MILL CREEK THRILLERS FROM THE VAULT: Before I Hang (1940)
Another in the series of mad scientist movies starring Boris Karloff for Columbia, this was directed by Nick Grinde and written by Robert Hardy Andrews. Karloff is Dr. John Garth and he’s on trial for mercy killing a friend, predating the right to die controversy by decades. He had been trying to invent a cure for […]
MILL CREEK THRILLERS FROM THE VAULT: The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)
Directed by Nick Grinde (The Man with Nine Lives, Before I Hang) and written by Kurt Brown (A McKeesport native who was the assistant to D.W. Griffith’s cameraman G.W. Bitzer before becoming a cinematographer; he was the son of comedian and character actor William H. Brown and his mother was Lucille was an actress), The Man They […]
MILL CREEK THRILLERS FROM THE VAULT: The Black Room (1935)
Directed by Roy William Neill — who gets mystery, after all, he directed eleven of the fourteen Basil Rathbone-starring Sherlock Holmes films as well as early noir like Black Angel — and written by Arthur Strawn and Henry Myers, The Black Room has a prophecy at its center: at some point, the younger brother of the de Berghmann family […]
JESS FRANCO MONTH: Phalo Crest (1987)
Not every Jess Franco movie was directed by Jess. I mean, not every Stephen King book is, supposedly. I’ve heard Tabitha King may have written a few of his books or at the very least the central ideas. That’s how strong reltionships work. Well, Lina Romay, Jess’s muse, directed this while he wrote it, composed […]
Exclusive interview with Archie Waugh, director of Way Bad Stone
You may have discovered by now that I’m obsessed with shot on video films and finding some of the films in that genre that aren’t as celebrated as the slashers that make up much of the form. One of those movies, Way Bad Stone, fascinates me, as it creates a fantasy world filled with great stunts, […]
JESS FRANCO MONTH: Don Quixote (1992?)
Don Quixote is one of those never finished films that fascinates me. At one point, it was just a half hour show that Orson Welles was making for CBS called Don Quixote Passes By and it would have Quixote (originally Mischa Auer, to be replaced by Francisco Reiguera, Simon of the Desert) and Sancho Panza (Akim Tamiroff, who […]
TUBI ORIGINAL: 10 Truths About Love (2022)
This isn’t just a Tubi original. This is the first Tubi original. In the world of this movie — perhaps it’s science fiction — they still make magazines that are the most important way of information getting out into the world. Spark magazine is where Carina (Camilla Belle) works as a romance advice columnist but she’s […]
TUBI ORIGINAL: Alarmed (2023)
Janet (Brittany Baker) and Sean (Pooch Hall) have gone from an empty nest to having their son Billy (Chris Whitcomb) move back in after being arrested for hacking government websites. Now under house arrest, he’s just one of the many problems in their marriage. But while their personal life is at a 2, their professional […]
ARROW BLU RAY RELEASE: Knockabout (1979)
Once he established himself as the premier action choreographer in Hong Kong, Sammo Hung directed the Iron-Fisted Monk for Golden Harvest and followed it up with a movie that would give Yuen Baio his first starring role. Yuen Biao is Yipao while Bryan Leung is Taipao. Things are looking up as they cheat everyone around them […]
JESS FRANCO MONTH: Strike Back (1981)
I know that Carl Schenkel directed this film, but Jess Franco was on board — uncredited — for help and that’s good enough for me. Yeah, the director of The Mighty Quinn and Tarzan and the Lost City worked with Franco, but hey, so did Orson Welles on Chimes at Midnight so anything can happen. Dave (Dave Balko, […]
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