Blog


  • Duel (1971)

    Duel (1971)

    It had been a long time since I watched Duel (1971) and I forgot what an incredible movie it is, made for television or not. During this viewing, I paid more attention than I have in the past to how the direction, cinematography, and music contribute to the suspense. Make no mistake; every bit of

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  • Beyond the Door (1974)

    Beyond the Door (1974)

    Calling Beyond the Door (1974) an Italian rip-off of The Exorcist (1973) isn’t quite fair. On one hand, that’s exactly what it is; but, on the other, it covers more original ground than I expected it would. Besides, if you believe the argument that The Exorcist isn’t really a horror film at all, then Beyond

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  • Messiah of Evil (1973)

    Messiah of Evil (1973)

    In a 1984 interview in People Weekly, timed for the release of Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, writer Gloria Katz said of her and Willard Huyck’s 1973 horror film, Messiah of Evil… It was a real bowwow. In the same interview, Huyck defending it, saying… It appeared on a marquee in a Woody

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  • Revenge! (1971)

    Revenge! (1971)

    Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new leader of the pack for my favorite 1970s TV horror film: Revenge! We’re only up to the end of 1971, and there are eight more years to go, but it’s going to take a lot to top this one. From cast to script to direction to music, Revenge!

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  • Paper Man (1971)

    Paper Man (1971)

    Although parts of Paper Man (1971) are dated, the overall premise is as relevant as ever. Simply substitute artificial intelligence for old-fashioned computer coding, and the resulting creation of a virtual human that doesn’t physically exist, is a compelling, sometimes frightening, concept for a movie. What a 1971 TV-movie like this one mixes into the

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  • The Undying Monster (1942)

    It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to believe Twentieth Century-Fox was eager to capitalize on the success of Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941) when it made The Undying Monster a year later. Then again, that might not be the case, because it was not promoted as one. As Jeff Rovin writes in The

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  • A Howling in the Woods (1971)

    Fans of the vintage television sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70), would have been thrilled a year later when its stars, Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, reunited in the TV movie, A Howling in the Woods (1971.) Hagman brings his comedic charms with him, but there’s really not much chemistry between him and Eden. That

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  • Murder Once Removed (1971)

    Murder Once Removed (1971) demonstrates why you should never be friends with your doctor. Frank Manning (Richard Kiley) and Dr. Ron Wellesley (John Forsythe) frequent the same parties and are golf buddies, although Manning is blackmailing Wellesley, and Wellesley is plotting to kill Manning. These aren’t spoilers; the movie is not a whodunit, or even

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  • The Werewolf of Washington (1973)

    In The Monster Times #32 (April 1974), R. Allen Leider says The Werewolf of Washington (1973) was filmed in a “semi-documentary” style. I’m not sure that’s what i’d call it, but the first third or fourth of the movie is full of short shots that fade to black before starting a new one. At first,

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  • A Taste of Evil (1971)

    If A Taste of Evil (1971) feels familiar, and the fact that it was written by Jimmy Sangster excites you, then you may or may not quickly put two and two together. For all intents and purposes, it’s a remake of Hammer’s 1961 thriller, Scream of Fear (aka Taste of Fear.) Sangster has admitted as

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