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The B-movie world has lost one of its most iconic filmmakers, as The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Bert I. Gordon – often referred to as “Mr. B.I.G.” by his fans – has passed away at the age of 100. Gordon produced and directed more than twenty films over the course of a career that lasted sixty-one years, from 1954 to 2015. He also wrote most of his movies. His most popular titles include The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the Puppet People, and Beginning of the End.

Born on September 24, 1922 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Gordon fell in love with filmmaking at a young age, being given his first camera when he was just 9 years old. He started making TV commercials after he graduated from college, then produced the horror adventure film Serpent Island in 1954. He was also the cinematographer on that movie,...

Bert I. Gordon, the sci-fi director who aimed to terrify drive-in denizens of the 1950s and ’60s with low-budget films featuring colossal creatures, shrinking humans and radioactive monsters, has died. He was 100.

Gordon died Wednesday in Los Angeles of complications from a fall in his Beverly Hills home, his daughter Patricia Gordon told The Hollywood Reporter.

Highlights (lowlights?) on his B-movie résumé include The Cyclops (1957), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Beginning of the End (1957), Earth vs. the Spider (1958), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), Tormented (1960), The Boy and the Pirates (1960) and Picture Mommy Dead (1966).

In the ’70s, Gordon directed Vince Edwards and Chuck Connors in The Police Connection (1973) and wrote and directed How to Succeed With Sex (1970), Necromancy (1972), The Food of the Gods (1976) and, starring Joan Collins in the muck, Empire of the Ants (1977).

Perhaps as a way to keep costs down, Gordon’s films often were family affairs: His late wife,...

With Halloween less than two weeks away, we’ve got another batch of horror and sci-fi home media releases coming home this week that would make for some perfect seasonal viewings this month. Burt Gummer returns this Tuesday in Tremors: Shrieker Island, and if you’re a big fan of horror anthologies, you’ll definitely want to pick up Scare Package as well. Haunt, from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is getting a two-disc Collector’s Edition this week, the second season of NOS4A2 heads home on both Blu-ray and DVD, and Scream Factory is giving Stan Winston’s Pumpkinhead the Steelbook treatment on Tuesday, too.

Other releases for October 20th include a new release of The Haunting (1999), Killdozer, Amulet, The Ape, Chop Chop, the Tremors: 7-Movie Collection, The Owners, Picture Mommy Dead, No Escape, and the Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy in 4K.

Amulet

Tomaz, a...

Picture Zsa Zsa Gabor lying dead on the floor of a room as it goes up in flames. Picture her daughter singing a creepy nursery rhyme as she watches. Picture that girl being sent away to a mental facility due to a breakdown, and her subsequent return home to her father and her new stepmom. Picture the teenage girl hearing voices and seeing her dead mother appear throughout the manor. Now I need you to Picture Mommy Dead (1966), Bert I. Gordon (that’s Mr. B.I.G. to you)’s high strung, gothic chiller with a surprising amount to say about family dynamics, psychotic lineage, and their fragile nature.

Released by Embassy Pictures in early November, Picture Mommy Dead (aka Color Mommy Dead) cost a million to make and cruised through the theatres and drive-ins second billed as befitting a B.I.G. release. This just seemed another potboiler designed...

Mr. Franz seemed nice at first, but brimming just beneath the surface was a desire to turn his guests into miniature puppets for his own amusement. This unconventional form of entertainment takes center stage in Attack of the Puppet People, and with Scream Factory releasing the 1958 horror film on Blu-ray, we've been provided with three high-def copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of Attack of the Puppet People.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject "Attack of the Puppet People Contest". Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr was a major MGM star in the early 1940s. Among her movies at the studio were I Take This Woman, Boom Town, Comrade X, Ziegfeld Girl, and White Cargo. Her co-stars included Spencer Tracy, Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, William Powell, and Walter Pidgeon. As the decade came to a close, Lamarr had her biggest box-office hit: Cecil B. DeMille's Paramount release Samson and Delilah, starring Victor Mature. After her movie stardom had faded, Lamarr was involved in a few bizarre incidents. In 1965, she was arrested in Los Angeles for shoplifting. Though later cleared of all charges, she lost a small role in the B movie Picture Mommy Dead because of that incident. Zsa Zsa Gabor replaced her. Curiously, there would be another shoplifting charge in Florida in 1991, this time for $21.48 worth of laxatives and eye drops. Lamarr's attorney explained that the shoplifting was actually a case of absentmindedness: Lamarr,...

Susan Gordon was best known as a child actress and is remembered mostly for her appearance in the "Twilight Zone" episode "The Fugitive", in which she befriends the ruler of a planet who is hiding out on earth. We're sad to report the news that Susan passed away on December 11th at the age of 62 after battling cancer.

Gordon also appeared in such genre films as Attack of the Puppet People (directed by her father, Bert I. Gordon), Tormented, and Picture Mommy Dead as well as the TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour".

From the SusanGordon.info website:

Susan Gordon

b. July 27, 1949 in St. Paul, Minnesota

d. December 11, 2011 in Teaneck, New Jersey

Susan was last able to speak to us on November 8, 2011. Her final words in the conversation were: "I need to sleep" — she seemed to be consciously avoiding the word "goodbye" in ending conversations with us in her final months.

Zsa Zsa Gabor, 93, is back at Los Angeles' Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to have part of her leg amputated, according to various reports. Gabor, who broke her hip in July and was read her last rites the following month, has been readmitted at the UCLA Medical Center for surgery. She has been in and out of the hospital since falling out of bed while watching the television show Jeopardy. Gabor's film appearances include the MGM musical Lovely to Look At (1952), Charles Walters' romantic drama Lili (1953), Orson Welles' crime thriller Touch of Evil (1958), and Bert I. Gordon's cult classic Picture Mommy Dead (1966).

Thank heavens we live in a world where B-movie czar Bert I. Gordon, he of the larger-than-life-monsters-vs.-puny-humans classics of the 1960’s and 70’s, still walks among us. With pictures like The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth Vs The Spider, The Beginning Of The End, Village Of The Giants and Food Of The Gods on his résumé (he also worked with Orson Welles on The Witching and made the underrated Zsa Zsa Gabor Gothic Picture Mommy Dead), Gordon has firmly stamped his signature on B-cinema, creating a body of work that will stand the test of time.