When I first saw a blu-ray listing for 1993’s The Killing Box, I was more than a bit confused.  It isn’t that weird nowadays to have a movie where, during the civil war, both sides find themselves facing a common enemy of undead confederate soldiers. What did surprise me is the cast for this.  Really, […]

I remember the first time I saw 2002’s Reign of Fire, as I was hoping it would be as laughably bad as it looked.  I mean, just look at this plot, set in a future after an apocalypse brought on by dragons which had been unleashed from deep within the earth during a subway tunnel […]

Wendy Toye was a rarity, a woman directing features in mid-century Britain.  Unfortunately, women are still vastly in the minority among studio directors today, but that does seem to be improving. She started doing short films, among them the exceptional The Stranger Left No Card.  Unfortunately, few offers to helm features were forthcoming.  When they […]

In 1966’s Assault on a Queen, you’ll see Frank Sinatra as you’ve never seen him before: as one of those goofy deep-sea diver figurines some people put at the bottom of an aquarium.  I was just disappointed his objective wasn’t one of those tiny treasure chests where the lid occasionally opens, with a burst of […]

Like the central character of 1986’s I Like Bats, I also like those mammals, and feel they are unfairly maligned.  Just look at the bodies, sans those leathery wings, and they’re a bit like small dogs.  The opening credits roll over one eating some sort of fruit, possibly an orange, and it is adorable. Still, […]

I have been trying in vain to find a list of neo-noir films that either were originally intended for cable television or the video market and which instead found theatrical distribution, or vice-versa.  I’m not having any luck with that, but I wondered if 1990’s Buried Alive was ever shown theatrically, despite being made for […]

As I write this, the Disney Movie Club will soon be ending its operations.  By the time this piece goes live, that will have already happened.  This was a service essentially based on the old Columbia House model: get a few titles for next to nothing, then be stuck having to buy titles at full […]

For a couple of months, I once worked at a post office distribution facility as auxiliary seasonal help.  It was deeply horrible experience.  I was routinely called a “scab”.  One time, I had a manager tell me to move a cart, but I was immediately advised by a co-worker, “You’ll get hurt if you move […]

The back cover of the blu-ray for 1961’s Night Tide puts this indie horror film in such storied company as Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls.  Both of those films have been inducted into the Criterion Collection.  This one hasn’t, and I don’t believe it has any chance of doing so.  Maybe […]

There has been no shortage of documentaries about The Beatles, not to mention the various biopics and even fully fictional works associated with them.  I wouldn’t think any more such works were warranted, but yet they keep cranking them out, and I keep watching them.  I wouldn’t think it was possible to provide any insights […]

2010’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a remake of a 70’s made-for-TV horror movie.  As a big fan of that particular niche, I have seen the original film.  It isn’t one of my favorite horror telefilms, but it is pretty solid.  Kim Darby played a housewife who was trying to not be abducted […]

I’m always fascinated by star quality, that elusive aspect of an actor that makes them stand out from the rest of the crowd.  The person who, in a frame otherwise filled with people, will have you going, “Hey, what is that person there doing?”  Dirk Bogarde would eventually have this, but doesn’t quite yet in […]

I may love Kino’s noir sets, but they sometimes stretch the definition of that genre until it almost breaks.  Such is the case with 1955’s Hold Back Tomorrow.  It may be in the black and white, it may take place almost entirely within a prison cell, but I would never describe it as noir. This […]

Many of the most famous films legendary stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen worked on were produced by Charles H. Schneer.  I normally couldn’t care less about who was a producer on a film, which is odd when I really think about it, as some producers have had a greater impact on many pictures than the […]