Lady Frankenstein directed by Mel Welles
Of all the great quotes ever uttered by Hollywood royalty, one of my favorites has long been a line that was uttered by the great Virginia-born actor Joseph Cotten, who once said, “Orson Welles lists
Citizen Kane as his best film, Alfred Hitchcock opts for Shadow of a Doubt, and Sir Carol Reed chose The Third Man … and I’m in all of them!” And it’s so true … Cotten, at the height of his career, got to work with the cream of Hollywood,
October 8th, 2021. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Three Great Gialli by Luciano Ercoli directed by Luciano Ercoli
It seems possible to me that even those fans of the genre known as the giallo film — that uniquely Italian cinematic product marked by stylish mayhem, gorgeous soundtracks, mind-bogglingly recomplicated plotting, outrageously violent set pieces, and fiendishly wackadoodle serial killers — might be unfamiliar with the director whom I would like to shine a spotlight on here. Though they might be very familiar with such giallo mainstays as Mario Bava (whose 1963 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much is often cited as the very first giallo picture),
October 7th, 2021. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
On Monday, Facebook and its associated applications went offline for six hours, leaving businesses cut off, people unable to easily contact family members, and some folks unable to control the thermostat or laundry settings in their homes. Mark Zuckerberg offered a terse apology on his platform. The Verge discusses the probable reason, a coding error released in an automatic upgrade.
The shortlist for the National Book Award is out now.
The Deep Cuts in a Lovecraft Vein blog takes a look at correspondence between C.L.
October 6th, 2021. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 11 comments |
The Black Cat directed by Albert S. Rogell
As the new decade of the 1940s got under way, Universal Studios in Hollywood continued to pump out frightening movies that have since become a distinct film genre unto themselves: Universal horror! The ‘30s had seen the studio get the ball rolling with its Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Mummy and Dracula franchises, and as the new decade began, audiences would continue to be thrilled and amused by their continued antics. The year of 1940 saw four sterling entertainments released: The Invisible Man Returns,
October 6th, 2021. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
~ Albert Einstein
Sam Kean is my favorite pop science author, ever since I read Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us in 2017. Kean has an engaging voice, a solid understanding of science,
October 5th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Night of the Bloody Apes directed by Rene Cardona
Although the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema is generally said to have lasted from the years 1936 – ’59, it wasn’t until the very end of that glorious run that the country really began to excel in the realm of horror. Indeed, it was only in the mid-‘50s that Mexico began to make an impact in the fright arena, but in a very big way; I have already written here of such marvelous Mexican horror entertainments as The Vampire (’57),
October 5th, 2021. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Tower at the End of the World by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
In The Tower at the End of the World (2001), the ninth novel in John Bellairs & Brad Strickland’s LEWIS BARNAVELT series, Strickland once again pays tribute to the late Bellairs by returning to, and expanding the plot of the first novel in the series, The House with a Clock in its Walls.
At this point, Lewis is 13 years old and has just finished reading Sax Rohmer’s FU MANCHU series.
October 4th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Monster of Piedras Blancas directed by Irvin Berwick
It is truly remarkable how a cinematic image can make a lasting imprint on a young and impressionable mind. Take, for example, the 3-year-old me, who witnessed, in a movie theatre, the image of a man falling on a dynamite plunger and causing a bridge to blow up, resulting in a devastating train wreck. It is an image that I have never forgotten, despite all these intervening decades; one of the final scenes, of course, from the great David Lean film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),
October 4th, 2021. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Jana: This week I read two upcoming novellas: Catherynne M. Valente’s Comfort Me with Apples, which is surprisingly complex despite being quite short, and Along the Saltwise Sea, the second of A. Deborah Baker’s UP-AND-UNDER series, which is full of delightful fun and clever ideas. (And now I’m really excited for Seasonal Fears, the second in Seanan McGuire’s MIDDLEGAME series, because I want to see how these two books dovetail.)
Bill: This past week was pretty much student papers,
October 3rd, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 1 comment |
The Human Target by Peter Milligan (writer), Edvin Biukovic (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Robert Solanovic (letterer)
Christopher Chance is the Human Target. He is able to impersonate anybody, and he takes the place of those whose lives are in danger, often when there is a hitman pursuing them. He digs deep in his method acting to really become the person he impersonates. He is a master of disguise, but sometimes a human target can be too good at imitation, perhaps even forgetting at times that he is not the person imitated.
October 2nd, 2021. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Kind of you to say. I certainly like to think so!
BTW, Steve Sterner will be performing at seven films during this upcoming fest: https://filmforum.org/series/clara-bow
As far as I know, Bill, Steve Sterner is the only person who does the live accompaniment to silent movies…
And I'm positive that Kaidan will fondly remember watching these movies with his old man for the rest of his…
You bet, Marion!