The Vulture
1967, Starring Robert Hutton, Akim Tamiroff, Broderick Crawford. Directed by Lawrence Huntington. Only the second full-length horror film to be produced in Canada (the first being the trippy 3-D flick The Mask, released in 1961), 1967’s The Vulture is one…
Cashing In On The Eighties
If I’d known the ’80s were so great, I’d have paid more attention while I was living through them. But they must have been because, for the past couple of years, Hollywood has been remaking and “rebooting” movies from the…
Remakes Are Bad Business
I went to see RED DAWN and was bitterly disappointed. Studios are fixated on the idea of pre-sold or recognizable brands abdd sometimes they rely too much on those brands. But it’s still much easier to make a buck on….
A Monster Of An Interview
An Interview with Gila by Robert Hood: RH: Welcome once again to the Backbrain, Gila. How’s it feel now that the film’s in the can and has even premiered. Gila: Feels great! I got a bigger hole in the ground…
The Golden Turkey Awards
The Golden Turkey Awards is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry Medved. The book awards the fictional “Golden Turkey Awards” to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and…
Best Thanksgiving B Movies
Blood Freak (1972) Okay, so this movie doesn’t revolve around Thanksgiving, but it does revolve around a deranged man with a mutant turkey head killing people. Still interested? Read on. This movie is probably the hardest movie to find, I…
Help Us Promote Gila!
Hey want to see GILA! gracing the SYFY channel. maybe give them a little nudge about you wanting to see this Wynorski classic on the SYFY Channel …and of course your undying appreciation for doing so. Please write them at…
The Pharoah’s Curse
Nicknamed “Roll ‘Em” Sholem for his unpretentious efficiency, director Lee Sholem had worked with Tarzan, Superman, Jungle Jim, Ma and Pa Kettle and Tobor the Great by the time he wrapped his head around his first and only “mummy” movie,…
The Highest of Low Standards: How ‘MST3K’ Picked Movies to Mock
by Benjamin Vigeant The scene, as I remember it, is like this: Ally Farson is in the kitchen with her emotionally abusive mother having a lengthy argument. Ally, as we’ve learned earlier, is fairly unhinged and has recently started a…
Red Dawn
Red Dawn is generic as it gets. And that’s the good part. The cinematography, pacing (especially in the first 55 minutes), and storytelling is cohesive as a Donald Trump speech – an incoherent rant. But for those that fantasize about…
Corman In Tucson
Since selling his first script in 1953, Roger Corman has made more than 400 films and distributed countless others, so it’s safe to say he’s been a busy man for the last 60 or so years. • Even at the…
Piranaconda Hits DVD
Fans of Roger Corman rejoice! Piranhaconda has been unleashed and its making its way to a DVD near you! Yep, mark this date down, January 7, 2013 see’s the release of Roger Corman produced flick Piranhaconda, and we have the…
THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES (1963)
My dear, departed friend, cult movie god RAY DENNIS STECKLER was a frequent guest at my live Thrillville show. One of the highlights of my so-called career, and life, was chasing Ray (in his trademark screen alias “Cash Flagg” hood) around…
The Mother Of Modern American Cinema:Verna Fields
Verna Fields was an American film editor, film and television sound editor, educator, and entertainment industry executive. Fields edited more than thirty motion pictures, including Peter Bogdanovich’s golden period of What’s Up, Doc ? (1972), Paper Moon (1973), and Daisy…
Make-Up Giant Rick Baker Gets Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will honor makeup artist Rick Baker with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 30, 2012, at 11:30 a.m. at 6764 Hollywood Boulevard in front of The Guinness World Records Museum. “We…
The Biology of B-Movie Monsters
BY | Michael C. LaBarbera Michael C. LaBarbera is a professor in Organismal Biology & Anatomy, Geophysical Sciences, the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, and the College of the University of Chicago. Size has been one of the most popular themes…
Five Easy Question: Horror Host John Stanley
JOHN STANLEY is the legendary author of numerous articles, novels and books on the subject of fantasy cinema, and perhaps most famously hosted the popular Creature Features program in the Bay Area circa the early ‘80s. He is additionally a…
King Of The Kiddie Matinee
At one time Bloomington, Illinois, was where many of the leading circus performers of the time wintered. Born in 1922, Kenneth Gordon Murray, son of an Irish undertaker,spent much of his boyhood in the company of those circus artists. By…
Frankenstein’s Dad: James Whale
One of the most stylized and talented filmmakers of the 1930s, director James Whale was also one of the most successful; a fact that stood in direct contrast to his long-underappreciated stature in the history of cinema. Arriving in Hollywood…
Here Comes Snowpiercer
The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today they have acquired rights for the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming post-apocalyptic action thriller, SNOWPIERCER. The film presented by CJ Entertainment is a Moho Film,…