, dumber brother. Cassandra Leigh (Barbara Marks), the child of a frequently divorced mother, star...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #horror #horrormovies #film #filmsky #moviesky #horrorsky #Letterboxd #mummies

A ★★★ review of The Cat Creature (1973)

A surprisingly good made-for-television movie. Appraiser Frank Lucas (Kent Smith, who starred in the original Cat People) is taking inventory of an estate full of ancient artifacts when a thief (Keye ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

One of my favorite scenes of all time is when Weehawk sees Necron 99 after his friend is killed, draws his sword, screams, and charges. I always imagine Necron 99 thinking, in that calm robotic brain of his, something like "Uh oh. Got a live one here" just before they both go over the cliff. 😊

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #horror #movies #horrormovies #horrorsky #filmsky #moviesky #Letterboxd #monsters #JohnSaxon

A ★★ review of Blood Beach (1980)

This really isn’t a very good movie, but I always have fun when I watch it. Ruth (Harriet Medin) is walking her dog on the beach when she is dragged under the sand by…something. Hearing her screams, h...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #Letterboxd #DavidLynch

A ★★★★ review of Rabbits (2002)

David Lynch’s experimental film Rabbits is one of the most unsettling things I have ever watched. Edited from the shorter chapters of an original web series, the story takes place in a single room, th...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #robots #scifi #Letterboxd

A ★★ review of Chopping Mall (1986)

A low budget horror film featuring killer robots. Someone gets the brilliant idea to guard shopping malls with armed security robots. They will patrol at night, detaining any intruders they encounter....

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #LanceHenriksen

A ★★★½ review of Pumpkinhead (1988)

I had forgotten how much fun this one is. Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) is a widower with a young son who runs a small country store. His son is accidentally killed by a young man on a dirt bike, who pa...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Movie of the day...and it's kind of a weird one... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #kaiju #scifi #monsters #Godzilla

A ★★½ review of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

They just got weird in the 1990s, didn’t they? A UFO landing in Japan turns out to be time travelers from the 23rd Century who claim Godzilla will someday destroy Japan. Because they are such nice guy...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #scifi #Letterboxd #PaulFrees

A ★★ review of Space Master X-7 (1958)

Yet another movie where people are not careful with something that comes from outer space. Surprisingly, most of them don't die in this one. A probe returns to Earth with spores from outer space. Irri...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Movie of the day...this one is a winner... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #RobertEggers #vampires

A ★★★★½ review of Nosferatu (2024)

We all know the story. The real question is whether Robert Eggers knows how to tell it. In a word, yes. This is a truly brilliant version of the classic vampire tale. The cast (including Lily-Rose Dep...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Sometimes, you just have to sit and wonder how a movie even got made. Seriously, someone had to approve this project... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #scifi #film #filmsky #Letterboxd

A ★ review of From Hell It Came (1957)

This is another one I saw when I was a kid. Even then, I didn’t think it was very scary. Time has not improved it. On a nameless, generic Pacific island, the local witch doctor and one of the native w...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrorsky #film #filmsky #anime #animesky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #demons #fantasy

A ★★★ review of Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma (1989)

Dark fantasy anime inspired by Japanese history. It is the days of the warring kingdoms, the days of Oda Nobunaga. It is also a time of demons, yoma, inhuman creatures rising from the corpses of those...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #BBC #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #ghosts #foundfootage #Letterboxd

A ★★★ review of Ghostwatch (1992)

A pretty good horror mockumentary, and it’s fun, but except for a few moments it’s not really very scary. The film is supposedly the livestream of a BBC investigation into a haunted house. A single mo...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Just another day in Italy... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #mystery #giallo #horrorsky #Letterboxd #movies #moviesky

A ★★★½ review of Death Walks at Midnight (1972)

A complicated but satisfying giallo. Fashion model Valentina (Susan Scott) gets talked by her boyfriend journalist Gio (Simón Andreu) into taking an experimental hallucinogen so he can write an articl...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

He's not like everybody else... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #Lovecraft

A ★★★½ review of Re-Animator (1985)

Some horror movies depend on detailed, nuanced realism, carefully presenting an utterly believable fictional world, so that when an element of the fantastic is introduced we can suspend our disbelief....

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Movie of the day...with John Saxon! letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #horror #movies #moviesky #horrormovies #horrorsky #filmsky #Letterboxd #scifi #aliens #JohnSaxon

A ★★★ review of The Night Caller (1965)

A fairly effective mix of science fiction and horror. Following what may be the oddest theme song to be performed over opening credits in the history of cinema, a mysterious spherical object enters Ea...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Ants...it had to be ants... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #scifi #Letterboxd #film #filmsky #ants

A ★½ review of It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977)

It…is ants. Not giant ants, mind you. Just ants. Construction near Lakewood Manor has disturbed a large colony of ants. Normally, this is not a big deal, but there is something wrong with these ants. ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #scifi #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #Letterboxd #aliens #monsters

A ★★★½ review of Life (2017)

Are there any recent science fiction movies involving the International Space Station where they don’t wreck the International Space Station? Also, I'm glad there wasn't a second alien because they pr...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

And stop calling that man Shirley... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #comedy #parody #Letterboxd #RobertHays #JulieHagerty #LeslieNielsen

A ★★★★ review of Airplane! (1980)

One of the great classic parody films. Pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) has problems. He suffers from PTSD. His girlfriend (Julie Hagerty) is leaving him. And, as he tells us while splashing a glass of...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #Letterboxd #TonyCurtis

A ★★ review of The Manitou (1978)

Another frustrating film. It starts well and has an interesting concept, but it is ultimately not very satisfying. I feel like there was a lot of missed potential here. Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) d...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #werewolves #Letterboxd #film #filmsky

A ★★★½ review of The Undying Monster (1942)

A delightful little supernatural thriller. I think it gets overshadowed by other horror classics of the 1940s. It's worth checking out. Wealthy Oliver Hammond (John Howard) and a nurse who works for h...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Another classic with Lugosi... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #BelaLugosi #Letterboxd #zombies

A ★★½ review of White Zombie (1932)

A young couple, Neil and Madeleine, about to be married, have been invited to Haiti by plantation owner Charles Beaumont. What they do not realize is that Beaumont wants Madeleine for himself. He has ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #scifi #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #Letterbox

A ★★★ review of The Blob (1988)

A good remake of a science fiction classic. Like a lot of horror movies, it is set in small town America. Football player Paul Taylor (Donovan Leitch) finally gets the nerve to ask out his crush Meg P...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

One of my older reviews... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #giallo #Letterboxd

A ★★★ review of A Blade in the Dark (1983)

This is quite suspenseful but requires the audience to suspend their disbelief to some degree…with everything going on in this movie, no one calls the police!? Really!? What are they waiting for!? I r...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #Letterboxd #BelaLugosi #PovertyRow

A ★ review of The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

Even Lugosi completists will have trouble praising this one. Brides are dying on their wedding day and then their bodies are being stolen. Why? Because evil Dr. Lorenz (Bela Lugosi) has figured out ho...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There was only one Ed Wood... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #Letterboxd #BelaLugosi #EdWood

A ★ review of Bride of the Monster (1955)

Ed Wood made really awful movies. And yet, his films endure. They’re a part of horror history. Why? I think part of this movie’s charm is a combination of its lunatic script, its dreadful acting, and ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #movies #moviesky #film #filmsky #monsters #Letterboxd

A ★★ review of Brides of Blood (1968)

I remember reading about the "Blood Island" movies in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine when I was a kid, but I never got around to seeing any of them. Now, finally, I have. Scientist Dr. Paul Hend...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #horror #horrorsky #horrormovies #Letterboxd #movies #moviesky #ghosts #foundfootage

A ★★★ review of Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital (2024)

I have a love-hate relationship with found footage films—I love the concept, but a lot of them are disappointing. This one starts with a clever concept. Most of the movie is supposedly the livestream ...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Movie of the day... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #scifi #film #filmsky #Letterboxd

A ★ review of The Crawling Hand (1963)

What the hell did I just watch? An astronaut runs out of air on his way back from the Moon. Everyone assumes he is dead, but then he contacts ground control. His face is now ghoulish, with dark circle...

Mark Gellis @mgellis.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Beware...the Creeper... letterboxd.com/m_gellis/fil... #film #filmsky #movies #moviesky #horror #horrorsky #Letterboxd

A ★★ review of The Creeper (1948)

This is one of those cozy little horror movies that was not widely seen when it was released in the 1940s and was later known mostly through its sporadic appearances on late night television. It is no...