Doctor X (1932) / Z-View

Posted on by

Doctor X (1932)

Director: Michael Curtiz

Screenplay: Robert Tasker & Earl Baldwin based on a play by  Howard Warren Comstock & Allen C. Miller

Stars: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy

The Pitch: “How about a horror-comedy set in a creepy mansion?”

Tagline: “Mightier than words can describe!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A sadistic cannibalistic murderer known as The Moon Killer has been busy earning his name.  When the trail leads to Dr. X [Atwill], the cops give him 48 hours to figure which of the scientists working at creepy mansion is the killer.  Wisecracking reporter Lee Taylor [Tracy] sneaks into the mansion and is soon part of the story.

Dr. X is one of the few films shot in two-strip Technicolor which registers colors in only shades of red and green. [Check out Nitrate Diva’s review to learn more about the process and Dr. X.]  This process along with the sets really give the film a unique feel and adds to the atmosphere.

If you like your horror with a bit of comedy, hidden rooms, panels that open to reveal eyes watching or hands reaching to strangle, then Dr. X is for you!

Rating:

Blood Ties (2013) / Z-View

Posted on by

Blood Ties (2013)

Director: Guillaume Canet

Screenplay: Guillaume Canet & James Gray 

Stars: Clive Owen, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup,  Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, James Caan and Noah Emmerich.

The Pitch: “How about a gritty crime movie set in the 70’s — one brother’s a cop and the other is an ex-con?”

Tagline: “Crime runs in the family.”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Chris (Owen) is a recently released ex-con who’d been in for murder.  Frank (Crudup), his brother is a New York City detective who places his job on the line to help Chris make a new start.

Chris gives it a go, but soon enough circumstances have him involved in crimes that will place him at odds with his brother (who has another man out to kill him).

An excellent cast in a gritty crime story set in the 1970’s.  What’s not to like?

Rating:

Ace Atkins & Marco Finnegan: Last Fair Deal Gone Down Interview!

Posted on by

Ace Atkins [writer] and Marco Finnegan [artist] the team behind the graphic novel Last Fair Deal Gone Down recently were interviewed by Alex Dueben for The Beat.

Last Fair Deal Gone Down…

It’s Christmas in New Orleans. For many, it’s the best season of the year. But instead of spending time with the people he cares about, Nick Travers is searching for the killer of his friend, Fats, one of the best saxophone players you could find in the Crescent City. At first it appears that Fats took his own life, but Nick quickly discovers that the saxophone is missing from Fats’ apartment and he hits the streets to track it down. He soon learns that there is more to the story than a simple suicide, and the woman who Fats had been paying to keep him company may hold the answers.

Last Fair Deal Gone Down will be the first in a series of Nick Travers graphic novel adaptations from 12-Gauge Comics― introducing the character and his stories to a brand new audience.

New Posters for AMC’s “Preacher”

Posted on by

Preacher on AMC is one of the strangest shows I’ve ever watched and I am totally diggin’ it.

Having never read the comic series (created by writer, Garth Ennis and artist, Steve Dillon) on which the show is based I didn’t know what to expect.

It sure wasn’t a small town preacher (who used to be a criminal) accidentally infused with a supernatural power.  And who would have guessed that the Preacher’s girlfriend (who was also his crime partner) would show up or that he would become best friends with a vampire (unlike any ever seen)?  Then of course, there’s the Saint of Killers, a gunfighter from the old west, recently returned to Earth from hell…

I’m going to keep my eye out for the comic series.

In the mean time, you might want to check out these Preacher promotional posters created by Steve Dillon & Matt Hollingsworth, Glenn Farbry, Mike & Laura Allred, Dustin Nguyen, David Mack, Erica Henderson, Steve Ellis (shown above) Neal Adams & Tim Shinn and Mike Del Mundo.

Source: XombieDirge.

Cloverfield (2008) / Z-View

Posted on by

Cloverfield (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves

Screenplay: Drew Goddard

Stars:  Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan and Theo Rossi.

The Pitch: “Blair Witch in the City with Monsters!”

Tagline: “Some Thing Has Found Us”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

An explosion in the city that isn’t too far away interrupts a going-away party.  When the guests go outside to investigate it becomes clear that there are monsters in the city.  Five friends from the party join together in an effort to survive.

I first saw Cloverfield in a theater in 2008.  As my review here shows I left the theater disappointed.  I hated the shaky camera work and the fact that you never got a clear view of the monster(s).

I recently watched Cloverfield at home.  I liked it much better.  The shaky camera work didn’t bother me as much and the smaller screen made the monster’s appearances clearer.  It also didn’t seem to take as long to get to the action.  I’m revising me rating to…

Rating:

Preview of Moonshine by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

Posted on by

Moonshine by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso the creative team behind the award-winning series 100 Bullets is…

Set during Prohibition, and deep in the backwoods of Appalachia, MOONSHINE #1 tells the story of Lou Pirlo, a city-slick “torpedo” sent from New York City to negotiate a deal with the best moonshiner in West Virginia, one Hiram Holt. What Lou doesn’t figure on is that Holt is just as cunning and ruthless as any NYC crime boss. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he’ll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret…a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day… or better still, the light of the full moon. MOONSHINE #1 marks the first time AZZARELLO and RISSO have worked together for Image Comics and reunites the Eisner Award winning creative team that defined modern crime comics with 100 Bullets… and now puts a horror-twist on a classic gangster tale.

Moonshine is for mature audiences due to violence and language.  If you meet those qualifications, CBR.com has a five page preview of things to come.

11 Fab Facts About The Beatles’ Revolver

Posted on by

Jeff Merron and Mental_Floss present 11 Fab Facts About The Beatles’ Revolver.  Here are three of my favorites…

7. IT WAS ALMOST TITLED ABRACADABRA.
All four Beatles liked that name, wrote Barry Miles in his Paul McCartney bio, Many Years From Now. Also considered: Four Sides of the Circle and Fat Man. Ringo, noting that the Rolling Stones had just come out with Aftermath, suggested After Geography. They finally settled on Revolver, because an album spins, man.

8. WITHOUT REVOLVER, THERE’D BE NO “BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY.”
Up until the spring of 1966, The Beatles had used a fairly conventional studio technique to make vocals sound richer: double tracking, in which the lead singer would simply record his vocals twice onto different tape tracks. But John Lennon hated doing this. So to accommodate him, EMI engineer Ken Townsend invented “automatic double tracking,” which allowed one performance to be recorded on two tape machines—with one delayed by about 100 milliseconds, automatically creating a nice, thick sound.

11. THEY NEVER PLAYED ANY PART OF THE ALBUM LIVE.
The Beatles were near the end of their touring days, but not quite. They began a 14-city North America circuit in Chicago on August 12, just four days after Revolver’s U.S. release. But they didn’t feel it was possible to reproduce the album’s technically sophisticated, studio-crafted songs on stage. The most recently recorded track that audiences heard was “Paperback Writer,” the number one hit single they had released on May 30, 1966. The Beatles’ last concert was on August 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. But nobody outside the band knew it at the time.

The Lineup (1958) / Z-View

Posted on by

The Lineup (1958)

Director: Don Siegal

Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant

Stars: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel.

The Pitch: “Hey, if it works on tv…?”

Tagline: “The Manhunt They Had To Put on the Giant-Sized Movie Theatre Screen!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A criminal organization gets heroin into the US by hiding it in tourists’ luggage (without the tourists’ knowlege).  A psycho hitman and his partner then retrieve the heroin (by whatever force needed).

Two police detectives investigating a murder discover what is going on.  As the bodies pile up they learn that a woman and her little daughter are next on the psycho’s list!

I was expecting a lot more than a by-the-numbers police procedural from director, Don [Dirty Harry] Siegal, writer and Sterling [Route 66] Silliphant.  There’s a lot of potential here but only Eli Wallach rises above the material given. 

Perhaps my rating is a bit tough because I was expecting so much more.

 

Rating:

A First Look at the Training Day TV Series!

Posted on by

I’m a huge fan of the original Training Day movie and I think the Training Day series has a lot of potential.

Based on the hit feature film, this crime thriller begins 15 years later when an idealistic young police officer is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD and he is partnered with a seasoned yet morally ambiguous detective. Starring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell, Training Day. Coming soon to CBS.

Captive Wild Woman (1943) / Z-View

Posted on by

Captive Wild Woman (1943)

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Screenplay: Griffin Jay and Henry Sucher

Stars: John Carradine, Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, Martha Vickers and Paula Dupree.

The Pitch: “Hey, isn’t about time for another turn a gorilla into a pretty woman movie?”

Tagline: “STRANGEST OF SIGHTS… The brain of an animal… the form of a woman!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

An insane scientist [Carradine] develops a transfusion that will turn a gorilla into a beautiful woman named Aquanetta [Dupree] but the process kills the human giving the transfusion.

While visiting the circus it is discovered that Aquanetta has a mysterious power over the animals.  Soon she is part of the act.  All goes well until Aquanetta becomes jealous and begins reverting back to gorilla form…

It was fun seeing the male lead, Fred Mason played by Milburn [Doc on Gunsmoke] Stone.

Rating: