The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)
It took me a while before I really appreciated this film. Despite its flaws, this is probably the most serious, accurate, and restrained treatment on the subject you’re ever going to get without watching a straight-out documentary. What you have…
Capone (1975)
The role of Al Capone, a large and expansive one is one that many actors just love to do. Joining the ranks of players who’ve essayed Chicago’s legendary crime boss is Ben Gazzara. He ranks favorably with such folks as…
Death Race 2000 (1975)
David Carradine stars in this classic cult creation. Deathrace 2000 is the 20th anniversary of the murderous trans-continental road race, or, in the words of the US president “what you all want”. You could lose this film in the repertoire…
Dust of War (2013)
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, perhaps a bit of MadMax mayhem, modernity and maybe even a plot. Sadly all were in short supply. The film starts on a promise of good things to come with a good slow…
Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)
There are times when the title of a movie alone is so ridiculously over the top that the movie becomes irresistible. You have to watch, just to figure out “what the **** were they thinking?” This is truly one of…
Honey Britches
Producer Fred Olen Ray bought the limited release film Shantytown Honeymoon (1971), shot an introduction scene with John Carradine as The Judge of Hell (5 minutes), and sold it to Troma Films that re-titled it again to “Demented Death Farm…
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988)
Just like most of the music in the 80s, this is supremely enjoyable on a strictly camp/cheese level. Of course, it’s a complete no-brainer low-budget horror spoof, but that just makes it all the more endearing and charming. One day,…
The Haunting (1963)
THE HAUNTING(1963) is an important horror film because it is one of a tiny handful of films within the tradition that genuinely unsettle the viewer. Are the events at Hill House for real, or are they happening on the inside…
The Innocents (1961)
Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr), a nineteenth century British governess, is appointed to take care of two children, Flora (Pamela Franklin) and Miles (Martin Stephens). Upon arriving at the bleak mansion she meets the housekeeper (Megs Jenkins) and also Flora. Miles…
Torture Garden (1967)
TORTURE GARDEN is the second in a series of seven Amicus horror anthologies. If THE MONSTER CLUB is included as part of the series, this would make eight movies. Although, that movie is very different from the others. I look…
The Hatching – Coming Soon
Directed and written by Michael Anderson, The Hatching is a crocodile creature film that used four actual crocs for the filming, in addition to a couple mechanical ones. That alone will gain respect and interest amongst fans of genre films. …
Village of the Damned (1960)
The best way to watch this movie is ignorantly. Go to Netflix now, put the movie at the top of your queue and watch it when it arrives. Read about it later. If you enjoy sci-fi classics like “The Day…
House of Wax (1953)
“Professor” Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) is a sculptor who works in wax. He’s living in New York City in the late 19th Century, and he’s displaying his handiwork in a wax museum. When his partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Robert)–really his…
Isle of the Dead (1945)
It is 1912 and Greece is deeply involved in the Balkan War. General Nikolas Pherides is in charge of a group of soldiers – driving them to breaking point in what some might call a cruel, twisted sense of patriotism….
B Movies and Buddy Holly
In American Graffiti, probably the truest film about being young and American in the last moments of innocence, one of lead character John Milner laments the demise of rock and roll after the death of Buddy Holly. Carol: [John turns…
Cat People (1942)
More often than not, it’s much better to show nothing than anything at all. Hitchcock knew this, and that’s how he essentially became known as The Master of Suspense. Had he shown Norman’s “mother” from “Psycho” killing the girl in…
The Fly (1958)
Superior 1950’s horror/science fiction movie involving electronic whiz Andre Delambra, David Hedison, who after inventing, secretly in his basement, a contraption which he called a “Disintegrater Intergreater”. Which was capable of transporting, through the miracle of tele-transportation, objects from one…
Woman in Hiding (1950)
As the opening credits roll, newly wedded Ida Lupino (as Deborah Chandler) desperately tries to stop herself from crashing her car. In an attempted murder, the brakes have been disabled. We see the car drive off a North Carolina bridge…
Why Day And Date Releasing Makes No Sense
Movies are at a dangerous crossroads. As an form of art it is diminishing rapidly in public perception. As a business, due to the mismanagement of it’s current cable TV overlords it is morphing into a commodity. Movie theatres have…
Detour (1945)
Is Detour just a bad dream? Or a masochistic reverie dredged up out of the sumps of self-loathing? Long before setting out on the road trip that took such a disastrous turn, Tom Neal was a picky eater at life’s…