Back in the 1980s, the term “home video” actually referred to movies that had been transferred to honest-to-goodness analog videocassette tape. Keen-eyed genre mavens would excitedly trawl the aisles of their local emporium, often choosing between titles based on little more than lurid cover art and advertising hype.
One of the premier purveyors of the most cherished low-budget, unabashedly lowbrow entertainments was Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, staffed by a tightly knit “band of outsiders” whose names crop up time and again across the studio’s roster of deliriously enjoyable sci-fi and horror films. As it happens, Empire was a pure product of the decade, founded in 1983 and defunct by 1989, when it made way for Band’s next (and still flourishing) endeavor: Full Moon Features. Now, the fine folks at Arrow Video have gathered together a bumper crop of Empire’s output in their lavishly produced box set Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams.
One of the premier purveyors of the most cherished low-budget, unabashedly lowbrow entertainments was Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, staffed by a tightly knit “band of outsiders” whose names crop up time and again across the studio’s roster of deliriously enjoyable sci-fi and horror films. As it happens, Empire was a pure product of the decade, founded in 1983 and defunct by 1989, when it made way for Band’s next (and still flourishing) endeavor: Full Moon Features. Now, the fine folks at Arrow Video have gathered together a bumper crop of Empire’s output in their lavishly produced box set Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams.
- 6/26/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Director Joe Lynch‘s (Wrong Turn 2, Mayhem, “Creepshow”) new movie Suitable Flesh, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Thing On The Doorstep, unleashed body-hopping madness last week at the Tribeca Film Festival, ahead of its theatrical release later this year from Rlje Films.
Barbara Crampton stars in Suitable Flesh, executive produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator). Dennis Paoli, the writer of Re-Animator and From Beyond, wrote the script.
Joe Lynch and the late Stuart Gordon’s frequent collaborators seamlessly insert Suitable Flesh into Gordon’s Lovecraftian universe (our review). Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker at Tribeca, where he teased the Lovecraft connections for Gordon’s fans and the advice Brian Yuzna gave him when making the film.
Joe Lynch behind the scenes
Suitable Flesh exists within the same world of Re-Animator and From Beyond. Lynch breaks down horror’s original cinematic universe and how he kept his film accessible for...
Barbara Crampton stars in Suitable Flesh, executive produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator). Dennis Paoli, the writer of Re-Animator and From Beyond, wrote the script.
Joe Lynch and the late Stuart Gordon’s frequent collaborators seamlessly insert Suitable Flesh into Gordon’s Lovecraftian universe (our review). Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker at Tribeca, where he teased the Lovecraft connections for Gordon’s fans and the advice Brian Yuzna gave him when making the film.
Joe Lynch behind the scenes
Suitable Flesh exists within the same world of Re-Animator and From Beyond. Lynch breaks down horror’s original cinematic universe and how he kept his film accessible for...
- 6/20/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Producer Charles Band discusses a few of his favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Puppet Master (1989)
Dollman (1991)
Trancers (1984)
Corona Zombies (2020)
Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death (1989)
Frankenstein (1931) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Wolf Man (1941) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Alex Kirschenbaum’s Wolf Man power rankings
I Bury The Living (1958) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Face of Fire (1959)
Hercules (1958)
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
Jason And The Argonauts (1963) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Star Wars (1977)
The Omega Man (1971)
Castle Freak (1995)
Tourist Trap (1979) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary
Laserblast (1978)
Crash!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Puppet Master (1989)
Dollman (1991)
Trancers (1984)
Corona Zombies (2020)
Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death (1989)
Frankenstein (1931) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Wolf Man (1941) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Alex Kirschenbaum’s Wolf Man power rankings
I Bury The Living (1958) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Face of Fire (1959)
Hercules (1958)
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
Jason And The Argonauts (1963) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Star Wars (1977)
The Omega Man (1971)
Castle Freak (1995)
Tourist Trap (1979) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary
Laserblast (1978)
Crash!
- 3/22/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Stuart Gordon was a true master, and a visionary of those cold places where darkness reigns and the indescribable refuse to be ignored. But Gordon had a secret weapon that set him apart from the others who tried to exhume Lovecraft for the big screen: Humor. Prevalent in his spectacular debut, Re-Animator (1985), it is deployed with subtle shading – by Gordon’s Grand Guignol designs, that is – in his follow-up From Beyond (1986); a film no less entertaining, just as gory, way goopier, and très salace. (That’s French. It means ‘super horny’. I run a classy joint here.)
Released late October by Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, From Beyond was met with acclaim but relatively little return at the box office, ensuring a cult status very much earned; that it still resonates (foreshadowing pun!) with horror audiences today is a lasting testament to it – and Gordon’s – appeal.
Science pays well,...
Released late October by Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, From Beyond was met with acclaim but relatively little return at the box office, ensuring a cult status very much earned; that it still resonates (foreshadowing pun!) with horror audiences today is a lasting testament to it – and Gordon’s – appeal.
Science pays well,...
- 2/12/2022
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
This big, expensive and well-produced action-suspense Sci-fi epic mostly delivers on its promise to be Aliens at the bottom of the sea. At heart it’s a 1950s pulse-pounder with a bigger monster, a zillion times the budget and a script that does everything but make us care. We appreciate the likable characters but it’s too easy to predict who will ‘get it’ next. The realism factor is not bad at all, although the undersea explorer video training sessions should have given ‘how not to crack up under stress’ more emphasis. And can’t anybody properly mind those pesky nuclear bombs?
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Indescribable shapes both alive and otherwise were mixed in disgusting disarray, and close to every known thing were whole worlds of alien, unknown entities. It likewise seemed that all the known things entered into the composition of other unknown things, and vice versa. Foremost among the living objects were great inky, jellyfish monstrosities which flabbily quivered in harmony with the vibrations from the machine.
-H.P. Lovecraft, “From Beyond”
The original 1934 H.P. Lovecraft short story “From Beyond” details the twisted trans-dimensional experiments of one Dr. Crawford Tillinghast, who creates a machine that allows gratuitously excessive pineal gland enhancement. This in itself yields a sensory awakening, wherein Tillinghast and his unnamed best friend (our narrator) find themselves suddenly able to see the aforementioned terrifying translucent creatures from beyond the realms of traditional human perception. Tillinghast tries to set the monstrosities upon his friend, that friend destroys the machine, and Tillinghast...
-H.P. Lovecraft, “From Beyond”
The original 1934 H.P. Lovecraft short story “From Beyond” details the twisted trans-dimensional experiments of one Dr. Crawford Tillinghast, who creates a machine that allows gratuitously excessive pineal gland enhancement. This in itself yields a sensory awakening, wherein Tillinghast and his unnamed best friend (our narrator) find themselves suddenly able to see the aforementioned terrifying translucent creatures from beyond the realms of traditional human perception. Tillinghast tries to set the monstrosities upon his friend, that friend destroys the machine, and Tillinghast...
- 4/30/2020
- by Alex Kirschenbaum
- Trailers from Hell
Filmmakers/authors discuss the movies they wish more people were familiar with.
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)
Top Gun (1986)
Water Power (1977)
Taxi Driver (1976)
In Fabric (2018)
A Climax of Blue Power (1974)
Forced Entry (1975)
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Nashville Girl (1976)
Ms .45 (1981)
Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Design For Living (1933)
Trouble In Paradise (1932)
Melody (1971)
Oliver! (1968)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
That’ll Be The Day (1973)
Stardust (1974)
The Errand Boy (1961)
Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)
The Bellboy (1960)
Which Way To The Front? (1970)
Hardly Working (1980)
A Night In Casablanca (1946)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Duck Soup (1933)
Boeing Boeing (1965)
Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)
Cockfighter (1974)
The Second Civil War (1997)
I, A Woman (1965)
The Devil At Your Heels (1981)
The...
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)
Top Gun (1986)
Water Power (1977)
Taxi Driver (1976)
In Fabric (2018)
A Climax of Blue Power (1974)
Forced Entry (1975)
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Nashville Girl (1976)
Ms .45 (1981)
Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Design For Living (1933)
Trouble In Paradise (1932)
Melody (1971)
Oliver! (1968)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
That’ll Be The Day (1973)
Stardust (1974)
The Errand Boy (1961)
Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)
The Bellboy (1960)
Which Way To The Front? (1970)
Hardly Working (1980)
A Night In Casablanca (1946)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Duck Soup (1933)
Boeing Boeing (1965)
Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)
Cockfighter (1974)
The Second Civil War (1997)
I, A Woman (1965)
The Devil At Your Heels (1981)
The...
- 3/3/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Nope, this isn’t the new Bong Joon-ho movie, but a 3-D oldie from 1982. Although it’s by no means a great picture, fans equipped for Blu-ray 3-D will want to take a look — the depth effects fashioned with the over’n’under Sterevision system are some of the best yet. Stan Winston provides director Charles Band with the ‘Alien’ rip-off title critters, and added interest is provided via an early appearance by Demi Moore, who sleepwalks through her part but certainly looks good. A full complement of extras tell the making-of story; the feature is also encoded in 2-D, for really imaginative viewers.
Parasite
Blu-ray 3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1982 / Color & 3d / 2:35 widescreen / 85 min. / Available from Kino Lorber / Street Date October 22, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Robert Glaudini, Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici, James Davidson, Al Fann, Tom Villard, Scott Thomson, Cherie Currie, Vivian Blaine, James Cavan, Joannelle Nadine Romero, Freddy Moore, Natalie May,...
Parasite
Blu-ray 3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1982 / Color & 3d / 2:35 widescreen / 85 min. / Available from Kino Lorber / Street Date October 22, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Robert Glaudini, Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici, James Davidson, Al Fann, Tom Villard, Scott Thomson, Cherie Currie, Vivian Blaine, James Cavan, Joannelle Nadine Romero, Freddy Moore, Natalie May,...
- 10/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The world of filmmaker Stuart Gordon is wide reaching in tone and content; crime thrillers to cosmic horror have filled the screen for decades. And then there’s Dolls (1987), which occupies a special place for lovers of fairy tales with dripping meat on its bones; it’s as weird as you expect it to be, but with a sweet underbelly that refuses to stay down.
Made quickly after Re-Animator (’85) but before From Beyond (’86) to utilize Charles Band’s Italian studios for Empire Pictures, Dolls didn’t see release until release stateside until March of ’87, and quickly came and went with little fanfare. Perhaps folks were still attuned to Gordon’s very specific Lovecraftian vibrations to appreciate something so different at the time. Time has been kind however, and the film is generally regarded now as one of his better efforts from a varied (and storied) filmography.
Our tale goes something...
Made quickly after Re-Animator (’85) but before From Beyond (’86) to utilize Charles Band’s Italian studios for Empire Pictures, Dolls didn’t see release until release stateside until March of ’87, and quickly came and went with little fanfare. Perhaps folks were still attuned to Gordon’s very specific Lovecraftian vibrations to appreciate something so different at the time. Time has been kind however, and the film is generally regarded now as one of his better efforts from a varied (and storied) filmography.
Our tale goes something...
- 5/4/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
After facing off against the demon Pazuzu in The Exorcist, Linda Blair faced off against a vicious murderer that made some horror fans "pray for day" in the 1981 slasher film Hell Night (read our own Scott Drebit's Drive-In Dust Offs on the film here), coming out this January on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray / DVD combo pack from Scream Factory that's brimming with almost four hours of bonus features:
Press Release: One dark night 12 years ago, madman Raymond Garth butchered his wife and children in their mansion before killing himself. Legend has it that one child survived the slaughter and remains hidden in the house as a deformed monster. Years later on pledge night, a group of new fraternity and sorority pledges must spend an evening in this creepy mansion on the anniversary of the killings. But what starts off as a night of innocent pranks and rowdiness soon turns deadly…...
Press Release: One dark night 12 years ago, madman Raymond Garth butchered his wife and children in their mansion before killing himself. Legend has it that one child survived the slaughter and remains hidden in the house as a deformed monster. Years later on pledge night, a group of new fraternity and sorority pledges must spend an evening in this creepy mansion on the anniversary of the killings. But what starts off as a night of innocent pranks and rowdiness soon turns deadly…...
- 11/15/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
By Fred Blosser
The Warner Archive Collection has released John Landis’ “Innocent Blood” (1992) in a new, remastered Blu-ray edition. The Blu-ray incorporates two minutes of footage that appeared in overseas prints but were not included in previous U.S. releases. The film opens with a montage of the Pittsburgh skyline after dark, scored with Jackie Wilson’s lush 1960 ballad, “Night.” French vampire Marie (Anne Parillaud, in a lengthy nude scene) sits alone in her hotel room, deliberating on where to find her next sanguinary meal. She opens a newspaper to an article about a local Mafia crew headed by Sal “The Shark” Macelli and smiles: “I thought -- what about Italian?” She allows herself to be picked up by one of Sal’s henchmen, Tony (Chazz Palminteri), whose CD player is loaded with Sinatra discs. Just as Tony thinks she’s going to have sex with him, she chomps into...
The Warner Archive Collection has released John Landis’ “Innocent Blood” (1992) in a new, remastered Blu-ray edition. The Blu-ray incorporates two minutes of footage that appeared in overseas prints but were not included in previous U.S. releases. The film opens with a montage of the Pittsburgh skyline after dark, scored with Jackie Wilson’s lush 1960 ballad, “Night.” French vampire Marie (Anne Parillaud, in a lengthy nude scene) sits alone in her hotel room, deliberating on where to find her next sanguinary meal. She opens a newspaper to an article about a local Mafia crew headed by Sal “The Shark” Macelli and smiles: “I thought -- what about Italian?” She allows herself to be picked up by one of Sal’s henchmen, Tony (Chazz Palminteri), whose CD player is loaded with Sinatra discs. Just as Tony thinks she’s going to have sex with him, she chomps into...
- 10/18/2017
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Ryan Lambie Sep 22, 2017
It’s Alien crossed with Mad Max, and Demi Moore plays a lemon farmer. We look back at the 1982 sci-fi horror, Parasite...
All Hollywood stars have to start somewhere, and there are plenty of A-listers with low-budget B-movies in their early histories. A teenage Leonardo DiCaprio made an appearance in Critters 3; Kevin Bacon was a memorable victim in the original Friday The 13th. Then there's Parasite: a bargain-basement sci-fi horror that cheerfully slams together two popular 70s staples: Cronenbergian body horror and George Miller-style post-apocalypse. Oh, and Demi Moore makes her feature film debut as Patricia, who grows lemons.
See related Star Trek Discovery: take our special quiz here! Star Trek: Discovery trailer breakdown & analysis
In a dystopian near-future, a clammy, bug-eyed scientist, Dr Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini, who looks like a gaunt, desperately-ill relative of Jeff Goldblum) tinkers away in his lab. His...
It’s Alien crossed with Mad Max, and Demi Moore plays a lemon farmer. We look back at the 1982 sci-fi horror, Parasite...
All Hollywood stars have to start somewhere, and there are plenty of A-listers with low-budget B-movies in their early histories. A teenage Leonardo DiCaprio made an appearance in Critters 3; Kevin Bacon was a memorable victim in the original Friday The 13th. Then there's Parasite: a bargain-basement sci-fi horror that cheerfully slams together two popular 70s staples: Cronenbergian body horror and George Miller-style post-apocalypse. Oh, and Demi Moore makes her feature film debut as Patricia, who grows lemons.
See related Star Trek Discovery: take our special quiz here! Star Trek: Discovery trailer breakdown & analysis
In a dystopian near-future, a clammy, bug-eyed scientist, Dr Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini, who looks like a gaunt, desperately-ill relative of Jeff Goldblum) tinkers away in his lab. His...
- 9/20/2017
- Den of Geek
Re-Animator
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
- 8/8/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Is satire obsolete? Our appalling present political reality has surpassed some of the wildest jokes in director Joe Dante's 'exaggerated, outrageous' 1997 cable movie. An immigration squabble snowballs until a renegade state governor closes his border and threatens to secede from the Union. It's a 'political idiocy' version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ... and nineteen years later, we're stuck living it. The Second Civil War DVD (2005) HBO Video 1997 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date August 30, 2005 / 14.98 Starring Beau Bridges, Joanna Cassidy, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones, James Coburn, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Peña, Denis Leary, Ron Perlman, Kevin Dunn, Brian Keith, Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, William Schallert, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Jerry Hardin, Roger Corman, Rance Howard, Robert Picardo, Alexandra Wilson, Belinda Belaski, Jennifer Carlson, Sean Lawlor. Cinematography Mac Ahlberg Film Editor Marshall Harvey Original Music Hummie Mann Written by Martyn Burke Produced by Guy Riedel Directed by Joe Dante...
- 4/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I can’t wait for this release to finally come to fruition. It has been a long time since I have seen Stuart Gordon’s magical killer dolls film, so when Scream Factory announced it, they had my attention immediately. This is a “Collector’s Edition” so it looks as if it is getting the appropriate treatment. The artwork has been revealed, and the extras exposed. There appears to be a good mixture of both old and new. Including, but not limited to - all-new retrospective featuring interviews with director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna, stars Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Ian Patrick Williams, executive producer Charles Band, and special make-Up effects artists Gabe Bartalos, andJohn Vulich and more! Check out the press release below, and pre-order your copy by either clicking here for Shout!’s website, or here for Amazon.
Scream Factory™ Presents
A Film by Stuart Gordon and Executive Produced by...
Scream Factory™ Presents
A Film by Stuart Gordon and Executive Produced by...
- 9/11/2014
- by Shawn Savage
- The Liberal Dead
In 1985, Stuart Gordon co-wrote and directed the delightfully original Re-Animator, based on a serialized story written by H.P. Lovecraft. Released amongst a deluge of derivative slasher films, audiences and critics responded positively, making the film a surprise sleeper hit. The next year, Gordon heard the call of another H.P. Lovecraft story, From Beyond, reuniting him with Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton.
Combs plays Crawford Tillinghast, a scientist who experiments with his partner, Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel), on the potential of the human pineal gland. One evening, after a breakthrough in their research, things go horribly awry, landing Tillingham in a local mental hospital where he becomes a patient of Dr. Catherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton). McMichaels becomes interested in Crawford’s case and takes him back to the house where he was doing his research to help him deal with the trauma he has suffered. Taking Bubba (Ken Foree) along for assistance,...
Combs plays Crawford Tillinghast, a scientist who experiments with his partner, Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel), on the potential of the human pineal gland. One evening, after a breakthrough in their research, things go horribly awry, landing Tillingham in a local mental hospital where he becomes a patient of Dr. Catherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton). McMichaels becomes interested in Crawford’s case and takes him back to the house where he was doing his research to help him deal with the trauma he has suffered. Taking Bubba (Ken Foree) along for assistance,...
- 3/26/2013
- by Derek Botelho
- DailyDead
“I got the habit of drinking Lysol in Gainesville in ’49. You ever been to Florida? I never saw the beach.” Cresus (Lincoln Kilpatrick) tells this to Burke (Viggo Mortensen) in a rather sad confession of a lifer. The two are recently assigned cellmates at a newly reopened penitentiary, which looks like a set from an Aip film starring Vincent Price in the 1960’s.
The American directing debut of Renny Harlin tells the story of a prison haunted by the ghost of an executed inmate. This ghost however is as much of the psychological as it is the external; the men in this prison are haunted by their own past, present, and the horrors of the future.
Produced by Charles Band for Empire Pictures in the late 1980’s, Prison is one of the studio’s smartest films. C. Courtney Joyner contributes a surprisingly deep screenplay for a supernatural horror film. The large ensemble cast,...
The American directing debut of Renny Harlin tells the story of a prison haunted by the ghost of an executed inmate. This ghost however is as much of the psychological as it is the external; the men in this prison are haunted by their own past, present, and the horrors of the future.
Produced by Charles Band for Empire Pictures in the late 1980’s, Prison is one of the studio’s smartest films. C. Courtney Joyner contributes a surprisingly deep screenplay for a supernatural horror film. The large ensemble cast,...
- 2/26/2013
- by Derek Botelho
- DailyDead
Rarely has half a year's wait been so richly rewarded. Early in August 2009 Jack Stevenson had promised a review copy of his forthcoming book "Scandinavian Blue," to be published by McFarland & Company, and dealing with a highly Ferronian subject: "The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s." Still, I had nearly forgotten about it, when it finally arrived this March: But whatever the reasons for the delay, I'm sure they were good. Because as it turns out, Stevenson's book is not just an exhaustive and long-overdue study of a chapter in film history that by now mostly lives as a cliché of semi-trashy sixties liberation memorabilia, but doubles as one of the most timely political essays around.
Which is not to say it doesn't deliver as a connoisseur's chronicle of erotic esoterica, delving deeply into the more demented side of sexually charged filmmaking. Entire chapters are...
Which is not to say it doesn't deliver as a connoisseur's chronicle of erotic esoterica, delving deeply into the more demented side of sexually charged filmmaking. Entire chapters are...
- 4/28/2010
- MUBI
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