Outside of genre, films are usually grouped by their director or a particular actor.  Rarely are they known for their producer, but cineastes tend to make an exception for Val Lewton.  Known largely for his work with director Jacques Tourneur, the films he produced effectively used atmosphere to cover the low budget.  Lewton’s influence over […]

1943’s I Walked with a Zombie is movie I had some awareness of decades before actually seeing it for the first time, and that was because of R.E.M.’s cover of the same-named Roky Erickson track on the compilation Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye.  Any mention or reference to film immediately has Michael Stipe singing […]

One of the most memorable art museum exhibits I have seen was of the photography of Gordon Parks. It was an experience that instantaneously made me a fan of his work. He was the definition of a polymath, somehow an author, film director and musician in addition to being a photographer.  As if that isn’t […]

People sure do love them some cinema about killer kids, and I wonder why that is.  From The Bad Seed to Children of the Corn to Orphan, the interest in this horror subgenre suggests many have an inherent fear of children.  I may not particularly like kids, but I am not, on the whole, scared […]

Samuel Beckett has a lot to answer for.  I have never seen a production of any of this works, but I feel like being aware of the concepts is appreciation enough.  I’m not sure I could endure an actual production of No Exit.  Waiting for Guffman is as close as I intend to experience Waiting […]

Rondo Hatton was one of the most unique presences to ever grace the screen.  Deformed through acromegaly, he turned tragedy into success by appearing as the villain in such horror films as 1946’s  House of Horrors.  He plays The Creeper, and seeing the “and Rondo Hatton as The Creeper”, I found it impossible not to […]

History has shown that the first to do something is rarely the best.  Often, in fact, they are far from it, even if they are rarely the worst. The 1952 African adventure Bwana Devil was the first feature-length 3D picture shot in color and, as such, deserves credit in cinematic history for that.  Unfortunately, if […]

Our libraries are under attack today around the country, with some people so outraged over certain books that they are making death threats to librarians.  That is the kind of nonsense I think of from the McCarthy era, so I’m shocked this kind of behavior could occur now.  Then again, a lot from that era […]

1944’s The Climax was Boris Karloff first movie in color, specifically Technicolor.  I think it is more accurate to say, “well, technically, in colors, mostly peachy-beige and a kind of dark teal”  Mostly, elements have a weird kind of pallor to them.  While I might be on the fence about the extent to which it […]

In space, nobody can you scream, but they might smell you shitting your pants if you’re on the International Space Station.  I’ve heard that place already smells pretty rank, what with all the odors trapped in such a relatively small space.  There is a cast of only six people in 2023 sci-fi thriller I.S.S, which […]

If there is one thing I intended to do with my life, it was to not have children.  I have been successful in that goal, though many might think that was a dubious achievement. By withholding my genes from the pool, it’s like I committed a genocide of one. For better or worse, it puts […]

I wasn’t familiar with actor Lee Tracy before seeing 1947’s High Tide, but an extra on the blu-ray has noir expert Imogen Sara Smith talking about his lengthy career.  At the time this film was made, that career had been derailed when he caused a scandal in Mexico which required him to be snuck out […]

Sometimes, it is impossible to watch a movie and not see it exactly for what it is, instead of losing oneself in the world it tries to establish.  Such a film is 1987’s Robot Holocaust.  If you are aware of this title, it is very likely you watched it as an episode of Mystery Science […]

Towards the end of 1955’s Track the Man Down, almost all the main characters are in a boathouse, either dozing or simply bored out of their minds.  I can identify with them, as I had long since checked out while watching this. One major problem is there are too many of those characters and each […]