Category: Movie Discussions
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Invaders from Mars (1986)
Another week, another rewatch of a 1986 movie I originally hated, but now kind of enjoy. This may be blasphemous since the movie is Invaders from Mars, about which Joe Dante once said, shaking his head with a look of disgust, “very few remakes are as misguided.” Sure, it comes nowhere near to capturing the…
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Deadly Friend (1986)
What was wrong with me in the mid-1980s? I didn’t like most horror films. Take 1986, the year today’s film, Deadly Friend, was released. Chopping Mall – never saw it; thought it looked bad. House – hated it. Invaders from Mars – awful. Maximum Overdrive – despised it. Night of the Creeps – nope. Vamp…
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Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
There’s something about mid-century British films that make them distinctively British. While it’s hard to describe, you can recognize them in nearly every aspect of filmmaking: the angles, lighting, camera movements, close-ups, transitions, edits, and so on. It’s more than just the actors speaking with a funny accent and driving on the wrong side of…
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Woman in the Moon (1929)
Parts of Woman in the Moon are familiar; we’ve seen them in countless science-fiction movies over the years. However, because it was made in 1929, we can hardly accuse it of borrowing from other films. I never realized how often other films borrowed from it and it’s never been on my radar like Fritz Lang’s…
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Murder Story (1989)
In retrospect, there were parts of Murder Story (1989) that I enjoyed. However, when I consider the experience of watching it, it’s nothing more than a slightly better than straight-to-VHS movie. No surprise, Christopher Lee is terrific in it, but it’s Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from Angel) in his first movie role that kept me…
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Possession (1981)
Spoiler Alert! It’s going to take a while to fully understand how I feel about Possession… (1981) and I may never understand the movie itself. On the surface, a woman leaves her husband, harboring a tentacled creature in her new apartment that forces her to murder anyone who comes to visit. Meanwhile, her husband has…
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Dracula & Son (1976)
The first thing I noticed when watching Dracula & Son (1976) was how gorgeous it looks. Next, I noticed the lush score. Like the rest of the film, though, there were diminishing returns. By the time it ended, I could barely remember its most positive elements. It’s not that it’s bad; it’s just so… I…
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Dark Places (1974)
Dark Places (1974) feels right at home with an Amicus Production, which it is not. It was the only film produced by a man named James Hannah Jr. from Chicago. Supposedly the cast didn’t know why he was making it, although they speculated that it was probably a tax write-off. With director Don Sharp (The…
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The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)
If nothing else, The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967) is beautiful to watch. It’s the only color, full-length feature film included in Severin’s fantastic box set, The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee. The colors are crisp, sometimes bright, and the sets are wonderfully detailed. Luckily for us, these elements are not the only good things…
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Crypt of the Vampire (1964)
When I first watched Crypt of the Vampire (1964), it was to include it in an article about film adaptations of Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel, Carmilla. That was (gulp) nine years ago. Returning to it now, it’s like I watched a different movie! It’s a perfect example of the difference the quality of transfer makes……
Classic Horrors Club 