*contains spoilers Prolific British author and screenwriter Paul Finch (1964-) comes from a family where writing was the norm as his father was television scriptwriter Brian Finch (1936-2007) who for many years wrote for the British soap opera Coronation Street among others. Paul has reportedly written over 300 short stories which have appeared in countless…
*contains spoilers There is a recent documentary entitled Fantastic Fungi (2019) which is narrated by Brie Larson (1989-) and while it’s probably a fantastic adventure through the world of different fungi on the planet – there are a few narrative feature films that fascinate me possibly more since I have first seen them. Surprisingly, there…
*contains spoilers Ed Adlum said of Michael Findlay: “(He) wanted to make real movies, not porn movies, but when you have no money, you make porn movies.” He also said the Findlays had a propensity to film one for $7000 and sell it for $10000. Shriek of the Mutilated was Adlum’s gift to Michael to…
Read more The Cult of Michael and Roberta Findlay and Shriek of the Mutilated (Part Two)
*contains spoilers When we talk about the movies of directors Michael (1937-77 killed by helicopter blades) and Roberta Findlay (1948-), many will think of pornography, if they know the filmmakers at all. But it is their horror movies that this article will be concerned with, and even though Michael Findlay only made a couple before…
Read more The Cult of Michael and Roberta Findlay and Shriek of the Mutilated (Part One)
*contains spoilers There was a short-lived production company in the mid to late 1960s which produced some really low budget – and a few cult films. It was United Pictures Corporation (UPC) and all told they made nine movies. Several of them are hard to catch up with and I have not seen them all,…
Read more The Cult of Castle of Evil and United Pictures Corporation
*contains spoilers French director Jean-Marie Pallardy (1940-) made softcore erotic pictures for a while including Emmanuelle 3 (1980) often under the pseudonym Boris Pradley. Then he made some films aimed at the B-movie mainstream market including the slightly kinky White Fire (1984), an adventure which is considered his most ambitious film. Pallardy has more or…
Read more Robert Ginty is Slightly Kinky in White Fire (1984)
*contains spoilers Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985) aka Beast Creatures aka Hell Island is another classic of good-bad low-budget filmmaking, and also filmmaking which has done with a high degree of sincerity. It is an accidental poor man’s epic which begins with a Titanic-like sinking of a cruise ship and ends with the lost…
Read more The Cult of Killer Dolls in Attack of the Beast Creatures
*contains spoilers After this rare foray into comedy, Forbes wrote and directed the excellent The Whisperers (1967). Again, he has helped his lead actress, this time Edith Evans (1888-1976), deliver a performance which was nominated for an Oscar. She lost to Katherine Hepburn in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) in the usual sympathy vote.…
Read more Actor/Director Bryan Forbes Takes Over the Asylum (Part Two)
*contains spoilers Actor/Writer/Director/Producer Bryan Forbes (1926-2013 long illness) worked himself up the ladder in the British film industry from a bit part actor to become the studio head of EMI studios in the early 1970s. He is a name not many people recognise today, but his brief stint as head of a filmmaking asylum or…
Read more Actor/Director Bryan Forbes Takes Over the Asylum (Part One)
*contains spoilers “Whatever happened to Fay Wray?….” Frank N. Furter asks us near the end of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) as he explains he wanted to be dressed in satin just like Fay before bursting into song once more. Whether American-Canadian actress Fay Wray (1907-2004 in sleep) saw this tribute to her remains…
