IT CONQUERED HOLLYWOOD: THE STORY OF AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES (YOUTUBE)

Simply Amazing!

American International Pictures was and will ALWAYS be the GREATEST studio in movie history. I know that is probably only my opinion, but I dare anyone to name another studio that came out with consistant classic films.

I have never in movie watching experience ever seen a bad film from them. This documentary was made in 2001 and a lot of the people that appear in this have since passed away, but what a great way to spend an hour.

Sam Arkoff and James Nicholson started the company in the mid 1950's and with the help of Roger Corman it rocketed to the top of the picture making business. AIP turned out such films as "PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES, "DAY THE WORLD ENDED", "INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN", "I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF", "I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN", "tERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000" and hundreds more from just about every genre you could name.

During the 60's they changed gears and made such films as "THE WILD ANGELS", "THE TRIP" and all the "Beach Party" films with Frankie Avavlon and Anette Funicello.

During the 70's Arkoff took over the company after Nicholson passed away from a brain tumor. He took the company in the direction of "blaxploitation" films such as "BLACULA", "COFFY", "FOXY BROWN" and many others.

I have seen every AIP film ever made I believe and not one disappointed me in any way. There will never be another like it and the studio legacy will live forever.

If you're a fan of 50's sci-fi and horror then please check out the documentarty made for American Movie Classics before that brand was destroyed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

MASTER OF CINEMA: ROGER CORMAN (YOUTUBE)

I don't have a date on this release, but it was damned fun to see.

Corman turned 97 on April 5th of this year and the man is still active in cinema. This great 1 hour look at his career is one of the most informative I have seen.

This documentary includes interviews with people such as James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard and others whom Corman started on their careers as directors.

Roger is always a joy to listen to and he has many stories about the making of his films as well as how his entire career started and where he sees it heading.

You really don't need a film like this to tell you Corman is simply the greatest filmmaker ever and the most prolific man ever in the movie business with over 500 films to his credit, but it's still fun to watch.

If you happen upon this check it out. It's remarkable.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Richard Eyer is 78.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Amy Hesketh turned 44 on May 3rd.

LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE 1972 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Strange, but interesting Euro horror film.

Lucia Bose stars as Elizabeth Bathroy, a woman who is afraid of growing old. Her personal nurse has an idea for her to stay young.

She devises a plan to have Bathory use the blood of virgins to bathe in and stay young. Bathroy's husband goes along with the plan and fakes his own death in order to make the superstitious people in the area blame the mysterious killings on a vampire.

Director Jorge Grau makes the film move at a fast pace and one easily gets lost in the time period as you watch the film unfold. Ewa Aulin is gorgeous as always and I like seeing her in almost anything.

The ending is brutal as the nurse has her tongue cut out and Bathory is walled up in her room for the rest of her life. The camera pans past many dirty and used plates that she has been served food on as she sits infront of a mirror looking like a rotted corpse.

This is a sure bet for any Euro horror fan out there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lance Henriksen is 83, Brooke Hogan is 35, and Mijanou Bardot is 85.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Amy Steel is 63, and Toni Naples is 71.

RIP GORDON LIGHTFOOT 1938-2023

A true music legend has died.

During the 70's Lightfoot was one of my favorite singer and songwriters. Every hit he had was perfect and thoughtful.

His list of hits is simply a list of greatness and includes "Sundown", "If You Could Read My Mind", "Wreck Of The Edmond Fitzgerald", "Old Dan'd Records", "Rainy Day People" and so much more.

They don't have talent like this in the music industry anymore. Lightfoot passed away on May 1st, 2023 at the age of 84 from natural causes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jo Ann Pflug is 83, and Pat Cardi is 72.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joy Harmon is 83, and Rita Coolidge is 78.

SATAN'S BLADE 1983 (TUBI)

Damn, did I enjoy this little film!!

This fun little thriller starts out with a robbery of a small bank and the brutal killing of both the female tellers still left behind.

We shortly learn that both killers are women who hide out in a ski resort but the plot takes another great twist as one of the women kills her partner in crime and then is herself killed by an unseen person with a very large knife.

Enter two groups of people who arrive at the resort and do not pay attention to the warnings of the locals about a killer spirit of an ancient medicine man.

The two groups are made up of two married couples and a group of 5 women on vacation. Needless to say both groups get tangled together when they find they have to fight the killer to stay alive.

There is plenty of nudity and some gore, but both are done without excess. The ending is not a disappointment at all and it is somewhat expected. Yes, this is a low budget effort, but make no mistake, it is done very well.

I have read a lot of bad things about this film, but I feel they are unwarrented. This film stands miles above the rot made today. I would really recommend this for any fan of the "slasher" genre.

I really do wish they still made movies like this.

TRAILERS, TRAILERS AND MORE TRAILERS (YOUTUBE)

Several people have uploaded some great stuff.

Over the years Sinister Cinema has offered a lot of trailer compilations and I watched about 15 of them that have been put on Youtube.

This made for some great viewing a few weeks ago and there was hardly a repeat in the many hours of viewing. I have always been a fan of this unique American art form.

Each collection is about 90 minutes of good fun and there are sci-fi collections, horror collections, and many more. I know I am not the only fan of these, and if you get a chance you might want to check these out.

I used to have many trailer collections on VHS, but have not really collected many on DVD. It was fun to discover all of these and I hope you have fun with them as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Cheri Caffaro is 78.

VIRUS 1980 (TUBI)

Not too bad of a film.

A man made virus is set loose after a plane crash and this sets in motion the destruction of almost the entire human race.

This is the shorter version of the film that runs about 105 minutes while the longer version adds almost 50 minutes to the runtime. I wish I had the longer version, but you can't have everything.

Glenn Ford appears as the President Of The United States as he and his staff watch as the US slowly falls apart as well as the rest of the world. This is a US/Japanese co-production and was directed by the man who made The Green Slime, Kenji Fukasaku.

The virus, it is discovered, cannot survive in extreme cold, so various groups of people stationed in the arctic must try to find a way to save what's left of the human race.

The American actors in the cast consist of Robert Vaughn, George Kennedy, Henry Silva (in an excellent over the top part), Bo Svenson, Olivia Hussey and Chuck Conners, just to name a few.

The film moves along at a good pace and there are some good set pieces that will catch you off guard. I enjoyed this film and will indeed look for the longer version so I can compare the two.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ann-Margret is 82, Jessica Alba is 42, and Kari Wuhrer is 56.