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    Frankenstein Must be Destroyed was the next-to-last appearance of Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein.  This movie does have its faults.   Probably the most serious; you have virtually no…

     Horror of Dracula was an eye-opener when it was first released (in 1957).  In his great book of short reviewsThe Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, Michael Weldon calls it…

      There are some movies that bring out a wide range of opinions.  Lots of people really like them.  Lots really hate them.  Plenty of people are scattered in-between….

     Many of us have heard about “cycles of family violence. “  How this violence is likely to pass down from the abused child to their children when that…

    Dead Silence sets its aim high, especially for a recent movie.  The filmmakers clearly wanted to tell an original story, not something re-hashed from bits and pieces of other…

    Dust Devil comes from a long tradition of stories with basic plot elements in common.    They share these things:  Modern, well-educated people find themselves up against something straight out…

   A lot has been written and argued about Halloween.  It generated loads of controversy.  The main reason for the controversy:  Halloween was soon followed by a huge number of “slasher” movies.  It’s hard…

    In the uncertain days of 1968 a new, low-budget independently-made zombie movie was released.  Reviewers (the few who bothered) mostly wrote it off as violent junk.  It was soon…

      After the great success ofHorror of Dracula, Hammer studios wanted badly tomake a sequel.      However, Christopher Lee, so effective as thecount in Horror, refused to…

     After Night of the Living Dead began to make big money, many low-budget filmmakers tried a similar approach.   Small cast, few special effects or none, and a tight story.  But…

     The Revenge of Frankenstein was the second of seven movies that Hammer Studios produced featuring Baron Frankenstein and his many creations.  Six of them starred the remarkable Peter Cushing…

CAUTION–SPOILERS NEAR END      Like so many movies I wrote about, Wendigo sets its sights high.   It refuses to follow commercial formulas.  Not that it succeeds at everything it tries…

  In 1984, a brilliant theater director and playwright made the jump from the stage into movies.  Stuart Gordon was virtually an unknown outside Chicago.  Out of all his choices,…