The thriller Russian Roulette is good enough that you could almost swear that it’s not Canadian.
Won’t have you seeing red
Aug 21
The horror anthology movie Night Train To Terror is ludicrous, incoherent, cheap, and full of contempt for its audience. But there’s no other movie quite like it, and it may appeal to fans of really weird cinema.
The martial arts exercise Kill And Kill Again has enough good action to help it stand up well to the action output from Asia.
Unpacking our portmanteaux
Jul 30
Anthology films – or portmanteau films, or omnibus films, as they are also called – have been with us almost since the dawn of the motion picture industry. This form of film-making can be a tricky beast, requiring a careful juggling of topic and tone to get the right effect; but executed skilfully, such a film can become a great deal more than the sum of its parts.
There are anthology comedies, anthology dramas and anthology romances out there; but, from the very beginning, it was horror that made best and most frequent use of the format: a history now stretching all the way from 1919’s Unheimliche Geschichten to 2017’s XX and A Taste Of Phobia—and with many more, no doubt, to come…
So join us as we take a trip on the omnibus—
It’s ROOM FOR ONE MORE…all through August at the B-Masters’ Blog!
Liz Kingsley is the insane genius behind And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
Her name was not Jason…
Jul 27
After promising this a month or two a few several a while back, I have finally given an old review a thorough overhaul, as well as using it as an excuse to introduce a much-pondered new feature.
Of course it may be fairly said of the latter that – how shall I put this? – the guest of honour hasn’t shown up yet; but I wanted to get this ticking over before we slip into another Roundtable month:
…in which some people really need to learn to take a hint…
Plus: RANKING THE FINAL GIRLS
How does Alice stack up against her sisters (and occasionally, brothers)?
Plus plus, I have copied over:
– Zombi 2 (1979)
– Rocketship X-M (1950)
– Destination Moon (1950)
Plus plus plus, there is a new Et Al. post.
Liz Kingsley is the insane genius behind And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
The idea behind the documentary Hollywood Babylon – a sleazy look at old Hollywood scandals – sounds like it can’t miss, but it does. Badly.
Not worth your time
Jul 12
Based on an urban legend, The Philadelphia Experiment is definitely one time where you should just stick to reading about the urban legend.
Lots of new stuff at 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting:
A Game of Death (1945), in which RKO tries to figure out how to get The Most Dangerous Game past the Production Code…
Kongo (1932), in which MGM still has the luxury of being able to say, “Sod the Code!”…
Liquid Sky (1982), in which aliens don’t screw around when they’re looking to score dope, but the movie unfortunately does…
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), in which giant robots punch giant monsters in the face again…
Predator (1987), in which Count Zaroff isn’t from around here…
Sole Survivor (1970), in which the ghosts of a World War II bomber crew would like a word with the one guy from their unit who’s still alive…
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), in which questions I never cared about are answered well enough, I suppose…
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1989), in which a made-for-cable interpretation that you probably missed even if you did subscribe to Showtime in 1989 improbably raises the bar on all the famous versions…
Torture Ship (1939), in which glands are the key to crime-prevention…
and…
Without Warning (1979), in which Count Zaroff isn’t from around there, either.
El Santo rules the wasteland-- and also 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting.
For the birds
Jul 2
Unless you’ve ever wanted to see the ribald side of Menahem Golan, I would suggest you avoid seeing What’s Good For The Goose.
Twenty years already?
Jun 22
It’s the 20th anniversary of The Unknown Movies, so to mark the occasion, I decided to review a “twenty” movie – that being Twenty Bucks.