*contains spoilers He is the head of Australian International Pictures, and it is no coincidence that it sounds like Roger Corman’s American International Pictures. Adelaide-based filmmaker Wayne Groom produced his first independent movie in the early 80s with a film on a microbudget which still sent him broke. It was unfortunate because what low-budget dreams…
*contains spoilers Name: JanAge: 65 Occupation: Retired Admin OfficerFavorite Movie: ‘night Mother (1986)Starring: Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft First Saw It: On VHS in the 80s at home with a previous partner Plot: Based on the Pulizer Prize-winning play, it tells of a middle aged woman who tells her mother she plans to commit suicide…
*contains spoilers The original Pet Sematary (1989) is remembered by some as quite frightening to watch at an early age. It’s based on Stephen King’s 1983 novel and the screenplay is actually by King himself. He is an author so prolific – I just don’t know how he does it! I guess he’s no Hemingway…
*contains spoilers Phantoms (1998) is based on the Dean Koontz (1945-) novel which he also adapted to the screen. It remains his only true cinematic screenplay which is a shame because it’s a very good one. It begins with Dr Jennifer Pailey (Joanna Going 1963-) taking her sister Lisa (Rose McGowan 1973-) to her small-town…
*contains spoilers Director and screenwriter Larry Cohen (1941-2019) died on March 23 of undisclosed causes. He left a small trove of low-budget B-grade material. Notable are the It’s Alive trilogy (1074, 1978 and 1987) about mutant babies. Those movies play on any expecting parent’s fears as, in the original movie It’s Alive (1974), a mother…
*contains spoilers The horror movie Us (2019) could also stand for U.S. or United States because the phenomenon which unfolds in the film seems to be only happening in that country. That is not to say that it isn’t happening elsewhere but the events seem to be homegrown. As the beginning of the movie declares:…
Paramount Studios, who distributed Overlord, also released Annihilation (featuring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh), which according to figures also broke even at the box office and might have been released long enough to just recoup its budget. Like the much vaunted, and Academy Award winning (it won three major Oscars) Roma (2018), it appeared…
*contains spoilers J.J. Abrams is the man who directed the Star Trek films (2009 and 2013), Super 8 (2011) and of course two parts of the latest Star Wars trilogy (2015 and 2019) and who wrote Forever Young (1992), Armageddon (1998), not to mention some people’s favorite Gone Fishin’ (1997). His Bad Robot Productions along…
*contains spoilers Back in the late 70s as a twelve-year-old (yes, I am old and fat and bald and weight 300 pounds!) in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, the Fair Lady theatre was on the main drag in Hindley Street (Salman Rushdie once famously quoted Hindley St ran with blood or something and I…
As I set out to write this blog, I guess I have to ask this question. But those who like cult films, or have cult films of their own, already know the answer. It’s those films which we connect with, no matter what the critics say… films which we claim as our own, whether we…
