Category: Movie Discussions
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Crucible of Terror (1971)
Crucible of Horror… Crucible of Terror… two 1971 horror films that have caused me perpetual confusion. Even when I popped in the new Severin Films Blu-ray for the latter, I thought I was going to be watching the former. I don’t know the difference because I’ve never seen Horror. The most confounding thing about Terror…
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Penny Gold (1973)
Penny Gold (1973) opens like a poor man’s giallo. As a woman takes a shower, a man dressed in black and wearing black leather gloves breaks into her apartment and throws the breaker. When she investigates, he attacks her. It’s not gory at all, but when the crime scene is later investigated, there’s blood everywhere.…
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Craze (1974)
In Craze (1974), Neal Mottram (Jack Palance) never forsakes his god, the African idol, Chuku. When a woman dances naked and slices her stomach in front of it, he says, “I pray that the bloodletting pleased you.” When he discovers gold coins in his desk, he tells it, “We shall always serve you.” And when…
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CTH24: 31 (2016)
Since I’m not a Rob Zombie aficionado, I can’t compare 31 (2016) to House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), or The Lords of Salem (2012.) However, having seen his versions of Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009), I can tell you that it is not as brutal as those two. Don’t get…
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CTH24: The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959)
As is sometimes reported, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) was not Lou Costello’s only movie without longtime comic partner, Bud Abbott. (He started his film career solo with several extra or uncredited roles.) It was, however, his final movie, and although I’ve seen only a few of them, it’s got to be…
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CTH24: Track 29 (1988)
Researching Track 29 (1988), I learned a new subcategory of film: “Oedipal drama.” The meaning is what you’d think. It’s related to the “Oedipus complex” which, according to brittanica.com, is a “a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex.” Many movies have…
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CTH24: 28 Days Later (2002)
Despite it appearing on almost every list of zombie movies, I don’t consider 28 Days Later (2002) to be one of them. Sure, there are ferocious, zombie-like creatures, but they aren’t raised from the dead. They’ve been transformed by an equally ferocious virus. It’s about humankind’s reaction to the virus itself and whatever conditions it…
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CTH24: The 27th Day (1957)
The 27th Day (1957) is a thinking man’s alien invasion movie, full of almost more big philosophical ideas than its 75-minute running time can hold. However, that’s the perfect running time to not notice what could be some pretty big flaws. Even now I must think about it carefully before I write about its plot points. There’s…
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CTH24: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
When you watch one of the original slashers now, it’s hard to remember if it’s full of tropes that have accumulated over nearly 50 years, or it they were already tropes when the films were originally made. For example, in Friday the 13th Part 2, when Ginny’s (Amy Steel) car is “sick” and Paul (John…
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CTH24: Unmasked Part 25 (1988)
Unmasked Part 25 (1988) opens as a typical 80s slasher film might and, based on the special effects, a pretty good one. A hockey-masked killer executes (pun intended) five kills: The movie then almost comes to a complete halt, just as the killer does when he’s about to stab a blind woman. She mistakes him for…
Classic Horrors Club 