Category: Movie Discussions
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Halloween II (1981)
Because I am taking a different approach to discussing Halloween II (1981) it’s going to sound like I don’t like it. Let me be clear: I love this movie. It’s just that when I watched it recently for the Nightmare Junkhead podcast, its flaws really showed. After watching something so many times, you hope to…
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An American Werewolf in London (1981)
If you were a monster kid at the time and asked to pick your favorite werewolf movie released in 1981, you were faced with a real Sophie’s Choice between An American Werewolf in London and The Howling. The latter was released four months earlier and is the one to which I declared my love. Conversely,…
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Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
The opening scene of Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981) was filmed with a different director and cinematographer than the rest of the movie. Michael Miller (Jackson Country Jail, 1976) reportedly took too long making it, so was replaced by William Asher. The cinematographer was Jan de Bont (Speed, 1994; Twister, 1996, The Haunting, 1999.) He…
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The Curious Dr. Humpp (1966)
You know what curiosity did to the cat. For this horror film fan willing to explore unusual territory, though, The Curious Dr. Humpp (1969) did not kill me. I can’t say I completely enjoyed it; it’s a little slow and not terribly well-made. However, the idea is compelling even when the execution is not. Yeah,…
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The Devil’s Wedding Night (1973)
High atop Castle Dracula, La Contessa Dolingen de Vries (Rosalba Neri), dressed in black with her veil blowing in the wind behind her, holds her hand in the air, her blood-red ring glowing. From a distance, we see a pinpoint of light where she stands. The full moon burns bright and lightning strikes. In the…
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Devil Times Five (1974)
When I began this review, I typed how life is full of lessons, and one of them is that I should watch movies before I buy them blindly on Blu-ray. Call it a New Year’s resolution, if you will, but I realized I didn’t need to own every movie that’s a subject for Classic Horrors.…
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Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963)
Before I removed the plastic on The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh Blu-ray that my daughter gave me for Christmas, I hadn’t realized it was originally a three-part series that aired on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color on ABC-TV. I remembered it as the movie I saw in theaters as a kid: Dr. Syn, Alias…
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Lady in a Cage (1964)
When I can’t locate mentions in my collection of vintage monster magazines or horror movie reference books, I like to find original reviews of a movie from when it was first released in theaters. I wouldn’t say this usually uncovers anything earth-shattering; however, in the case of Lady in a Cage (1964), two reviews indicate…
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Love from a Stranger (1937)
aka Night of Terror Get out your whiteboards and markers for this one… In 1924, Agatha Christie (you may have heard of her) wrote a short story called, Philomel Cottage. In it, a woman named Alix Martin inherits a fortune. Her boyfriend, Dick Windyford, disapproves of her financial independence. When she meets Gerald Martin and…
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Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
Author, Phil Hardy (The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies), marks Roger Corman’s Attack of the Crab Monsters as a high point for young director Roger Corman, not just financially, but also stylistically: The most commercially successful of his early features, Attack of the Crab Monsters saw Corman refining his directorial style to produce a film…
Classic Horrors Club 