Horror Express (1972) / Z-View

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Horror Express (1972)

Director: Eugenio Martín (as Gene Martin)

Screenplay:  Arnaud d’Usseau and Julian Zimet 

Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza and Telly Savalas.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s remake The Thing from Another World and set it on a train in 1906!”

Tagline: A nightmare of terror travelling aboard the Horror Express!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The year is 1906.  An English scientist [Lee] is transporting a frozen prehistoric monster to England by train across the Siberian wasteland.  What could possibly go wrong?

You guessed it.  The monster thaws and turns out to be an alien that can kill and assume the shape of whoever it murders.  Will Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas be able to destroy the creature before it reaches civilization?  Stick around for the eye-popping finale and you’ll know!

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Night of the Living Dead (1990) / Z-View

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Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Director: Tom Savini

Screenplay: George Romero based on The Night of the Living Dead original screenplay by John A. Russo and George Romero 

Stars: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles and Bill Cardille.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s update (and copyright) a remake of ‘Night of the Living Dead’!”

Tagline: There IS a fate worse than death.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Tom Savini takes the helm of an updated version of Night of the Living Dead.  All the key players and set pieces are in place but it’s like watching a historic event from a slightly different timeline.  There are little changes in character but none of them are for the better.

Barbara starts off the same — overcome with shock from the realization that the dead are rising to eat the living, but partway through the movie she is ready to pick up a gun and go Rambo on zombies or humans that tick her off.  Ben is now as much of a hot head as Harry Cooper.

And the zombies aren’t like the zombies we’ve grown used to.  They’re not as scary.  Of course part of THAT problem is that when the ONOTLD was made, the zombie genre was being invented.  We’re almost 50 years from that and zombie expectations are much different. (Only a true horror aficionado would understand that!)  Also being filmed in color doesn’t help either.

The movie was still fun and I think most fans would enjoy the ride.

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The Innocents (1961) / Z-View

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The Innocents (1961)

Director: Jack Clayton

Screenplay: Truman Capote and William Archibald based on the Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw

Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and Megs Jenkins.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie where two children in a remote mansion may be possessed by evil spirits!”

Tagline: A strange new experience in shock.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

In the late 1890’s a rich man hires a nanny, Miss Giddens [Kerr] to move to his remote, deserted mansion run by a few servants to oversee the raising of his nephew and niece.  Shortly after her arrival Miss Giddens begins to believe that the evil spirits of the former nanny and a man are trying to possess the children.

The Innocents is considered a classic by many and is an excellent film.  The black and white photography works wonderfully with the soundtrack to create a suspenseful movie full tension and a couple of legitimate scares.  They don’t make movies like this any more and it is a shame.

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Spook Chasers (1957) / Z-View

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Spook Chasers (1957)

Director: George Blair

Screenplay: Elwood Ullman

Stars: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements and Darlene Fields.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in a haunted house with some crooks!”

Tagline: IT’S A SCREAM!..as they g-g-go ghost-haunting…and they haven’t a g-g-ghost of a chance!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Bowery Boys find themselves in another creepy, old house haunted house with a mad scientist crooks!  Wha- what?

When Mike buys a rural house sight-unseen, the boys go up with him to get it cleaned up.  In the process they discover hidden cash and learn it was a gang of crook’s hideout.  Instead of laying low, they go into town and pay off the mortgage.  Word gets out and that night things start getting spooky with ghosts, monsters, crooks and mobsters all running wild!

If you feel you’ve seen this one before, it’s the same basic plot with minor tweaks that made The Bowery Boys famous.

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11 Things You Didn’t Know About “The Walking Dead”

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Beirut Abu Hdaib and TGN Magazine present 11 Things You Didn’t Know About The Walking Dead.  Here are three of my favorites…

– The main logo keeps changing

The show’s credits have been changing over the years. But did you ever notice what was happening to the main logo? It has been getting darker, grimier and more worn out from one season to the next.

– Carol was supposed to die instead of T-Dog

Producers were growing tired of T-Dog showing up late to shooting and his negative attitude so they decided to axe him. Carol was supposed to be eaten alive by zombies and producers decided that T-Dog would sacrifice himself to save her.

– The show is shot on 16 mm film

The show is being shot using Kodak’s Super 16 mm rather than digitally. Why? Simply because film matches the tone of the show much more than digital does.

The Big Sleep (1946) directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall / Z-View

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The Big Sleep (1946)

Director: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: William Faulkner & Leigh Brackett & Jules Furthman  based on the novel by Raymond Chandler

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Bob Steele and Elisha Cook, Jr.

Tagline: The Violence-Screen’s All-Time Rocker-Shocker!

The Plot…

Private Eye, Phillip Marlowe [Bogart] is hired by a rich old man to stop his daughter Carmen from being blackmailed for gambling debts.  The deeper Marlowe digs into the case the more seedy it becomes.  Soon enough Marlowe is trying to sort out how Carmen is involved not only in gambling, but also pornography, murder and more.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Bogart was married, but his affair with co-star Lauren Bacall was on-going during filming.  They were married three months after filming completed.

In the novel, the scene between Marlowe and the bookstore clerk was much tamer.  Although only 19 years old, Dorothy Malone’s “mature sexuality” caused Howard Hawks to film the scene implying Marlowe and the clerk were going to have sex.

The Big Sleep is a classic.

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Zombie Diaries 2 (2011) / Z-View

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Zombie Diaries 2 (2011)

Director: Michael G. Bartlett, Kevin Gates

Screenplay: Kevin Gates

Stars: Philip Brodie, Alix Wilton Regan and Rob Oldfield

The Pitch: “Zombie movies are profitable and we’ve already made one…let’s do another!”

Tagline: Humanity’s Last Stand!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A zombie outbreak is underway.  The movie is another in the “found film” genre.  A soldier documents the outbreak with a video camera.  People make stupid decisions and are killed.  Zombies are everywhere and you can follow along with the shaky camera, jump cuts and all.  Its like watching a bad home movie with zombies.  Not my cup of joe.

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To Have and Have Not (1944) directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Walter Brennan / Z-View

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To Have and Have Not (1944)

Director: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: Jules Furthman and William Faulkner based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan and Hoagy Carmichael.

Tagline: Humphrey Bogart…with his kind of woman in a powerful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s most daring man-woman story!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Harry Morgan [Bogart] is a US citizen living on the  island of Martinique in 1940.  World War II rages in Europe but is just starting to reach Martinique.  Morgan makes his living taking tourists on his fishing boat.  When a group of freedom fighters approach Morgan about sneaking one of their own to safety using his boat, Morgan turns them down.  It’s not his war and he won’t risk his boat or his neck.

Things change when Morgan meets Marie [Bacall], a young, tough, self-sufficient woman.  One thing leads to another and Morgan finds himself falling for Marie and pulled into alliance with the freedom fighters…

… an alliance that could get them all killed.

Thoughts…

To Have and Have Not was Lauren Bacall’s first film.  She was nervous during filming and discovered keeping her chin down and eyes up helped calm her.  It also gave her the sultry look she became famous for.

Lauren Bacall was just 19 years old during filming.  Humphrey Bogart was 44 and on his third marriage.  Bogie and Bacall fell in love.  He divorced his wife, and in 1945 were married.  The marriage lasted until Bogart’s death in 1955.  To Have and Have Not was the first of four films in which Bogie and Bacall co-starred.

Another hit for Bogart — one of his best. Walter Brennan is perfect as Bogart’s alcoholic friend.

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