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. …
8:45pm — Yeah, hi. Maintenance? This is Paul Gneiss. That’s G as in golf, N-E-I-S-S. I’m in building 408, apartment 103. Uh, so I know it’s after hours, but uh… I saw this number posted on the office door and didn’t know who else to call. I don’t think that it’s a maintenance emergency exactly, …
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 …
Fear is a big part of childhood for a lot of reasons. For one thing, you’re physically small at that age, so your surroundings naturally seem more imposing. Beyond that, you lack knowledge of how the world around you truly works, so you have more difficulty distinguishing between what’s real and what’s imaginary. That weird …
For decades now, horror filmmakers have been warning audiences that the inanimate objects around us may just come to life someday and try to kill us. Common items we see every day — our vehicles, our household appliances, even our food — it’s all coming to get us eventually, so we’d better be ready. This …
