I learnt about When A Stranger Calls after seeing the excellent horror film compilation Terror in the Aisles. I then saw the full film and was blown away. I bought the bare bones American DVD release years later and thought that was the best cineastes would get regarding this film. So I was thrilled when …
Continue reading Blu Ray Review- When A Stranger Calls (1979)
The sequel to George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead shows that the zombie epidemic has gotten much worse and society is on it's knees. Two television workers plan to escape with two SWAT team members in the TV station traffic helicopter in search of...whatever they can find that's better than their current situation. …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 31- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Katharine Ross plays a woman going to London with her partner (played by Sam Elliott at his homoerotic best) for a job interview. Whilst riding on a motorbike in the countryside surrounding London they are almost crashed into by a Rolls Royce. The owner apologises and, as their bike has been damaged, they are put …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 28- The Legacy (1978)
An earthquake uproots cockroach-like bugs that can set fire to things and, more importantly for a horror film, also to animals and humans. But never fear, a biology professor played by Bradford Dillman is on the case. This great little 70's B movie is directed by Jeannot Szwarc (who would go on to make the …
When I was growing up I loved the Nanny State Public Information Films. They were akin to state produced horror shorts extolling the dangers of everything from playing near rivers to mixing different types of tyres on the same vehicle. Beware The Rapist is an American PIF (called Public Service Announcements or PSA's over there) …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 21- Beware The Rapist (1979)
Martin is by filmmaker George A Romero and was his favourite film from his oeuvre. Martin is a young man who we see travelling by train to Braddock in Pittsburgh to live with his elderly cousin, Tata Cuda who seems convinced that Martin is the latest in a long line of vampires ('the family curse'). …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 13- Martin (1978)
I knew this would be a great film when I saw it was written by Brian Clemens who wrote, amongst other things, the amazing series called Thriller. I wasn't wrong. This is a cracking movie. Mia Farrow plays Sarah, a girl who is returning home after being in hospital after a fall from a horse …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 8- See No Evil (1971)
A family rent a huge house for the summer from it's brother and sister owners who have one condition for the rental- that their elderly mother stays in the house and they provide her with meals. Things then start to go crazy for the new inhabitants and it's almost as if the house is alive …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 4- Burnt Offerings (1976)
Exactly 30 years ago today, something extraordinary happened. Let me elaborate. I grew up in York in the UK. My local TV station was Yorkshire Television who were the first UK regional station to transmit twenty-four hours a day. Because of this during the night and early hours of the morning, they would show some …
Continue reading Article- The Motherlode: Prisoner Cell Block H on ITV
Two goons think they're going to hit paydirt by bringing coffee beans from Ecuador to California. But they also bring with them several deadly tarantulas. I only found out about this TV movie after hearing the song of (almost) the same name by Sleaford Mods. This is a very dull affair. Not even Tom Atkins …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 1- Tarantulas The Deadly Cargo
Meathook Cinema 