Written by James M. Tate / 1/28/2025 / No comments / british , cult , horror , neda arneric , peter sykes , rural , seventies , sheila allen , simon brent , spiders
NEDA ARNERIC SPREADS 'VENOM' IN 'THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/28/2025
Neda Americ in VENOM Alternate: THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST Year: 1971 Rating: ***After the grainy, low-budget VENOM aka THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST, British director Peter Sykes landed a job for legendary British horror production Hammer f
Written by James M. Tate / 1/26/2025 / No comments / gerald sim , hammer films , horror , lewis fiander , martine beswick , ralph bates , seventies , susan brodrick , thriller
RALPH BATES & MARTINE BESWICK AS 'DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/26/2025
Martine Beswick in DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE Year: 1971 Rating: ***1/2Seeking a new face during the late 1960's and early 1970's, Ralph Bates was supposed to be Hammer's young resurgence of Christopher Lee and/or Peter Cushing... yet he neve
Written by James M. Tate / 1/25/2025 / No comments / angharad rees , april wilding , body-count , derek godfrey , eric porter , hammer films , horror , jane merrow , katya wyeth , lynda baron , seventies
ERIC PORTER & ANGHARAD REES IN HAMMER'S 'HANDS OF THE RIPPER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/25/2025
Title: HANDS OF THE RIPPER Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2In 1971, Hammer Films managed to get two films centering not really on Jack the Ripper himself, but his legacy: in DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, the Robert Louis Stevenson-based antagonists
Written by James M. Tate / 1/24/2025 / No comments / barbara bel geddes , debra paget , fifties , film noir or melodrama , grace kelly , howard da silva , james warren , jeff corey , jeffrey hunter , john randolph , paul douglas , richard basehart , thriller
RICHARD BASEHART STANDS PAUL DOUGLAS IN 'FOURTEEN HOURS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/24/2025
Richard Basehart in FOURTEEN HOURS Year: 1951 Rating: ****1/2The sparse poster for FOURTEEN HOURS has a rendering of Barbara Bel Geddes' screaming face looking up, surrounded by the hands of a clock, misleading in two aspects: that this int
Written by James M. Tate / 1/23/2025 / No comments / british neo noir , british new wave , caper , dilys watling , george martin , heist , john rutland , sixties , suspense , terence cooper , thriller , warren mitchell , william lucas
WILLIAM LUCAS & JOHN RUTLAND WEATHERING 'CALCULATED RISK'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/23/2025
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2Low-budget thriller has THE BREAK baddie and overall capable British New Wave actor William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK, a hybrid of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as a newly-released older short g
Written by James M. Tate / 1/22/2025 / No comments / british neo noir , crime , david sumner , heist , jan waters , lance comfort , roberta tovey , sixties , william lucas
LANCE COMFORT DIRECTS WILLIAM LUCAS IN 'TOUCH OF DEATH'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/22/2025
William Lucas in Lance Comfort's TOUCH OF DEATH Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2Four years after TOUCH OF DEATH, when British b-movie director directed British tough guy actor William Lucas in THE BREAK, he never reached the boat that would take h
Written by James M. Tate / 1/21/2025 / No comments / anne bancroft , anthony hopkins , british , david lynch , eighties , freddie francis , freddie jones , frederick treves , hannah gordon , history , john geilgud , time period
MEL BROOKS PRESENTS DAVID LYNCH'S ICONIC 'THE ELEPHANT MAN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/21/2025
Anthony Hopkins in David Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN Year: 1980 Rating: ****After the bleak B&W, nightmarishly bizarre ERASERHEAD, otherwise comedy producer Mel Brooks hired offbeat auteur David Lynch to provide 1880's England the same kind of
Written by James M. Tate / 1/20/2025 / No comments / cornelia sharpe , creature , drama , eighties , exploitation , horror , hostage , klaus kinski , nicol williamson , oliver reed , sarah miles , snake , sterling hayden , susan george , suspense , thriller
VILLAINOUS OLIVER REED AND KLAUS KINSKI BITING INTO 'VENOM'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/20/2025
Title: VENOM Year: 1981 Rating: ****In England, a sickly child and his grandfather are overtaken by the help in their family estate: Earlier that day, the boy picked up the wrong snake from a pet shop: And now a deadly Black Mamba slithers
Written by James M. Tate / 1/19/2025 / No comments / action , bettina ciampolini , bobby rhodes , body-count , dario argento , horror , italian , lamberto bava , natasha hovey , nicoletta elmi , urbano barberini , zombie
DARGIO ARGENTO PRESENTS LAMBERTO BAVA'S HORROR 'DEMONS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/19/2025
Title: DEMONS from DEMONI Year: 1985 Rating: ***1/2It's a shame when, after thirty-minutes, when an audience watching a violent slasher-horror picture begin dying inside the theater... practically right alongside the movie playing on the sc
Written by James M. Tate / 1/18/2025 / No comments / adventure , cannon , donna denton , eighties , fantasy , jack palance , michelle clarke , nigel chipps , rebecca ferratti , science-fiction , sequel , urbano barberini
DONNA DENTON & REBECCA FERRATTI SHARING 'OUTLAW OF GOR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/18/2025
Title: OUTLAW OF GOR aka GOR II Year: 1988 Rating: ***Cannon's fantasy exploitation GOR was more obviously leading towards a sequel than even the original STAR WARS... instead of just Darth Vader's tie-fighter flying off into space, there w
OLIVER REED & REBECCA FERRATTI IN THE CANNON FANTASY 'GOR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/18/2025
Oliver Reed in GOR Year: 1987 Rating: ***1/2Beginning with an uptight, otherwise average-looking, spectacle-wearing professor lecturing a university classroom before being thrust into an otherworld adventure, Cannon Films' infamous GOR seem
Written by James M. Tate / 1/16/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , duncan lamont , glyn houston , hammer films , katherine woodville , oliver reed , ronald lewis , sixties , yvonne romain
KATHERINE WOODVILLE & OLIVER REED 'THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/16/2025
Katherine Woodville in THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR Year: 1965 Rating: **1/2With the seven Hammer Films featuring then-rising young star Oliver Reed, sometimes there's a feeling they didn't quite know how great a thing they had... even in his ve
LIZABETH SCOTT AND PAUL HENREID IN HAMMER'S 'STOLEN FACE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/16/2025
Title: Stolen Face Year: 1952 Rating: ***Passive CASABLANCA French actor Paul Henreid's cheated on again, here in Hammer's noirish-drama STOLEN FACE, describing how Henreid, a plastic surgeon, made a badly scarred female career-criminal loo
Written by James M. Tate / 1/15/2025 / No comments / blackmail , british film noir , diana dors , fifties , george brent , hammer films , hammer noir , marguerite chapman , meredith edwards , peter reynolds , terence fisher
TERENCE FISHER DIRECTS DIANA DORS IN HAMMER'S 'MAN BAIT'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/15/2025
Title: MAN BAIT aka THE LAST PAGE Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2Following BAD BLONDE, here's another Hammer British Film Noir dealing with a blonde: in this case, beautiful Diana Dors, where any expression wields not only a full-lipped pout, but
Written by James M. Tate / 1/14/2025 / No comments / charles gray , christopher lee , hammer films , horror , nike arrighi , occult , sixties , terence fisher
CHRISTOPHER LEE STOKING HAMMER'S 'THE DEVIL RIDES OUT'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/14/2025
Christopher Lee & Nike Arrighi in The Devil Rides Out/The Devil's Bride Year: 1968 Rating: **In two of Hammer legend Christopher Lee's favorite Hammer movies, he's a regular fella, not a monster or killer... although in the THE TWO FACES OF
Written by James M. Tate / 1/13/2025 / No comments / carol marsh , christopher lee , dracula , hammer films , horror , janina faye , john van eyssen , melissa stribling , michael gough , peter cushing , terence fisher , valerie gaunt
CHRISTOPHER LEE WITH PETER CUSHING IN 'HORROR OF DRACULA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/13/2025
Valerie Gaunt facing Christopher Lee's poster image for HORROR OF DRACULA/DRACULA Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2While Hammer's groundbreaking horror-remake THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN proved that Frankenstein was a man and not the monster, their f
Written by James M. Tate / 1/12/2025 / No comments / christopher lee , fifties , frankenstein , hammer films , hazel court , horror , peter cushing , robert urquhart , science-fiction , terence fisher , valerie gaunt
PETER CUSHING CREATES HAMMER'S 'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/12/2025
Title: THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN Year: 1957 Rating: ****What Hammer did for FRANKENSTEIN is made people know that, unlike what it seems having grown up with James Whale's otherwise brilliant Universal double-feature, is that that's not the
Written by James M. Tate / 1/11/2025 / No comments / frankenstein , freddie jones , hammer films , peter cushing , simon ward , sixties , terence fisher , veronica carlson
PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/11/2025
Title: FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED Year: 1969 Rating: **Penultimate FRANKENSTEIN film for Hammer's most prolific director Terence Fisher, who made THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN that got the ball rolling a year before their more famous, HORRO
Written by James M. Tate / 1/10/2025 / No comments / barbara shelley , body count , christopher lee , dracula , francis matthews , hammer films , horror , philip latham , sixties , suzan farmer
CHRISTOPHER LEE IN HAMMER'S 'DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/10/2025
Christopher Lee in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS Year: 1966 Rates: ***1/2Opening with a jaundiced-eye view from the climax of the original, HORROR OF DRACULA, another suitable name for DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS would be HAMMER HOTEL since th
Written by James M. Tate / 1/09/2025 / No comments / anthony higgins , christopher lee , dracula , geoffrey keen , hammer , hammer films , horror , isla blair , john carson , linda hayden , madeline smith , peter sallis , ralph bates , roy kinnear , seventies , vampire
CHRISTOPHER LEE & LINDA HAYDEN 'TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/09/2025
Christopher Lee, Linda Hayden & Isla Blair Taste the Blood of Dracula Year: 1970 Rates: ***1/2Foreshadowing GHOST STORY with three older, wealthy, distinguished, sophisticated Victorian Era gentlemen who, with a curious penchant for the mac
Written by James M. Tate / 1/08/2025 / No comments / barbara ewing , barry andrews , christopher lee , dracula , ewan hooper , franchise , freddie francis , hammer films , horror , michael ripper , sixties , veronica carlson
CHRISTPHER LEE VAMPING 'DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/08/2025
Title: DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE Year: 1968 Rating: ***Hammer's DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE came out in 1968, and the studio must have really needed younger viewers to relate with the hero as Barry Andrews looks far from the Vic
Written by James M. Tate / 1/07/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , hammer films , horror , julie ege , karate , peter cushing , seventies , shen chan , szu shih , vampire
PETER CUSHING TRACKS 'THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/07/2025
Title: THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Year: 1973 Rates: ***Director Roy Ward Baker had nothing but complaints about the dank/uncomfortable sets in Hong Kong for what would bring the ENTER THE DRAGON martial arts craze into Hammer's hor
Written by James M. Tate / 1/06/2025 / No comments / andria lawrence , body count , hammer films , horror , ingrid pitt , lesley-anne down , maurice denham , nigel green , nike arrighi , peter jeffrey , sandor elès , susan brodrick
INGRID PITT AS HAMMER'S 'COUNTESS DRACULA' WITH NIGEL GREEN
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/06/2025
Title: COUNTESS DRACULA Year: 1971 Rating: ***1/2Hammer had a new neck-sucker in Ingrid Pitt after her tour-de-force performance in THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, and the title COUNTESS DRACULA refers not to her character or Dracula but a real life co
Written by James M. Tate / 1/05/2025 / No comments / christopher lee , denholm elliott , hammer films , honor blackman , horror , nastassja kinski , occult , richard widmark , seventies , thriller
HAMMER FILMS PENULTIMATE HORROR 'TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/05/2025
Nastassja Kinski in TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER Year: 1976 Rating: **Penultimate horror for one of the most famous horror studios, British's Hammer Films, has a young girl, schooled by nuns and dressed accordingly, being surreptitiously groomed
Written by James M. Tate / 1/02/2025 / No comments / body-count , christopher lee , dracula , franchise , freddie jones , hammer films , joanna lumley , michael coles , peter cushing , thriller , vampire , william franklyn
CUSHING/LEE RETURN IN HAMMER'S 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/02/2025
Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing in THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2Hammer's THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA shouldn't be considered Christopher Lee's seventh Dracula but his 2nd... after DRACULA A. D. 1972, which brought
Written by James M. Tate / 1/01/2025 / No comments / caroline munro , christopher lee , christopher neame , dracula , exploitation , hammer films , janet key , marsha a. hunt , michael coles , peter cushing , pip miller , seventies , stephanie beacham , vampire
HAMMER'S SWINGING LONDON COMEBACK OF 'DRACULA A.D. 1972'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/01/2025
Peter Cushing scolds Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 Rating: ****1/2A year after Hammer's progressively-sexual Karstein Trilogy, thrusting the classic vampire-horror into the counter-culture sensibilities while remaining in their sig
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TED KOTCHEFF DIRECTS SYLVESTER STALLONE IN 'FIRST BLOOD'
Title: FIRST BLOOD Year: 1982 Rating: ****1/2 When rural sheriff Brian Dennehy drives ragged drifter Sylvester Stallone from one side of a o...
