Kevin Conway recently passed away. He has two roles that remind me of his involvement in the fright/fantasy movie field. Conway appeared in Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (1981). He appears as three different barkers in a carnival (!!!). These are pretty seamy characters and lend a creepy air to the bizarre goings on at the rundown attraction. Lawnmower Man 2 (1996) saw Conway acting as an unscrupulous, corporate scumbag who is pushing the boundaries of the virtual reality world. Nice work. R.I.P., Kevin.
Iconic horror film director Tobe Hopper sadly passed away this year. Looking at his work, you see a good handful of classic horror films! Hopper’s masterpiece, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, personified the Hell of being victimized and threatened by a twisted family of cannibalistic freaks somewhere in Texas. There was the thoroughly enjoyable horror TV two-parter, “Salem’s Lot”, an atmospheric, nightmarish look at a town and its populace destroyed by a vampire plague. “Poltergeist” presented the mounting menace of a ghostly presence invading a suburban home and the dislocation and fear that ensues for the family inhabiting the now haunted [More]
I came across an interesting article today. You may have heard this story before. There has been conjecture circulating through the years that “Poltergeist” (1982), a tale of a suburban household plagued by ghosts was NOT directed by Tobe Hooper but was in fact helmed by an on-set Steven Spielberg who otherwise was listed as the film’s producer. It was noted that certainly the end result’s film style reflected a Spielbergian touch. Well, here are some long after the fact confessions from some of the crew that Spielberg WAS the man in charge of direction. I don’t really know what [More]
Lifeforce has always been an enjoyable viewing experience for me. Directed by Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame, this flick straddles the line between falling into either the science fiction or horror movie camps. It ends up having elements of both in its delivery. An international space crew observing Halley’s Comet become aware of an unidentified object hidden within the comet’s tail. The crew decides to investigate the object up close and then things start to get really interesting. I think the first thirty minutes of this movie are brilliantly paced. I love that portion of the movie but [More]