Blog


  • CTH24: 2:22 (2017)

    CTH24: 2:22 (2017)

    2:22 (2017) is in a category of film I used to love and for which I seem to still have a soft spot. It’s all about destiny or fate and cosmic circumstances that bring two people together in ways they don’t understand until the emotional climax. This is the type of movie that won’t crack a

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  • CTH24: 21 Days (2014)

    CTH24: 21 Days (2014)

    21 Days (2014) is a found footage movie about a supposedly haunted house that doesn’t cover any new ground seven years after Paranormal Activity and near the end of its sequels that were still being made. It’s competent enough and has some scares, but the only thing unique about it is a trio of despicable filmmakers that you

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  • CTH24: 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

    What I always remember about 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) is the little boy, Pepe, played by Bart Bradley. He’s a shrewd, business-minded child always looking for an angle. He’s also annoying. He opens a canister washed up on the beach of an Italian fishing village after a rocket ship returns from a mission

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  • CTH24: Row 19 (2021)

    CTH24: Row 19 (2021)

    Row 19 (2021) demonstrates the reason it’s important to stay seated with your seatbelt securely fastened on an airplane flight. If the plane makes a sudden drop and you’re standing in the aisle, you’ll be thrown to the ceiling, then slammed down on the floor, likely left unconscious. If such imagery disturbs you, or that

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  • CTH24: Hangar 18 (1980)

    CTH24: Hangar 18 (1980)

    There are two 1980 science-fiction films I remember seeing at the Esquire Theater in my home town of Enid, Oklahoma, that I absolutely did not like. In fact, I haven’t seen either one since. One was The Final Countdown, one of only a couple moviegoing experiences during which I fell asleep. The other was Hangar

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  • CTH24: Number 17 (1932)

    CTH24: Number 17 (1932)

    It was thrilling for me to learn that I could watch an Alfred Hitchcock film as one of the movies for this year’s #countdowntohalloween. Number 17 (1932) was his 21st film and the last one he made for British International Pictures. While it was a disappointment, there’s some comfort knowing that the master himself thought

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  • CTH24: Sweet Sixteen (1983)

    I’ve fallen victim to false advertising many times, but no movie in a long while has been as egregious with it as Sweet Sixteen (1983.) However, I don’t blame Century International; they needed some kind of an angle to sell this one. Remove the pretty, underaged (and underdressed) young woman who’s about to turn 16

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  • CTH24: 15 Killings (2020)

    With the exceptional quality of horror movies independent filmmakers are churning out these days, it must be tough going for creators in other genres. I imagine it’s harder to get good actors that can deliver the material while making it seem… genuine. Also, counterintuitively, it must be more difficult for simple settings to look and

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  • CTH24: Fourteen Hours (1951)

    If you thought Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) had the stars, wait until you see Fourteen Hours (1951.) You might have to look a little harder, though. Sure, the headliners are easy to spot, but try to find these uncredited actors among the chaos of a New York street scene as “thousands” of people

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  • CTH24: 13 Ghosts (1960)

    CTH24: 13 Ghosts (1960)

    13 Ghosts (1960) starts strong. For the first half, maybe two-thirds, it holds its own with William Castle’s two previous films, House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler, both released a year earlier. I was enjoying it greatly, but then I grew weary.  This was about the time young Buck Zorba (Charles Herbert) goes down

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