This Poster is Not Happening
Although I’m looking forward to “The Happening” I’m really not overly thrilled with this poster for it.
Although I’m looking forward to “The Happening” I’m really not overly thrilled with this poster for it.
Category: Movies
Although I’m looking forward to “The Happening” I’m really not overly thrilled with this poster for it.
The Brute Man
I recently watched “The Brute Man” as the second part of the double feature dvd “M is for Madman”. “M is for Madman” is the third in Bill Blacks’ Crypt of Horror series which takes us back to the days when drive-in movies and late night horror hosts were two of the things that made weekends so much fun. “M is for Madman” features “The Man Who Turned to Stone” and “The Brute Man” hosted by Lon Madnight. Lon Madnight is our horror host. He appears before and after each film to provide insightful trivia about the movie to be seen and later leave us with some final thoughts and a chuckle or two. He’s exactly what’s needed in a horror host. The production values on the dvd are top notch. The films are crisp and clear with excellent sound. The movies can be seen without the Lon Madnight openings and closings, but they’re so much fun, who’d want to miss them? Priced at less than twenty bucks for two remastered movies and Lon Midnight — you’d be hard pressed to find a cheaper evening of family fun.
I reviewed “The Man Who Turned to Stone” here, so let’s take a look at “The Brute Man”…
The Pitch: “Frankenstein” meets “The Dark Man” set in the 1940s. A star high school football player is left disfigured by a practical joke and years later comes back for revenge.
The Good: The movie moves at a brisk pace. All of the cliches of the genre can be found here: spinning newspapers with headlines updating us on what we’ve just seen, the blind girl who doesn’t know she’s harboring the killer, a huge disfigured monster who walks the streets at night and easily escapes the cops after each murder… and there’s even some comic relief with the chief of police and city commissioners. And let’s not forget Rondo Hattan.
The Bad: How The Creeper kills his victims – he breaks their backs!
The Ugly: The Creeper.
The Summary: There are a couple of things that will make this a must own dvd for fans of the genre:
1] It was produced by Universal Pictures, so completists will want it for their collection to place along side “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” etc.
2] It stars Rondo Hatton as the monster. Hattan suffered from acromegaly, a disease which caused abnormal growth of his hands, feet, and face. Because of the disfigurement caused by the disease, makeup wasn’t needed for Hattan. Most reports attribute the onset of this disease to Hattan’s exposure to mustard gas in World War I. Hattan is somewhat of a legend among horror buffs and even has a horror award named after him!
Trivia: Janelle Johson had a supporting role in the film. Her biggest claim to fame is probably that she is the mother of Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees!
If you’d like to see a clip of the first three minutes of “The Brute Man” click HERE.
“Hellboy II” Poster a Hit
ComingSoon.net has a Hellboy II poster that I can get behind.
Stoked for QoS
I loved the James Bond reboot, Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as Bond. As I walked out of the theater I was ready, right then, for Craig to do another round as 007. So I was excited when a new Bond film was announced. Then the title and teaser poster were leaked and I was left feeling a bit less excited. IGN.com has posted quite a few pictures from the filming of QoS and I have to admit I’m starting to feel more stoked about it.
“Iron Sky” Trailer [2008]
I hadn’t heard anything about Iron Sky until just a few minutes ago. Looks like a fun concept. I hope that the movie turns out to be as good as the teaser.
Indy Now
There’s no movie coming out this summer that I want to see more than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Check out The Man Who Turned to Stone
Longtime ZONErs know how much I enjoyed watching horror/monster movies as a kid growing up in Indiana… especially those shown by late night horror host Sammy Terry. For years I’ve been saying that someone needs to find a horror host and run a double feature of scary movies late on Saturday night. Although, no major network has stepped up to the plate, my buddy Bill Black has released a series of dvds that fits the bill [as in black].
Last night I watched “M is for Madman” the third in Bill’s Crypt of Horror series. It’s a double feature of “The Man Who Turned to Stone” and “The Brute Man” hosted by Lon Madnight. Madnight [whose name is a play on “London After Midnight” – the lost, silent horror film starring Lon Chaney] maintains the perfect balance of insightful trivia about the movie to be seen and bad puns. He’s just what the doctor [or at least I] ordered. The production values on the dvd are top notch. The films are crisp and clear with excellent sound. The movies can be seen without the Lon Madnight openings and closings, but they’re so much fun, who’d want to miss them? Priced at less than twenty bucks for two remastered movies and Lon Midnight — you’d be hard pressed to find a cheaper evening of family fun.
So let’s take a look at “The Man Who Turned to Stone”…The Pitch: Mad scientists run a woman’s reformatory and drain the “bio-electrical” life force from inmates in order to prolong their unnatural lives.
The Good: The special effects are surprisingly well done for a low-budget film of this era. You’re slowly made to realize that the people in charge of the reformatory aren’t just bad, they’re…
The Bad: This isn’t a classic horror movie — it’s bad in all the right ways. The hero kind of looks like Lee Harvey Oswald.
The Ugly: What happens when Eric doesn’t get enough “bio-electrical” life force.
The Summary: “The Man Who Turned to Stone” isn’t a classic, but it’s better than you’d expect given it’s lack of budget and notoriety. It’s exactly the kind of movie that works when you’re in the mood for an old time horror movie that you haven’t watched a million times. I can’t wait to watch it with friends/family who love scary movies.
Harsh Times = Bad Time
I really, really wanted to like “Harsh Times.” David Ayer directed it. Ayer also wrote it. Okay, you ask, “so who is David Ayer?” He’s the talented writer of such films as “Training Day,” “Dark Blue,” and “The Fast and the Furious” among others. Ayer also directed “Street Kings” which I really enjoyed. So even though “Harsh Times” starred Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, Eva Longoria and Terry Crews [in a small role], it was Ayer who was the major selling point for me.
The Pitch: “Training Day” meets “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” without the comedy and where Ferris is an over-the-edge ex-marine.
The Good: The scene when Bale & Rodriguez attempt to sell a handgun in a Tex-Mex bar. The tension throughout the movie — who’s going to die?
The Bad: There’s a lack of redeeming characters. The movie is dark, dark, dark.
The Ugly: How disappointed I am, that I didn’t like the movie more.
The Summary: “Harsh Times” was too bleak for me. Good director, good cast, but without characters that I could really get behind.
Comics, Movies, and Lon Midnight
This morning I headed over to the the Daytona Beach Comic and Toy Show. My buddy, Steve Myers, runs it and I knew that several other friends were going to be there as well. The plan was we’d all meet up at the show and then some of us would cut out for lunch. It was great seeing Bill and Reb Black, Nick Northey, Tim Gordon, Mark Gmuer, and Chris Hanson. I’d hoped to meet Jerry DeCaire, but he was running late and arrived just as I was leaving. John Beatty and Bella were also running late, and decided to just meet us at Uno’s for lunch. When we left the show there had already been over 100 people through the doors, so it looked to be a success.
Lunch at Uno’s was fun. How could it not be when you’re sharing table time with Bill Black and John Beatty? Bill brought me some dvd’s that I’d been wanting to see from his online movie store. The amount of product that Bill has available [ranging from horror to superhero to tv detectives to…] is amazing. I’m especially looking forward to the horror movies hosted by Lon Midnight! [That’s Lon and me in the photo above. If you’re not sure which of us is the horror host, it’s the guy on the right.]After lunch we all headed in different directions, but all plan to get together at Tim Gordon’s August Show. Maybe we’ll see you there!
“First Blood” Exclusive
On May 15th at 7:30 p.m. at select theaters nationwide, Stallone fans will be able to see a special showing of “First Blood.” Then, following the film, the alternate ending (where Rambo dies) will be shown for the first time ever in theatres. Then to top off this one night event an exclusive, never-before-seen interview with Sylvester Stallone [who will discuss all of the Rambo films] will be screened. – Craig
“The Spirit” Teaser Trailer: Who is Screaming?
Hot on the heels of The Spirit teaser poster is The Spirit teaser trailer. If you’re a Frank Miller or Sin City fan, you’ll probably dig it.
Will Eisner fans not so much.
As for me, I fall more into the first category, but even still, it feels more Dark Knight than Spirit to me.
High Tech Noon [2008]
Right now, THIS may be the coolest thing on the net.
Greatest Fight Scenes Ever
Rotten Tomatoes has posted their picks for the 20 Greatest Fight Scenes Ever. They picked Rocky Balboa vs Apollo Creed as their #1 choice. Can’t say that I disagree.Although I think that they’ve left off some great fight scenes [Emperor of the North: Lee Marvin vs Ernest Borgnine; Hard Times: Charles Bronson vs Robert Tessier; etc], I’ll play along. Using just their choices, here are my top ten:
10. From Russia with Love: Sean Connery vs. Robert Shaw
09. The Karate Kid: Daniel-san vs. Johnny
08. Road House: Patrick Swayze vs. Ben Gazzara’s thugs
07. Charlie’s Angels: The Angels vs. Crispin Glover
06. Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones vs. the big, bald Nazi
05. They Live: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. Keith David
04. The Matrix: Neo vs. Agent Smith
03. Game of Death: Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
02. The Transporter: Jason Statham vs. everybody in the bus depot
01. Rocky: Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed
More Spirit Than Last Time
AICN has scored 
