Q: The Winged Serpent
As if the thought of making a decently entertaining dragon movie weren’t enough of a challenge, the filmmakers opted for some hilariously shoddy stop-motion animation for the ancient flying lizard. Even for early 1980s standards, the work seen here is…
Moments From Strange Brew
This is a great week for beer-loving movie fans. Friday saw the opening of Edgar Wright’s The World’s End, which involves a nostalgic pub crawl featuring many pints being guzzled, and Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies, about employees at a brewery…
Some Monster Movies Ideas
It takes great minds to come up with a movie as gloriously horrible as “Sharknado.” We know, because we tried. And failed. The B-movie maestros at Syfy welcomed a pair of Newsers into a closed-door pitch meeting to see how…
Devil’s Pass
Inspired by a real-life case that has, over the decades, grown into a hoodoo-laced old wives’ tale, “Devil’s Pass” offers its own fanciful spin on the 1959 “Dyatlov Pass Incident” (also the title under which the pic is being released…
The Struggles of The 21st Century Theatre
Greetings from fast-changing Portland. On your right, note the dozens of breweries and distilleries, none of which existed until the other day. On your left, take care not to provoke the bicyclists, who may control everything by the day after…
Fritz Lang’s Indian Tomb
Fritz Lang returned to Germany on the eve of the 1960s to direct this enchanted penultimate work, a redraft of the diptych form pioneered in such silent Lang classics as Die Spinnen; Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler.; and Die Nibelungen. Although…
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Like many of you, I’m sure, my first encounter with ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ came via the Comedy Central cable channel in the early 1990s. The discovery was merely by chance, flipping through stations one night and coming across what…
Your Next
“You’re Next” is a gory slasher movie in which a cast populated by real-life indie directors gets shot with arrows, stabbed with screwdrivers, garroted with piano wire and beaten to a pulp. The script is by Simon Barrett, who’s been…
Roger Corman, Teacher
Chris Nashawaty, author of a new book on film legend Roger Corman talks about the director/producer/actor’s role in kickstarting the golden age of cinema and his knack for identifying market opportunities and making lots and lots of movies. Roger Corman’s…
A Ghost Shark Rises
GhostShark.jpgSyfy’s “Ghost Shark” has hopes of scaring up “Sharknado” size ratings.Syfy The “Jaws” theme could have been playing as TV’s background music this summer. You survived the “Sharknado” craziness, the showings of “Jaws” and its sequels, and the Discovery Channel’s…
Hell Drivers
Vintage movies have given us several parameters for measuring masculinity: being a professional pilot (good), taking out a gaggle of Nazis single-handedly (better), driving trucks at devil-may-care speeds along the most dangerous routes imaginable (off the charts). That’s what the…
3 films by James Cullen Bressack
As a James Cullen Bressack fan once his films start there should be a disclaimer saying welcome to the disturbingly creative mind of James Cullen Bressack. The first review of his Trilogy of Terror is HATE CRIME. “A Jewish family,…
Blood On Satan’s Claw
“Are you bent on reviving forgotten horrors?” You could apply that line to pretty much the entire British horror genre, so obsessed has it been with the unearthing of powers that have lurked, dormant, ready to wreak havoc once released…
Elmore Leonard dies aged 87
Elmore Leonard has died, aged 87. He had been hospitalized since suffering a stroke in early August. Writing on the author’s Facebook page, Gregg Sutter, Leonard’s researcher and webmaster said, “The post I dreaded to write, and you dreaded to…
Sinking Your Teeth Into Shark Movies
IN fact Oscar season is one of my favourite times of year, not just for the red carpet fashion but to see who impresses the critics. Like the Barry Norman’s, Jonathan Ross’ (and irritating Claudia Winkleman’s) before me I appreciate…
B-Movie Legend Albert Pyun Retires
“While the screening went well in Albuquerque, my health has deteriorated further over the past 3 days. I now have complete numbness and pain on my entire right side (face, arm, chest, legs, even my butt! – sorry for that…
Cotton Comes to Harlem
Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson are two black cops with a reputation for breaking the odd head. Both are annoyed at the success of the Reverend Deke O’Mailey who is selling trips back to Africa to the poor on…
The Stuff, A Film By Larry Cohen
Weird yummy goo erupts from the earth and is discovered by a couple of miners. They taste it and decide to market it because it tastes so good. The American public literally eats up the new dessert sensation now known…
Glasgow’s Prepartions For A Sharknado Attack
The British summer appears to have vacated our shores once more, and you could be forgiven for looking at the sky with more apprehension than normal. But if you are concerned about being hailed with man-eating sharks, fear not –…
A Zombie Invasion In The UK
Great Yarmouth is preparing to respond with a surprising level of readiness to a zombie apocalypse on Saturday. For while an invasion of the undead may seem more in keeping with a B-movie horror a very real version is set…