The smash hit monster-gore popcorn flick comes to 4K Ultra HD two years and four months after a deluxe Blu-ray, so we do a pointed comparison for purchase-crazy fans that want official sanction for their madness. Happily, you don’t need to be full-moon looney to go for the 4K: David Naughton and Griffin Dunne’s descent…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio of films which featured Mr. Edward G. Robinson. 1942’s Larceny Inc. has Edward G turning his frown upside down… well, sort of. The role of Pressure Maxwell gives Robinson…
As the calendar turns to March, we’re sure you guys and ghouls are looking to get your horror fix. No matter your preferred flavor, the world’s streamers are supplying a litany of chilling, newly-available options for you this month. Granted, this whole list could just include new titles on Shudder or Screambox, but we figured…
Fierce Irish rebels go head-to-head with Brit occupation forces, and James Cagney is first on the barricades. Michael Anderson’s thriller about terror violence in 1921 Dublin has suspense, beautiful cinematography in real Irish locations, and a standout cast: Don Murray, Glynis Johns, Dana Wynter, Michael Redgrave, Cyril Cusack and Sybil Thorndike — plus added-value players…
It’s an animated outer space adventure from Romania, made in the Cold War era but minus political messages. Old-school cel animation techniques conjure colorful futuristic visions, thanks to beautiful background art and a spacey ’80s synth music score. The Bucharest artists bring a novel point of view, populating alien planets with weird flora and fauna,…
Fair warning: the phrase “Capra-esque” might get a real workout in the ensuing review. Late great comedy director Ivan Reitman’s inventive political comedy Dave (1993), starring Kevin Kline in a dual role as both a sleazy president and his kindhearted regular-guy doppelgänger, stands as a shining beacon of sunny cinematic optimism from a happier time…
“This picture is perfect, end of review.” That may not be 100% true, but Leo McCarey’s unabashed leap into romantic Nirvana really hasn’t been bettered, although his color & ‘scope remake is very good. Never was smart adult dialogue this winning — Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer’s cinematic courtship is a highlight of the Big…
It’s the final theatrical western of the legendary director Budd Boetticher, and he also wrote the screenplay! Ace cinematographer Lucien Ballard was behind the camera, and Audie Murphy produced and plays Jesse James! This disc release is a gift to die-hard western fans that want to see everything, but the film itself remains a…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio of films starring a man’s man, the one and only William Holden. The 1954 war flick, Bridges at Toko-Ri, starred Holden opposite Grace Kelly. He plays a former WWII…
“I’m filthy — period!” With an ideal cast — Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone — director Douglas Sirk tells a tale with everything the ’50s wouldn’t allow — lust, nymphomania, impotence, the works. It’s perhaps Sirk’s most accomplished, self-contained masterpiece — a glamorous soap with absorbing characters caught in a cycle…
Bert I. Gordon’s career groove of shrinking and bloating various animals and people bottoms out in this trashy drive-in groaner: it’s colorful but nigh-unwatchable. The exploitation target is sci-fi and the teen musical, with incompatible helpings of pre-teen ‘cutes’ and girlie show jiggle for the raincoat crowd. The show apparently did well, but I heard…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, we salute a movie man who passed away recently, Ivan Reitman. Reitman was born in Czechoslovakia and was a Canadian. Either because of that or despite it, he became best known…
Who Shot Barney? Or should we say, who is going to shoot Barney? Chalk up another excellent Noir Rescue by The Film Noir Foundation, the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Flicker Alley: Joan Leslie is a Broadway star in a group of ‘difficult’ actors, writers, lovers and cheats, trying to prevent a ‘repeat’ cycle…
La Llorona and El Fantasma del Convento: conceived as Mexican horror fables for Mexican audiences, these expressionist gems tap indigenous cultural riches and brooding Catholic guilt. The fable of ‘The Wailing Woman’ is told in a three-part story starting with la conquista; the spooky ‘Phantom of the Monastery’ is a moral tale cautioning against carnal…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, let us give you one of those chalky candy hearts, the one that says Be My Valentine. Chilly Scenes of Winter is a 1979 romantic drama – romdra? – which stars…
If discovering brilliant filmmakers appeals, it’s difficult to to better than this five-disc, nine-feature labor of recovery and restoration from Lobster films. Julien Duvivier is well known for a couple of pictures, one of which screened not so long ago on Eddie Muller’s TCM film noir show. But seeing his silent masterpieces may change your…
Righteous propaganda fuels the patriotic fire: Lewis Milestone and Robert Rossen’s blood-soaked ode to Norwegian resistance goes way over the top. These Norsemen and Norsewomen take up arms to fight their Nazi occupiers tooth and nail. Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan star; some of Hollywood’s best partake of the rah-rah celebration of suicidal vengeance: Walter…
Garth: What do you do if every time you see this one incredible woman, you think you’re gonna hurl? Wayne: I say hurl. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she’s yours. But if you spew and she bolts, it was never meant to be. Sage advice from two legends. Really, this line from…
Showbiz dynamo Ann-Margret tries on ‘teenage hellion’ for size. She terrorizes the straight, impossibly patient John Forsythe, sending him on a weekend ordeal with razor-wielding hooligans. He can kiss both his marriage and his political ambitions goodbye: who will believe David when Jody claims he took advantage of her? Douglas Heyes’ sordid suspense thriller has…
Devil worshippers are running amuck in Greece, haven’t you heard? This Greek-English horror show stars Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance, so it can claim a built-in fan interest factor whether it’s good or bad. It’s fun to check out just to see what these stars got themselves into for a paycheck, back when Hammer was…
Suppress your bitter aching loneliness this holiday by watching some very anti-Valentine’s Day cinematic relationships on Shudder! We here at Trailers From Hell have culled through all of the least romantic flicks currently showing on that spookiest of movie streaming platforms, and found some intriguing viewing fodder if you’re less-than-receptive to the typical amorous pablum….
It’s something completely different . . . a genuine obscurity, a Swiss spy fantasy from the 1960s with major appeal to fans keen on (not in this order) art cinema, Fritz Lang, superspy romps, surreal silent serials, Eurocult actors, and visuals with a New Wave-ish flair. Teams of assassins vie for an atom secret held…
Lady in a Cage Blu ray ViaVision [Imprint] 1964/ B&W / 1.78:1 / 95 Minutes Starring Olivia de Havilland, James Caan, Ann Sothern Directed by Walter Grauman Though the title suggests anything from a feminist manifesto to a women-in-prison melodrama, Lady in a Cage is in fact a home invasion thriller with a mile-wide mean…
Busby Berkeley’s musical comedy extravaganza not only gets away with a social message, it makes one of the best cultural statements ever about the Great Depression. Social upheaval suddenly being a real thing these days, we understand. The story is a romantic backstage musical but The Wolf at the Door is present in the dialogue,…
Our friends at JustWatch, which should be your go-to resource for the streaming homes of virtually every movie and TV show imaginable, have supplied us with an intriguing new list, cataloging their top 10 streaming titles throughout the month of January 2022. Like all of the lists JustWatch sends our way, these stats are predicated…