This radio play, based on author H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” novel, has stood the test of time. We are presented with a gripping tale of alien invasion by a seemingly unstoppable force that brings the Earth to its knees but not before a wholly unexpected ally assists us in eluding planetwide destruction. Based loosely on Wells’ classic science fiction novel, upstart talent, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater production cast of radio and ultimately theater and film performers, craft a masterful adaptation of the story. America is the spot of a succession of meteorite impacts across the country [More]
This is the full movie version of Tales From The Crypt (1972). A couple of nice segments in this British horror anthology. Fantastic ghoul makeup applied to Peter Cushing.
My favorite episode from “Star Trek” – The Original Series. A marauding super weapon of ancient origins plummets through space destroying astral bodies in its wake to provide fuel for its continuing existence. The Enterprise, commanded by Captain James Kirk, attempts to put a stop to the machine’s path of destruction before any more lives are lost. Very well paced, exciting episode that provides plenty of action and suspense. Going back and watching “The Original Series” today, I am struck by the rather talkative, slow paced nature of a lot of the episodes. This segment provided a welcome alternative to [More]
Juicy, supernatural soap opera featuring the fabulous Jaqueline Bisset as the wife of an aspiring concert pianist who has her world turned upside down by a gaggle of satanic cult members. Plenty of post Flower Power saturated colors, soft focus lenses and semi risqué goings on. Very enjoyable time waster that plays like the cinematic equivalent of a melodramatic romantic novel. Featuring a cast of great character actors including Willian Windom, Bradford Dillman, Curt Jurgens, Alan Alda and Barbara Parkins.
A made for TV fright film that touts a modern day werewolf on the loose in Louisiana. Although this movie gets a little talky in spots, I like the atmosphere present from the Louisiana setting and the modest amount of frights served up: Some nice POV shots of the monster descending on his soon to be victims. Also, some creepy moments as a country estate is stalked at night by the howling, marauding wolf man and a hospital is plagued by the unwelcome presence of the destructive monster. Certainly not the best monster make up you will see but thankfully we [More]
A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price. You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” . “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween. Heavy on the garlic fries. Hehe.
There were news items circling around where the plot from Steven King’s “The Stand” has been compared to the current global pandemic featuring the irrepressible COVID-19. King denied that there were really any similarities. As we progress through this mess, more details emerge as to the origin of the coronavirus. Did it begin in one of the “wet markets” in Wuhan, China, where a varied selection of animals are sold for consumption? It has also been mentioned that there are a couple of virology labs close by the wet markets where tests were being made on bats for who knows [More]
The very talented actor George Segal just left us. Segal was a good dramatic actor as well as possessed of comedic timing. Segal had a long career and certainly will be missed. I include a clip from “The Terminal Man”, an adaptation of a Michael Crichton book. This was a harrowing look at science and technologies meant for good potentially having a disastrous and deadly side effect.
Miners uncover a piece of preserved dinosaur tail that ends up thawing in a scientific research facility. That ends up being an awful turn of events. The small bit of flesh soon grows and regenerates a complete dinosaur! The resilient reptile. Very soon, a full-fledged rampaging beast is on the loose and begins laying waste to the Denmark countryside where the tale takes place. There are bits of this fantasy film that I find actually enjoyable. There is a travelogue of sorts that appears near the middle of the film that highlights some of the festive night spots and activities [More]
A very strange film courtesy of director Curtis Harrington. This film is by turns ambitious, clumsy, inspired, dull, beautiful, ugly, and creepy in atmosphere. Harrington compiles, at times, an epic space adventure that involves our world and the inhabitants of another planet. It seems that Earth has detected an interstellar message that aliens are headed toward our planet to establish a meeting of the races. It is soon discovered that the aliens were waylaid enroute and crashed on the planet Mars. Earth dispatches a rescue mission to assist the downed craft. Our astronauts recover one living specimen but soon regret [More]
What the heck? It’s getting nearer to Halloween. Take a look at some of these pictures which all show an abnormal subject!
I was looking at the Phantasm (1979) trailer and I noticed actor Angus Scrimm, who played ungodly ghoul “The Tall Man” in this series, and “rocker” Gene Simmons of KISS band fame seem to share a few common traits. Check out Phantasm, the movie, and see if you can name a few similarities. Just thought of another one! Both are curators of an interdimensional collective of freaks! Heres the Phantasm trailer link: http://youtu.be/nJojkFFUsdo
Assemblage of concert footage features Pink Floyd in concert playing “Sheep”. This song appeared on their release “Animals”. The Pink Floyd concert experience was a mixed media event with film clips and visuals projected onto a massive screen, lasers, a light show, and huge props reflecting song subject matter. Here we witness a very saturated color film of the performance and hear the rich aural textures of synthesizer (Richard Wright), processed guitar (David Gilmour), reverberating vocals (Roger Waters) and driving drumbeats (Nick Mason) intermixed. Trippy to say the least. Nice use of vocoder near the end of this clip.
Two of Hollywood’s most beautiful stars at the time, Kevin Costner and Madeline Stowe, engage in an illicit affair in this Tony Scott directed film. The scorned husband of Stowe, Anthony Quinn, uncovers the truth and orchestrates an unremittingly grim beat down upon the two lovers. Shockingly violent and ugly, this is a movie plot conjured out of nightmares and grim fantasies. There are no hero saves the day moments in store, just a final, sickening realization within the main characters that maybe it would have been better to have just stayed the course and avoided the ruination of their lives that [More]