Here we go... We all know tropes can be really tiresome and that every genre has them. There are times, however, when tropes don't feel like tropes, even in B-movies, and 1963's The Haunted Palace is one of those times. Directed by Roger Corman, it's at once a typical American International Pictures low-budget horror movie and … Continue reading When Tropes Feel New-ish
Eddie Poe Goes To Camp
Spooky, scary skeletons, and shivers down your spine... When we think of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, we all think of the forlorn, unnamed narrator trying to shoo away that pesky bird as it perches itself on the pallid bust of Pallas, always and only uttering that single word, "Nevermore." Thoughts of lost Lenore are shelved for … Continue reading Eddie Poe Goes To Camp
Hello Boys, I’m Back
OK. Anyone who's seen the original Invisible Man movie with the marvelous Claude Rains knows that it doesn't exactly set itself up for a sequel. Like, at all, kinda like a Titanic movie. There's nowhere to go after the tragedy and the sober aftermath. Then again... So yeah, Invisible Man got a sequel, 1940's The Invisible Man Returns, and it has … Continue reading Hello Boys, I’m Back
Page To Screen: The Song of Bernadette
1943's The Song Of Bernadette turned Jennifer Jones into an Oscar winner. She was twenty-five at the time and it was her first starring role. How this film came about is a story in and of itself, of course. A Czech Jew named Franz Werfel, who was fleeing the Nazis, sheltered for a time in … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Song of Bernadette
Home Sweet Haunt
Mwahahaha... Even the dark house subgenre has its cliches. The jumpscare. The dark and stormy night. The literal skeletons (and maybe various body parts) falling out of closets. Lots of screaming. Oh, and let's not forget the Spend-the-Night-In-the-House-And-Win-Something trope. 1958's House On Haunted Hill ticks all these boxes, adding in a bit of camp and the … Continue reading Home Sweet Haunt
Not the Conventional Type
Mr. Price is back... Vincent Price might have been a horror king, but there was so much more to him. In fact, before horror was Price's primary acting output, he was known for his suave gentlemen characters of both the sympathetic and not-so-sympathetic persuasions. One of the most interesting, and one of Price's personal favorites … Continue reading Not the Conventional Type
Monsters Unite
The crazy world of Hammer-Amicus is back... We all know that the Amicus filmmakers love their monsters. A lot. Crazy a lot. So why not go nuts? Instead of one or two monsters, how about a whole slew? That's what 1981's The Monster Club is about, and if one can get past the bouncer, there's plenty of … Continue reading Monsters Unite
Poe and Price Together Again
It's October, of course, and time to get spooky. As those of you who have been around this blog know, I like me some Vincent Price, especially his Poe movies. Last year we looked at American International Pictures' The Fall of the House of Usher, and this year we'll see their follow-up, 1961's The Pit and the Pendulum. … Continue reading Poe and Price Together Again
Page To Screen: The Fall of the House of Usher
Very few have done more for Gothic literature than Edgar Allan Poe. His writings about spooky happenings, death, and decay, fit right in with the Victorian mindset, which was all too familiar with death. He is so iconic that other Goth and horror writers can only follow in his wake (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and the … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Fall of the House of Usher
All By Himself
From the good to the mad to the lonely. And why shouldn't our hero be lonely? He's the last man in a world full of zombies. At least, that's what he thinks... The sixties and seventies were a funny time in Hollywood. The studios were in transition, and since they were no longer allowed to … Continue reading All By Himself
Lionel On the Air
Lionel Barrymore was a towering actor, but unfortunately he had to deal with severe physical pain after the mid-nineteen-thirties, which limited his prospects somewhat. The possible causes range from rheumatoid arthritis to a drawing room table falling on him in 1936, to breaking a kneecap, to hip injuries. No one knows for sure. Some think … Continue reading Lionel On the Air
Taking Up Room 