Random Film of the Week: “X”- The Man With The X-Ray Eyes

Posted on November 11, 2013 by geelw

Ohhhh-kay... I’m having a SERIOUS case of déjà vu here. I know for a fact that I’d written up a review of this great 1963 Roger Corman “B” flick a few years back and posted it either on the old blog, here or somewhere else, but it’s nowhere to be found as far as I’ve checked. Crazy! Or perhaps I had such a vivid dream about writing this up that I merely THOUGHT that I’d run a review. Hey, it happens. But only to me, it seems…

Anyway, I despise rewriting stuff, so it could be that I did a draft that was close to completion but somehow was deleted or accidentally overwritten thanks to that oddball WordPress flaw where if you have two “Add New Post” tabs open and make the mistake of using them for new posts, you overwrite the first post with the second. Anyway, this is one of those really surprising low-budget films that, thanks to some great casting and some genuinely tight direction, manages to be much better than it should be… Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Horror Express

Posted on November 1, 2013 by geelw

(Thanks, Garbage Cinema!)

To me, Horror Express is an excellent example of a perfect “B” movie. Not FLAWLESS, mind you, but perfect in the solid manner it locks you into your seat right from the beginning and takes you on a nearly non-stop roller coaster ride that’s terrifying, amusing and very, very satisfying by the time the credits roll.

Granted, the version I first saw on New York City’s WOR-TV (Channel 9, to those in the know) had no end credits at all and subsequent countless viewings on that channel (where the film seemed to be in heavy horror rotation every few months) led me to believe this was the way the film was in its initial theatrical release. However, when checking this horror classic out recently on a borrowed Blu-Ray, I discovered the film did indeed have credits, but they were in Spanish, meaning whomever prepared the US version or television edit saved some money (and about a minute or so of time) by merely chopping off those end titles and that was that…

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Random Film of the Week: Mark of the Vampire

Posted on October 30, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, Passion4Horror!)

Confession time: I didn’t much care for the film version of Dracula. It took me three attempts to sit through that film as a kid, but it was less due to Bela Lugosi’s interestingly languid performance than the stiff “let’s put on a show!” Broadway staging most of the movie suffers from.

Over time I’ve finally come to respect and like the film a lot more, but have always found the Spanish language version far more compelling and fun to watch thanks to the additional scenes and excellent supporting cast. Unfortunately, the Dracula in that film chose to mimic Lugosi’s singular acting style a wee bit too much while the other actors eat up the scenery in that great manner supporting players do when they’re making the best of a meaty role.

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Random Film of the Week: The Defiant Ones

Posted on October 22, 2013 by geelw

Although he doesn’t appear until about 45 minutes into the film and has about seven minutes or so of screen time total, Lon Chaney Jr. plays a pivotal role in The Defiant Ones. As Big Sam, a burly, weathered old soul who saves the escaped duo from a lynching, he delivers a powerful speech against killing the men and beats down one of the angry mob before asking anyone else to step up and try their hand at murder. Given that the guy he slugged went down like a stone wall hit by a wrecking ball, no one decides to test their luck afterwards.

Later on, he cuts the pair loose before brusquely sending them away still chained from the small waterside shack town they’d stumbled across. It’s not until the last moments the three men are together that you realize why Sam isn’t keen on seeing the men harmed (at least by his people)… a flash of his badly scarred wrist reveals he used to be a former chain gang convict. He doesn’t know or care what they’ve done to be chained to each other, but he’s giving them a better chance at survival than anyone else would have… Continue reading →

The Four Horsemen Have Been Busy @ The Movies For Ages. You Should Be Very Pleased About That.

Posted on October 18, 2013 by geelw

So, Nick Powell over at The Cinematic Katzenjammer asked for contributors this month to write up a post or do something creative using The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as a starting point and any horror-themed movies that happened to fit one or more of their particular talents. I decided to have a bit of fun picking four films (one for each rider) and pointing to moments in each that to me, define the essence of their namesakes. They’re not all horror films, but if you’re in the right mood you’ll see the horror in parts of them.

Amusingly enough, the devil has gotten his due here as well. ALL of these were done up as Random Film of the Week entries at one point, but three were lost when I misplaced a USB thumb stick with a ton of other fresh content I’d done for the site a few years back when it was on Blogger. One good reason for me doing this post was to kick myself in the butt hard and get on to full rewrites soon of those three.

In addition, I’ll warn you now that the Fifth Horseman (Spoilage!) is on board. So if you haven’t seen any of the four flicks listed here… you’ve been warned in advance. Which is unusual in this day and age, as spoilers usually just spill out and all over you in the oddest of places. Hell, I heard the end of Gravity from a yakky lady babbling like a jerk on her cell phone in a grocery store a few days ago. I wanted to throw a large can of low-sodium black beans at her head, but I’d be typing this from a jail cell, it was the last can of that brand on the shelf and I needed it more than her head needed a two-pound can-sized impression in it.

Anyway, saddle up and get ready to ride (or duck behind something and hope you’re unseen)… we’re off! Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week(end), Too: Horror Castle

Posted on October 13, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, sleazeorama!)

Given that it’s been released with no fewer than three titles (The Virgin of Nuremberg and Castle of Terror are the other two), it’s not surprise that I didn’t get to see this Italian horror flick until it popped up on TCM a few days ago. Of course, if I wasn’t up and half dying from the scratchy throat that mutated into the cold I’m now getting over, I’d have missed this frightening little import gem. Sure, it’s got a score that sounds a bit out of place, some odd dialog (although I’m not sure if this a translation issue) and yes, plenty of cliché gone wild moments that would sink a lesser effort. Nevertheless, the overall gloomy atmosphere and great color photography, a great extended cameo by Christopher Lee (misspelled as Cristopher Lee in the credits) and a pretty damn excellent scene involving rats, a cage and a young woman’s face make this one worth tracking down…

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Random Film of the Week(end): MARTIN

Posted on October 13, 2013 by geelw

(thanks albademorti!)

I think I like MARTIN the best out of all George Romero’s films because despite its age it still holds up one of the best modern takes on the vampire genre (even though the titular character only thinks he’s one) and is about as uncompromising as it gets from beginning to end.

It’s also an extremely hard to watch film if you’re squeamish about a few things like needles, fresh razor blades and blood, but everything clicks on multiple levels and there’s a powerful payoff at the end that offers up a bit of slyly amusing social commentary common to Romero’s work. If all you know about vampires is that tween sparkly Twilight crap or even the used to be interesting before it went into fairy fantasy crazyland True Blood, this one will stake a claim in your brain as soon as you meet the titular character doing his version of the bloodsucking thing he needs to slake his thirst…
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Shout Factory’s The Vincent Price Collection: Timely, Indeed (Warts and All)…

Posted on October 7, 2013 by geelw

Someone hipped me to this upcoming Shout Factory box set of six classic horror flicks featuring the late, great Vincent Price (who’s also Star of the Month on TCM all October) and I had to give it a thumb and a three-quarters up just for that lovely cover art alone. Oh, alright, the six sick flicks here are all top picks (and on Blu-Ray for the first time, I believe). But I’d still have to gripe out a grape sized whine about the total lack of love for Doctor Phibes Rises Again, which SHOULD have been grafted into this sextet just because it’s the darn sequel to The Abominable Doctor Phibes and yes, I’m STILL waiting my ass off for Tim Burton to announce he’s remaking both Phibes philms at the same time like Peter Jackson did with his epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Granted, Phibes’ offbeat mix of camp and 70’s era gore “lite” isn’t anywhere on the same level as Tolkein’s works, folks. But hey, I grew up glued to the tube with many of Price’s films and those two hold a very special place in my still beating heart. Hey, it’s not as if I’m asking for Scream and Scream Again, right? RIGHT? If you ever see that one, you’ll understand, kids…

Anyway, if you’re too lazy to click links, that collection costs $55, features tons of special features and the six films are as follows:

THE PIT & THE PENDULUM

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

THE HAUNTED PALACE

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

WITCHFINDER GENERAL (aka THE CONQUEROR WORM)

Who needs to go out on Halloween and get a tummy ache from some lousy cheap candy bought at the dollar store? Get this Blu-Ray set, pop up that dried out corn display you’ve had on the table for years and sprinkle some chili powder on it, slap a few razor blades into a pomegranate (apples are SO last century!) pull up a chair and veg out! Friends optional, but go “borrow” some (have some rope and gags handy) so you can show them a good time before you kick them out in a more bewildered but appreciative state (like Maine or maybe California, ha ha)…

Random Film of the Week(end): MAROONED

Posted on October 6, 2013 by geelw

While Alfonso Cuarón’s GRAVITY is raking in its massive weekend box office bank and garnering all sorts of critical accolades and yes, awards potential, I thought I’d crack open the vaults and take a look at the first major Hollywood hit about a crew of astronauts lost in space. Granted, the doomed crew of 1950’s Rocketship X-M got lost, ended up somewhere scientifically implausible and came back down to Earth in the worst way possible first. And yes, yes… the crew of the Discovery from Kubrick’s epic 2001: A Space Odyssey don’t quite count because they were done in by a very confused computer in such a low-key manner that by the end their deaths are forgotten in that film’s grander cosmic scope.

But John Sturges’ 1969 film (which won an Academy Award for its visual effects) has the benefit of some much better actors performing in lead and supporting roles, although the film’s science and yes, now dated “by today’s standards” visual effects don’t hold up all that well these days. It’s worth a viewing these days when it pops up on TCM just to see how Hollywood was trying hard to make a timely sci-fi film while chasing (and not coming close to) the higher level of quality Kubrick and his team of SFX technicians spent years crafting…

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Random Film of the Week: The Honeymoon Killers

Posted on September 10, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, neondreams25!)

While it’s not a horror film, Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers manages to be a fairly intense drama/black comedy mix that gets your attention with its true crime story, stark black and white photography and excellent performances from the two leads. This is a film that gets under your skin right away with Gustav Mahler’s intense music setting an oppressively dreary tone for the story of Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck, aka The Lonely Hearts Killers, as they go about their nasty work of lightening the landscape of too-trusting mostly elderly ladies looking for love in all the wrong places.

Kastle, in his first and only studio film, managed to make an instant classic that’s also a fantastic low-budget flick as well as a pretty grim viewing experience if you’ve never seen it before. That said, there’s also a bit of very dark humor to be found here and the movie is a pretty compelling viewing experience thanks to the near constant level of suspense tempered with a near constant sense of dread…

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