Category: Movie Discussions

  • Wacko (1985)

    Wacko (1985)

    Since this is the last entry into our 1980’s horror-comedy/spoof series, it’s a good time to summarize them in a way that I’ve been considering for a few weeks now. The 80’s horror spoofs can be compared to the humor magazines of the era. For example, you have Mad Magazine, the cream of the crop. In…

  • Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)

    Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)

    For the first few minutes of Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), I had real hopes that memory wasn’t served and it was going to be better than my preconceived notions. Those were a precious few minutes that soon became a long, agonizing hour and a half that I had to split over the course of two evenings.…

  • Hysterical (1982)

    Hysterical (1982)

    Does anyone remember the Hudson Brothers? Bill, Brett, and Mark Hudson were discovered by a record producer in Portland and offered a contract. They released several singles in the late 1960s under the names The New Yorkers, Everyday Hudson, and Hudson. I know them from The Hudson Brothers Show, a summer replacement for The Sonny…

  • Class Reunion (1982)

    Class Reunion (1982)

    Welcome back to another month of “April Fools!” After unintentionally launching a month-long theme last year at this time, I’ve located four more horror spoofs that came in the wake of the Slasher phenomenon of the 1980s. Student Bodies (1981) set the high bar, but we’ll see if any of the films this month come…

  • Sexton Blake & the Hooded Terror (1938)

    Sexton Blake & the Hooded Terror (1938)

    If you’re keeping track at home, you might expect today’s review to be The Ticket of Leave Man (1937.) I’m sorry to disappoint, but it’s virtually the same film as It’s Never Too Late to Mend (1937), and while I could barely stand watching the two so closely together, I certainly can’t fathom thinking of…

  • It’s Never Too Late To Mend (1937)

    It’s Never Too Late To Mend (1937)

    A title card before It’s Never Too Late to Mend (1937) reads, “Controlled and Presented by The Rev. Brian Hession, M.A., copyright Dawn Trust.” My puzzlement was reinforced when I learned that Hession, who was at the time a vicar, had created Dawn Trust Films to bring religious themes to mainstream cinema. So this was…

  • The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936)

    The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936)

    The fact that key roles in both movies are played by Tod Slaughter, Eric Portman, and D.J. Williams caused me to automatically compare The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) with the trio’s earlier film, Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn (1935.) That further caused me to compare Slaughter’s two performances. My conclusions…

  • Tender Dracula (1974)

    Tender Dracula (1974)

    The poster for Tender Dracula (1974) aka The Big Scare, gives us a good idea about how conflicted the movie is going to be. Drawn with dripping red blood in the background is a gorgeous image of Peter Cushing baring fangs as a vampire (perhaps the titular Dracula,) yet in the foreground are green caricatures…

  • Doctor Jekyll (2023)

    Doctor Jekyll (2023)

    Before it was announced that the latest incarnation of Hammer Films was going to release Doctor Jekyll, I was intrigued by the fact that it starred Eddie Izzard, who was apparently going to play the titular character as a woman. What exactly did that mean? Was there going to be a reversal of gender, an…

  • Blood Suckers (1971)

    Blood Suckers (1971)

    After watching only 30 minutes of Blood Suckers (1971), I stopped the Blu-ray and turned off the television. I wan’t enjoying it at all and I simply could not continue. The next day I awoke knowing that I had to finish it. I figured there would be either another 50 minutes to grin and bear…

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