American Battleships
Back when there were still video stores, there were lots of movies that helped fill shelf space not taken up by the big star-driven films. You may have almost grabbed some of these videos; they had great artwork and the…
Are Movies Fading?
At the outset, let me state unequivocally that I have had a lifetime love affair with the movies. The affair spans the golden age of Hollywood films and as evidence of this heartfelt attachment, I can name most of the…
In Memoriam: Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara died on Friday, at the age of eighty-one. He’s one of the very greatest of film actors; he’ll be remembered for just a handful of roles, out of the one hundred thirty-three listed in IMDb, but those are…
Troubled Movie Theatres
A gradual recovery in business and consumer spending and the lagging recovery in unemployment continue to hinder demand for the Movie Theaters industry. According to IBISWorld industry analyst and report author Agata Kaczanowska, “enhanced cinema experiences, such as 3D technology…
Slow Horror, ‘The Innkeepers’
There’s a kind of horror movie you don’t have to be a horror fan to enjoy: The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby are a couple of examples; but The House of the Devil, a film from three years ago, might belong…
Get Angry: With Kelley Baker
In 2000 Kelley Baker set out to make a full length feature film for the sum of $1000. He failed miserably. His budget ballooned up to $4000, (he forgot he had to feed cast and crew), but when the dust…
Nightbeasts
During his 17 year career as an animator at Walt Disney, Wes Sullivan lent his artistic talents to a slew of Disney features including: Pocahontas, Hercules, Tarzan, Mulan, Treasure Planet, Fantasia 2000, The Goofy Movie, The Lion King, Treasure Planet,…
Adieu B
When Speakeasy interviewed Roger Corman recently about the DVD release of a late-’70s sci-fi flick called “Star Crash,” we asked the legendary producer to explain why low-budget pictures have largely disappeared from theaters. In the ’60s and ’70s, B-movies and…
A Plate Full Of Spaghetti
Why it’s daunting: Europe’s fascination with the American West dates back to before the Old West could rightly be called old. German author Karl May began writing about the Native American hero Winnetou and his German blood brother Old Shatterhand…
ITALIA 2012 TO BE DEDICATED TO THE GREAT ITALIAN DIRECTOR SERGIO CORBUCCI
ROME — The 7th Los Angeles-Italia Film Fashion and Art Festival will celebrate Italo production design and set decoration duo Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, Oscar-nommed for art direction on Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo.” The husband-and-wife team will receive an…
The Intimitable Kroger Babb
Babb is best known for his presentation of exploitation films, a term many in the business would embrace. According to The Hollywood Reporter, his success came from picking topics that would be easily sensationalized, such as religion and sex. His…
The Brides Of Dracula
Opening narration to The Brides of Dracula: Transylvania, land of dark forests, dread mountains and black, unfathomed lakes, still the home of magic and devilry as the nineteenth century draws to its close. Count Dracula, monarch of all vampire s,…
Peter Cushing
The unknown wit who branded Hammer horror films as “horror films made by accountants” undoubtedly was thinking about Peter Cushing, the most visible and ubiquitous representative of the Hammer creative team during its formative years; but the comment is not…
Over A Barrel: Leo G. Carroll
Leo G. Carroll was the son of an Irish-born British military officer. The younger Carroll had intended to follow in his father’s footsteps, but his World War I experiences discouraged him from pursuing a military career. On the British stage…
Smart Effects Dumb People
The thriller “Chronicle” takes the do-it-yourself filmmaking genre, where the characters seem to be doing the filming “Blair Witch”-style, to a ridiculous degree. Three Seattle high-school guys — picked-on camera nerd Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his cooler cousin Matt (Alex Russell)…
Hooray For Nollywood
Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry, is the world’s third largest producer of feature films. Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, however, Nollywood movies are made on shoe-string budgets of time and money. An average production takes just 10 days and costs approximately…
Sammo Hung
In a career which has evolved over nearly four decades, Sammo Hung has risen from his humble beginnings as a stunt-player and extra at the famous Golden Harvest Studios to become the most influential and prolific innovator the Hong Kong…
Third-Rate Russian Sci-Fi Film — and Turned It Into Three
When I was choosing a feature for the upcoming SF Sketchfest 2012 Bad Movie Night (Sunday, Jan. 29), I knew we were going to need a doozy of a stinker, a public domain oddity whose quality was obvious from the…
The Horror Factory-Asylum
First a bit of backstory: The Asylum was formed by David Michael Latt, David Rimawi and Sherri Strain in 1997. Rimawi and Strain had been executives at Village Roadshow, and upon leaving teamed with writer/director Latt to start a genre…
Chopper The Movie
Chopper #3 is now available for pre-order in the Diamond PREVIEWS December catalog. This exciting five-issue horror series is published by Asylum Press. Written by screenwriter Martin Shapiro and drawn by acclaimed artist Cliff Richards (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman:…