Halloween doesn’t have to be over once the last trick-or-treater has crept back into the shadows of the night. You may still be possessed by the spirit of the holiday and in desperate need of some real scares. In an effort to address that need and help you find a choice that goes beyond the…
Halloween doesn’t have to be over once the last trick-or-treater has crept back into the shadows of the night. You may still be possessed by the spirit of the holiday and in desperate need of some real scares. In an effort to address that need and help you find a choice that goes beyond the…
Halloween month comes to a sad end with our look at everybody’s Famous Monster! Be sure to click submit for your score!
Our month-long tribute to our Favorite Famous Monsters comes to an end with Frankenstein’s melancholy creature, the most famous monster of all. Be sure to click submit for your score, and come back Thursday for Part 2!
He’s back and he’s funnier than ever. The mischievous, cagey entertainer William Claude Dukenfield starred in some of the best comedies ever. This five-disc DVD set contains eighteen of his best, all the way from Million Dollar Legs in 1932 to Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941. And we get to see…
We’ve already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford’s fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story — with strong similarities — called Frontier Marshal. It stars…
José Ferrer stars in his second dramatic feature as director, teamed with newcomer Gena Rowlands as a married working couple. Ferrer’s executive assistant isn’t on the list of those invited to meet the new corporate bosses, which everyone knows means he’s a dead employee walking. Things are looking darkest just as his loving wife is…
Meet Indominus Rex, a designer dinosaur with the brain of Hannibal Lecter and a cloaking device like Predator! Steven Spielberg steps back and lets a pro team put together the most-likely-to-earn-billions entry imaginable for the Jurassic Park franchise, where dinosaurs love to eat people, but not cute kids or privileged heroes. The special effects are…
David Cronenberg swaps his venereal ick-monsters for Samantha Eggar’s mater furiosa, an annihilating female who commits her killings as would the villain of a Greek tragedy — through her offspring. Oliver Reed is the new-age guru of ‘Psychoplasmics,’ who teaches Eggar to direct her rage in an utterly unique way. The disturbing concept sounds less preposterous…
In honor of Halloween, I once again have a special essay-article up, and this time I can name the contributor. Randall William Cook rates special celebrity status around DVD Savant despite being a friend from way, way back. I hope he’s writing a book about his career, because his Hollywood experiences range far afield, from UCLA…
I’ll trade you two RKOs for two Warners’, an even swap! This quartet of movie-magic wonderments offers a graduate course on old-school film effects wizardry at its best. Willis O’Brien passes the baton to disciple Ray Harryhausen, who dazzles us with his own effects magic for the first ’50s giant monster epic. And the best…
Welcome to Part 2 of our Dinner with Drac! Be sure to click submit for your score! And tune in next week for our final favorite monster for this Halloween month!
We bid you welcome! Here’s the latest in our month-long salute to our favorite Famous Monsters! This week we take a look at Dracula’s undying career. Enjoy! Be sure to click submit for your score! And come back Thursday for Part Two!
What makes a Ghost Story scary? This classic was almost too artistic for the Japanese. Masaki Kobayashi’s four stories of terror work their spells through intensely beautiful images — weirdly painted skies, strange mists — and a Toru Takemitsu audio track that incorporates strange sounds as spooky musical punctuation. Viewers never forget the Woman of…
Writer Jesse Andrews and director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon overturn the formula for the modern teen comedy: they lay on the quirky storytelling and goofy movie parodies, but also give us characters that are reasonably human and complex. We’re soon invested in a warm and rewarding drama. Young actors Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke…
Most of us love the Trumbo-Douglas-Kubrick thinking man’s leftist gladiator epic, and after several iffy disc presentations this exacting digital restoration follows through on the photochemical reconstruction done 25 years ago. It looks incredibly good, almost too good to be a Blu-ray. Kirk contributes a new featurette interview, telling us that this is the show…
We still love John Ford’s bitter-sentimental look back at the lost Myth of the West. John Wayne and James Stewart are at least thirty years too old for their roles, but everything seems to be happening in a foggy reverie, so what’s the difference, Pilgrim? Great comedy and Lee Marvin’s marvelous villain, plus the assertive…
The miniseries saga of Don, Betty, Roger, Joan, Peggy and Bert deserved a terrific finish, and at the end of seven plus one seasons, creator Matthew Weiner delivers in fine style. The agency undergoes a major transformation, but each of our favorites moves on to a thoughtful, better-than-acceptable resolution — all except for Don. He…
Curious about all those Region B Hammer Blu-rays from overseas, the ones requiring a region-free player? As a public service, Savant has solicited an expert opinion (you’ll have to take my word for that) of a film restoration/transfer specialist who is also an informed fan of the filmic output of the little horror studio at…
We’re continuing our month-long salute to the Famous Monsters of Filmland so hop on in, the water in the Black Lagoon is fine! Be sure to click submit for your score! And join us next week for a 2-part look at the (undead) life and times of the CEO of Vampires Inc.
Trailers From Hell and Hero Complex Gallery present… THE MONSTER MAKER: An Art Tribute to Rick Baker We are proud and honored to present this pop-art tribute to the legendary master of makeup and effects, Rick Baker. Through this tribute, we hope to showcase the immeasurable impact Rick’s work has had on film history. This…
Welcome back to our month-long celebration of Famous Monsters! Set the WABAC Machine to ancient Egypt, we’re digging for mummies! Be sure to click submit for your score! And come back next Thursday for a look a one of our favorite “Creatures”.
The masterful political documentaries of Chilean Guzmán, constitute a national epic for a beloved country traumatized for trying something new within a hostile political environment. How can one keep the memory of a national betrayal alive, after being forced into exile by a military dictator? How can the memory of a great national leader…
Director Brad Bird and his co-writer Damon Lindelof take on a daring, ambitious science fiction project: chosen ‘dreamers’ are given glimpses of a gleaming Future City on the Horizon that exists in a parallel dimension of possibility. It’s a chase film, a touchstone ‘Sense of Wonder’ epic and a wholly original visual extravaganza. The spacey…
Michael Winner is the bad-taste choice to give The Exorcist a run for its money in the faux-religious horror shocker sweepstakes, and the brave actress Cristina Raines leads an impressive supporting cast as the unfortunate suicide attemptee chosen to be the new Gatekeeper for the portal to Hell. Don’t expect to see a Keymaster, but…
Ready for something actually relaxing? Perhaps the Merchant Ivory team’s most gentle and pleasant film, this comedy of English manners at home in Surrey and abroad in Italy is a visual and dramatic delight. Society more or less prevents Helena Bonham Carter’s opinionated young woman from experiencing the full glory of Florence, but a frowned-on…