For lovers of movies from the silent era to modern day with an emphasis on horror, sci-fi, exploitation, WIP, westerns and anything of the fantastic and bizarre. THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO BOB WILKINS, GEORGE ROMERO, ALAN FREED, ROGER CORMAN, HELGA LINE, CAROLINE MUNRO, JOHN FREDRIKSEN, JOHN ZACHERLE, CLEO MOORE , ROSALBA NERI, ERIKA BLANC, FEMI BENUSSI, SHIRLEY CORRIGAN, ROSANNA YANNI, MIRTA MILLER, KARIN DOR, BARBARA BOUCHET, MAMIE VAN DOREN, BARBARA STEELE and, of course, CASEY KASEM.
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Rhona Mitra is 46, Sam Elliot is 78, Gillian Anderson is 54, Lexi Kaufman is 31, and Candace Glendenning is 69.
Monday, August 8, 2022
RIP OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN 1948-2022
One of the most beautiful and talented singers in the world has died.
Growing up in the 60's and 70's the music of Olivia was at the top of my list.
Her mixture of country and pop was some of the greatest music ever made. A small sample of her hits include "Have You Never Been Mellow", "Please Mr. Please", "Tied Up", "You're The One That I Want", "Xanadu" and the record setting "Physical" which stayed at Number One of the American Top 40 for 9 weeks.
She made a lot of TV appearances, but her best known work was the movie "Grease". Her beauty, kindness and love of life rubbed off on anyone who either knew her or listened to her music.
A sad loss for those who grew up listening to her and watching her in Grease and Xanadu. Olivia Newton-John passed away on August 8th, 2022 at the age of 73 after a 30 year fight with brest cancer.
Sunday, August 7, 2022
RIP CLU GULAGER 1928-2022
The ubiquitous character actor has passed away.
Gulager appeared in about 165 TV shows and films during his long career and most of them were westerns and horror films.
William Gulager was born in 1928 and started his acting career in front of the cameras in 1955 on the TV show "Omnibus". He never looked back. He went on to appear in shows such as ""Wanted Dead Or Alive", "Lawless Years", Have Gun, Will Travel", "The Rebel" and so many, many more. He was always a very welcome face on any show he was in.
His movie roles included such films as the 1964 version of "The Killers", Smile Jenny, You're Dead", "The Gambler", "The Initiation", "Return Of The Living Dead", "Nightmare On Elm Street 2", "From A whisper To A Scream", "The Willies", "Feast" just to name a few.
One role I remember best was his character in the film "The Uninvited" along with George Kennedy and Alex Cord. A great actor who could do any role he was given.
Clu Gulager passed away on Aug. 5th, 2022 at the age of 93.
LADYBUG LADYBUG 1963 (KINO) BLU-RAY
I reviewed this a couple of years ago after I finally obtained a copy of the DVD and I recently upgraded to a beautiful Blu-ray, so I figured I'd mention this film again.
As most of you who read this blog on a regular basis, I consider this movie from director Frank Perry to be one of the greatest films in American cinema. The story is very simple, but damned effective.
A small rural school receives a warning about an impending nuclear attack. The principle (William Daniels) has no choice but to send the children home. One group goes by bus and two others are on foot with a teacher to accompany them.
Meanwhile the principle and a few of the staff try and determine if this is real or not. We learn a lot of some of the children concerning their fears, hopes and dreams and what their parents do for a living.
The tension builds however as the children and their teaches don't have any news and their fear only grows. It grows so much that it completely destroys some of their lives, and costs other theirs.
Pefect film making from back in the day when people know how to make thought provoking films and films that entertained us. The presentation from Kino is beuatiful as usual and this film is really deserving of this Blu-ray release.
If you haven't seen this yet, do so as soon as you can. You won't regret it.
Saturday, August 6, 2022
SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS 1964 (KINO) BLU-RAY
I decided to pick this up on Blu-ray as the only print I have is a faded and worn out copy from Tree Line media.
I try and watch this every Christmas as this is THE Christmas film I grew up with. I never liked all those other traditional Christmas time films very much. Oh I'd watch them, but until I saw this one when I was young, I was never impressed.
While not saying much for my sanity, I have a very fond spot for this film in my heart. Watching it during the hot summer is indeed a mind twisting experience, but then again I am compelled to do so.
Everyone reading this already knows the plot of Martians kidnapping Santa and taking him to Mars so that the children of Mars can again be happy.
This film is such an easy mark for "bad" film reviews and that isn't something you'll see here. If you care to, check out this film during the holiday season and relive being a young kid again. In this day and age that's hard for most people to do, but hell, give it a try.
The disc also includes 45 minutes of cool Christmas shorts, PSA's and much more. Those are a real treat to see as well. It also includes a trailer for the movie, which I also fondly remember.
Friday, August 5, 2022
THE GOLEM 1920 (KINO) BLU-RAY
One of the greatest films of any era.
Paul Wegener wrote, co-directed and stars in this film which is widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstine myth.
The story revolves around a being made of clay that is brought to life to protect the Jews from Christian people. The being is brought to life by a rabbi (Albert Steinruck) who also created the giant warrior.
The Golem does indeed protect the people until it's used for selfish gain, then it becomes an uncontrollable monster that can only be stopped if someone can manage to pull the star out of it's chest.
This film is remarkable for it's excellent creation sequence and the grand scale finale where the Golem burns the ghetto which the Jews live in. The presentation from Kino is beautiful and really should be seen by any film fan.
The Germans were masters of very early cinema, and this along with "Nosferatu" and prime examples as to why. I highly recommend this silent classic that is now 102 years old. The presentation from Kino is beautiful and a real tribute to such a wonderful film.
Thursday, August 4, 2022
RAMBLINGS..
I have been tinkering with the idea of doing a podcast or two.
One would be politics of course as I do have some very strong opinions on certain topics, but the other would be for nothing but movies that I love, much like what I talk about here on the blog.
There would also be some American Top 40 from the 70's and 80's thrown in as well. As I type this I am listening to AT40 from 8/1/81 and just feeling so good about the past times I had in my life.
I know this would be a rocky start, but I am hoping to get it running soon. passions for movies and music with people, and that might be a good way to do it, but yes, I would still do the blog.
There have been a lot of deaths of people in the movies I have watched since childhood, and some of them I have known. It gets kinda sad to see your friends passing away and everyone you watch in films is gone. It happens to everyone, I know, but it's still a very weird feeling.
I still have tons of reviews to get published here in the coming weeks even though it's been a rather slow year for horror and sci-fi releases in general. Most companies are just releasing the same films over and over again.
I don't have a date yet, but I see Kino is planning on releasing the excellent Henry Silva film entitled "Assassination" on Blu-ray later this year. It's rare and it's a stunning film indeed. I have my copy from Sinister Cinema and was blown away by it.
Thanks again for reading this and following it.
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Monday, August 1, 2022
BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA 1966 (KINO) BLU-RAY
I finally obtained the Blu-ray for this movie and I have to say it looks great!!
I like this silly film a lot ever since I first saw it a a kid on TV. John Carridine stars as a vampire in the old west who turns everyone's life upside down.
He comes to a cattle ranch disguised as the owner named James Underhill. His main intention is to get the young and beautiful Betty Underhill (Melinda Plowman) to be his bride in the world of the undead.
Her finacee, William Bonney (Chuck Courtney) is a reformed Billy The Kid and he suspects something is terribly wrong, but nobody will believe him except an elderly German couple whose daughter was killed by the vampire.
For some reason this film is always maligned for being campy and silly. In all honesty it is, but it's just entertainment on a fantasy level so one must just let reason go and enjoy.
The movie is never boring and it does manage to mix horror and western themes very well. Carradine hated this film and he really plays it over the top. Just the look in his eyes when he sees a picture of Betty is over the top and you know what you're in for.
The picture quality is the best I have ever seen it, and believe me, I have seen a lot of different prints of this gem. Now if only "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" would get the same treatment.
The rest of the cast includes Virgina Christine, Bing Russell, Olive Carey, Richard Reeves, Roy Barcroft and Marjorie Bennett. Yes, I do recommend this movie.
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