Not quite a horror comedy but this film definitely has some satirical touches added by director/writer, the late, great Larry Cohen. There is also a good supply of gore such as bitten off limbs and rains of blood from the sky above. Two New York cops are in pursuit of a crazed killer who is enacting Aztec ritual sacrifice on people. Why, you may ask. The rituals will summon forth, Quetzalcoatl , an Aztec god of wind and air who could give the killer more of an edge in taking New York over by force. So, the killings continue both on [More]
I used to listen to the CBS Mystery Theater radio program late at night as a kid and, then, in later years tried to relive those happy moments by collecting old cassette recorded copies of similar radio drama programs. I stumbled upon this gem, the 1950’s era Escape show and its feature, “The Abominable Snowman”. The story is presented in an economic style with a handful of characters, emotive music and gobs of sound effects. All the better that there are no visuals involved so that your mind’s eye can more effectively play tricks on you. The imagination can be [More]
The 50th anniversary of man first setting foot on the Moon is close upon us. Looking back at this documentary, it gives an expansive encapsulation of the entire mission from preparation, to lift off, to setting foot on the Moon. And then there remained the task of managing a safe journey back to Earth. Mind boggling! Stunning accomplishment for the United States and the World. Very cool, vintage documentary. Relive this momentous event again and try not to shed a few tears when the Eagle lunar module lands on the Moon. Joyous! We should do this adventure again soon!
Dick Dale was known as the King of Surf Guitar. I am including this link to a story reported in Rolling Stone magazine. It tells Dale’s story better than I could: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dick-dale-surf-guitar-king-dead-obituary-809294/ I saw Dale perform at a small club a few years back. His band definitely didn’t hold back on the volume! Treble, reverb, noise showered the crowd. A beautiful thing.
Multi-instrumentalist and revolving UFO member MVP, Paul Raymond, passed away recently. Raymond played keyboards and guitar in many different iterations of UFO and had a memorable participation in The Michael Schenker Band. A very reliable addition to any band, his energy and enthusiasm will be missed in the music world.
Sadly, multi instrumentalist Peter Tork of The Monkees fame has passed at 77. Pete contributed bass, guitar, banjo, keyboards and vocals to The Monkees’ recordings and live shows. Depicted in the show as the simple minded one, in actuality Tork was quite the opinionated “thinker”. Pete passed an audition to become one of the four members of a prefabricated band to appear in a weekly television show copying the Beatles massive cultural appeal in the late 1960’s. Tork did have the ability to play an actual musical instrument which is more then can be said of half of the other [More]
On the eve of the grandest viewer spectacle there is, namely, Super Bowl LIII, I would like to share this collection of dubious player performances in football that lead to the player being ejected from the game. I know these athletes are very highly paid and are thought to be role models to youthful fans, and all, but these are very competitive games and in football there is a lot of contact. Let’s face it. Tempers flare, bad manners surface and sportsmanship can go out the window. There is always next week to show people what you’ve got. Anyway, enjoy [More]
Sadness at the passing of great character actor Dick Miller. A wise cracking, world weary, dependable presence in many horror and science fiction pictures including “The Terminator”, “The Howling”, “Gremlins” and an early starring role in the Roger Corman directed “A Bucket of Blood” which is linked to here. Macabre in the extreme, “Blood” is the tale of a destitute artist who turns his fortunes around and becomes the darling of the local Art crowd after he adopts a shocking new change to his sculpting style. Can you guess how? A twisted, enjoyable romp made back when Miller was younger [More]
Here is a disaster flick with an unhappy New Year’s theme. A luxury cruiser on its final voyage has the misfortune of confronting and ending up on the losing end of an earthquake generated massive tidal wave. The net effect is that the USS Poseiden is flipped upside down by the wave and as a result everything down is now up and vise versa. A group of survivors of the initial disaster then mount an effort to find a way to be saved by the eventual rescue crews. What proceeds from this point is a potboiler of clashing ideologies and [More]
You may be a big fan of Christmas themed movie at this time of the year and that is fine. But there is a wide variety of viewing experiences available to you and a good action movie may be what you are looking for. I will recommend a few thoroughly enjoyable action/adventure flicks. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) – Clint Eastwood as a bank robber on the run who winds up getting drawn back into a repeat heist attempt on a bank where everything eventually went bad the first time out. The second attempt ends up no better. This is a [More]
When you get right down to it, there are a ton of potential choices for Halloween movie viewing marathons. For the sake of brevity, I am choosing just five selections which will still take you a good day to get through so plan ahead to take the day off from your work or school grind! Wolfen (1981) – a cop is assigned to investigate a series of animal attacks. Is there a pack of werewolves on the loose in modern day New York? Some creepy situations and a suspenseful story should keep you entertained throughout. Albert Finney and Gregory Hines [More]
I have given a minute or two of thought to what I would enjoy most viewing on Halloween. I would most definitely need to take the day off of work because this lineup would probably consume a good 10 hours. Sacrifices must be made! Granted this is the first of what may be a series of some of my most adored movies piled together in one marathon viewing. These movies are what came off the top of my head at the time and can definitely be mixed and matched and replaced with other selections. I think that makes sense. 5 [More]
Back when Hammer Films were all the rage and knocking horror fans dead at the box office, “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” marked the return of Christopher Lee to the title roll of the infamous undead vampire king. He had gone away from the role after his turn as the blood sucker in the remarkable “Horror of Dracula” (1958), one of Hammer Films’ first stabs at rebooting the Universal monster cycle from films decades before. Lee appeared in Hammer Films such as “The Gorgon” (1964) and “She” (1965). He just wasn’t interested in playing Dracula. But through whatever form of alchemy [More]
African prince is “converted” to blood thirsty, undead vampire by Dracula. The Prince becomes a vampire and progresses through the centuries turning others in to vampires in his passing. Very entertaining vampire flick from the 1970’s that follows Blacula’s modern day wake of death and destruction as he feeds his hunger for blood. Naturally, a lot of the film takes place at night which lends a creepy air and some of the surprise vampire attacks are startling. Some of the action is clumsy and dumb but William Marshall as Blacula lends a sinister, menacing presence. Fantasy movie veteran Elisha [More]