By the middle of the 1950s, gothic horror was dead. Modern-set films dealing with nuclear war, radioactive fallout, and the Red Scare filled American theaters with giant bugs and body snatchers. England’s Hammer Studios was no different, releasing successful films like The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and X the Unknown (1956), which were firmly rooted in these science fiction-based fears. In 1957, however, they took a gamble and single-handedly resurrected the gothic monster movie with The Curse of Frankenstein, which became an international hit. The following year they outdid themselves by resurrecting the King of Vampires. Horror of Dracula (simply titled Dracula in England) completely redefined the character, and indeed the entire vampire subgenre, for a generation, and its influence would echo through the decades to come.
By 1958, Tod Browning’s Dracula, with Bela Lugosi in the starring role, had become deeply ingrained in popular culture. The 1957 debut of Shock Theater, the package...
By 1958, Tod Browning’s Dracula, with Bela Lugosi in the starring role, had become deeply ingrained in popular culture. The 1957 debut of Shock Theater, the package...
- 4/27/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Manor, one of the four films of the Amazon Studio and Blumhouse Television series Welcome to the Blumhouse, features a strong backbone of producers, including horror veteran producer Sandy King and horror newcomer Richard J. Bosner.
King established herself in film as a script supervisor on a wide variety of films, including Sixteen Candles. She’s best known for her collaboration with horror icon John Carpenter, in multiple roles as an executive producer, producer, and script supervisor for many of his beloved films, ranging from They Live, to Big Trouble in Little China, and In the Mouth of Madness.
Bosner has produced several independent, including Other People and Black Bear, which both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He was a co-producer for The Wannabe, which also featured as an executive producer, film titian Martin Scorsese.
Together they share their love for the horror genre, their experiences as producers,...
King established herself in film as a script supervisor on a wide variety of films, including Sixteen Candles. She’s best known for her collaboration with horror icon John Carpenter, in multiple roles as an executive producer, producer, and script supervisor for many of his beloved films, ranging from They Live, to Big Trouble in Little China, and In the Mouth of Madness.
Bosner has produced several independent, including Other People and Black Bear, which both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He was a co-producer for The Wannabe, which also featured as an executive producer, film titian Martin Scorsese.
Together they share their love for the horror genre, their experiences as producers,...
- 10/8/2021
- by Justina Bonilla
- DailyDead
Often for children of a similar vintage, the Saturday matinee was where our movie memories began and then flourished; we were shown sword-fighting skeletons, one-eyed ogres and metallic barn fowl, pretty girls in peril and giants with a grudge. Fantasy adventure was a familiar label to us afternoon filmgoers, and the more absurd the flick, the better. The Lost Continent (1968) didn’t cross my path as a kid, but it certainly would have fit right in with our weird fiction viewing habits at the time. Watching it as a significantly aged and occasionally cynical movie lover, one can see that love of pulp on display, with one important difference: this was made by Hammer Films.
Pulp? Without question. But filtered through Hammer’s latter day approach of looser morals and giddy blood spraying, The Lost Continent seems to be made for adults who missed the experience the first time around,...
Pulp? Without question. But filtered through Hammer’s latter day approach of looser morals and giddy blood spraying, The Lost Continent seems to be made for adults who missed the experience the first time around,...
- 10/31/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Mubi's retrospective Outlaw Auteur: Joseph Losey is showing March 30 - May 26, 2020 in the United Kingdom.Above: EvaThe blacklist could be a death certificate or a plane ticket. Informers and suspects alike didn’t work after the United States government went around asking who was a communist and who wasn’t. The list of people who stood up to it is small, the number of people who survived the j’accuse smaller. Director Joseph Losey left the States when he learned his name had been given to House Un-American Activities Committee, to go finish Stranger on the Prowl (1952), when the original director Bernard Vorhaus was fired. Losey came home a year later to find himself radioactive. He left again, and he never came home. Not really. He was an obviously skilled director in America but he was just hitting his stride. The crime films he directed in the States and...
- 4/13/2020
- MUBI
The Walking Dead, Stranger Things and even Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all getting in the Halloween spirit, but if you’re searching far and wide for a spooky movie marathon, John Carpenter has chimed in with his recommendations. Yes, the John Carpenter.
The Fader recently caught up with the illustrious filmmaker to discuss Halloween‘s lasting legacy, the ever-evolving horror genre, and those timeless classics that helped influence his remarkable filmography. It’s a fascinating insight into one of cinema’s all-time greats, and below you’ll find the eight horror films that had a bearing on Carpenter’s career. Unsurprisingly, Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero’s crowning achievement, claimed the #1 spot.
1. Night of the Living Dead
Let’s start with a movie called Night of the Living Dead. I saw this back in 1968. Back in the day, it was a pretty terrifying movie. It’s not so much anymore,...
The Fader recently caught up with the illustrious filmmaker to discuss Halloween‘s lasting legacy, the ever-evolving horror genre, and those timeless classics that helped influence his remarkable filmography. It’s a fascinating insight into one of cinema’s all-time greats, and below you’ll find the eight horror films that had a bearing on Carpenter’s career. Unsurprisingly, Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero’s crowning achievement, claimed the #1 spot.
1. Night of the Living Dead
Let’s start with a movie called Night of the Living Dead. I saw this back in 1968. Back in the day, it was a pretty terrifying movie. It’s not so much anymore,...
- 10/20/2017
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Powell & Pressburger’s big-scale historical epic is perhaps the best show ever about an old-school naval encounter between battleships. The first half depicts the showdown between England and Germany in the South Atlantic, and the second half a tense diplomatic game in the neutral country of Uruguay. Peter Finch, Bernard Lee and Anthony Quayle shine as sea captains.
Panzerschiff Graf Spee (The Battle of the River Plate)
Region B Blu-ray
ITV Studios Home Entertainment (Germany)
1956 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 119, 106 117 min./ Pursuit of the Graf Spee / Street Date 2010 / Available from Amazon UK £16.90
Starring: Peter Finch, Bernard Lee, Anthony Quayle, John Gregson, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Lionel Murton, Anthony Bushell, Peter Illing, Michael Goodliffe, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Production Design: Arthur Lawson
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written, Produced & Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressberger
The best way so far to see the impressive The Battle of the River Plate...
Panzerschiff Graf Spee (The Battle of the River Plate)
Region B Blu-ray
ITV Studios Home Entertainment (Germany)
1956 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 119, 106 117 min./ Pursuit of the Graf Spee / Street Date 2010 / Available from Amazon UK £16.90
Starring: Peter Finch, Bernard Lee, Anthony Quayle, John Gregson, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Lionel Murton, Anthony Bushell, Peter Illing, Michael Goodliffe, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Production Design: Arthur Lawson
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: Brian Easdale
Written, Produced & Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressberger
The best way so far to see the impressive The Battle of the River Plate...
- 7/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Darren Allison
It’s been a very long time since I last sat down to watch Caltiki - The Immortal Monster. It was back in a time when like-minded friends would exchange and trade (decidedly dodgy) VHS copies of obscure monster movies such as this. The term ‘dodgy’ of course is used in retrospect; at the time they were pure gold dust, a rare opportunity to watch something which was out of reach to mainstream admirers. You needed to put in the leg work and research, but becoming part of that community offered so many rich rewards.
Today, it’s a society that has basically become redundant. There is simply little demand for an ‘under the counter’ or private exchange community. Instead we appear to be rather satisfied, accepting and respectful of the efforts provided by the speciality labels. To a large degree, the industry has taken over the...
It’s been a very long time since I last sat down to watch Caltiki - The Immortal Monster. It was back in a time when like-minded friends would exchange and trade (decidedly dodgy) VHS copies of obscure monster movies such as this. The term ‘dodgy’ of course is used in retrospect; at the time they were pure gold dust, a rare opportunity to watch something which was out of reach to mainstream admirers. You needed to put in the leg work and research, but becoming part of that community offered so many rich rewards.
Today, it’s a society that has basically become redundant. There is simply little demand for an ‘under the counter’ or private exchange community. Instead we appear to be rather satisfied, accepting and respectful of the efforts provided by the speciality labels. To a large degree, the industry has taken over the...
- 5/8/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Before he received acclaim as a writer/director of such films as Brother from Another Planet (’84), Matewan (’87), and The Secret of Roan Inish (’94), John Sayles made a splash on the horror scene as the writer of fun, clever satires such as Piranha (’78) and The Howling (’81). However, he did another that doesn’t get nearly as much love, and that’s his ode to an overgrown reptile, Lewis Teague’s Alligator (’80). Which is a shame, as it is just as much of a blast as the other two.
Alligator was released in July to solid reviews, and tripled its budget in returns, bringing in $6.5 million U.S. Not too bad for an independent (Group 1 International Distribution Organisation Ltd., the fine folks behind Ufo’s Are Real), and a good indicator that horror fans are always up for a smart romp. Alligator glides through that sweet swamp filled with fear and good humor.
Alligator was released in July to solid reviews, and tripled its budget in returns, bringing in $6.5 million U.S. Not too bad for an independent (Group 1 International Distribution Organisation Ltd., the fine folks behind Ufo’s Are Real), and a good indicator that horror fans are always up for a smart romp. Alligator glides through that sweet swamp filled with fear and good humor.
- 10/17/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
That a little studio located in the English countryside consistently put out high quality films on a very limited budget is one of the great stories in filmmaking history. Hammer Films was the most successful independent film company ever, producing comedy, drama, mysteries, and war movies before finding their niche in horror. Hammer became a name synonymous with horror, a name that still means something today.
They took their horror stories from English literature set in Europe in the 19th century and their carefully designed and constructed sets created an atmosphere that made the time and place as much a part of the film as the story. After securing remake rights from Universal for their catalog of classics from the 1930s and 1940s, Hammer became the leading producer of horror films. Hammer’s philosophy was straightforward: always be entertaining, have plenty of sex appeal, and lots of violence and blood.
They took their horror stories from English literature set in Europe in the 19th century and their carefully designed and constructed sets created an atmosphere that made the time and place as much a part of the film as the story. After securing remake rights from Universal for their catalog of classics from the 1930s and 1940s, Hammer became the leading producer of horror films. Hammer’s philosophy was straightforward: always be entertaining, have plenty of sex appeal, and lots of violence and blood.
- 10/14/2014
- by Gregory Small
- CinemaNerdz
There are no movies more fun to watch than 1950s science fiction. The first of these films went from the sublime to the ridiculous, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) to Cat Women of the Moon (1953). But they all had something for fans who couldn’t get enough of the exciting and popular new genre. The results were mixed but when they were good, they were very good.
Science fiction films of the 1950s have a well-deserved reputation for being cheesy
The first wave of films appealed mostly to the young who were growing up in the Golden Age of Science Fiction. The genre went from the books fans were reading to movies easily. The special effects were new and exciting for viewers who accepted that space travel was possible, there was life on other planets and there were fantastic things on Earth yet to be discovered.
Science fiction films...
Science fiction films of the 1950s have a well-deserved reputation for being cheesy
The first wave of films appealed mostly to the young who were growing up in the Golden Age of Science Fiction. The genre went from the books fans were reading to movies easily. The special effects were new and exciting for viewers who accepted that space travel was possible, there was life on other planets and there were fantastic things on Earth yet to be discovered.
Science fiction films...
- 6/11/2014
- by Gregory Small
- CinemaNerdz
What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream on Netflix, blinkbox, BBC iPlayer, and Curzon on Demand.
new to stream
Freaky Friday: the 1976 original starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster; so much fun, and so very slyly feminist, too [at Netflix] The Help: if movies that’re all men and no women can be universal, so can this one; this is The Shawshank Redemption [my review] [at Netflix] Seven Psychopaths: a witty take on Hollywood’s narrowmindedness and creative despair; an arthouse anti-action flick [my review] [at Netflix]
streaming now, before it’s on dvd
The Purge: mixes science fiction speculation with familiar horror tropes to create a startling satire on America’s culture of violence [my review] [at blinkbox] Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington: powerful documentary about the war journalist killed in action, and what motivated him and his work [at blinkbox]
new to...
new to stream
Freaky Friday: the 1976 original starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster; so much fun, and so very slyly feminist, too [at Netflix] The Help: if movies that’re all men and no women can be universal, so can this one; this is The Shawshank Redemption [my review] [at Netflix] Seven Psychopaths: a witty take on Hollywood’s narrowmindedness and creative despair; an arthouse anti-action flick [my review] [at Netflix]
streaming now, before it’s on dvd
The Purge: mixes science fiction speculation with familiar horror tropes to create a startling satire on America’s culture of violence [my review] [at blinkbox] Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington: powerful documentary about the war journalist killed in action, and what motivated him and his work [at blinkbox]
new to...
- 10/15/2013
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
We know the greats; movies like Metropolis (1927), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Star Wars (1977).
And there are those films which maybe didn’t achieve cinematic greatness, but through their inexhaustible watchability became genre touchstones, lesser classics but classics nonetheless, like The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), The Time Machine (1960).
In the realm of science fiction cinema, those are the cream (and below that, maybe the half and half). But sci fi is one of those genres which has often too readily leant itself to – not to torture an analogy — producing nonfat dairy substitute.
During the first, great wave of sci fi movies in the 1950s, the target audience was kids and teens. There wasn’t a lot in the way of “serious” sci fi. Most of it was churned out quick and cheap; drive-in fodder, grist for the Saturday matinee mill.
By the early 1960s,...
And there are those films which maybe didn’t achieve cinematic greatness, but through their inexhaustible watchability became genre touchstones, lesser classics but classics nonetheless, like The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), The Time Machine (1960).
In the realm of science fiction cinema, those are the cream (and below that, maybe the half and half). But sci fi is one of those genres which has often too readily leant itself to – not to torture an analogy — producing nonfat dairy substitute.
During the first, great wave of sci fi movies in the 1950s, the target audience was kids and teens. There wasn’t a lot in the way of “serious” sci fi. Most of it was churned out quick and cheap; drive-in fodder, grist for the Saturday matinee mill.
By the early 1960s,...
- 3/17/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
British screenwriter and director Jimmy Sangster, a key creative force behind so many of the great Hammer Horror Films, has died. Sangster penned the scripts for Hammer’s two seminal entries in their monster series Horror Of Dracula and Curse Of Frankenstein. His other scripts for Hammer include X: The Unknown, The Mummy, and Revenge Of Frankenstein. Blood Of The Vampire and The Crawling Eye were scripts he wrote for competing studios. He worked on American television shows in the ’70s including Night Stalker, Ghost Story, Wonder Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. In 1997 Sangster wrote his autobiography Do You Want it Good or Tuesday? Sangster was 83.
An excellent, comprehensive article about Sangster can be found on Cinema Retro’s website Here...
An excellent, comprehensive article about Sangster can be found on Cinema Retro’s website Here...
- 8/19/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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