I watched the brilliant Manhunter last night. It was a film I regularly saw on the video shop shelves in the late 80’s but never rented. My loss. I love Manhunter. All of the Michael Mann touches are here- the perfect framing, the use of slow-mo, the soft rock guitar soundtrack to name but a …
There's so much I love about 1979's Alien. This is a film I feel like I've grown up with from watching its first TV screening with my Dad when I was about 6, through to renting it on video through to watching it on the big screen either in its original form or it's excellent …
A Hollywood production portraying the real-life murderous rampage of the serial killer dubbed The Boston Strangler. Great casting with Tony Curtis playing against type as the homicidal lead (and he does a great job- check out the chilling final scene. Henry Fonda and Murray Hamilton play detectives on the case. This looks great as a film …
I had heard such bad things about John Carpenter's Vampires that I didn't even see it when it was released theatrically in 1998. In fact, it was only yesterday that I saw it for the very first time. What's 25 years to see a film though?! Is it a bad movie by Carpenter's standards or, …
I remember the first time I ever saw any scenes from The Brood was in the excellent documentary, Terror in the Aisles. I then went on to see the film from start to finish in a Film Studies lecture at university. There's a sinister institution within The Brood that's called The Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmatics. …
How can a sci-fi project with Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain) directing a cast of Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel and Farrah Fawcett with a script by Martin Amis be so bland? Maybe most sci-fi movies post-Alien were instantly rendered mediocre and middling. Keitel calls Saturn 3 the nadir of his whole career. I wouldn't …
In the early 70s in the UK, and indeed worldwide, we were in the grip of Kung Fu Fever. A huge reason for this was the John Carradine TV show Kung Fu but another major factor was the Bruce Lee film Enter The Dragon. Imagine an unholy blend of martial arts, Blaxploitation, action and even …
Continue reading Meathook Cinema Hall of Fame- Enter the Dragon (1973)
I rewatched Rocky today for the first time in like decades! It was one of the first movies we rented when my parents bought our first VCR. Oh, I loved those huge padded Warner Brothers video cases! It’s such a simple premise but one which clearly struck a chord with audiences. A small-time, part-time boxer …
I rewatched Reanimator again today for the first time in years. The memories came flooding back... I originally saw it a few years after it was originally released here in the UK as there was a (cut) midnight screening at a soulless multiplex near my house in the late 80's. I phoned my friend to …
Don’t mess with nature. I love the Jaws clones that star big names who were only involved for the pay cheque. In fact, this film foreshadowed the masterpiece that is Jaws The Revenge by about ten years. Surprisingly entertaining. Loving the Ennio Morricone score and theme song. 3 out of 5 stars
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