*contains spoilers The best Charlie Chan movie of all has a creepy association with the “unsolved” murders of The Zodiac Killer which began in San Francisco back in the late 1960s and would baffle police well into the 1970s and onwards. As they say: Everyone loves a mystery – and the Chan movies offered that…
Read more The Cult of The Zodiac Killer and Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
*contains spoilers Box office megaflop Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) was unleashed at the beginning of a period of conservative Reagan-ism and the public simply didn’t take to its community led by a corrupt Christian minister and politician… even if he did mean well! This reimagining of Stanley Kramer’s (1913-2001 pneumonia) It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad,…
Read more The Megaflop of Director John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
*contains spoilers There is a tale behind the making of the Australian science fiction movie The Time Guardian (1987) and it is not a pretty one. I credit the film to director Brian Hannant (1940-) but he more or less disowns the final product… his only venture into fully-fledged feature directing. In fact, Hannant wouldn’t…
Read more The Cult of Director Brian Hannant’s The Time Guardian (1987)
*contains spoilers Inner beauty is a hard thing to write about and to define which is probably the reason there aren’t too many movies on the subject. Of course, there are poets and filmmakers who can write or direct beautiful things – but what about inside of the creators themselves as we just assume that…
Read more The Cult of Inner Beauty in The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
*contains spoilers Director Robert Altman’s Images (1925-2006 leukemia) is an, at times, puzzling movie about the creation of writing and the madness that lies in between. It is also one woman’s journey through insanity brought to life by a great performance by Susannah York (1939-2011 multiple myeloma) in the lead. Or is the act of…
Read more Actress Susannah York goes insane in Images (1972)
*contains spoilers and strong course language The fact actor Rupert Everett was gay was an open secret long before he appeared as Julia Robert’s pal in My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997). It just took him a long time to come out on the world stage. Everett probably would have come out on the world stage…
Read more Actor Rupert Everett and The Right Hand Man (1987)
*contains spoilers The movie White Cargo (1942) tells us of the hellish heat on an African rubber plantation at the turn of the 20th Century and how it can play with your mind… Unsurprisingly, it is based on a novel entitled Hell’s Playground which was indirectly borne upon a murder that resulted in what the…
*contains spoilers Among the Confederate soldier ghost and zombie movies of the 1980s, which there aren’t too many, is the underrated low-budget item The Supernaturals (1986) as well as the ultra-low-budget movies of Tony Malanowski (1948-). The Supernaturals has a robust b-cast and production values compared to Malanowski’s shot for a few pennies or so…
Read more The Confederate Ghosts of The Supernaturals (1986) and Night of Horror (1981)
*contains spoilers Fans of the original Insidious (2010) movie maybe interested in the aspect of astral travel or projection. In that film, a child travels in the astral realm while he is asleep and cannot return to his body. It is this aspect which makes the entire movie so interesting. The sequels less so. But…
*contains spoilers Jeff Chandler (1918-61 blood poisoning) was one of the few grey-haired actors to make the Top 20 Box Office stars during the 1950s… He was also reportedly a cross-dresser according to former lover Esther Williams (1921-2013 natural causes) who later said she lied about this fact in her autobiography. Chandler was long dead…
Read more The Cult of Actor Jeff Chandler in The Tattered Dress (1957)
