News

At the end of Sam Raimi's 1993 horror farce "Army of Darkness," the blustering a-hole hero Ash (Bruce Campbell), stranded in the early 14th century, has handily vanquished an army of Deadites and retrieved the magical Necronomicon, a book that has the power to return him to his own time. The bearded Wise Man (Ian Abercrombie) explains to Ash that he has to drink a vial of elixir and recite three magical words, being careful to recite them correctly (Ash had previously whiffed the same magic words earlier in the film).

An astute observer might have noticed that Abercrombie's mouth doesn't match his dialogue in that scene. This is the result of a massive recut to the ending of "Army of Darkness." In the original cut, and the cut released overseas, Ash was told to drink one drop of elixir for every century he wanted to travel forward in time.

Director/Tfh Guru Mick Garris discusses his favorite year in film, 1986, with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Stir of Echoes (1999)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Fly (1958) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary

*The Fly (1986) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

The Fly II (1989)

Fuzzbucket (1986)

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness

Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

*Aliens (1986) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Terminator (1984) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

The Brood (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Scanners (1981) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Fast Company (1979)

Rabid (1977) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Shivers (1975)

Crimes of the Future (1970)

Crimes of the Future (2022)

Stereo (1969)

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary

Stand By Me...

In the marketing for the notorious 1981 horror film "The Evil Dead," director Sam Raimi skewed happily away from modesty, describing his film as "The ultimate experience in grueling terror." As there would be two sequels, it proved to be the antepenultimate experience in grueling terror. 

Given the size and power of the cult behind it, it seems almost churlish to put a film like "Evil Dead II" (called "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn" on the posters) into an introductory context. "Evil Dead II" remains one of the finest horror comedies cinema has yet offered, presenting extreme horror visuals with the slapstick timing of Buster Keaton or the Three Stooges. "Evil Dead II" has long been standard viewing for any ninth grade would-be horror fanatic, eager to chuckle at death, and persists at midnight screenings the world over. 

Raimi and his crew famously made the "Evil Dead" movies on the cheap.

There’s nothing so good as being able to consult people who know more than we do, who deal in facts and can back up their assertions with proof. The excellent new Blu-ray for Monster from Green Hell has a nifty color sequence at the end which raised a lot of questions and wrong guesses. Thanks to prime source evidence, we can show you how the original looked … uh, after a little Eastmancolor fading. It’s what passes for an Article of Importance at CineSavant, the usual display of breathtaking journalistic originality.

What Color is Green Hell?

CineSavant Article

The Proof is in.

This article is an addendum to the March 8 Blu-ray review of The Film Detective’s Monster from Green Hell, a fun creature feature released in 1958 but likely filmed more than a year earlier. It’s a rather good disc despite not being mastered from pre-print material — a few scratches,...

Exclusive: Showtime has rounded out the cast for its upcoming anthology series The First Lady. Aya Cash (The Boys), Jake Picking (Hollywood), Cayden Boyd (The Resident), Marc Hills (Snatchers), Ben Cook (Paterno), Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Bridge and Tunnel), Thomas E. Sullivan and Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Chambers) have been cast in the series, joining previously announced stars Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson.

The First Lady, created by Aaron Cooley and produced by Lionsgate TV and Showtime, is a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. Season 1 focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt (Anderson), Betty Ford (Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Davis).

Previously announced cast also includes Lexi Underwood as Malia Obama, O-t Fagbenle as Barack Obama and Derek Cecil as Donald Rumsfeld.

Cash will play Esther Liebowitz, press secretary to Betty Ford, who often butts heads with...

When I think of classic literature that really gets under my skin and leaves some scars, H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is at the top of the list. The many adaptations of Wells' timeless extraterrestrial tale are just one indication of the novel's enduring legacy, and that legacy continues to grow now that the first The War of the Worlds film is coming to the Criterion Collection.

Announced on Criterion's Twitter account, The War of the Worlds (1953) will join the Criterion Collection this July as a new Blu-ray featuring a 4K digital restoration and new cover art by artist Patrick Leger.

We have the full release details and a look at the cover art and images from the film below, and be sure to visit the Criterion Collection online for more information.

From Criterion Collection: "A mysterious, meteorlike object has landed in a small California town.

Hard-media home video is making a comeback, and Kino Lorber shows its faith in the medium with an extravagant collection of its entire silent holdings of the Fritz Lang library. Mythical heroes, sacrificing heroines, criminal madmen and uncontrolled super-science are his themes; it’s a paranoid’s view of the first half of the 20th Century, expressed with fantastic innovations that literally re-write the rules of cinema.

Fritz Lang The Silent Films

Blu-ray

Kino Classics

1919-1929 / B&W / 1:37 Silent Aperture / 1894 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / “The Complete Silent Films of German Cinema’s Supreme Stylist” / Available through Kino Lorber / 149.95

Films: The Spiders, Harakiri, The Wandering Shadow, Four Around the Woman, Destiny, Dr. Mabuse The Gambler, Die Nibelungen, Metropolis, Spies, Woman in the Moon, The Plague of Florence.

Directed by Fritz Lang

Kino Lorber has been a happy home for many marvelous discs of silent German classics. Thanks to their ongoing...

Robot roll call! This also-ran robotic fantasy from the 1950s is precisely the kind of movie one would expect from Republic, a two-fisted anti-Commie tract for juveniles. The studio comes up with an impressive robo-hero, but short-changes us when it come time for action thrills. Still, as pointed out in Richard Harland Smith’s new commentary, Tobor filled the the kiddie hunger for sci-fi matinees, at least until Robby the Robot came along.

Tobor the Great

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1954 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Charles Drake, Karin Booth, Billy Chapin, Taylor Holmes, Steven Geray, Hal Baylor, Alan Reynolds, Peter Brocco, Robert Shayne, Lyle Talbot, William Schallert

Cinematography: John L. Russell

Production Design: Gabriel Scognamillo

Special Effects: Howard and Theodore Lydecker

Film Editor: Basil Wrangell

Original Music: Howard Jackson

Written by Philip MacDonald, Carl Dudley

Produced by Richard Goldstone

Directed by Lee Sholem...

Hey, Ib Melchoir’s Opus Mars-us is back, in a not-bad new scan and color-grading job. If the nostalgia bug has bitten you deep enough to appreciate a fairly maladroit but frequently arresting space exploration melodrama, this may be the disc for you. Let’s be honest: Nobody can resist the allure of the fabulous Bat-Rat-Spider-Crab, and in glorious Cinemagic, no less.

The Angry Red Planet

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 17.28

Starring: Gerald Mohr, Nora Hayden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen.

Cinematography: Stanley Cortez

Film Editor: Ivan J. Hoffman

Original Music: Paul Dunlap

Written by Ib Melchior from a story by Sid Pink

Produced by Norman Maurer & Sid Pink

Directed by Ib Melchior

Unjust though it may be, not all Savant reviews make the national news feed, but my old 2001 coverage of the pretty miserable MGM DVD of The Angry Red Planet got quoted all over the place,...

This French disc release of the Jacques Tourneur classic gets everything right — including both versions in picture perfect transfers. Devil debunker Dana Andrews locks horns with Niall MacGinnis, a necromancer “who has decoded the Old Book” and can summon a fire & brimstone monster from Hell, no election fraud necessary. Even fans that hate ghost stories love this one — it’s a truly creepy, intelligent highlight of the horror genre.

Night of the Demon

Region A + B Blu-ray + Pal DVD

Wild Side (Fr)

1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Street Date November 27, 2013 / Curse of the Demon, Rendez-vous avec la peur / Available from Amazon UK or Foreign Exchange Blu-ray

Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,

Athene Seyler

Cinematography: Ted Scaife

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers

Film Editor Michael Gordon

Original Music: Clifton Parker

Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester

from the...

You Axed for it, as Forry would say: the grade Z horror movie that launched a thousand bad puns is also an unbeatable party favorite. Idiotic island natives clash with condescending Anglo scientists, when a death curse initiates the hell- spawning of a horrifying, vengeance-seeking pagan demon-monster. Sounds great — but what we get is Tabonga, a walking rubber tree stump with knotholes for eyes and a permanent scowl on its teakwood face. The excellent, flawless scan allows us to appreciate the mighty Tabonga for what it is — absurd, lovable, awful.

From Hell it Came

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1957 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 71 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, Linda Watkins, John McNamara, Gregg Palmer, Suzanne Ridgeway.

Cinematography: Brydon Baker

Film Editor: Jack Milner

Original Music: Darrell Calker

Written by Richard Bernstein, Dan Milner

Produced by Jack Milner

Directed by Dan Milner

“You say Tomayto,...

“Thru the Time Barrier, 552 years Ahead… Roaring To the Far Reaches of Titanic Terror, Crash-Landing Into the Nightmare Future!” … and as Daffy Duck says, “And it’s good, too!” Allied Artists sends CinemaScope and Technicolor on a far-out timewarp to a place where the men are silly and the women are… very female. Hugh Marlowe stars but the picture belongs to hunky Rod Taylor and leggy Nancy Gates.

World Without End

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date March 28, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor, Shawn Smith, Lisa Montell, Christopher Dark, Booth Colman, Everett Glass.

Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks

Makeup: Emile Lavigne

Art Direction: Dave Milton

Film Editor: Eda Warren

Original Music: Leith Stevens

Produced by Richard V. Heermance

Written and Directed by Edward Bernds

“CinemaScope’s first science-fiction thriller.”

First, huh? What about MGM’s CinemaScope attraction Forbidden Planet, which...

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 96 min. / Street Date February 28, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Victoria Vetri, Robin Hawdon, Patrick Allen, Drewe Henley, Sean Caffrey, Magda Konopka, Imogen Hassall, Patrick Holt, Jan Rossini, Carol Hawkins, Maria O’Brien.

Cinematography: Dick Bush

Film Editor: Peter Curran

Visual Effects: Jim Danforth

Original Music: Mario Nascimbene, Philip Martell

Written by: Val Guest, J.G. Ballard

Produced by: Aida Young

Directed by Val Guest

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth didn’t get much attention when released here early in March of 1971. Only film fanatics obsessed with special effects had much to say about it. Cinefantastique magazine showed a still photo or two of dinosaurs on the rampage, and told us that stop-motion effects notable Jim Danforth, who we knew from mentions in Famous Monsters, was attached. We also learned that an animator named David Allen had worked on one sequence.

Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired.

Pretty Poison

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.

Cinematography David L. Quaid

Original Music Johnny Mandel

Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller

Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman

Directed by Noel Black

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...

Ivan Tors and Curt Siodmak 'borrow' nine minutes of dynamite special effects from an obscure-because-suppressed German sci-fi picture, write a new script, and come up with an eccentric thriller where atom scientists behave like G-Men crossed with Albert Einstein. The challenge? How to make a faceless unstable atomic isotope into a worthy science fiction 'monster.' The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 76 min. / Street Date June 14, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Leonard Mudie, Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, Frank Gerstle, Charles Williams, Kathleen Freeman, Strother Martin, Jarma Lewis. Cinematography Charles Van Enger Supervising Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Blaine Sanford Written by Curt Siodmak, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Curt Siodmak

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

How did we ever survive without an "Office of Scientific Investigation?" In the early 1950s, producer Ivan Tors launched himself with a trio of science fiction movies based on that non-existent government entity, sort of an FBI for strange scientific phenomena. As of this writing, Kino has released a terrific 3-D Blu-ray of the third entry, 1954's Gog. The second Tors Osi mini-epic is the interesting, if scientifically scrambled Riders to the Stars, which shows up from time to time on TCM but has yet to find its way to home video in any format. The first of the series, 1953's The Magnetic Monster is considered the most scientifically interesting, although it mainly promotes its own laundry list of goofy notions about physics and chemistry. As it pretends that it is based on scientific ideas instead of rubber-suited monsters, Tors' abstract threat is more than just another 'thing' trying to abduct the leading lady. Exploiting the common fear of radiation, a force little understood by the general public, The Magnetic Monster invents a whole new secret government bureau dedicated to solving 'dangerous scientific problems' -- the inference being, of course, that there's always something threatening about science. Actually, producer Tors was probably inspired by his partner Curt Siodmak to take advantage of a fantastic special effects opportunity that a small show like Magnetic could normally never afford. More on that later. The script plays like an episode of Dragnet, substituting scientific detectives for L.A.P.D. gumshoes. Top-kick nuclear troubleshooter Dr. Jeff Stewart (Richard Carlson) can't afford to buy a tract home for his pregnant wife Connie (beautiful Jean Byron, later of The Patty Duke Show). He is one of just a few dauntless Osi operatives standing between us and scientific disaster. When local cops route a weird distress call to the Osi office, Jeff and his Phd. sidekick Dan Forbes (King Donovan) discover that someone has been tampering with an unstable isotope in a room above a housewares store on Lincoln Blvd.: every metallic object in the store has become magnetized. The agents trace the explosive element to one Dr. Serny (Michael Fox), whose "lone wolf" experiments have created a new monster element, a Unipolar watchamacallit sometimes referred to as Serranium. If not 'fed' huge amounts of energy this new element will implode, expand, and explode again on a predictable timetable. Local efforts to neutralize the element fail, and an entire lab building is destroyed. Dan and Jeff rush the now-larger isotope to a fantastic Canadian "Deltatron" constructed in a super-scientific complex deep under the ocean off Nova Scotia. The plan is to bombard the stuff with so much energy that it will disintegrate harmlessly. But does the Deltatron have enough juice to do the job? Its Canadian supervisor tries to halt the procedure just as the time limit to the next implosion is coming due! Sincere, likeable and quaint, The Magnetic Monster is nevertheless a prime candidate for chuckles, thanks to a screenplay with a high clunk factor. Big cheese scientist Jeff Stewart interrupts his experimental bombardment of metals in his atom smasher to go out on blind neighborhood calls, dispensing atom know-how like a pizza deliveryman. He takes time out to make fat jokes at the expense of the lab's switchboard operator, the charming Kathleen Freeman. The Osi's super-computer provides instant answers to various mysteries. Its name in this show is the acronym M.A.N.I.A.C.. Was naming differential analyzers some kind of a fetish with early computer men? Quick, which '50s Sci-fi gem has a computer named S.U.S.I.E.? The strange isotope harnesses a vague amalgam of nuclear and magnetic forces. It might seem logical to small kids just learning about the invisible wonder of magnetism -- and that understand none of it. All the silverware at the store sticks together. It is odd, but not enough to cause the sexy blonde saleswoman (Elizabeth Root) to scream and jump as if goosed by Our Friend the Atom. When a call comes in that a taxi's engine has become magnetized, our agents are slow to catch on. Gee, could that crazy event be related to our mystery element? When the culprit scientist is finally tracked down, and pulled off an airliner, he's already near death from overexposure to his own creation. We admire Dr. Serny, who after all managed to create a new element on his own, without benefit of a billion dollar physics lab. He also must be a prize dope for not realizing that the resulting radiation would kill him. The Osi troubleshooters deliver a stern lesson that all of us need to remember: "In nuclear research there is no place for lone wolves." If you think about it, the agency's function is to protect us from science itself, with blame leveled at individual, free-thinking, 'rogue' brainiacs. (Sarcasm alert.) The danger in nuclear research comes not from mad militarists trying to make bigger and more awful bombs; the villains are those crackpots cooking up end-of-the-world scenarios in their home workshops. Dr. Serny probably didn't even have a security clearance! The Magnetic Monster has a delightful gaffe in every scene. When a dangerous isotope is said to be 'on the loose,' a police radio order is broadcast to Shoot To Kill ... Shoot what exactly, they don't say. This line could very well have been invented in the film's audio mix, if producer Tors thought the scene needed an extra jolt. Despite the fact that writer-director Curt Siodmak cooked up the brilliant concept of Donovan's Brain and personally invented a bona fide classic monster mythology, his '50s sci-fi efforts strain credibility in all directions. As I explain in the Gold review, Siodmak may have been the one to come up with the idea of repurposing the climax of the old film. He was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, and had written a film with director Karl Hartl. Reading accounts in books by Tom Weaver and Bill Warren, we learn that the writer Siodmak had difficulty functioning as a director and that credited editor Herbert Strock stepped in to direct. Strock later claimed that the noted writer was indecisive on the set. The truly remarkable aspect of The Magnetic Monster comes in the last reel, when Jeff and Dan take an elevator ride way, way down to Canada's subterranean, sub-Atlantic Deltatron atom-smasher. They're suddenly wearing styles not worn in the early 'fifties -- big blocky coats and wide-brimmed hats. The answer comes when they step out into a wild mad-lab construction worthy of the visuals in Metropolis. A giant power station is outfitted with oversized white porcelain insulators -- even a set of stairs looks like an insulator. Atop the control booth is an array of (giant, what else) glass tubes with glowing neon lights inside. Cables and wires go every which-way. A crew of workers in wrinkled shop suits stands about like extras from The Three-Penny Opera. For quite some time, only readers of old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland knew the secret of this bizarre footage, which is actually from the 1934 German sci-fi thriller Gold, directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Albers and Brigitte Helm. Tors and Siodmak do their best to integrate Richard Carlson and King Donovan into this spectacular twenty-year-old stock footage, even though the extravagant production values and the expressionist patina of the Ufa visuals are a gross mismatch for The Magnetic Monster's '50s semi-docu look. Jeff's wide hat and David Byrne coat are there to make him look more like Hans Albers in the 1934 film, which doesn't work because Albers must be four inches taller and forty pounds beefier than Richard Carlson. Jeff climbs around the Deltatron, enters a control booth and argues with the Canadian scientist/turnkey, who is a much better match for the villain of Gold. Jeff changes into a different costume, with a different cap -- so he can match Albers in the different scene in Gold. The exciting climax repurposes the extravagant special effects of Otto Hunte and Günther Rittau, changing the original film's attempted atomic alchemy into a desperate attempt to neutralize the nasty new element before it can explode again. The matching works rather well for Jeff's desperate struggle to close an enormous pair of bulkhead doors that have been sabotaged. And a matched cut on a whip pan from center stage to a high control room is very nicely integrated into the old footage. The bizarre scene doesn't quite come off... even kids must have known that older footage was being used. In the long shots, Richard Carlson doesn't look anything like Hans Albers. A fuel-rod plunger in the control room displays a German-style cross, even though the corresponding instrument in the original show wasn't so decorated. Some impressive close-up views of a blob of metal being bombarded by atomic particles are from the old movie, and others are new effects. Metallurgy is scary, man. The "Serranium" threat establishes a pattern touched upon by later Sci-fi movies with organic or abstract forces that grow from relative insignificance to world-threatening proportions. The Monolith Monsters proposes giant crystals that grow to the size of skyscrapers, threatening to cover the earth with a giant quartz-pile. The Sam Katzman quickie The Day the World Exploded makes The Magnetic Monster look like an expensive production. It invents a new mineral that explodes when exposed to air. The supporting cast of The Magnetic Monster gives us some pleasant, familiar faces. In addition to the beloved Kathleen Freeman is Strother Martin as a concerned airline pilot. Fussy Byron Foulger owns the housewares store and granite-jawed Frank Gerstle (Gristle?) is a gruff general. The gorgeous Jarma Lewis has a quick bit as a stewardess. The Kl Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Magnetic Monster is a fine transfer of this B&W gem from United Artists. Once hard to see, it was part of an expensive MGM-Image laserdisc set twenty years ago and then an Mod DVD in 2011. The disc comes with a socko original trailer that explains why it did reasonably well at the box office. Every exciting moment is edited into a coming attraction that really hypes the jeopardy factor. At that time, just the sight of a hero in a radiation suit promised something unusual. Nowadays, Hazardous Waste workers use suits like that to clean up common chemical spills. The commentary for The Magnetic Monster is by Fangoria writer Derek Botelho, whose name is misspelled as Botello on the disc package. I've heard Derek on a couple of David del Valle tracks for Vincent Price movies, where he functioned mainly as an Ed McMahon-like fan sidekick. His talk tends to drift into loosely related sidebar observations. Instead of discussing how the movie was made by cannibalizing another, he recounts for us the comedy stock footage discovery scene from Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Several pages recited from memoirs by Curt Siodmak and Herbert Strock do provide useful information on the film. Botelho appreciates actress Kathleen Freeman. You can't go wrong doing that. Viewers that obtain Kino's concurrent Blu-ray release of the original 1934 German thriller Gold will note that the repurposed scenes from that film look much better here, although they still bear some scratches. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray rates: Movie: Good + Video: Very Good Sound: Excellent Supplements: Commentary with Derek Botelho, Theatrical trailer Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? N0; Subtitles: None Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 8, 2016 (5138magn)

Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com

Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...

I guess Howard Hughes wanted to go easy on Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy -- it's an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie's making -- and then remaking -- is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 18.59 Starring Elliott Reid, Raymond Burr, Carla Balenda, Edgar Barrier, Otto Waldis, Michael Steele, Lurene Tuttle, Peter Brocco, Lewis Martin, Frank Darien, Olive Carey, George Chandler, Gregory Gaye. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Robert Golden Original Music Music by Paul Sawtell Written by George Bricker, Frank L. Moss, Ray Hamilton Produced by Louis J. Rachmil Directed by William Cameron Menzies

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...

Everybody sing!: An Italian boy from Napoli, got petrified by the scenery. Now his face is white and his arms are long. And he'd rather choke you than sing a song! Hey Ed Cahn! Do another cheapie for us Hey Ed Cahn! No more Volcano nonsense! --- A really stiff guy searches for the reincarnation of his Etruscan babe from 79 B.C.. This fave monster romp from '58 is no classic, but it's the spirit that counts. Curse of the Faceless Man Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 67 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara, Luis Van Rooten, Gar Moore, Felix Locher, Jan Arvan, Bob Bryant. Cinematography Kenneth Peach Original Music Gerald Fried Written by Jerome Bixby Produced by Robert E. Kent Directed by Edward L. Cahn    

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Actually, 1958's Curse of the Faceless Man is...

Viewers expecting to see a lighthearted  'Cisco Kid' swashbuckler got a surprise with William Wellman's movie: it's a tragedy about a genuine historical California bandit who may have been an outlaw terrorist, avenging murderous discrimination against Mexican-Americans in the Gold Rush days. Hangings, rape and massacres -- not your average popcorn matinee fare for 1936. The Robin Hood of El Dorado DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1936 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date May 26, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 18.49  Starring Warner Baxter, Ann Loring, Bruce Cabot, Margo, J. Carrol Naish, Soledad Jimenez, Carlos De Valdez, Eric Linden, Edgar Kennedy, Charles Trowbridge, Harvey Stephens, Marc Lawrence. Cinematography Chester Lyons Film Editor Robert J. Kern Original Music Herbert Stothart Written by William A. Wellman, Joseph Calleia, Melvin Levy, from a book by Walter Noble Burns Produced by John W. Considine Jr. Directed by William A. Wellman

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I'm always...

Submit your vote for Reviewer of the Year!

Every year, the Classic Horror Film Board recognizes the best in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy realm with the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. Fans of the genre can vote for their favorites in over thirty categories, and this year, Cinelinx would like to ask you to vote for one of our own, staff writer Victor Medina, as Reviewer of the Year (Category 29)! We've even included the ballot below so you can vote!

Votes must be submitted by copying and pasting the ballot into your personal email, making your choices, including your name, and sending it in. Votes for Reviewer of the Year are write-in only, so you must be sure to include Vic's name yourself under Category 29 when you vote. Pre-filled ballots are not allowed, so we can't do it for you! Remember, you must write in "Victor Medina, Cinelinx.com" yourself.

Okay, both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell spent the past week praising the upcoming Evil Dead remake. On August 21, Raimi told Collider that the film will be R-rated ("…or worse.") and is "…so bloody, it will make your head spin." That same day on the Coming Soon website, Campbell recognized that fans are angry over the remake, but promised it "…will be as memorable as (the original) Evil Dead without being the same film."

Of course, the Internet will continue to be abuzz with hatred for the remake, even though no footage has been released yet. But such early responses dismiss the fact that the remake might be pretty good. Hey, it could happen! So here's a five-step program for all Deadite fans to help calm your nerves and view the project with an open mind.

Step 1: Accepting the lack of Ash as a good thing

Once word came...

Cinemagoers in the Kansas town turn on star of The Rum Diary after he appeared to say, in a Guardian interview, that they don't like 'intelligent' films

Residents and cinephiles in the Us city of Wichita, Kansas, are up in arms over comments made to the Guardian by actor Johnny Depp about their supposed inability to appreciate "intelligent" films.

Speaking in advance of the UK release of his new film The Rum Diary – which Depp produced as well as acted in – Depp suggested the film will have a hard time in the Us away from the major urban centres. "I believe that this film, regardless of what it makes in, you know, Wichita, Kansas, this week – which is probably about $13 – it doesn't make any difference … I think it's an intelligent film … And a lot of times, outside the big cities in the States, they don't want that."

But his off-the-cuff...

by Jason Lees, MoreHorror.com

First off, I’m a big fan of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic. I have the whole series in trade paperback that my son and I started collecting about four years ago. I’m not cool enough to be able to say that I’ve been reading it from the start, but my love for The Walking Dead pre-dates the AMC television series by a few years.

I’m not saying that to brag, just to set up that when the show debuted last year, it had an uphill battle to win me over. I was one of those fans ready to pick it apart for being too close or too different from Kirkman’s work. Having said that, I’m also on record as being a huge fan of the tv show. Something about it, for me, exists independently from the comic...

There's a reason young people leave their parents in flyover country and head for California. Southern California attracts outdoors types including surfers, swimmers, tanners, and everyone who likes to dress casually and lead the laid-back life enjoyed by Alan Alda's character, Bill Warren, in Herbert Ross's "California Suite." If there are other reasons to go west, they motivate people like the twenty-somethings in Evan Glodell's "Bellflower," a picture not bound by a strict narrative structure or rational, sober people. If Woodrow (Evan Glodell), his best friend Aiden (Tyler Dawson), the nubile blonde Milly (Jessie Wiseman), her best friend Courtney (Rebekah Brandes, and Milly's roommate Mike (Vincent Grashaw) enjoy California, it's not for the weather or even the outdoors but for the drinking. These characters may start with beer and a cigarette when they get up in the morning (that is, if they can get out of bed...

Title: Bellflower Directed By: Evan Glodell Written By: Evan Glodell Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson, Rebekah Brandes, Vincent Grashaw Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 6/30/11 Opens: August 5, 2011 There’s a reason young people leave their parents in flyover country and head for California. Southern California attracts outdoors types including surfers, swimmers, tanners, and everyone who likes to dress casually and lead the laid-back life enjoyed by Alan Alda’s character, Bill Warren, in Herbert Ross’s “California Suite.” If there are other reasons to go west, they motivate people like the twenty-somethings in Evan Glodell’s “Bellflower,” a picture not bound by a strict narrative structure or rational, sober people....

Dante gives us the details of TCM’s June 23rd back-to-back-to-back double-features.

Another week in June means that TCM — possibly the best channel on any cable box anywhere — is back with another Thursday night chock full of monstrous mayhem. This week they’re turning their attention to something near and dear to our very hearts: underwater fiends.

Here’s Joe (and company) with the rundown:

June 23

It Came From Beneath The Sea - The top half of what Bill Warren has called the greatest double bill of the 50s (withCreature with the Atom Brain), this Harryhausen classic benefits from its newsreelish location shooting. Ernest Dickerson appreciates it here.

The Monster That Challenged The World – A surprisingly well produced cheapie with a cool, if immobile, monster by Augie Lohman that takes place on the Salton Sea. It’s a far cry from The Magnificent Ambersons, but a bulky Tim Holt makes...

The undersea explorer currently hunting down Osama bin Laden 's body needs clues to help his search -- and he's starting his investigation ... with the Us Navy sailors who dumped Osama's body. Bill Warren tells TMZ, he has already met with people who know sailors from the USS Carl Vinson -- the same ship that buried Osama at sea last month -- but it's unclear if anything significant has come to light. Warren figures the...

Even in death, Osama bin Laden is the most wanted man on the planet -- at least to one undersea treasure hunter ... who's determined to find out once and for all if Osama is really dead. Treasure-hunting explorer Bill Warren tells TMZ, the purpose of the excursion " is to try  to find out if [Osama] is really dead and to provide to the world the proof that he is ... We do this because we are patriotic...

The Twilight Zone - Season 5 (Blu-Ray) Just released from Sue Procko Public Relations: It’s time to enter the fifth season of the fifth dimension when The Twilight Zone: Season 5 comes to Blu-ray™ on August 30, 2011. All 36 episodes from the groundbreaking sci-fi/fantasy series’ final season are here, remastered and presented in pristine 1080p high-definition and uncompressed Pcm audio. In addition, the 5-disc set includes hours of entertaining bonus features specially created for this Blu-ray™ release, as well as the bonus features from the Definitive Collection DVD release. Srp is $99.98, and pre-book is August 2.

Submitted for your approval, is the wildest and (dare we say) weirdest season of Rod Serling’s iconic series, containing such memorable episodes as "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," "A Kind of a Stopwatch," "Living Doll" and the Oscar® nominated short film "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." This season also rolls out some great guest stars including Bill Mumy,...

While we're still in the midst of Image's stellar release of "The Twilight Zone" Season 4 (look for a review really soon), the first details have surfaced regarding the very last season we all need to complete our set!

That's right, kids! Your next stop? August 30th! That's when "The Twilight Zone" Season 5 will be hitting store shelves. Home to some incredible episodes and stars like Bill Mumy, George Takei, Gladys Cooper, Jack Klugman, and Jackie Cooper, this is the season I've personally been waiting for! Mr. Garrity and the Graves in full 1080p? Joy to the friggin' world!

Dig on the extensive list of supplemental materials and the cover art below!

Special Features

Twenty New Audio Commentaries, featuring "The Twilight Zone Companion" author Marc Scott Zicree, author/film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), Twilight Zone directors Ted Post, Richard Donner and Robert Butler, writer Earl Hamner, actors George Takei and Peter Mark Richman,...

We're almost there, kids! With the release of "The Twilight Zone" Season 4 on Blu-ray, there's just one more to go until the entire series is available in glorious high definition from Image. Read on for what to expect from this package.

From the Press Release

It’s time to enter the fifth dimension once again with The Twilight Zone: Season 4 on Blu-ray™ May 17th, 2011. All 18 episodes from the influential sci-fi/fantasy series’ fourth season are here, remastered and presented in pristine 1080p high-definition and uncompressed Pcm audio. In addition, the 5-disc set includes hours of amazing bonus features, specially created for this Blu-ray™ release, as well as bonus features from the Definitive Collection DVD release.

This season of Rod Serling’s classic series was lengthened to an hour and contains many favorite episodes with great guest stars including Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, Burgess Meredith, Anne Francis, James Whitmore, Burt Reynolds,...

Though we're just a couple of weeks away from the release of Image Entertainment's sure to be stellar box set of "The Twilight Zone" Season Three, there's already a date for the next entry in this must-have collection!

That's right Zoners ... look for Season 4 on May 17th, 2011! Check out a taste of what to expect below, and look for more, including artwork, very soon!

Special Features

13 new audio commentaries, featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author/film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), Twilight Zone writer Earl Hamner, writer William F. Nolan (Logan's Run), author Bill Warren (Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties), writer/producer Jeff Vlaming (NCIS, Fringe, Battlestar Galactica), writer/producer Joseph Dougherty (thirtysomething, Judging Amy, Saving Grace), authors/historians Scott Skelton and Jim Benson (Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour), and writer/producer Jaime Paglia (Eureka). Audio Commentaries:

o...

We all miss our Uncle Forry to death, but thanks to a new book from authors Al Astrella and James Greene, we're going to have a chance to spend a bit more time with him this Halloween season! Hell yes!

From the Press Release

Though Forrest J Ackerman died in 2008, his legacy, like Count Dracula, will never die. “Forry”, as he was called by friends and adoring fans, was recognized worldwide as the leading sci-fi and horror film expert of the 20th Century as well as an author, actor, literary agent, and collector of rare sci-fi and horror books, posters, artwork and movie props.

He was also known for being at the forefront of the science fiction movement in Los Angeles beginning in the 1930's and gained lasting celebrity by bringing together fans of fantasy, sci-fi and horror when he edited the legendary monster magazine “Famous Monsters of Filmland” from 1958 to 1983.

For decades,...

The eighth annual Rondo Hatton Awards have come to pass, and we have all the results for you, including one winner who we're kind of shocked about ... us!

That's right, kids, your love has carried us over once again, and we're both proud and humbled to announce that Dread Central has won the Rondo Award for "Best Website". Honestly? We were honored just to have been nominated. Being up against twenty-nine other quality sites, we never thought we'd win. You guys have no idea how much this means to us as we've always considered the Rondos to be reserved only for the very best in our genre. To be revered as one of "those" for even just a fleeting moment is something we consider to be prestigious in the highest regard.

But make no mistake ... even though technically we are the actual recipients of it, this award belongs very much...

Last month Rue Morgue gave rightful honor on their cover to Daybreakers which changed the vampire scene up a bit. This month looks at the legacy of Paul Naschy and the monster movies he left behind. Check out the classic cover art and be sure to nab this one in stores now....

To visit Rue Morgue and subscribe please click here.

The Creature Incarnate

When Paul Naschy died this past November, he left behind a legacy of monster movies. In an exclusive 2007 interview, the actor, writer, director and producer talks about being the “Lon Chaney of Spain.”

Plus: The essential Naschy filmography, and an interview with his biographer.

by Mirek Lipinski, Shade Rupe and The Gore-met

A Fatal Portrait

After more than 30 years and twenty albums, King Diamond reflects upon a legendary career as horror metal’s reigning showman. All hail!

Plus: A new documentary reveals the true face of Norwegian black metal,...

An American Werewolf In London, that second best of all lycanthropic thrillers, is just emerging on Blu-ray and a new DVD edition today. The best, (super)naturally, remains 1941’s The Wolf Man (with a remake due next February), but 28 years after its 1981 release, American Werewolf is still looking mighty fine.

And I have anecdotes.

Jim Steranko’s Mediascene Prevue, the magazine I worked for at the time, had Already interviewed American Werewolf writer-director John Landis. Steranko had made a trip to La in early 1981 and quizzed him then for issue #46 (the Bo Derek Tarzan cover). We thought we were done with American Werewolf, but then unexpectedly Universal Pictures invited Prevue to a weekend press junket in NYC in August (I think). Steranko decided I should attend. After all, we had already published Prevue’s story, so this might be nothing more than interview experience for me (my first hotel press junket!