The Neptune Factor
Produced rather expensively (for the time) by an independent Canadian film company, THE NEPTUNE FACTOR was picked up by 20th Century Fox and for the most part played on the bottom of a double bill with BATTLE FOR THE PLANET…
Black Christmas
1974’s Black Christmas is one of the most important Canadian horror films ever made, a decidedly gimmick-free spookshow that weaves terror and humor into a festive holiday package. Not only is it of interest to Canuxploitation enthusiasts for the Canadian…
Those Mexican Wacky B Movie Ads
John Cozzoli’s collection is frightening. Not because of its sheer size (though he does have over 500 film artifacts), but because Cozzoli’s ephemera all relates to lesser-known horror movies of the 20th century. Primarily devoted to Mexican lobby cards, or…
Corman Critical Of Films Made For Festivals’
The high-minded fare of the film festival circuit and the cheap thrills of B-movie pulp couldn’t seem farther apart, but the circuit will be closed when king of the B-movies Roger Corman heads the competition jury at this year’s Tokyo…
Ida Lupino: Queen B
If Samuel Fuller has a female counterpart it would have been Ida Lupino. A pioneering female filmmaker, she carved out her own world out of a raw cinematic wilderness . She took instead of waiting to have someone or some…
Sing -A-Long With Snake: The Score From Escape From New York
Escape From New York is another movie in John Carpenter’s long line of work that has reached cult status. Although a mild hit upon its initial release, like most of Carpenter’s films, it found its audience on cable and video….
Roger
If you’re like me, the end of the summer movie season means it’ll be at least nine months before your next chance to see a superhero on the big screen trading deathblows with an alien. If you need an off-season…
The Rise Of The B Movie
Here is an overview of a course I taught at a local college The Rise of The B Movie From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and…
Dark Star
In the middle of the 22nd century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advancement to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Armed with artificially intelligent “Thermostellar Triggering Devices”, the scout ship Dark Star and its…
China 9 Liberty 37
A condemned gunman, Clayton Drumm, is given a chance at freedom and salvation if he accepts a proposition presented to him by the railroad. Kill farmer, Matthew Sebanek. But after Drumm is disarmed at Sebanek’s ranch, he soon develops a…
Damnation Alley
1st Lieutenant Jake Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), an unorthodox Air Force officer, shares ICBM silo duty at an Air Force missile base in California with Major Eugene “Sam” Denton (George Peppard). When the United States detects incoming nuclear missiles, Tanner and…
James Bond At 50
It has been 50 years since British secret service agent 007 first appeared on the big screen in the James Bond movie Dr. No. Coinciding with the anniversary is the release of Adele’s theme song for the next Bond…
Corbucci: The Other Sergio
“If Sergio Leone was the ‘father’ of the Spaghetti Western than Sergio Corbucci was his ‘uncle”. This phrase by a critic sums up very well the distance between those 2 directors who are the most influential of the…
How To Build A Monster
Necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say. It’s probably the motto of a great many film directors who’ve never benefited from a multi-million dollar budget worthy of James Cameron. But mega-money is far from essential in…
Sybil In The Windy City
International sex symbol, B-movie queen and ’80s action hero Sybil Danning will be at the Music Box next weekend for two events. On Friday, Oct. 12, she’ll be around for autographs and Q&A following a screening of the original, uncut 1983 women-in-prison (a…
Internet Craze: Iron Sky
How does this plot sound to you: In 1945, sensing imminent defeat, Nazis secretly sent spacecraft and a few of their finest to the dark side of the moon. In 2018, they come back to exact revenge on Earth….
The Killer Shrews
by Jason Grooms Do you know what the most fierce, deadly, blood-thirsty creature the world has ever known is? It’s a creature with ferocious fangs like a lion, echolocation like a vampire bat, and deadly venom like a cobra. No,…
This Is Not Your Father’s Gila Monster
Whenever the topic of the remake comes up I always ask, “Why remake a good film? Why remake films that are considered cinematic masterpieces, classics of the genre? What’s the point? Why not take a stinker of a movie and…
The Tentacle’s Claw Has Me In It’s Grasp!
While at the B Movie Celebration I was caught having to decide between two films playing simultaneously; Zombies From Outer Space, a German film, or The Tentacle’s Claw coming down from Newfoundland. Both homage films, both equally tempting. Admittedly…
Key Makeup Artist Valerie Garcia
Growing up we all had role models. Valerie Garcia’s was the art of special effects and at an early age she was determined to become a monster maker and today she takes great pride in her work and rightfully so….