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As the creator of Hellboy and artist of the half-demon hero's many adventures into darkness, Mike Mignola is comics' foremost expert on monsters. Hellboy is an agent of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) and has vanquished every type of monster under the full moon, from vampires to werewolves to dragons to his demonic kin. "Hellboy" comics range from simple short stories to pulp epics as good as any blockbuster movie; you don't get the modern reinvention of "Creature Commandos" without the B.P.R.D.

But what is Mignola's own favorite monster movie? Despite also being the creator of Hellboy's amphibian sidekick Abe Sapien, it's not "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" and its underwater horror Gill-man.

It's James Whale's "Bride of Frankenstein" and Mignola isn't alone; "Bride" often ranks as the best...

Boris Karloff is one of the most iconic names in horror history, having put his talents to use in some of the greatest early entries in the genre. Getting his start as a background actor in the silent films of the late 20s and early 30s, Karloff rose to fame thanks to his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the hit 1931 film Frankenstein. His gaunt features and lanky frame went on to become a classic image in the early Universal monster movies of the 40s and 50s.

Between Frankenstein's monster and the Mummy, Boris Karloff was well-known for his roles as the titular villain of various creature features. However, he was also quite an accomplished dramatic actor in some less overtly supernatural horror fare, successfully transitioning from acting in silent movies to speaking roles. While his dulcet tones became famous in the narration of the holiday classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas,...

Corman is in a bare room with no clear idea how he got there.

He’s facing down a group of hostile men in black suits and sunglasses.

They behave like police, but have shown no badges, or offered their names to Corman.

They have an intense interest in Corman’s creative habits.

That character in his comic book?

Where did he get the idea for it?

Who is he aiming that rifle at?

Corman says it’s a product of his imagination, but they’re not satisfied.

The Plot is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller that evokes the paranoid novels of Philip K. Dick with the visual punch of Matt Kindt’s comics.

The Plot is the graphic novel Ed Snowden called, “The greatest conspiracy ever.”

Features

The Plot is a horror comic book that uses as source material conspiracy theories, with films like The Manchurian Candidate, The Parallax View,...

Most horror-obsessed movie fans can tell you about the first time a film truly frightened them. For some, it involved sneaking into a dark movie theater and checking out an "R" rated horror story they weren't technically old enough to watch yet. Others might have stayed up late, waiting for everyone in their family to fall asleep, only to turn on the TV when no one was watching to check out something they'd been expressly told not to. And then there are those of us who find themselves terrified while watching a movie no one ever expected would be frightening.

As a child, Stephen King experienced that latter phenomenon firsthand. It wasn't The Body Snatcher, The Phantom of the Opera, or even The Wolf Man that terrified King's imagination and set him on course to becoming one of the world's most prolific horror creators. Instead, a classic children's movie enthralled,...

It’s been almost 70 years since the first of four film adaptations of Jack Finney’s 1954 novel The Body Snatchers was released and in that time we’ve yet to meet a single one of these so-called “snatchers.” I suppose that’s the point, since if they have to snatch a body, they don’t have bodies. This plays directly into the way the story, in its various adaptations, serves as a metaphorical horse to be hitched to any topical cart, the non-corporeal snatchers (presumably extra-terrestrial) view us as all-purpose vehicles for their…what? Bodies, minds, or souls? Don Siegel’s 1956 film, still considered to be the quintessential version of the story (though Philip Kaufman and Abel Ferrara’s remakes aren’t exactly chopped liver), actually conceals the answer behind budget compromises and plot holes: They are us, or we could be, if we don’t watch out.

Through the...

Cinema is a storytelling medium that’s constantly evolving and it’s truly remarkable how much movies have changed since the 1940s, especially when it comes to particular genres like horror. Horror remains one of cinema’s most versatile genres that examines the universal feeling of fear and suspense. Modern horror movies can be dense in gore or psychologically troubling. However, the ability to get away with more and push boundaries doesn’t always result in a stronger horror movie.

Horror movies from the 1940s are close to a century old and can come across as quite tame by contemporary standards. That being said, 1940s horror can still be incredibly creepy and some of the decade’s contributions can confidently hold their own with most modern movies.

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein Release Date: June 15, 1948

10 Best Movies From The 1950s

For a horror film that celebrates one of cinema's most famous comedic duos,...

One of the unique aspects of the horror films produced by Val Lewton at Rko in the 1940s is the seriousness with which they discuss matters of mental illness. Even today, mental health issues are often tiptoed around, but in the forties, they were practically taboo. As discussed in previous entries in this column, Cat People (1942) is largely about repression and The Body Snatcher (1945) deals with guilt, paranoia, and psychopathy. The Seventh Victim (1943), one of the lesser-seen entries in the Lewton cycle, is about loneliness, the depression that stems from it, and suicidal ideation. It externalizes the inner struggles between the light and darkness that use the mind as a battlefield and demand a choice between life and death. Because of the unflinching way The Seventh Victim approaches the subject of suicide, this should be a considered a content warning for the discussion to come later. But first, some background on the film itself.

If painful obscurity and conspicuous ambiguity are modern art-house horror’s dooming curses, I’m happy to report that Bomani Story’s directorial debut couldn’t be more bereft of these follies. Subtlety of themes and their crucial accord with the events gladly take a backseat as The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster floods the screen with terror that inarguably will hit too close to home. It wages a humbling war on behalf of all those people from the Black community who’ve had their names intentionally mispronounced and their very existence villainized just for the abominable hell of it. Handing the hangman’s rope to the formidable heroine and placing her in a loving yet unimaginably tumultuous terrarium of sorts, the film doesn’t just point you to the wrongs of the wrongdoers but looks them straight in the eyes as it does so.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis:...

By Hank Reineke

A March 1945 notice in the Los Angeles Times reported that following his return to Hollywood from a Uso camp tour, Boris Karloff was to begin work on a Rko Radio production titled Chamber of Horrors. The film was to be produced by Val Lewton, the producer who had already brought to the screen such psychological-horrors as Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Curse of the Cat People (1944). Karloff had already appeared in a pair of Lewton’s horror-melodramas for Rko, The Body Snatcher (1945) and Isle of the Dead (1945). The actor had been enjoying his freelance status of late. Recent castings in a series of mad scientist films (1940-1942) for Columbia solidified Karloff’s reputation as cinema’s preeminent boogeyman - even in roles sans grotesque makeup appliances. So the engagement of the actor for Chamber of Horrors was properly trumpeted in a 1945 Variety notice as...

Something almost beyond comprehension is happening on October 31st… and two men want to do a couple of podcast episodes about it. This is the Halloween Parade… volume 1.

Please help support the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Click here, and be sure to indicate The Movies That Made Me in the note section so Josh can finally achieve his dream of showing Mandy to his wife!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary

Wait Until Dark (1967) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The House On Skull Mountain (1974)

King In The Wilderness (2018)

Sugar Hill (1974)

World War Z (2013)

I Walked With A Zombie (1943)

White Zombie (1932) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Night of the Living Dead (1968) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Blacula (1972)

Blackenstein (1973)

The Flesh And The Fiends (1960) – Charlie Largent’s two reviews

Road Rebels (1964)

Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

Perks Of Being A...

(L-r) Boris Karloff with fellow horror star Vincent Price, in a publicity photo. Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster is a documentary about the career and life of Karloff. Courtesy of Abramarama and Shout Studios

Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster is a gloriously enjoyable retrospective of the legendary actor, who is forever tied to the horror genre and the monster role of Frankenstein’s monster, which first brought him fame. The film, directed by Thomas Hamilton, is thoroughly enjoyable but, despite its subtitle, it is less a personal biography than a review of this career, with an emphasis on how his work influenced future filmmakers and the horror genre. Karloff fans and serious film history buffs will find little that was not already known about the man but it is a wonderful introduction and retrospective on Boris Karloff.

If ever there was an iconic Hollywood figure who deserves a biopic,...

With April lurking right around the corner once again, that means we're close to the halfway point to another All Hallows' Eve, and Shudder is celebrating in style with their largest slate of programming to date, including the return of Samuel Zimmerman's “Halfway to Halloween” Hotline, the season 2 premiere of Creepshow, the 2021 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, In Search of Darkness: Part II, and a bunch of other new additions!

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder this April, and be sure to visit Shudder's website to learn more about the streaming service and their scary good lineup!

Press Release: New York – March 4, 2021 – April showers bring a packed lineup of new horror films and series to Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, for its annual ‘Halfway to Halloween Month.’ With April marking the halfway point to Halloween,...

A new documentary about “Frankenstein” actor Boris Karloff is in the works.

Voltage Films is currently in production on the feature documentary “Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster.” Co-produced and co-written by Ron MacCloskey and Thomas Hamilton with Hamilton directing and Tracy Jenkins producing, the film offers a fascinating portrait of Karloff, examining his illustrious 60-year career in the entertainment industry and his enduring legacy as one of the icons of 20th century popular culture.

The film follows on from the acclaimed 2010 biography “Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster,” written by Karloff’s official biographer Stephen Jacobs, who serves as the film’s historical consultant.

MacCloskey dedicated 23 years to the project, travelling the world to conduct extensive research. Since 2018, the team has filmed 50 interviews in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and London. Contributors include Peter Bogdanovich, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Plummer, John Landis, Roger Corman and Kevin Brownlow.

The...

Our Halloween episode! The legendary actor and star of Shudder’s The Mortuary Collection talks about his favorite horror movies from his childhood.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Mortuary Collection (2020), now streaming on Shudder!

Nightmare Cinema (2019)

We Come In Pieces: The Rebirth of the Horror Anthology Film (2014)

Bad Boys (1983)

Gentle Giant (1967)

Gone In 60 Seconds (1974)

The Green Slime (1969)

Battle Royale (2000)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963)

The Professionals (1966)

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)

Ultraman (1967)

Batman (1966)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Horror of Dracula (1958)

The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Psycho (1960)

Jack The Ripper (1959)

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1974)

Count Dracula (1977)

Son of Dracula (1943)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

The Haunting (1963)

The Haunting (1999)

The Others (2001)

The Babysitter Murders (2015)

Halloween (1978)

Frankenstein (1931)

King Kong (1933)

Scanners (1981)

Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The Bride (1985)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

The Love Bug (1968)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Son of Kong (1933)

The Road Back (1937)

Crimson Peak...

I don’t know about you, but this writer is more than ready to start looking forward to the Halloween season. And one of the staples of my own ongoing cinematic celebration every year is checking out all the wonderful classic horror movies that Turner Classic Movies airs on their channel. And considering the mess that 2020 has been over the last several months, I thought this year it might be helpful to also include all the genre films that will be playing on TCM throughout the month of September, as it’s never too early to get ready for Halloween.

Check out all the great classic horror movies playing on the small screen over the next two months on TCM, and be sure to set those DVRs so you don’t miss any of the classic films that are sure to get you into the Halloween spirit this year.

Thursday,...

July’s home entertainment releases are ending on a high note this week, as we have tons of great horror and sci-fi titles coming our way this Tuesday. Scream Factory is keeping busy with a handful of Blu-rays on their docket this week, including Quatermass and the Pit, Quatermass 2, The Leopard Man, Lust for a Vampire, and a Steelbook edition of Humanoids from the Deep.

Roxanne Benjamin’s feature film debut, Body at Brighton Rock, is also being released this Tuesday on various formats, and Vinegar Syndrome is resurrecting both Hellmaster and Play Dead as well. And, if you happened to miss it in theaters, Deon Taylor’s The Intruder is set to invade your home media shelves this week as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for July 30th include What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hotel Inferno and The Reptile.

Body at Brighton Rock

Wendy, a part-time...

After directing Cat People (1942), Jacques Tourneur introduced moviegoers to The Leopard Man, and more than 75 years after its initial release, Scream Factory is bringing the serial killer horror film to Blu-ray for the first time on July 16th, and we've been provided with the cover art and full list of special features:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Scream Factory proudly presents the 40s horror cult classic The Leopard Man in its Blu-ray debut July 30, 2019. The release comes complete with special features including new audio commentary and a brand new 4k scan of the original nitrate camera negative.

From legendary horror film producer Val Lewton and from Jacques Tourneur, the director of the original Cat People, The Leopard Man is one of the first American films to attempt a remotely realistic portrayal of a serial killer.

Is it man, beast or both behind a string of savage maulings and murders? An...

Not that there’s been a bad week of home entertainment releases this year, but March 26th is looking to be one of our finest days of 2019 so far, with Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary adaptation leading the pack as it gets the 4K treatment on Tuesday. Vinegar Syndrome is keeping themselves incredibly busy this week, too, as they have four different cult titles on tap for horror fans to add to their Blu-ray collections: The Children, The Suckling, Dominique, and In the Cold of the Night.

Also this week, Scream Factory is showing some love to The Body Snatcher, which features Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff teaming up with Val Lewton, as well as Warning Sign, and for those of you who dig creature features with a side of creepy-crawliness, Kingdom of the Spiders comes home as well.

Other releases for March 26th include Aquaman, Midnight, Texas: Season Two,...

This bona fide classic may be, as Gregory Mank says, the best American horror picture of the 1940s. The teaming of Boris Karloff and Henry Daniell is sensational. Producer Val Lewton gives the players career-best characterizations and dialogue, and director Robert Wise adds tension and chills. Bela Lugosi is in for a supporting part. Icing on the grave-robbing cake is a new 4K scan from the original negative — we can forget the dull and dark prints seen in the past.

The Body Snatcher

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / 29.99

Starring: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi, Russell Wade, Edith Atwater, Rita Corday, Haryn Moffett, Donna Lee.

Cinematography: Robert deGrasse

Film Editor: J.R. Whittredge

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by Philip McDonald, Carlos Keith

Produced by Val Lewton

Directed by Robert Wise

Here’s a picture that we never expected to see in such good condition…...

Scream Factory Presents The Body Snatcher Debuts On Blu-ray™ March 26Th, 2019 “The Body Snatcher is one of Lewton’s greatest works and contains what is arguably Karloff’s finest performance.” – TV Guide.com Los Angeles, CA – A literary classic becomes a horror classic when given the Val Lewton touch. Scream Factory proudly presents The Body …

The post ‘The Body Snatcher’ Debuts on Blu-Ray March 26th from Scream Factory appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

Starring Boris Karloff and Bela Legosi (and based on Robert Louis Stevenson's story of the same name), The Body Snatcher is coming to Blu-ray on March 26th from Scream Factory, and we've been provided with the full list of special features for the anticipated release.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – A literary classic becomes a horror classic when given the Val Lewton touch. Scream Factory proudly presents The Body Snatcher for the first time on Blu-ray on March 26, 2019, featuring a new 4k scan of the original camera negative and new featurette. Fans can preorder the film now at shoutfactory.com.

The two titans of horror Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula) come together in their last on-screen pairing in The Body Snatcher.

Horror icon Boris Karloff plays the title role in the Lewton adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's fictional short story The Body Snatcher, directed with subtle calculation by versatile Robert Wise.

Following their recent announcement of five new titles for 2019, Scream Factory's Blu-ray reveals for the new year continue with the announcement that they will release 1945's The Body Snatcher on Blu-ray on March 26th.

From Scream Factory: "Horror legends Boris Karloff, Bela Legosi and Val Lewton teamed up in 1945 to shock audiences with The Body Snatcher. And we have it arriving on Blu-ray next year on March 26th!

Screen icon Boris Karloff plays the title role in the Val Lewton adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher, directed with subtle calculation by versatile Robert Wise. A doctor needs cadavers for medical studies and Karloff is willing to provide them ... one way or another. The film also features a wonderful supporting performance by fellow horror icon Bela Lugosi.

Extras are in progress and will be announced on a later date.

Pre-order The Body Snatcher now @ https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-body-snatcher…...

(Aotn) Turner Classic Movies is bringing the horror next month. Starting on October 1st the channel will be bringing back movies such as the original Cat People and Dracula. Fan’s of classic movies will surely not want to miss this.

If you have ever wanted to know where the band White Zombie got there name be sure to tune in on Halloween morning at 8:30 Am. The Universal Monster’s are sprinkled throughout this marathon and will hopefully delight old school horror fans.

Complete Schedule Below:

Sunday October 1, 2017

8:00 Pm Dracula (1931) 9:30 Pm Dracula’s Daughter (1936) 11:00 Pm Son Of Dracula (1943)

Monday October 2, 2017

12:30 Am Nosferatu (1922)

Tuesday October 3, 2017

8:00 Pm Frankenstein (1931) 9:30 Pm Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) 11:00 Pm The Mummy (1932)

Wednesday October 4, 2017

12:30 Am The Wolf Man (1941) 2:00 Am Island Of Lost Souls (1933) 3:30 Am The Black Cat (1934) 4:45 Am The Invisible Man (1933)

Sunday October 8, 2017

2:00 Am Night...

This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.

It's an All Star monster rally -- Lon Chaney Jr.!, John Carradine!, Bela Lugosi!, Basil Rathbone!, Tor Johnson! -- with Akim Tamiroff in there pitching as well. It's considered a must-see picture, and this HD presentation is nothing to sniff at. Added bonus: a Tom Weaver commentary. The Black Sleep Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1956 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 82 min. / Dr. Cadman's Secret / Street Date March 22, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Rudley, Patricia Blake, Phyllis Stanley, Tor Johnson, Sally Yarnell, George Sawaya. Cinematography Gordon Avil Film Editor John F. Schreyer Original Music Les Baxter Written by John C. Higgins, Gerald Drayson Adams Produced by Howard W. Koch Directed by Reginald Le Borg

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Older monster kids know that the 1956 chiller The Black Sleep existed for years only through stills in Famous Monsters magazine. We saw tantalizing...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...

Special Mention: Dressed To Kill

Directed by Brian De Palma

Written by Brian De Palma

1980, USA

Genre: Thriller

Brian De Palma’s films, like Tarantino’s, are a cinematic mash-up of influences from the past, and in De Palma case he borrows heavily from Alfred Hitchcock. Obsession is De Palma’s Vertigo, Blow Out his Rear Window, and with Dressed to Kill the director set its sights on Psycho. Dressed To Kill is more thriller than horror but what a stylish and twisted thriller it is! The highlight here is an amazing ten-minute chase sequence set in an art gallery and conducted entirely without dialogue. There are a number of other well-sustained set pieces including a race in the subway system and even, yes, a gratuitous shower murder sequence. Dressed To Kill features an excellent cast (Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Angie Dickinson), a superb score (courtesy of Pino Donaggio) and...

*Updated with new film and TV show listings.* Happy October, everyone! Our favorite month is finally upon us, which means everyone is getting into the Halloween spirit, especially when it comes to upcoming TV programming over the next 31 days. Trying to keep track of everything that’s playing throughout October can be a hellish affair, so once again Daily Dead is here to help make sure you know about everything Halloween-related hitting cable and network airwaves over the coming weeks.

* All Updated & Additional Listings Are In Bold (all times listed are Et/Pt)*

Thursday, October 1st

9:00am – Halloween Crazier (Travel Channel)

10:00am – Halloween Craziest (Travel Channel)

4:00pm – Firestarter (AMC)

6:00pm – The Last Exorcism (Syfy)

6:30pm – Pet Sematary (AMC)

8:00pm – My Babysitter’s a Vampire (Disney)

8:30pm – Stephen King’s Thinner (AMC)

10:00pm – Dominion Season 3 Finale (Syfy)

10:30 pm – Cujo (AMC)

Friday,...

When I was a kid, I used to love a scary movie. I remember catching the original The Haunting (1963) one night on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie when I was home alone. Before it was over, I had every light in the house on. When my mother got home she was screaming she’d been able to see the house glowing from two blocks away. The only thing screaming louder than her was the electricity meter.

That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...

Scream favorites Vincent Price and Christopher Lee become tangled in an African curse, grave robbing, a premature burial and a clutch of throat-slashings -- yet the two stars have no real scenes together. Steve Haberman's well-researched and insightful commentary tells the story of Gordon Hessler's first production for the English arm of American-International Pictures, a movie planned to be directed by the mysterious Michael Reeves. The Oblong Box Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1969 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date October 20, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Uta Levka, Sally Geeson, Alister Williamson, Peter Arne. Cinematography John Coquillon Original Music Harry Robertson Written by Lawrence Huntington, Christopher Wicking Produced by Gordon Hessler, Louis M. Heyward Directed by Gordon Hessler  

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I've been doing my best to warm up to the filmic output of producer-director Gordon Hessler. I agree that Hessler's three major A.

The following is a list of the top 25 classic horror movies part 1. Included are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Nosferatu Dracula Frankenstein Freaks The Old Dark House King Kong The Wolf Man The Body Snatcher The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Thing From Another World. I have kept the plot description brief instead focusing on commentary and how the movie embodies fear. But every film is different. In some cases I leave out or combine categories depending on what I think the most important takeaways are.

We've been celebrating 100 years of director Robert Wise all week by looking at some of his lesser known efforts. Previously: Tim on "Curse of the Cat People", Nathaniel on "Somebody Up There...", David on "I Want To Live!", and Manuel on "Star!" -- now here's Jason wrapping it up with "Audrey Rose"

It says a lot about the breadth of Robert Wise's filmography that the team of writers that tackled his Centennial this week here at The Film Experience have had such a gigantic stage to play upon. I mean here I am an avowed musical-agnostic taking on the director of two of the biggest movie musicals of all time, and even with the tossing aside The Sound of Music and West Side Story (although strangely I did write that movie up at Tfe back in the day) I had multiple films which I could've tackled with glee. His...

It's Tim. September marks the centennial of famed director Robert Wise, winner of Oscars for the musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music among several other classic films, and the members of Team Experience are going to spend the next several days revisiting work from the entire range of his career. And what better place to start than at the very beginning: 1944's The Curse of the Cat People, which was Wise's directorial debut, taking over from Gunther V. Fritsch, when the project fell behind schedule. It's part of the legendary run of movies produced by Val Lewton's horror-oriented B-unit at Rko, a studio where Wise had already logged time as an editor (cutting both Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, no less). But it's not, itself, a horror movie, despite being the sequel to Cat People, one of the canonically great horror films in history. And...

Forget everything you know about The Vampire Diaries – literally.

On Thursday night’s episode, Stefan came back from his underwater tomb and lost one crucial thing: His memories.

Meanwhile, our hunch that Elena and Stefan are connected because they’re both doppelgangers proved to be on the money. This news was revealed via a witchy new face in Mystic Falls.

Elsewhere in the hour, Matt’s mysterious storyline with Nadia continued to get even crazier. Read on as we dissect the biggest shocks in “Original Sin.”

Photos | The Vampire Diaries Season 5 Spoilers — Damon and Elena’s Historical Ball Costumes

The...

On this day in 1914 filmmaker Robert Wise was born in Winchester Indiana. Although he is best known for his muchloved singinglederhosen classic The Sound of Music he also made two critical contributions to the horror genre The Body Snatcher (1944) and The Haunting (1963). The former was one of RKOs only horror hits prior to 1950 and a coup for the studio as it stole away both Boris Karloff and (a much degraded) Bela Lugosi from Universal.

Feature Sarah Dobbs Jan 31, 2013

As the anniversary of his passing approaches, Sarah looks back over the career of Boris Karloff - one of cinema's true icons...

If there’s one classic movie star I’d love to have met, it’s Boris Karloff. Now, he’s mostly remembered for his breakthrough role in Universal’s 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein: if you close your eyes right now and imagine Karloff, chances are it’s in green face paint with bolts in either side of his neck. But there was a hell of a lot more to him than that.

Karloff was an amazingly talented actor who brought something special to just about every role he played, and it would have been amazing to get the chance to sit down and talk to him about his life and career, to get his perspective on fame, Hollywood, horror, acting, and all the rest of it.

Actors often get their accolades for doing drama, comedy, or even action, but it never seems like we properly recognize those actors which do a splendid job scaring us. This is a list of the top ten actors that are excellent at being scary.

Make-up, prosthetics, computer animation, and costumes can only go so far. What makes a movie character really scary is the actor or actress portraying that character. And it’s not enough just to yell “boo!” at the right moment. No, the best in the business know how to create a believable persona that is disturbing, creepy, disgusting, mysterious, or maybe all at once.

This is a list of my pick for the top ten scariest actors of all time. These actors are veterans and legends in the film industry because of the ingenious ways they were able to spook the audience consistently throughout their career. Their...

Hammett, Chandler, Cain: the modern mystery thriller starts with them. They are the godfathers of that sensibility that would come to be called noir which would, in time, overflow the printed page and onto the stage, the big screen, and eventually even to television. Identified primarily with mysteries, the concept of flawed human beings ethically tripping and stumbling in a moral No Man’s Land, equidistant between Right and Wrong, Good and Bad would bleed across genre lines. There would be noir Westerns (Blood on the Moon, 1948), noir war movies (Attack!, 1956), noir horror (The Body Snatcher, 1945), even noir melodramas like Cain’s own Mildred Pierce, adapted for the screen in 1945.

But they all started with what Hammett, Chandler, and Cain did on the page, and each provided an evolutionary step which took what had once been usually dismissed as a flyweight genre dedicated to colorful private investigators and clever puzzles,...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...

Lionsgate has landed the rights to Time and Again, a sci-fi romance novel from late author Jack Finney which has been sought after for some time. The illustrated novel from the author of “The Body Snatcher” centers on Simon Morley, an illustrator living in Manhattan who volunteers for a military experiment that sends him back in time to 1882. When he falls for a woman in the 19th century, Si (as he’s often referred to) must choose between two lovers in two very different time periods. Lionsgate has tapped Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) to direct; Liman will also producer with Hypnotic partner, Dave Bartis. Hit the jump for more from Time and Again. Variety reports that Lionsgate has finally secured the rights to Time and Again, a property that Robert Redford attempted to adapt in the mid-1990s. The novel also saw tries at a network mini-series and various feature iterations.

When I was a kid, I used to love a scary movie. I remember catching the original The Haunting (1963) one night on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie when I was home alone. Before it was over, I had every light in the house on. When my mother got home she was screaming she’d been able to see the house glowing from two blocks away. The only thing screaming louder than her was the electricity meter.

That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...

There are roughly a gazillion scary movie marathons happening on TV for Halloween 2011. Zap2it's got you covered for all your spooky programming. Be sure to check your local listings for times and channel.

All times Eastern.

Friday, Oct. 28

ABC Family: 13 Nights of Halloween, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., "The Addams Family," "Addams Family Values."

AMC: Halloween movie marathon, 9 a.m. to midnight ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "House of Wax," "Scream 3," "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane," "Survival of the Dead," "The Walking Dead"

Bio: Scary movie documentaries, 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day ("The Inside Story: The Silence of the Lambs," "The Inside Story: Halloween")

CBS: "CSI: NY" Halloween episode, 9 p.m.

Chiller: Halloween programming, 6 a.m. to midnight ("Twilight Zone" episodes, "The Daisy Chain," "Fingerprints," "Stevie," "Devil's Mercy," "Children of the Corn"), "Chiller 13" (The Decade's Scariest Movie Moments,...

Monsters in horror movies more often represent an internal than an external threat. Henry Frankenstein’s Creature is, depending on how you read it, symbolic of the repressed; when he sees the monster in Bride of Frankenstein his shock isn’t a response to its features, but to what the Creature means to him. He’s a respectable, well-to-do, loving husband who lights up with a manic obsession when confronted with the possibility of playing God, and the Creature is irrefutable proof of that obsessive streak.

In the 1940s Universal’s hold on the genre started to wane, and less effort and artistry was put into the resulting films. After The Wolf Man in 1941 it switched from A to B pictures, and focussed on increasingly silly sequels to the big franchises: Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy. With films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Frankenstein...

This week Joe and Tom do back to back reviews of two of their most anticipated movies of the year, Bereavement & Grave Encounters. They discuss what makes a good handheld camera film, subtle filmmaking and scariest scenes. They dive into the What We Watched segment and Joe discusses some first time watches including Hellraiser, the Invasion Of The Body Snatcher films and Malevolence. Tom expresses his feelings for I Am Legend and his great Best B…...

Burke and Hare

Written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft

Directed by John Landis

UK, 2010

There have been several films about the infamous true-life grave robbers William Burke and William Hare, including Freddie Francis’s 1985 The Doctor And The Devils and John Gilling’s 1959 The Flesh and The Fiends. Perhaps the most famous is Robert Wise’s 1945 classic The Body Snatcher, which starred both Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. You can now add John Landis’s Burke and Hare to the list.

Burke and Hare marks Landis’s first feature theatrical release in twelve years, the last being 1998′s Susan’s Plan. Thankfully the director who gave us such classics as Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and The Blues Brothers still has a trick or two up his sleeve. Admittedly his latest feature pales in comparison to his earlier work, but Burke and Hare...

Craig from Dark Eye Socket here with Take Three. Today: Boris Karloff

Take One: The Mummy (1931)

Always the consummate character actor, Karloff gave us the most splendidly memorable characters. Famously one of the world’s biggest and best horror icons (along with Lugosi, Chaney Jr., Price and Lee, the frightful five), he played his beasts, ghouls and undead wanderers in exemplary fashion. Take his Imhotep/Ardath Bey, the titular bandaged one in director-cinematographer Karl Freund’s 1931 classic The Mummy. Ten years after being awakened by a group of foolhardy archaeologists Imhotep intends to revive his ancient Egyptian love Princess Ankh-es-en-amon with the help of reluctant modern-day babe Zita Johann.

Museum-based murder and an ancient parchment (the Scroll of Thoth!) cause all the the mummified mysticism. Karloff even has his own Pool of Fate (essentially a steamy bath/psychic porthole), into which he can see anyone and anything, anywhere; and via...

Best known as the director of the musical smash hits West Side Story and The Sound of Music, in the 1960s, director Robert Wise had a long list of credits that included several genre films well.  Well fans of his work should enjoy the three new posters designed by the folks at Phantom City Creative.

The first is a poster of The Body Snatcher, after of The Haunting, and finally of The Andromeda Strain.

Each of their posters is limited to an edition of 113, measures 11×17, and costs $30 (plus shipping) or $75 (plus shipping) if you buy all three posters together.

I'm a movie poster dork and I always like seeing what various artists do when creating posters for movies they enjoy or are looking forward to.  The folks at Phantom City Creative have done some pretty sweet work by creating three posters dedicated to the film's of director Robert Wise: The Body Snatcher, The Haunting, and The Andromeda Strain.  Each of their posters is limited to an edition of 113, measures 11x17, and costs $30 (plus shipping) or $75 (plus shipping) if you buy all three posters together. Moving on, artist Sam Smith designed posters for his ten favorite films of 2010 and came up with some really stunning work.  I particularly love his posters for Winter's Bone and Toy Story 3.  Finally, Lloyd Stas, whose work we featured last week when he designed posters for the work of Edgar Wright, has taken a stab at Duncan Jones' upcoming film Source Code.

Our friends at Phantom City Creative never cease to amaze us. Every single time they come up with limited edition prints they raise the bar higher and higher and that is the case with these latest three editions. Inspired by famed American Oscar-winning director Robert Wise, we have three posters you collectors will not want to miss...

The series features artwork inspired by three of our favourite films from famed American Oscar-winning director Robert Wise. Although known mostly for his musicals such as West Side Story, Wise also had an impressive collection of horror and science-fiction titles to his credit. We chose to highlight 1945's The Body Snatcher featuring horror royalty Boris Karloff, 1963's haunted house masterpiece The Haunting and 1971's alien virus sci-fi thriller The Andromeda Strain.

The Body Snatcher:

The Haunting:

The Andromeda Strain:

Source: HorrorBid

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

The first trailer arrives for John Landis’ Burke And Hare, the forthcoming black comedy starring Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg…

Any film that coaxes An American Werewolf In London director John Landis back into big screen filmmaking is sure to pique our interest, and Ealing Studios' Burke And Hare, which stars Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg as the titular 19th century grave robbers turned murderers, sounds like a good match.

Indeed, the criminals' story has already been adapted several times, perhaps the most memorable being 1945's The Body Snatcher, which starred Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

Landis' Burke And Hare, if the trailer's anything to go by, is a broad comedy more in the tradition of the Carry On movies than the rather more subtle Ealing comedies like The Ladykillers.

The trailer displays a welcome array of cameo actors, including Stephen Merchant (sporting a handsome powdered wig), Paul Whitehouse in a stovepipe hat,...