Whilst it's widely thought that it was John Carpenter's Halloween that initiated the slasher genre those who actually know anything about horror know that it was actually Bob Clark's Black Christmas made in 1974. In fact, Clark and Carpenter worked together on a project after Black Christmas was made. Clark said to Carpenter that he …
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)
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)
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)
I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about going to see this at my local cinema. It was a one-off showing of the 4K Blu ray print and the chance of seeing this on the big screen was too much of a rare occurrence to knock back. The reason for my reticence was that when I had …
It's amazing what you find when you go trawling through the microfiche archives for your local newspaper. When browsing through the back issues of The Yorkshire Evening Post for 1979, I noticed that The Warriors, Walter Hill's gritty, comic book-style New York action flick, was actually shown at a 'members-only' cinema called The Tatler here …
Continue reading The Warriors (1979)- The Film Leeds Local Authority Tried To Ban
There was a long standing tradition for Turkish remakes of huge Hollywood blockbusters. These remakes have miniscule budgets and are made quickly so that they can be released soon after the original. The Exorcist was remade in Turkey for a tiny proportion of the original’s budget. This means that we get hilarious special effects, truly …
Continue reading Day 31- 31 Days of Halloween- Seytan (aka Turkish Exorcist)- 1974
Whilst on holiday Virginia bumps into her old friend and one-time lesbian fumble, Bet. Virginia's 'friend' Roger asks Bet to continue with them on their travels but whilst on the train the next day Virginia is angry at the attention Bet is getting from Roger who insists that he and Virginia are actually just travelling …
Continue reading Day 24- 31 Days of Halloween- Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
Meathook Cinema 