Golden Queen’s Commando (Chu Yen-Ping, 1982)
Although I can’t find a way to shoehorn it into any of my existing blog categories, today I’m going to go off-piste to tell you all about ‘Golden Queen’s Commando’, a lackadaisical action spectacular...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 intro.
As you will have noted, October begins tomorrow. So, it stands to reason that the annual Breakfast in the Ruins horror-movie-reviewing marathon – now renamed ‘Horror Express’, because I like the name...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #1: Sugar Hill (Paul Maslansky, 1974)
Well, who on god’s earth could resist a poster like that if it popped up outside their local cinema? Say what you like about American International Pictures, they sure knew their marketing, and the...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #2: The Amazing Transparent Man (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1960)
Over a quarter of a century after ‘The Black Cat’ (1934), and the best part of a decade since The Man From Planet X, Edgar G. Ulmer found himself in even more reduced circumstances than usual, shooting...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #3: Escalofrío / ‘Satan’s Blood’ (Carlos Puerto, 1978)
Seemingly one of the first Spanish horror films to take advantage of the “S” (for ‘sex’) certificate introduced to the country’s ratings system as part of the easing of censorship which accompanied the...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #4: The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty, 1990)
Within the realm of sequel-driven horror franchises, it’s fair to say that the Exorcist series has always been a bit of an outlier. Admittedly, it got off to an earlier start than most of them, and...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #5: The She-Creature (Edward L. Cahn, 1956)
Though it was likely little more than another day, another dollar for ‘50s b-movie workhorse Edward L. Cahn (whom we last encountered on the way back from Mars with It! The Terror From Beyond Space...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #6: Mas Alla Del Terror / ‘Further Than Fear’ (Tomás...
The more I learn about global genre cinema, the more I appreciate those increasingly rare opportunities to jump into something with absolutely no idea what to expect. As such, this remarkably obscure...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #7: Doctor Blood’s Coffin (Sidney J. Furie, 1961)
Following a move to London at the dawn of the 1960s, the first project young Canadian director Sidney J. Furie got off the ground was the off-brand horror picture about the son of the local GP in a...
View ArticleGothic Originals / Horror Express 2020 #8: The Ghoul (Freddie Francis, 1975)
I make a point of trying to cover at least one previously unseen Peter Cushing film each October, and I've had this one lying around as a VHS-rip since god knows when, so here we go.As anyone who has...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020 #9: The Night Eats The World (Dominique Rocher, 2018)
I was kind of in two minds about this one. On the one hand, it certainly starts off strong, as a well-directed and well-shot take on the ol’ zombie apocalypse formula (last-man-on-earth subdivision),...
View ArticleNippon Horrors / Horror Express 2020 #10: Kaidan Hebi-Onna /‘Snake Woman's...
A decade or so after he turned out a series of fairly wacky horror pictures like Ghost Cat Mansion and The Lady Vampire for Shintoho, Nobuo Nakagawa - who had largely retired from directing after...
View ArticleSpells and Incantations:Being Thee 10th Annual Stereo Sanctity/Breakfast in...
[Cross-posted with Stereo Sanctity.] As we kick off Halloween week, here, as tradition demands, is a just-under-80-minute mix of ragin’, unholy audio to get you in the mood for whatever safely...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020: Short Takes.
As regular readers may have noticed, I’ve been having trouble this year keeping up with my self-imposed marathon posting schedule for October, so to plug the gap a bit and make up the numbers, here a...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020: More Short Takes.
Three more shorter-than-usual takes on recently watched Horror films to glide us into the big day itself tomorrow. Including some actual positive comments this time around.#14 It Conquered the World...
View ArticleHorror Express 2020: End of the Line.
The moon outside my gabled window this All Hallows Eve. “No filters,” as the kids say. So, that was October folks. I hope you managed to have a good one, and I’m sorry I didn’t quite manage to keep up...
View ArticleNoir Diary # 12: Big House U.S.A. (Howard W. Koch, 1955)
With a plot that takes in extortion, kidnapping, blackmail and child murder whilst offering up an utterly unsympathetic, morally reprehensible protagonist and setting him against a supporting cast of...
View ArticleTwo-Fisted Tales: Brother Cain by Simon Raven (Panther, 1965)
Though the brightly-hued cover photo affixed to this edition of Simon Raven’s second published novel ‘Brother Cain’ carries a distinct whiff of pop-art / psychedelic chic, Panther’s paperback was...
View ArticleDouble Deathblog.
Daria Nicolodi (1950-2020) Like all euro-horror fans I’m assuming, I was very sad to hear last week that the great Daria Nicolodi has passed away at the age of 70.Personally, I've always subscribed to...
View ArticleDeathblog: Hugh Keays-Byrne (1947-2020)
And so the bad news continues to roll in. Just a few weeks after Sandy Harbutt passed away, it’s time to say farewell to his ‘Stone’ co-star and the preeminent bad-ass of ’70s Australian cinema, Hugh...
View Article