The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
A well-mounted, ambitious end-of-the-world epic, “The World, the Flesh and the Devil” thankfully has more going for it than most of the cheapjack sci-fi prevalent in the 50s, but, alas, it fails to live up to its early, exciting premise….
Night Creatures/Captain Clegg (1962)
Hammer Films, the British studio famous for their horror films of the 50s and 60s, produced “Captain Clegg” based on Russell Thorndike’s novel, “Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh”. An atypical choice for Hammer, this swashbuckling melodrama had…
Warlock (1989)
James Cameron’s 1984 masterpiece The Terminator remains one of the greatest time travel epics ever made. A true Sci-Fi classic, it grossed $78 million at the box office and was an instant favorite of critics and fans alike. Perhaps it…
The Doctor and the Devils (1985)
“Up the alley and down the street Fallon and Broom sell bones and meat. Fallon’s a butcher and Broom’s a thief. And Rock’s the boy that buys the beef.” At the film’s closing, Dr. Thomas Rock(Timothy Dalton)proclaims that he has…
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
Adaptation-wise, die-hard fans of the book will find plenty of fault. On its own this film is not bad at all, actually from this viewer’s perspective it was decent. Of the 5 Huckleberry Finn adaptations on film that I’ve seen…
Lake Placid (1999)
The opening sequence in “Lake Placid” has a scuba diver swimming alone in a lake located in the outskirts of Maine. Meanwhile, Police Sheriff Hank Keough stays aboard in a miniature fishing boat awaiting the diver’s return. As the swimmer…
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
My mother recommended this movie to me, saying that I would love it (that is because she was a huge fan of it when she was a kid). Considering the fact that I love Don Knotts (he is hysterical on…
Five Quick Questions with Noel Mellor – Adventures in VHS
Noel Mellor like many of us grew up addicted to VHS movies, including the box art. It’s all so nostalgic and fortunately for us, Noel is working hard at a new book titled Adventures in VHS. It’s bound to be…
Our Very Good Friends In Brown County Are Hosting A Rocky Wedding
GET MARRIED OR RENEW VOWS ON HALLOWEEN DURING ROCKY HORROR AT PLAYHOUSE! For $25 per couple, official will do ceremony on stage for up to 10 couples. Regular tix $10 but guests of bride/groom $9. Subj. to reservation & couples…
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
This one seems to be less well known than others in Vincent Price’s filmography — possibly because the title makes it sound more like a romantic comedy. In this first filmed version of Richard Matheson’s superb short novel “I Am…
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
What can you say about a film that feels like a graduation exercise by the B-grade film students out of UCLA? “A, for effort.” Now, not to get too side tracked here, but if SF State Students had done this…
Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson has written novels and short stories, as well as screenplays for both film and television. He has sometimes written under the pen name, “Logan Swanson”. His prose has often been adapted for the screen by others and sometimes…
Six-String Samurai (1998)
When I saw this movie at in the rental section, I assumed it would be a rip-off of EL MARIACHI or DESPERADO. I rented it out of curiosity and found that I was mistaken. This film is quite original and…
Five Quick Questions with Jack Thomas Smith
Jack Thomas Smith was born a writer, he was writing novels while most kids his age were still reading pop-up books. His passion for writing continued for many years. In recent years, Jack set out to do what he always…
The Genius That Is Ernie Fosselius
It probably all started with animated flip books drawn in the margins of high school text books, but Ernie Fosselius’ film career officially began in the early 1970’s when he co-created 20 original animated films for Sesame Street, doing “Old…
Jittery Monkeys Scream King and Queen Contest
Jittery Monkeys Scream King and Queen Competition It’s time to scream your damn head off like you never have before. You know, replicate that scream you experienced when you came home late from a “work meeting”, or your kids for…
Silent Running (1972)
Universal Studios funded several low-budget productions in the early seventies. By far the best to come out of this program was ‘Silent Running’, an ecologically-minded ‘message film’ that stands out today as one of the truly great films of the…
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
Unfortunately Nigel Kneal had absolutely no input into the film version of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT . Out goes the philosophy and long discussions of the human condition and in comes the more formuliac and streamlined plotting of a hostile alien…
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
“The Tomb of Ligeia” was one of a cycle of films made by Roger Corman in the sixties based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Verden Fell, an English country gentleman of the 1820s has become obsessed with his…
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
1975’s “A Boy And His Dog” defies categorization, much like the outspoken author who penned its Nebula-winning source novella. Harlan Ellison has resisted the genre label for his entire 900+ short story career (“call me a ‘science fiction’ writer, and…