Having subjected myself to all of Ron Ormond’s religious films, it was time to see if his son Tim is a better filmmaker. I don’t believe I am being unnecessarily cruel when I say the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. To use some biblical phrasing, one nut begat another. Following the template of […]
Movie: Squaring the Circle (2022)
“Vinyl is the poor man’s art collection.” This remarkable statement appears to have been coined by Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame, however unlikely it seems to me he could ever come up with anything that clever. There’s a lot of truth in that statement, regardless of who said it first. I know I have been […]
Movie: The Last of Sheila (1973)
We barely get to see Yvonne Romain as the title character of 1973’s The Last of Sheila before she is run over by a mysterious driver. Most of the movie takes place a year after this, aboard Sheila, a yacht owned by Romain’s widower, played by James Coburn. Sheila (the person, not the boat) had […]
Movie: 39 Stripes (1979)
As the end of the Ormond family box set is in sight, I was desperately hoping one of their religious films would finally break from the pattern of filler worked around a literal sermon. With 1979’s 39 Stripes, my…um, prayers were answered. Unfortunately, what I got instead was Ormond demon spawn Tim starring in a […]
Movie: One Crazy Summer (1986)
Savage Steve Holland. No air quotes around “Savage”. That is how the director of 1986’s One Crazy Summer is billed. This sounds like somebody who might be a pro wrestler, but he doesn’t look like one. Still, I can imagine him being a fan of that, as this movie has a similar kind of manic […]
Movie: 23 Seconds to Eternity (2023)
WTF, KLF? I admit I purchased the blu-ray of 2023’s KLF film 23 Seconds to Eternity knowing little about the musical group except they were legendary pranksters of a sort. What intrigued me most about them is they once burned a million pounds of their money as a performance piece. Aside from that, all I […]
Movie: The Believer’s Heaven (1977)
Up to 1977, the films the Ormond family made with Estus Pirkle had been focused almost exclusively on what Hell will be like. Having grown up in a similar church, I wasn’t surprised their focus is predominately on the stick and not the carrot. But we finally get to see Pirkle’s vision of Heaven in […]
Movie: A Weekend with Lulu (1961)
Before Hammer Films made their first horror movie, and for some time after, they made all kinds of pictures, dabbling in genres like comedy, war, drama and crime. So, although they had been doing great box office with monster movies for a few movies, they were still making like comedic fare like A Weekend with […]
Movie: Backtrack (1990)
I will lay it all out on the line from the beginning: 1990’s Backtrack is a terrible movie; although, like many deeply bad films, it is interesting in that it takes risks more tasteful pictures wouldn’t attempt. Also, half of the experience of enjoying this film is the commentary track that accompanies the film on […]
Movie: The Grim Reaper (1976)
The opening of 1976’s The Grim Reaper opens with a scene of the kind of deep humanity and understanding I have come to expect from the religious films of the Ormond family. It expresses a sentiment I would have expected from the church I grew up in. In a moment of awe-inspiring compassion, a preacher […]
Book: Moominvalley in November (Tove Jannson, 1971)
November used to be one of my least favorite months. It always felt like a time in limbo, a sort of non-month. In the past few years, it has come to be my second-most favorite, just behind October and essentially a coda of that month. It is like the last note of October is held […]
Movie: Plunder Road (1957)
While watching 1957’s Plunder Road, I found myself thinking about thinking a great deal about Henri-Georges Clouzot The Wages of Fear. I mean that as high praise—both movies are tense and terse. Not much dialog, but a great deal of suspense. In both movies, that tension comes down to the transportation of nitro glycerin to […]
Movie: The Burning Hell (1974)
I mentioned my Baptist upbringing in my piece on If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? One of the few times in my life I have tried to cultivate an interest in comic books was at a time when those religious restrictions upon me were at their most extreme. Secular music was out, so […]
Movie: The House That Screamed (1969)
The choice of lens one puts on a camera is critically important for each shot in a movie. Most wide-angle lenses have a certain amount of fish-eye effect to them. Objects in the center of the frame will be correctly proportioned, while those on the periphery will be abnormally thin. This is why usually, when […]
Movie: The Return of Dracula (1958)
I love the different ways that some low-budget movies come up with innovative solutions to overcome their lack of funds. One way that can be effective is to have a character imply something is there which we can’t see. This is what 1958’s The Return of Dracula does in some of its best moments. The […]