MYSTERY PHOTO
Speaking of campy extraterrestrials, do you recognize this classic horror film star? Here’s another publicity image from the same production. I hope you’re as surprised and delighted as I was. It’s Ernest Thesiger,[…]
Campy Extraterrestrials – Michael Gough vs. Dudley Manlove
I have written before of my admiration for the late Michael Gough (1916-2011), a British actor who could move effortlessly from the serious classical theater of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Harold Pinter, and Berthold Brecht,[…]
In memoriam: Michael Gough, the Posh Spice of British horror
He brought upper crust polish with a slight hint that his life was way darker and stranger than the poshness let on…
Now More than Ever: MY BODYGUARD (1980)
…if someone is beating the shit out of you and you just sit there and take it–and it winds up on the internet–you’re a wimp. If you fight back, you’re a felon. Good work, adults!
Pre-Code · Reviews · TV & Streaming
March Must-Sees: SAFE IN HELL tonight on TCM, Plus TRISTANA at BAM and a missing link
TONIGHT at 8 PM on TCM! SAFE IN HELL (1931) a very lurid pre-code in the RAIN tradition, directed by unflinching two-fisted auteur William PUBLIC ENEMY/NIGHT NURSE Wellman. TCM’s Roger[…]
Pariah-dise Now: Charlie Sheen and the busted bubble
“People misunderstand my passion for anger.” Charlie Sheen… was I the only film lover who saw his interview last night on 20/20 and instantly connected his monomaniacal fervor to the[…]
Ac-Ac-Academy Notes
It’s an award show full of lost speech, from the literal stroke of Kirk Douglas to the stutters and confusion of presenters and recipients, to the SPEECH itself. reminding us[…]
Go SWAN GO!
Rooting for the Swan tonight. It’s truly revolutionary and daring, especially in its ending and overall vibe, much more so than KING’S SPEECH, which I think is it’s main competitor[…]
The Inspector’s Speech
Featuring Andrea and Steve Martin. Comic geniuses. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUMhA8Ye3x8] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j-b0kP7Cf8] If the scene in which Steve Martin as Inspector Clousseau attempts to learn English pronunciation (bottom) bears more than a passing resemblance[…]
Book review: Humphrey Bogart, by David Thomson
Humphrey Bogart, by David Thomson. Faber and Faber, 2010. Trade paperback, $14.00. As the publisher’s blurb that adorns the flyleaf of this book attests, David Thomson is, “among many other things,[…]
Book review: Withnail and Us, by Justin Smith
Withnail and Us: Cult Films and Film Cults in British Cinema, by Justin Smith. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2010. Trade paperback, 256pp. $28.00. Guilty pleasures, childhood favorites, secret[…]
Book review: Star, by Peter Biskind
Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America, by Peter Biskind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Hardcover, $30.00. Peter Biskind’s plump new book about the life, loves and career of Warren Beatty, Star:[…]
Book review: From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond, by Vijaya Mulay
From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond: Images of India in International Films of the 20th Century, by Vijaya Mulay. London, New York, and Calcutta: Seagull. 2010. Trade paperback. $39.95.[…]
Book review: Asian Horror, by Andy Richards
Asian Horror, by Andy Richards. Harpenden, UK: Kamera Books, 2010. Trade paperback, 160pp, $19.95. Dumplings made from human embryos. A woman cutting off her fingers. Mutilation by fishhook. Intrigued? Keep reading.[…]
City Living: Enter the Void/Biutiful
Biutiful, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu Enter the Void, dir. Gaspar Noé Cities are hard to pin down on film. For decades, hardly anyone bothered to try. Usually they’re just scenery,[…]
TWO SECONDS to Noirville
Is Two Seconds (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932) the first American noir? I’ve read some historians who trace American film noir as far back as Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld (1927). But Underworld,[…]
Poster Comparison No. 9 – Kaleidoscope Frenzy
Reaching across time, this poster for Gregg Araki’s 2011 film, Ka-Boom, echoes the kaleidoscopic poster design of Daniel Haller’s 1970 psychedelic monster-fest, The Dunwich Horror (screenplay by Curtis Hanson), and[…]
Maria Schneider RIP
If you’re in an empty room with Maria Schneider and she lifts her arms up and starts running around making buzzing sounds, you have two paths open to you:
Boring Psycho? “I’m Never Satisfied with the Ordinary.”
Boredom never looked so good Psycho boring? What blasphemy! Psycho is unusual for many reasons, but in some ways the most important is the mere fact that it is in black-and-white. By[…]
The Optimum Wound Profile: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer as Atrocity Exhibition
“How entertaining do you find this?”
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