This was the final film gathering of The Original Series Star Trek crew after a long line of cinematic adventures. Star Trek started out as a TV series but after only lasting three seasons in its original run, a devoted fanbase rallied to get the creative forces that be to realize that there was still an audience out there and, after Star Wars proved to be a box office smash, that maybe there was gold in them thar science fiction film hills. The resultant movie franchise lasted for six installments. This time out, our heroes are ordered to take a [More]
Wes Craven, creator of Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream directed this ’80’s science fiction horror film for television. The money must have been right. The movie is a clear cut example of good folk versus evil folk and it has a somewhat annoying 1980’s sheen to it. Robert Urich relocates his family to his new work site and residence. It turns out that the influencers in the community all belong to a fashionable country club. Low and behold, the country club harbors a malignant force that guarantees success or failure in the suburban, gated community that the family moves [More]
Very creepy tale of mounting tension and dread that follows a family falling apart. The characters at first appear to be involved in a haunting but what eventually surfaces is a tale involving the rebirth of a demon who needs a young human host. The person selected as the future host is less than thrilled to be bestowed with the “honor” and therein lies the hideous rub. It is being enacted against his will and appears to be a family tradition of resurrecting evil deities but definitely to the benefit of a minute minority. Dysfunction in its highest form to [More]
They ain’t kidding with the bit about “the end of Love”. This is a very violent, depressing environmental horror tale from the early 1970’s which sets the downbeat vibe with the title sequence showing a parched desert floor with the anguished silhouettes of contorted human figures laboring across it. We then see a montage of car exhaust pipes and factory chimneys spewing out ugly exhaust, polluted waterways and landscapes, and scenes of overcrowded, congested cities. (The title sequence from “Soylent Green”, another grim portrait of a futuristic nightmare society, nicked this montage.) It doesn’t help matters that folkie Roger Whittaker [More]
It is a good thing for us that Little Richard lived to the ripe old age of 87. We have been able to enjoy his talent and wit all these years! A rock and roll trailblazer and influential icon, Little Richard was a one of a kind personality and energy source. We have been blessed with his presence. Thank you, Sir.
Author Michael Crichton made a career of fabricating yarns about scientific pursuits which are intended for the advancement and betterment of Man going horribly awry. Whether it be an unfailing belief in the infallibility of scientific advancement being a good thing and absolutely essential to our well being or just a catastrophic domino effect of good intentions and can’t fail scientific method crumbling into chaos, Crichton offered up a bevy of such cautionary tales about our experts overstepping their bounds with regard to natural order and development. Case in point: The Terminal Man. This cinematic take explores what would happen [More]
Another blast from the past. The amazing, original line up of The Stranglers in their music video for “Duchess”. Ah, they just don’t make them like this anymore and you may say that’s a good thing. But it does have a nice and gritty cinematic quality using those old ’70’s film stocks. Directed by old school music video maestro, Russell Mulcahy. Whatever happened to him? Time relentlessly passes.
Ian McDonald may be best remembered for his amazing work with the early progressive rock group King Crimson. McDonald played woodwinds, mellotron and keyboards for the group and wrote the music for “In the Court of the Crimson King”, a progressive music masterpiece, as well as being involved in the writing of many of the other classic tracks on the collection. McDonald was a self-taught saxophone and flute player. He learned them well. Witness his aggressive saxophone attack on “21st Century Schizoid Man”. Fantastic. McDonald departed the Crimson band after the first album but would rejoin on their “Red” album [More]
I started watching this western and began thinking that it was playing out as another dated take on The Old West that we have seen in countless TV shows and repetitive movies. There was a soundtrack featuring a harmonica, a jailbreak out of a Federal prison, gunplay galore and even some Gatling Gun action. It struck me as being old fashioned in an age where the Western had been electrified and shaken up by a work like Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch”. How could filmmakers fall back on all the old, reliable cliches of The Western genre and expect the audience [More]
I want to like “Rose Red” but it is just not a very scary or suspenseful movie. I don’t really like any of the characters so that impacts my interest toward this two-night Stephen King television movie. It used to be a regular event for network television to buy one of King’s properties and then create a TV movie. Some were good, others not so good. I think this is one lesser quality King works. A team of ghost hunters head off to a notorious haunted property to see if they can find any evidence of activity. Their search will [More]
Allen Garfield, a great actor known for some villainous acting roles, passed away from the Coronavirus. My favorite bad guy he portrayed was the loathsome “Rizzo”, a crime boss featured in “Busting” (1973). An unforgettable sleaze! Garfield had memorable turns in “Nashville” (1975) and “The Conversation” (1974), as well. Garfield will be missed.
I am trying to pinpoint the origins of how this movie was made. What haunted house film had come before that could provide “inspiration” to get this film produced? I have guessed “The Omen” (haunted in a different way) or maybe even “The Legend of Hell House” but I am not sure. “House of Evil” is a mismatch of ghostly manifestations taking place in an abandoned mansion which has been recently purchased by a scientist as the site of a new research facility. A team of fellow scientists and assorted specialists join the professor in his new digs and then [More]
This entry is stretching a point, I’ll tell you right up front. Have you noticed the reactions of characters being revolted by their food or drink and tossing it aside or pouring the drink out? I was watching “The French Connection” and there is a scene where the cop, Doyle, pursuing the drug smuggler lord has to stand out in frigid temperatures across the street from the lavish, Four-Star French restaurant where the kingpin is consuming a seven course, exquisite meal. The cop is reduced to eating a warmed-over slice of pizza and some disgusting coffee. After taking a sip, [More]
I think “Horror In The Heights” was the best episode from the short lived “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” TV series. I have discussed Kolchak in prior posts but I watched this particular episode again recently. It was scripted by Hammer films vet, Jimmy Sangster, whose screenwriting credits included Hammer’s “Curse of Frankenstein” and “Horror of Dracula”. Very good credentials, indeed. A series of ghastly murders are occurring in a neighborhood primarily populated by the elderly. What worse is that the bodies show the signs of being partially devoured! Our fearless reporter, Kolchak, begins to sense that the killings are far [More]