The Faculty is a star-studded horror comedy featuring Piper Laurie, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Usher Raymond, Elijah Wood Jr., Clea DuVall… …and Josh Hartnett’s ridiculous hair. This is a fun film, so much better than I expected after the critical evisceration it endured on release in 1998. There is a lot…
All posts in review
The Lady in White (1988)
Be ye warned: There be spoilers. I don’t reveal the murderer, but I reveal a lot of important plot points. The Lady in White (1988) was mentioned in a double feature post last year on the now-defunct The Dark Sublime, and was accompanied by screencaps of delicious fall scenery — I knew I had…
The Dick Van Dyke Show Blogathon: The Masterpiece & The Man From My Uncle
This is my entry for Ivan’s Dick Van Dyke Show Blogathon, celebrating the revolutionary sitcom that first aired 50 years ago today! “The Masterpiece” Season 3, Episode 2 Rob sidesteps the ottoman! He then spazzes out and almost falls on Laura. “The Masterpiece” was the second episode of season 3, nestled between the classics…
Slither (2006)
Slither (2006) is a witty horror homage, borrowing elements from various zombie movies as well as Squirm, The Brood, Night of the Creeps, The Blob, and a dozen others. It’s filled with little in-jokes, such as Rob Zombie as the voice of Dr. Karl, Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman in a tiny cameo, and I…
Count Dracula (1977)
At 56 years of age when this 1977 BBC adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel was filmed, the desire to pun that Louis Jourdan is “long in the tooth” is too great to deny. Yet his older-than-usual Count has a weighty, experienced presence that is an absolute delight to watch. He is everything a…
An Infinite Patience for Stupidity: Big Trouble (1986)
There’s a palpable loathing for the 1986 film Big Trouble, mainly because it was John Cassavetes’ last and worst film, a bad combination for a man revered as a god by the stringent hipster crowd that film criticism seems to court with saddening regularity. How Cassavetes even became involved in Big Trouble is a…
The Nicholas Ray Blogathon: "The Janitor" (1974)
“That’s the way film should be. An artist should not moralize. A person who has the audacity to make a film in the first place should never consciously put his own neuroses on the screen.” — Nicholas Ray, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, 1975 *** Wet Dreams is a 1974 compilation of short films…
Ida Lupino Blogathon: The Big Knife (1955)
This post is my entry for the Ida Lupino Blogathon hosted by the Miss Ida Lupino blog. Don’t forget to visit the other fine blogs who are participating! Clifford Odets’ vicious drama The Big Knife is a Tinseltown Macbeth, part Hollywood exposé and part exercise in self-aggrandization. Charles Castle, enormously popular film actor, says halfway…
Monster Mash Blogathon: Plan 9 From Outer Space
My excitement over being the first to pick Plan 9 From Outer Space for the Monster Mash Blogathon was quickly replaced with apprehension as I realized positively everything to be said about Plan 9 has already been said. To combat this disadvantage, I decided to approach P9 as movie that needed improvement and I, winner…
Maneater Week: Maneater (2007)
For Mr. Gable’s Maneater Week, I took the literal approach and watched Maneater (2007). For those of you who don’t find yourselves staring at the SyFy Channel on Saturday nights watching people get eaten by various creatures both real and imaginary, you probably don’t know what the Maneater series is. Let me explain: It’s approximately…