Despite their ubiquity in popular culture, the fairy tales collected by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s have not lost their ability to shock and unnerve readers over the course of two centuries. While these stories have been considerably softened over the years, especially as interpreted by the Walt Disney Company …
Goddamn, what is wrong with me? It’s been over a month since I posted anything to this site. I have all this free time. Shouldn’t the words just be pouring out of me by now? Well, the sad truth is that I’ve simply been out of ideas. Out of inspiration. Out of gas. I’m used …
There was a time when the sun did not set on the VHS empire. Even in a smallish town like the one where I grew up in the 1980s — Flushing, MI, population hovering around 8,000 — there were a few stores that rented VHS tapes. My folks let me get Jason and the Argonauts …
“Make it new” was the dictum of poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972). And it’s a nice thought, really, but let’s face facts. Making something altogether new is a lot of work. And, besides, why bother making it new when there’s plenty of good old stuff you can recycle? Even Ezra may have borrowed his own slogan …
So… Pretty crappy week, huh? We’re all social-distancing now. Can’t go anywhere. Can’t do anything. Everything’s canceled or closed down. No concerts. No parties. No shows. You can’t even high-five strangers on the street anymore. These are lonely, anxious times. We miss getting together with friends and relatives the way we used to. But maybe …
Edward D. Wood, Jr., the hard-drinking, cross-dressing auteur behind the notorious low-budget films Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Glen or Glenda (1953), died at the age of 54 in December 1978, after which his productivity declined significantly. It was his first significant work stoppage since the late 1940s. …
In the pantheon of movie brats, there are few who can compare to Rhoda Penmark, the pint-sized predator of Mervyn LeRoy’s The Bad Seed (1956). With her braided pig tails, impeccable manners, and immaculate clothes, Rhoda seems like every parent’s dream. But make no mistake, this young lady has killed before — her victims including …
You may have heard that Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories is coming back with its first new episodes since the Reagan administration. The ’80s anthology series will return on March 6, 2020 on the Apple TV+ platform. Hopes are high, as you might expect. Before the show resurfaces, though, it might be worthwhile to examine how …
A Couple of Weeks Ago I Was Down the Internet Rabbit Hole I was looking at various lists of horror movies based around holidays, as one does at 7am on a Sunday. As I expected to find, there’s several based on or around big holidays like Halloween and Christmas and the rest of the holidays …
Do you remember this movie? I think Valentine pretty much disappeared within a few years of its release, but I did find some fans out there while researching on the web. I remember when I saw it in theaters. February 16th, 2001, with a large group of my friends. Weekly movie theater night was a …
