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Krimi Casebook: The Green Archer (Jürgen Roland, 1961)
It’s been far too long since we last took a peek into the head-spinning world of Rialto Films’ series of West German Edgar Wallace adaptations, so what better way to get re-acquainted with their...
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Summer of Santo: The Diabolical Hatchet (José Díaz Morales, 1965)
After taking a well-earned break from Mexico’s cinema screens following his memorable visit to The Wax Museum, Santo, The Man in the Silver Mask, returned some eighteen months later to face an...
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Horror Express: Verotika (Glenn Danzig, 2019)
Say what you like about Glenn Danzig’s widely derided feature debut as writer/director/composer/co-cinematographer, which I finally persuaded myself to get around to watching last week - it’s a...
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Random Paperbacks: Appointment in Paris by Fay Adams (Gold Medal, 1958)
From a distance, the uncredited artwork for Fay Adams’ Gold Medal paperback original ‘Appointment in Paris’ looks like a pretty respectable, atmospheric cover for a suspense or mystery novel. (1) Give...
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Random Paperbacks: Stranger in Town by Raoul D’Orque (Unique Books, 1967)
A rare example of a ‘60s U.S. sleaze paperback snagged in the wild here in the UK, I recently picked this up at Oxfam of all places, for a bargain price presumably reflective of the fact that the...
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Deathblog: William Friedkin (1935-2023)
“I have no regard for and no knowledge of the value of money, I'm not saying that’s a virtue, just a fact. For me, the greatest thrill in the world, the only thrill, is getting 20 seconds on the screen...
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Random Paperbacks: Trailer Camp Woman by Doug Duperrault (Bedside Books, 1960)
Another example of a ‘60s US sleaze paperback recently discovered on these shores - I scored this one at a car boot sale in Peckham, no less. Though pretty boilerplate stuff in terms of concept and...
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Horror Express: Cinta Terlarang [‘Forbidden Love’] (Pitradjaya Burnama, 1995)
Though it dates from somewhat after the ‘70s-’80s glory days of Indonesian horror/fantasy cinema, the opening of Pitradjaya Burnama’s ‘Cinta Terlarang’ certainly makes good on his nation’s proud...
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Penguin Time/Psyched Out Sci-fi: The Traps of Time edited by Michael Moorcock...
Remarkably, I don’t think I’ve ever actually featured any of the extraordinary covers produced by Franco Grignani for Penguin’s science fiction line in 1969-70 on this weblog before. So, having picked...
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Penguin Time/Psyched Out Sci-fi: The Squares of the City by John Brunner (1969)
Only marginally qualifying as science fiction, John Brunner’s 1965 novel is really more of a high concept socio-political thriller, taking place in Ciudad de Vados, the purpose-built capital city of...
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Horror Express 2023:All Aboard!
“It would be logical to suppose that troubled art is born out of troubled times. But it would be wrong to be that systematic about it, for what period of history has sailed in, pre-ordained and...
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Hammer House of Horror: The Silent Scream (Alan Gibson, 1980)
Continuing last October’s trawl through the ‘Hammer House of Horror’ archives where we left off, here we go with episode # 7, originally broadcast on ITV on 25th October 1980. Probably the most...
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Gothic Originals: La Llamada del Vampiro[‘Cry of the Vampires’] (José María...
In view of the cult which has built up around Euro-horror cinema, I’m surprised that this prime-era Spanish vampire flick has remained so determinedly obscure over the years. Rarely acknowledged or...
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Hammer House of Horror: Children of the Full Moon (Tom Clegg, 1980)
Up to this point in the series, the otherwise disparate episodes of ‘Hammer House of Horror’ have been united by their complete avoidance of the kind of gothic horror tropes with which the titular...
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Horror Express: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (Bonami J. Story, 2023)
So, yes, a word on the title. It’s a bit ‘on the nose’, isn’t it? Could probably stand to lose the ‘angry’ at least... not that I wish to question the character’s anger, you understand, but it just...
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Hammer House of Horror: Carpathian Eagle (Francis Megahy, 1980)
So we’re up to episode #9 here, and, whilst there were undoubtedly a few clunkers earlier in the run of ‘Hammer House of Horror’, by damn, they’re really hitting their stride by this point! The two...
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Horror Express: The Catman of Paris (Lesley Selander, 1946)
Forming one half of a rare horror double feature knocked out by western and serial specialists Republic Pictures in the mid 1940s, ‘The Catman of Paris’ was presumably born out of an attempt to...
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Exploito All’Italiana: Black Magic Rites (Renato Polselli, 1973)
So, having managed to maintain this blog for the better part of fifteen years, it feels remiss of me not have dedicated at least a few paragraphs to discussing the indescribable cinematic singularity...
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Hammer House of Horror: Guardian of the Abyss (Don Sharp, 1980)
The HHoH’s hot streak continues into episode # 10, as Don “Razor” Sharp (‘Kiss of the Vampire’, ‘Psychomania’) directs this positively ripping Wheatley-esque black magick yarn. Like Children of the...
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Horror Express: The Vampire’s Ghost (Lesley Selander, 1945)
I had a lot of fun with Lesley Selander’s The Catman of Paris earlier this month, so thought I’d make some time (only 58 minutes required) to check in on the other b-horror he directed for Republic...
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