*contains spoilers There is an old, old British play by Arnold Ridley (1896-1984 after a fall) which was written originally in 1927 and was made into a film a couple of times under its original title of The Ghost Train. It is not supernatural, despite the title, as it relates to a phantom train that…
Read more The Astronomical Cult of Will Hay in Oh, Mr Porter!
*contains spoilers There is a film I’ve seen a great number of times because I like the plot and I like the look and personality of its young star despite the fact she is not a great actress. She is great anyway! The film is the little-known Prime Risk (1985) and the actress is Toni…
*contains spoilers When we talk about the early films of Canadian director David Cronenberg (1943-), most of us will immediately think of Shivers (1975), Rabid (1977), The Brood (1979) and Scanners (1981). But his first features were a couple of interesting ones made in the late 1960s and early 1970s entitled Stereo (1969) and Crimes…
*contains spoilers Growing up watching sitcoms with my family as a kid and there was a show that introduced John Travolta (1954-) to the world entitled Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-79). We used to watch it every week and the star and one of the creators of the show was Gabe Kaplan (1945-). He starred as…
*contains spoilers It is probably a little ironic that the end came to actress Honor Blackman at a time when the world suffered its prolonged hiccup of the Coronavirus. This is because her death happened around the time the World Health Organisation copped flak for its handling of the pandemic and she appeared in the…
*contains spoilers McGillivray and Walker followed the film up with House of Mortal Sin. It’s reported by the writer that Walker was a lapsed Catholic who hated the religion and as a result he wanted to cause a lot of controversy. The true fact is he was almost spot on in the end about the…
Read more The Cult of Horror Screenwriter David McGillivray (Part Two)
*contains spoilers When you mention the screenplays of David McGillivray (1947-), you must mention in particular the films of director Pete Walker (1939-) in the same breath. And also mention the films of Norman J. Warren (1942-). All three started off in the British sexploitation film business but gravitated for a time into horror movies,…
Read more The Cult of Horror Screenwriter David McGillivray (Part One)
*contains spoilers So you think self-isolation is driving you crazy? The film Repulsion (1965) begins with the sight of a woman’s eye as the credits appear along with the heartbeat-like sound of a drum. Actress Catherine Deneuve (1943-) is staring into space at work, detached from her surroundings as a manicurist in a private room…
Read more The Isolation and Madness of Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy
*contains spoilers What came next for Girdler was his first hit, the blaxploitation classic Abby (1974). Made with a budget of $400,000, more funky music greets the opening of this The Exorcist (1973) rip-off which made millions at the box-office in its first couple of weeks of release. Girdler noticed when The Exorcist was being…
Read more The Rip-Off Cult of Director William Girdler (Part Two)
*contains spoilers Director William Girdler (1947-78 helicopter crash) made only nine features in his career which spanned the 1970s. Most are considered rubbish by the critics. But when you look at what Girdler did with so little money, you can’t be anything but impressed. Born in Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1947 from one of the…
Read more The Rip-Off Cult of Director William Girdler (Part One)
