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Its surprising just how many cult-favorite horror movies were significantly influenced by earlier films and, when it really comes down to it, were totally unoriginal. While this may seem like a point of criticism, paying homage to horror movies of the past or filmmakers wearing their influences on their sleeve was never a bad thing, and just because a movie was derivative does not mean its bad. In fact, many of the biggest cult hits took premises already explored in other movies and expanded upon them to create something even better.

Some of the best cult horror movies owe a lot to classic films of times past, as actors, directors, and writers have shamelessly ripped off well-worn tropes and clichs to create great B-movie favorites, satirical commentaries, or just plain laugh-out-loud hilarious horror comedies. As a genre known to repeat itself, its almost impossible to make a slasher movie these...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Scanners Shirt from Rucking Fotten

Scanners may not be David Cronenberg’s best film on the whole, but its head explosion scene has become the most recognizable moment in his cannon. Rucking Fotten has immortalized it with a mind-blowing all-over print tee.

It’s up for pre-order for $54.99 through Sunday, June 16, as part of the Cronenberg collection alongside other apparel from Scanners, Videodrome, and The Fly. They’ll ship in 6-8 weeks.

Robot Monster Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment

Robot Monster will be released on Blu-ray on July 25 via Bayview Entertainment. It has been newly restored in 4K from 35mm 3D archival elements with frame sequential Blu-ray 3D, anaglyphic 3D (with a pair of glasses included), and standard 2D versions.

Wow, a ‘new’ Sam Peckinpah western! While we await the rumored Blu-ray of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to surface (or was Alex Cox misinformed?), correspondent Darren Gross has come across a watchable web encoding of a Peckinpah TV drama that seems to be more or less ‘lost.’ Good star performances and intense characterizations prove once again that Peckinpah could deliver superior dramatics. The home video companies should do some investigating — there’s a market out there for this one.

The Lady Is My Wife

TV episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater

CineSavant Revival Screening Review

1967 / Color / 1:33 TV / 47 min. / first Aired February 1, 1967 / Not on Home Video

Starring: Jean Simmons, Bradford Dillman, Alex Cord, Begoña Palacios, L.Q. Jones, Roberto Contreras, Alan Baxter, Jim Boles, Billy M. Greene, E.J. André, Billy M. Greene.

Cinematography: Dale Deverman

Art Director: Lloyd S. Papez

Costumes: Kay Hayden

Film Editor: Edward Biery...

It’s a hot soap from ’65, when movies promised raging passion but delivered cheap teases and hypocritical judgments. It’s Suzanne Pleshette’s only starring role, but it doesn’t exploit her bright personality, her sense of humor. John O’Hara’s tale hasn’t much pity for a promiscuous young wife who breaks the rules. Does nymphomania make her a social menace, or is she victimized by a script determined to put the blame on Mame? Costarring Ben Gazzara, Bradford Dillman and Peter Graves.

A Rage to Live

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 197

1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date December 28, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / aud 34.98

Starring: Suzanne Pleshette, Bradford Dillman, Ben Gazzara, Peter Graves, Bethel Leslie, Carmen Mathews, Linden Chiles, James Gregory, Ruth White, Mark Goddard, Sarah Marshall, George Furth, Virginia Christine, Aneta Corsaut, Frank Maxwell, Almira Sessions.

Cinematography: Charles Lawton Jr.

Costume Designer: Howard Shoup

Art Director: James Sullivan

Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore...

Lee Marvin, Vera Miles and Bradford Dillman shine a military courtroom drama, a TV movie released as a theatrical feature five years later. It’s small-scale but effective, with strong performances and a reasonably credible storyline. Marvin’s Ryker is on trial for his life, with the entire U.S. Army convinced that he’s a traitor. Attorney Bradford Dillman stumbles in his defense — other officers catch him consorting with Ryker’s wife. It’s a treat for Lee Marvin fans, provided they don’t expect the action epic depicted on the posters.

Sergeant Ryker

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date January 10, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Lee Marvin, Bradford Dillman, Peter Graves, Vera Miles, Lloyd Nolan, Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell, Walter Brooke, Charles Aidman.

Cinematography: Walter Strenge

Production Designer:

Art Director: John J. Lloyd

Film Editor: Robert B. Warwick

Original Music: John Williams

Written by Seelef Lester,...

J. Lee Thompson's 1972 sci-fi film "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" was the fourth in the "Apes" series, although it would come to be the fulcrum point on which all future sequels would pivot. In Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 original "Planet of the Apes," a team of astronauts would crash land on an unknown planet after accidentally traveling into the distant, distant future. There, they would find that human beings are now mute and unintelligent and that apes -- chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans -- have become the walking, talking masters of the planet. The film's famous twist ending established exactly how a planet of apes came to be, and it shall remain hidden here on the off chance a reader is unfamiliar with it.

Although the mystery of an ape planet was solved, future "Apes" sequels would lay things out more explicitly. "Beneath the Planet of the Apes,...

Officially announced this morning, Joe Dante‘s Piranha is getting a 4K Ultra HD upgrade from Scream Factory, with the 1978 aquatic horror movie releasing on November 1, 2022.

You can pre-order the standard 4K Uhd release or a special Collector’s Edition set from Scream Factory, which also includes a limited edition poster and five hard enamel pins.

Bonus Features include…

Disc One (4K Uhd):

New 2022 Restoration Of The 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative Audio Commentary With Executive Producer Roger Corman Audio Commentary With Director Joe Dante And Producer Jon Davison

Disc Two (Blu-ray):

New 2022 Restoration Of The 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative Audio Commentary With Roger Corman Audio Commentary With Joe Dante And Jon Davison “The Making Of Piranha – Interviews With Roger Corman, Joe Dante And Actors Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski And More … Behind-The-Scenes Footage Bloopers And Outtakes Still Galleries Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery Featuring Photos...

Like most hardcore horror fans, Guillermo del Toro loves a good anthology series. From "The Twilight Zone" to "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," which del Toro produced, the notion of getting a completely different tale of terror each week is too tantalizing to resist. So genre fans should be giddily anticipating the October 25, 2022, Netflix premiere of "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities," which boasts eight episodes of spine-tingling fright from some of the most talented horror directors working today.

In the newly released teaser, del Toro promises, "Each of the episodes has a whole world." Though he is presenting the series, he has given all eight directors free rein to tell their stories on their own creative terms. Perhaps the most exciting element of the series is its focus on the construction of "beautiful, practical creatures." In an industry where CG dominates, it's an absolute joy to hear...

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Cinema Retro continues covering films that are not currently available on home video in the U.S. or U.K.

By Brian Hannan

"Sanctuary" is an overheated melodrama that stands as a classic example of Hollywood’s offensive attitudes to women. Nobel prize-winning author William Faulkner could hardly blame the movies for sensationalising his misogynistic source material since, if anything, the movie took a softer line. The story is told primarily in flashback as headstrong southern belle Temple Drake (Lee Remick) attempts to mitigate the death sentence passed on her maid Nancy (Odetta). Given that such appeals are directed at Drake’s Governor father (Howard St John), and that the maid has been condemned for murdering Drake’s infant child, that’s a whole lot of story to swallow.

Worse is to follow. Drake takes up with Prohibition bootlegger Candy Man (Yves Montand...

Director Sidney J. Furie discusses his favorite films he’s watched and re-watched during quarantine with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Dr. Blood’s Coffin (1961)

The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Appaloosa (1966)

The Naked Runner (1967)

Lady Sings The Blues (1972)

The Entity (1982) – Luca Gaudagnino’s trailer commentary

The Boys in Company C (1978)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The Apartment (1960) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

A Place In The Sun (1951) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Out Of Africa (1985)

The Last Picture Show (1971) – Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Annie Hall (1977)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Tender Bar...

Don Taylor directed this third film in the original Apes series and screenwriter Paul Dehn concocted the imaginative storyline. Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter return as simian sweethearts Cornelius and Zira who survive the earth’s destruction but are thrown back in time to 1973—all the better to score satirical points about the Me Decade and celebrity culture. The humans are well-represented by Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalbán and the supporting cast is peppered with familiar genre actors including Harry Lauter and Jason Evers from The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.

The post Escape from the Planet of the Apes appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Retro-active: The Best From The Cinema Retro Archives

Review – Naked City: The Complete Series

Rlj Entertainment / 6,063 minutes

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Naked City was like no other TV series before or since – Michel Moriarty, star of Law and Order, once told this reviewer.

Inspired by Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of the NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals and New York City itself often played as prominent a role in the dramas as the series regulars. Like the film it was based on, Naked City (1958- 1963) was shot almost entirely on location. The first season ran as a half-hour show under the title The Naked City, starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon—the same roles essayed by Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald in the film.

The Naked City also starred Harry Bellaver as Det.

Versatile actor had worked in Hollywood since childhood, and was Oscar nominated for his role in 1988 comedy Married to the Mob

A life in pictures: Dean Stockwell

Dean Stockwell, the former child star who became a key figure in the Hollywood counter-culture and enjoyed late success in popular TV shows, has died aged 85. According to Deadline, his family said he died at home “of natural causes”.

Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Stockwell had become a major name while still in high school, starring in the anti-racism parable The Boy With Green Hair in 1948 and alongside Errol Flynn in the 1950 adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. However, Stockwell found the transition to adulthood difficult and after dropping out of university he re-established his film career with a lead role in Compulsion, the 1959 crime film based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case, for which he won a best actor award at...

Fear No Evil / Ritual of Evil

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1969, 1970 / 196 Min. / 1:33.1

Starring Louis Jourdan, Wilfred Hyde-White, Bradford Dillman

Cinematography by Andrew J. McIntyre, Lionel Lindon

Directed by Paul Wendkos, Robert Day

Just as she hops into bed with Charles Aznavour in Shoot the Piano Player, Michèle Mercier exclaims, “Television is a cinema that you can see at home.” Et voilà—from Michèle’s lips to Studio City’s ear, Hollywood responded with a new kind of home entertainment, movies made exclusively for TV. The first examples of this awkward hybrid began to appear in the mid-sixties, but it wasn’t the first time the small-screen tried to expand its horizons; CBS beat movie studios to the punch with Playhouse 90‘s original productions of The Miracle Worker in 1957 and Judgment at Nuremberg in 1959. And there was the occasional holiday treat like NBC’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin starring Van Johnson...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***Above: Darrly F. Zanuck.Garson Kanin once wrote a script for Twentieth Century-Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck intended to show a single character, a girl, living three different lives, branching out in separate paths depending on which of three couples adopted her as a child. A novel alternate-universe idea, perhaps ahead of its time for the fifties. To Kanin's dismay, however, Zanuck ruled that because he didn't have one big star who could carry a picture, he would cast three different starlets, one for each timeline. Kanin declared that this was the exact way to ruin the movie."Jesus Christ," responded Zanuck, "I thought you were different. But you're not.

“Pipe Dreams”

By Raymond Benson

Back in 1973, producer Ely Landau and his wife Edie launched a daring and unprecedented cinema series that played in the U.S. for two “seasons,” with a total of fourteen titles (but only thirteen were shown), all renowned works—classic and modern—originally produced on the stage. It was called the American Film Theatre. (A review of a DVD box set of the entire series appeared on Cinema Retro previously. Click here to read.)

The concept tried something different. The directive was to take a great stage play, not change a word, and in most cases, use the actual play script as the screenplay. The next step was to hire an accomplished film director to interpret the text for the film medium but stay faithful to the play. Sometimes the director was the same person who helmed the original stage production. A further step was...

Our 75th guest! The legendary filmmaker John Sayles joins Josh and Joe to explore some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ulzana’s Raid (1972)

Django (1966)

The Birth Of A Nation (1915)

City Of Hope (1991)

Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)

The Challenge (1982)

Avalanche (1978)

Eight Men Out (1988)

Piranha (1978)

The Howling (1981)

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

The Killers (1964)

The King And I (1956)

Time Without Pity (1957)

The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)

Ben-Hur (1957)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Two Women (1960)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Spartacus (1960)

Fixed Bayonets! (1951)

The Steel Helmet (1951)

Merrill’s Marauders (1962)

Targets (1968)

Touch Of Evil (1958)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Woodstock (1970)

Crime In The Streets (1956)

The Bad Seed (1956)

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Fedora (1978)

Dune (1984)

The Cotton Club (1984)

Choose Me (1984)

Raising Arizona (1987)

El Norte (1983)

Yellow Sky (1948)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Irishman (2019)

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)

The Thing (1982)

Chinatown (1974)

Manhattan (1979)

Duck Amuck (1953)

Goodfellas (1990)

Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)

Cockfighter (1974)

Dynamite Women a.k.a. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase...

There may not be a ton of titles headed home this week, but we still have some fantastic releases to look forward to on Tuesday nonetheless. In anticipation of its sequel headed to theaters on March 20th, Paramount has teamed up with Mondo for a stunning new 4K SteelBook release of A Quiet Place, and for those of you who enjoy cult horror that is sure to creep up under your skin, Scream Factory is showing both Inseminoid and Bug (1975) some love with the Blu-ray treatment.

Other releases for March 10th include Little Joe, Luz, Ghost Killers vs Bloody Mary, The Assent, Don’t Speak, Exit 0, and The Alpha Test.

Bug (1975)

Legendary horror writer/producer/director William Castle presents a creeping, crawling film nightmare that will have you screaming and squirming with fright! A massive earth tremor opens a crevasse in the California desert, releasing a plague of bizarre, fiery,...

How can a ‘Z’ horror production so completely absorb the thoughts of this ex- film student? This maladroit 1963 monster mash can’t even tell when it’s doing something good. A capable cast gives their all to a marginal production that, re-titled as The Atomic Brain, became a staple on late-nite TV, where it worked better than a sleeping pill. For extras, the quality disc production taps the one mortal willing to research this film’s murky depths: who else but Tom Weaver, whose original interview research actually makes sense of this screwy picture. Well, a little sense, at least.

Monstrosity

Blu-ray

Moth, Inc / Something Weird

1963 / Color / 1:85 widescreen + 1:33 open matte full frame / 65 min. / The Atomic Brain / Street Date 2018, 2019? / 24.99

Starring: Erika Peters, Judy Bamber, Marjorie Eaton, Frank Gerstle, Frank Fowler, Lisa Lang, Margie Fisco.

Cinematography: Alfred Taylor

Film Editor: Owen C. Gladden

Makeup: Lou Yates

Electrical effects: Kenneth Strickfaden...

In addition to releasing new Blu-rays in December for horror fans to put under their trees and place in their stockings hung with care, Scream Factory is also giving the gift of announcing Blu-rays for viewers to look forward to in the new year, including the Snoop Dogg-starring Bones, 1981's Inseminoid, and Bug (1975).

Special features for the new Blu-rays of Bones, Inseminoid, and Bug have yet to be announced, but all three releases are slated to come out in March of 2020, and we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed. In the meantime, we have the official announcements and cover art below:

Bones Blu-ray: "We’re unleashing the “Dogg” today with the news that that the 2001 horror tale (staring rapper Snoop Dogg) Bones is coming to Blu-ray on March 31st!

The time is 1979. Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg) is respected and loved as the neighborhood protector.

Piranha

Blu ray

Shout! Factory

1978/ 1.85:1 / 92 min.

Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy

Cinematography by Jamie Anderson

Directed by Joe Dante

In 1968 Joe Dante and Jon Davison teamed up to make The Movie Orgy, a counter-culture take on 1941’s comic blitzkrieg, Hellzapoppin’. Running two hours longer than Ben-Hur, the Dante/Davison opus was an epic mash up of monster movies, kids’ shows, A-Bomb tests and toothpaste commercials – the cinematic equivalent of a Will Elder cartoon.

If it had an agenda, it was pure fun – a seven-hour blow out aimed at altered college kids weened on Mad Magazine and Famous Monsters. These days Bigfoot makes more appearances than The Movie Orgy but when one of those infrequent screenings materializes audiences are galvanized by the onslaught – and surprised by what was hiding in plain sight all the time – the supposedly buttoned-down Eisenhower era was not just deeply subversive but more than a little weird.

The fish in Joe Dante's Piranha don't just nibble your toes, they bite them off, and with the 1978 horror film out now on a limited edition Steelbook Blu-ray from Scream Factory (including a new audio commentary with legendary producer Roger Corman), we've been provided with three copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers!

---------

Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) limited edition Steelbook Blu-ray copy of Piranha.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Piranha Steelbook Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on June 18th.

The fish in Joe Dante's Piranha don't just nibble your toes... they bite them off! If you're looking to enjoy a real scream this June in between your summertime swims, then you'll be pleased to know that Scream Factory will release 1978's Piranha on a limited edition Steelbook with a "4K scan of the original camera negative" and a new audio commentary with the legendary Roger Corman.

From Scream Factory: "Joe Dante's killer fish favorite is now officially a “Scream Factory”-branded title as we present it in a new Blu-ray Steelbook® packaging! Swimming its way this Summer (naturally). Read on for more details:

• Official street date is June 11th for U.S. and Canada territories (Region A).

• We are preparing a new 4K scan of the film from the original negative and have recorded a brand new audio commentary with Executive Producer Roger Corman! All bonus features from...

Season 12 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will premiere next week, and it looks like it’s going to be a good one. This season is being called The Gauntlet and will have Jonah and friends binge-watching six films that just look like treasures. Here’s the list of great bad films for the upcoming season along with their synopsis:

Mac and Me

A young extraterrestrial, separated from his family and stranded on Earth, finds friendship with a handicapped youth.

Atlantic Rim

When giant monsters attack cities on the East Coast, three soldiers pilot giant robots to stop the attacks.

Lords of the Deep

An alien life-form visits the commander (Bradford Dillman) and crew of a corporate research submarine.

The Day Time Ended

Aliens visit the solar-powered house of a middle-class family, and the house is suddenly sucked into a time warp that transports it back to prehistoric times.

Killer Fish...

It’s time to celebrate the Irwin Allen disaster epics for what they are — huge, indigestible spectacles that first seem funny and then congeal into a cinematic badness that words cannot describe. This sprawling ordeal tortures good actors and shatters every limit of audience patience. I alone have survived to tell thee. Is a fair review even possible?

The Swarm

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1978 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 156 116 min. /Extended Edition / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, José Ferrer, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, Cameron Mitchell, Christian Juttner, Alejandro Rey.

Cinematography: Fred J. Koenekamp

Film Editor: Harold F. Kress

Visual Effects: L.B. Abbott

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by Stirling Silliphant, from the novel by Arthur Herzog

Produced and Directed by Irwin Allen

“I never dreamed that it would...

The special “In Memoriam” segment on the 2018 Emmy Awards ceremony was tearful as beloved television legends Steven Bochco, Anthony Bourdain, Robert Guillaume, Monty Hall, John Mahoney, Jim Nabors, Charlotte Rae, Burt Reynolds, Neil Simon and Craig Zadan were part of the annual tribute.

SEEEmmy winners 2018: Full list of winners and nominees at the 70th Emmy Awards

But who was missing from the memoriam this time? Some of those surprising omissions included:

Marty Allen (actor/comedian)

Peter Baldwin (director)

Brent Briscoe (actor)

Dushon Monique Brown (actor)

Frank Buxton (writer/director)

Joseph Campanella (actor)

Olivia Cole (actor)

Vic Damone (actor/singer)

Bradford Dillman (actor)

Roy Dotrice (actor)

John Dunsworth (actor)

Harlan Ellison (writer)

Nanette Fabray (actor)

Dominic Frontiere (composer)

Michael Gershman (cinematographer)

Billy Graham (host)

Vanessa Greene (producer)

Doug Grindstaff (sound editor)

John Hillerman (actor)

Rance Howard (actor)

Tab Hunter (actor)

Earle Hyman (actor)

Anne Jeffreys (actor)

Margot Kidder (actor)

Louise Latham...

The special “In Memoriam” segment on the 2018 Emmy Awards ceremony will be especially tearful this year. Beloved television legends Steven Bochco, Anthony Bourdain, Robert Guillaume, Monty Hall, John Mahoney, Jim Nabors, Charlotte Rae, Burt Reynolds, Neil Simon and Craig Zadan will certainly be just a few people honored with in a musical tribute.

Let’s take a look back at these TV icons as well as over 50 others who have died since mid-September last year. Many will be included in the memoriam for the live Emmys ceremony hosted by Michael Che and Colin Jost for NBC on September 17.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2018: In Memoriam Gallery

Bochco died on April 1 at age 74. The 10-time Emmy winner was the creator of such TV classics as “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.” He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bourdain died in France on June...

When I was a wee one, we used to live right behind a valley that skirted our town. In the summer my friends and I would be out after dark running around the neighborhood, on one condition: we had to take tennis rackets with us. Why you ask? Well, because of the bats, you see; swooping around the street lights with the occasional dive towards an unsuspecting victim, we were forever on the lookout for the winged mammals. Now, we never had to try out our serves; but I’ve always been leery of the buggers (even at the movies) and the interesting sci-fi/horror hybrid Chosen Survivors (1974) does not change my opinion one little bit.

Released by Columbia Pictures in late May and made for under a million, Chosen Survivors did not set the box office on fire nor endear itself to critics at the time, referring to it...

Prolific film and TV actor who gave a chilling performance in the 1959 film Compulsion and was often cast as a villain

In his engagingly casual 1997 autobiography, Are You Anybody?, the actor Bradford Dillman, who has died aged 87, took a self-deprecatory view of his own career in particular and of acting in general – a profession he considered just below that of used-car salesman in the American social order. About his prolific work in cinema and television, he was sanguine, having settled for what he called “the Safeway solution” – a willingness to accept any role in order to put food on the family table.

On stage Dillman had achieved early success as Edmund in the 1956 Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. This lauded production starred Fredric March as the father and Jason Robards as the alcoholic brother Jamie. Although Robards received greater acclaim in the juicier role,...

Sunday’s telecast of the Screen Actors Guild will feature a special In Memoriam segment devoted to many of the actors and actresses who have died since last year’s ceremony in late January. Sure to be among those saluted include Oscar winner Martin Landau, comedy legend Jerry Lewis, and beloved film and TV star Bill Paxton. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for this past year of 2017 and the newly-started gallery for 2018.

Over 100 people in SAG/AFTRA have passed away in the past 12 months. Which of the following 60 names will also be featured in the televised tribute?

SEE2018 SAG Awards TV predictions: Complete racetrack odds in all 9 categories

Richard Anderson (actor)

Chuck Barris (host/executive)

Shelley Berman (actor)

Chuck Berry (singer/actor)

Joseph Bologna (actor)

Powers Boothe (actor)

Brent Briscoe (actor)

Glen Campbell (singer/actor)

Bernie Casey (actor)

David Cassidy (actor/singer)

Mike Connors (actor)

Danielle Darrieux (actor...

Actor Bradford Dillman, who starred as Edmund in the original Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and had an impressive film and TV career, died on January 16 in Santa Barbara, CA. He was 87 and suffered complications from pneumonia, according to Ted Gekis of Gekis-Ribera personal management. Dillman was also known as the co-star with Dean Stockwell in the 1959 crime drama Compulsion, where he played killer Arthur A. Straus, a role…...

Actor Bradford Dillman, who starred as Edmund in the original Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and had an impressive film and TV career, died on January 16 in Santa Barbara, CA. He was 87 and suffered complications from pneumonia, according to Ted Gekis of Gekis-Ribera personal management. Dillman was also known as the co-star with Dean Stockwell in the 1959 crime drama Compulsion, where he played killer Arthur A. Straus, a role…...

Bradford Dillman, who starred with Dean Stockwell in the taut 1959 crime drama Compulsion and portrayed Edmund in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, has died. He was 87.

Dillman died Tuesday in Santa Barbara due to complications from pneumonia, family spokesman Ted Gekis announced.

The lanky, dark-haired Dillman also played Robert Redford's best friend J.J. in The Way We Were (1973), and his daughter Pamela said that it was this movie that "perfectly captured the essence" of her father, particularly during the scene on a boat when the actors reminisce about their lives and best moments.

Dillman...

Sometimes you almost think they don’t want you to watch. I’m not sure a more generic title could be conjured up than Revenge! (1971), an ABC TV movie that sounds like it should sit next to nacho chips and beer on the discount supermarket shelf. But, of course, it’s the ingredients that count, and with a stellar cast and a taut script by Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano, Revenge! has enough flavor to entertain the more discerning palette.

Originally airing on November 6th, this ABC Movie of the Weekend was up against NBC’s Saturday Night at the Movies and CBS’s Mary Tyler Moore Show / The New Dick Van Dyke Show, but won out again. Revenge! may be a generic title, but ABC’s brand is strong.

Open your faux TV Guide to page 32 for all the saucy details:

Revenge! (Saturday, 8:30pm, ABC)

A crazed woman believes...

Known as the King of the Gimmicks, producer/director William Castle will surely be remembered for such B staples as House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (also ’59) and 13 Ghosts (1960), cheap but fun pictures with added pleasure for the moviegoer by the use of ingenious devices such as Emergo, Percepto, and Illusion-o. It’s only fitting that he ended his career as co-writer/producer of Jeannot Szwarc’s Bug (1975), a nature gone amok flick that becomes a Weird-o halfway through to detail a descent into madness.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures in June, Bug didn’t make much of a dent in the summer box office, bringing in a little over $3.6 million and infuriating critics. Richard Eder of The New York Times called it “sick, and literally sickening.” Some people just can’t handle arson prone killer cockroaches, I guess. Never mind them, because the rest of us get to revel in...

What’s the best true-story WW2 combat film for pure-grit, no-nonsense tanks ‘n’ bombs ‘n’ crazy mayhem action on a giant scale? This non-stop battle epic gets my vote. George Segal and Ben Gazzara’s infantry dogs are suitably tough, cynical and desperate, especially when they’re repeatedly sent into danger. The history is fairly accurate — there was indeed a race to seize the last bridge across the River Rhine.

The Bridge at Remagen

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Peter Van Eyck, Hans Christian Blech, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, G&uunl;nter Meisner.

Cinematography: Stanley Cortez

Film Editors: William Cartwright, Harry Knapp, Marshall Neilan Jr.

Original Music: Elmer Bernstein

Written by Richard Yates, William Roberts, Roger Hirson

Produced by David L. Wolper

Directed by John Guillermin

Who...

Homage in film can be a tricky proposition. Hew too close to the original, and you’re just making copies with no new toner; veer too far away and folks will wonder why you bothered. Joe Dante’s Piranha (1978) is that perfect beast then - a Jaws “rip-off” that bows to its source while winking at the audience, and yet still manages to be a wholly separate, wildly entertaining ride.

Released by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in North America in early August (capitalizing on Jaws’ still undulating waves), Piranha was that rare New World phenomenon: It made some good coin ($16 million worldwide against a $600,000 budget) And was well received by critics. Steven Spielberg himself was so won over by Dante’s take and talent that it led to collaborations on Twilight Zone: The Movie, Gremlins, and other projects. Piranha proves that you can hug someone, slap a “Kick Me” sign on their back,...

Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Edmund Goulding, W. Somerset Maughan, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Raymond Burr, Charles Walters, DeWitt Bodeen, and Harriet Parsons. (One assumes that it's a mere coincidence that gay rumor subjects Cary Grant and Tyrone Power are also featured.) Night and Day (1946), which could also be considered part of TCM's homage to birthday girl Alexis Smith, who would have turned 96 today, is a Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant as a posh, heterosexualized version of Porter. As the warning goes, any similaries to real-life people and/or events found in Night and Day are a mere coincidence. The same goes for Words and Music (1948), a highly fictionalized version of the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical partnership.

Ryan Lambie Jun 2, 2017

Inspired by James Cameron's The Abyss, the late 80s brought with it a wave of brilliantly cheesy undersea horrors, Ryan writes...

Hollywood studios occasionally have an uncanny knack of announcing almost identical film projects at the same time. In the 1980s, we had rival police dog movies K-9 and Turner And Hooch. The 90s saw the release of rival eruption movies (Dante's Peak and Volcano), opposing killer space rock pictures (Deep Impact and Armageddon) and duelling insect comedies (Antz and A Bug's Life). We provided a detailed run-down on these rival movies back in 2015.

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Around the year 1989, meanwhile, film producers briefly fell in love with a curiously specific genre: undersea sci-fi horror. Between January 1989 and the spring of 1990, no fewer than five films all came out with a similar theme - DeepStar Six was first, followed by Leviathan, Lords Of The Deep,...

Jacqueline Bisset’s in a heck of a fix. Her hubby Alan Alda has been seduced by promises of fame and fortune from creepy concert genius Curt Jurgens, and is responding to weird overtures from Curt’s daughter Barbara Parkins. The pianist’s mansion is stuffed with occult books, and he displays an unhealthy interest in Alda’s piano-ready hands. Do you think the innocent young couple could be in a diabolical tight spot? Nah, nothing to worry about here.

The Mephisto Waltz

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Brad(ford) Dillman, William Windom, Kathleen Widdoes, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Curt Lowens, Kiegh Diegh, Berry Kroeger, Walter Brooke, Frank Campanella.

Cinematography: William W. Spencer

Film Editor: Richard Brockway

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by Ben Maddow from a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart

Produced...

This classy Fox production was considered the epitome of sick film subject matter in the pre- Psycho year of 1959, the true story of jazz-age thrill killers Leopold & Loeb. Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman are the nihilistic child murderers; Orson Welles stops the show with his portrayal of Clarence Darrow, going under a different name.

Compulsion

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date March 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Diane Varsi, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Richard Anderson, Robert F. Simon, Edward Binns, Gavid McLeod, Russ Bender, Peter Brocco.

Cinematography: William C. Mellor

Film Editor: William Reynolds

Original Music: Lionel Newman

Written by Richard Murphy from a novel by Meyer Levin

Produced by Richard D. Zanuck

Directed by Richard Fleischer

Movies about serial killers and psychos with exotic agendas were much different before Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which hit America in 1960 like a thrown brick.

Next month, Netflix has a wide variety of films — modern to classic, animated to live action, Oscar winners to romantic comedies — and we’ve picked seven that you should watch once they’re made available on the streaming service. Enjoy.

Read More: 7 Films New to Netflix to Watch In November 2016, Including ‘Boyhood’ and ‘The Jungle Book’

1. “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (available December 1)

John Landis’ 1978 classic college comedy follows the rowdy Delta Tau Chi fraternity’s battle to remain on campus after they provoked the ire of the conniving Dean of the college. Features John Belushi in his most anarchic performance, toga parties, and sing-a-longs to “Louie Louie” and “Shout!”

2. “Waking Life” (available December 1)

Richard Linklater’s 2001 film “Waking Life” examines a bevy of philosophical issues — the nature of dreams, the limitations of consciousness and the meaning of life — in a surreal, rotoscoped dreamscape that demands the viewer’s mind to take flight.

By Dawn Dabell

A subject which seems to rear its head more and more in today’s society is paedophilia. It feels like every other week brings with it some story of a TV star, singer, film star or MP who has preyed upon young and vulnerable victims for their sexual gratification. That’s not counting the number of domestic cases or the growing problem of online abuse and degradation against minors. Thankfully the culprits are in a minority, but such stories - when they break - send ripples of shame and outrage throughout the journalistic world.

Film-makers have been tackling this most difficult of subjects for longer than people realise. One example is Hammer’s Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960), which was largely dismissed by critics when released, but is actually a very well-executed attempt which highlights the horrors of child molestation. If nothing else, it is worth...

Don Kaye May 21, 2019

How Escape from the Planet of the Apes continued the series and created a saga.

It was 46 years ago that 20th Century Fox released the third film in the original Planet of the Apes cycle, titled Escape from the Planet of the Apes. The fact that a second sequel was even produced, following 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, was something of a miracle: after all, in an effort to end the franchise after just two films, Beneath’s finale offered nothing less that the destruction of Earth itself. But with Beneath an unqualified success at the box office -- $19 million in earnings against a $4.6 million budget -- screenwriter Paul Dehn was famously sent a terse telegram that simply said, “Apes exist. Sequel required.”

What Dehn did was nothing short of brilliant, finding a way to not only extend the story but make it a self-perpetuating...

When nuclear war threatens to obliterate life on Earth, an eclectic group of people are taken below the surface to preserve the human race. Things get complicated when they realize their shelter is under siege by bats… very hungry bats. An underground showdown ensues in 1974’s Chosen Survivors, which Kino Lorber will release on Blu-ray this October.

From Kino Lorber: “Coming October 4th on Blu-ray!

Chosen Survivors (1974) Starring Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord, Richard Jaeckel, Bradford Dillman, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Diana Muldaur, Lincoln Kilpatrick and Barbara Babcock – Directed by Sutton Roley.”

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): “A group of diverse individuals are suddenly taken from their homes and flown via helicopter to a futuristic bomb shelter in the desert, nearly two miles below the surface of the Earth. There they learn that a nuclear holocaust is taking place and that they’ve been “chosen” by computer to survive in the...

Michael Caine young. Michael Caine movies: From Irwin Allen bombs to Woody Allen classic It's hard to believe that Michael Caine has been around making movies for nearly six decades. No wonder he's had time to appear – in roles big and small and tiny – in more than 120 films, ranging from unwatchable stuff like the Sylvester Stallone soccer flick Victory and Michael Ritchie's adventure flick The Island to Brian G. Hutton's X, Y and Zee, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth (a duel of wits and acting styles with Laurence Olivier), and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men. (See TCM's Michael Caine movie schedule further below.) Throughout his long, long career, Caine has played heroes and villains and everything in between. Sometimes, in his worst vehicles, he has floundered along with everybody else. At other times, he was the best element in otherwise disappointing fare, e.g., Philip Kaufman's Quills.

Robert Redford: 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Way We Were' tonight on Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month Robert Redford returns this evening with three more films: two Sydney Pollack-directed efforts, Out of Africa and The Way We Were, and Jack Clayton's film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby. (See TCM's Robert Redford film schedule below. See also: "On TCM: Robert Redford Movies.") 'The Great Gatsby': Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby Released by Paramount Pictures, the 1974 film version of The Great Gatsby had prestige oozing from just about every cinematic pore. The film was based on what some consider the greatest American novel ever written. Francis Ford Coppola, whose directing credits included the blockbuster The Godfather, and who, that same year, was responsible for both The Godfather Part II and The Conversation, penned the adaptation. Multiple Tony winner David Merrick (Becket,...

Robert Redford: 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Way We Were' tonight on Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month Robert Redford returns this evening with three more films: two Sydney Pollack-directed efforts, Out of Africa and The Way We Were, and Jack Clayton's film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby. (See TCM's Robert Redford film schedule below. See also: "On TCM: Robert Redford Movies.") 'Out of Africa' Out of Africa (1985) is an unusual Robert Redford star vehicle in that the film's actual lead isn't Redford, but Meryl Streep -- at the time seen as sort of a Bette Davis-Alec Guinness mix: like Davis, Streep received a whole bunch of Academy Award nominations within the span of a few years: from 1978-1985, she was shortlisted for no less than six movies.* Like Guinness, Streep could transform...

Reviewed by Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com

Piranha (1995)

Written by: Richard Robinson (story), John Sayles (original script)

Produced by: Roger Corman

Directed by: Scott P. Levy

Cast: William Katt (Paul Grogan), Alexandria Paul (Maggie McNamara), Monte Markham (J. R. Randolph), Mila Kunis (Susie Grogan), James Karen (Governor), Leland Orser (Terry Wechsler)

In this day of remakes and re-imaginings, this little anomaly would be anything but unusual. However in 1995, this was a strange curiosity, that was brought into existence for no particular reason that I know of. It was a made as TV movie for the Sci Fi Channel (Yep, that’s the old school spelling back in ’95) when it was still trying to find its niche. Then only three years old, the Sci Fi Channel was more than likely showing reruns of cult favorite tv shows, and had not tapped into the fertile ground of the nouveau B movie that it is now famous for.

Pope Movies (photo: Anthony Quinn in ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’) [See previous post: "Pope Francis Movie in the Works?"] Now, do we need another Pope Movie? Well, actually there haven’t been that many. Most notable among the Pope Movies of decades past are Michael Anderson’s widely lambasted The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), with Anthony Quinn as what one pundit called "Zorba the Pope," and Nanni Moretti’s widely acclaimed comedy-drama We Have a Pope, with Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who reluctantly is elected chief of the Catholic Church. Here are a few more: Rex Harrison hammed it up as Pope Julius II to Charlton Heston’s equally risible Michelangelo in Carol Reed’s The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965); Liv Ullmann played the title role in Michael Anderson’s critically massacred Pope Joan (1972), about the alleged medieval female pope; and Finlay Currie reverentially incarnated the official first pope, St. Peter, in Mervyn LeRoy’s dreary (and...