My first exposure to the world of Nigel Kneale’s science fiction hero Bernard Quatermass came via John Carpenter. Carpenter, a huge fan of Neale’s work, credited himself under the pseudonym Martin Quatermass for Prince of Darkness. Kneale supposedly hated the tribute for various reasons but it’s an appropriate nod. Carpenter’s remake of The Thing owes... Continue Reading →
Supposedly as Hammer’s Dracula films progressed, Christopher Lee began to detest them more and more. The scripts, as he claimed, never stood up to Bram Stoker’s novel. You get then why the idea of being in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula would appeal to him. Here, a filmmaker wanted to faithfully and finally adapt Stoker’s text... Continue Reading →
Being Film #14 for Hooptober 2022 If anyone says they're a fan of The Nest, the 1988 riff on Piranha with cockroaches instead of deadly fish, it's probably because of the final 15 minutes, which to be fair to the film has some legit great moments of practical effects and a fair amount of the... Continue Reading →
Being Film #13 for Hooptober 2022 Another reason to adhere to rules as much as possible when participating in Hooptober: I don't think I ever would have seen the (or even been aware of) some of the regional low budget horror that was prevalent throughout the 70s. Is that a blessing or a curse when... Continue Reading →
Charles B. Pierce’s The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a platypus of a horror film. Trying to describe this movie sounds schizophrenic. In the most memorable parts of the film, it mimics The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in intensity. For most of the running time, the film functions like a docudrama with law enforcement trying... Continue Reading →
Poltergeist is a film where I have a little bit of a personal connection with it. We almost share a birthday. Both of us were unleashed in 1982, though I’m a day older. But even before I knew that information, I’ve always felt drawn to this film. It’s one of the few horror films I... Continue Reading →
Being Film #12 for Hooptober 2022 There are certain things we come to expect when we sit down with a giallo, named for the yellow color adorning lurid tales of sex and murder popular in Italy as far back as the 30s: twisted violence and garish colors. Point of view kills. Hands covered in black... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago, when Chris reviewed Eaten Alive for Hooptober 2015, he asked two good questions. Why do we praise Tobe Hooper and what makes a film uniquely one by him? Out of the Four Horsemen of 70s horror (the other three being George Romero, John Carpenter, and Wes Craven), Hooper’s work might... Continue Reading →
Part of the fun of Hooptober is because you have to meet certain criteria, you have to watch some films blind. Sometimes you get a film that blows you away and reminds you why you watch horror films. Sometimes you get horror films that also remind you why you watch them but not for conventionally... Continue Reading →
Being Film #11 for Hooptober 2022 If nothing else, Creature should impart just how influential Alien was to the science fiction and horror landscape. The film wears Ridley Scott's classic (as well as Howard Hawks's The Thing From Another World) on its sleeve, and there's no denying this was a film writer/director William Malone felt... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 