PEARL (2022) Round Table Movie Review

PEARL (2022) d. Ti West

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Nicole Mikuzis, Nile Arena, Dodd Alley, Eric Anderson) as they discuss this Technicolor-hued prequel to the surprise 2022 hit X. Mia Goth returns as Pearl, a young, frustrated, and potentially homicidal Texas farm wife with big dreams and a bigger pitchfork, and director West (who co-wrote the screenplay with Goth) does an excellent job balancing the laughs and the lunacy. One of the best horror efforts of 2022.

PHIL TIPPETT'S MAD GOD (2022) Round Table Movie Review

MAD GOD (2022) d. Phil Tippett

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Lucy Ba'al, Jess Ader, Grant Kuchan) as they discuss the legendary, Oscar-winning stop-motion animator's 30-years-in-the-making epic. Goopy and glorious, chilling and stimulating, this is a film unlike any other, and we don't throw around such claims lightly!

TRAGEDY GIRLS (2017) Round Table Movie Review

TRAGEDY GIRLS (2017) d. Tyler MacIntyre

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Cati Glidewell aka The Blonde in Front, Ashley Lamers, Josh Zagoren) as they celebrate this hilarious black comedy about a couple of narcissistic high school students obsessed with serial killers and social media.

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (2022) Round Table Movie Review

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (2022) d. David Cronenberg

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Aaron AuBuchon, Christianne Benedict, Mackenzie Parker, Dominic Conti) as they discuss the legendary David Cronenberg's first return to his sci-fi/horror roots since 1999's Existenz. The Master hasn't lost his touch for the bizarre and the beautiful.

BECKY (2020) / WRATH OF BECKY (2023) Round Table Movie Review

BECKY (2020) d. Jonathan Milott / Cary Murnion 

WRATH OF BECKY (2023) d. Matt Angel / Suzanne Coote

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Vanessa Morgan, Mark Easteadt, and Larry Sternshein) as they discuss this gleefully violent and energetic teen entry for the "revenge horror" subgenre, both the original 2020 drive-in sensation and its sequel released earlier this year.

QUEER FOR FEAR (2022) Series Review

QUEER FOR FEAR (2022) d. Bryan Fuller

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Anna Maurya and Robin Graves) as they discuss this wonderfully entertaining and informative documentary series (now streaming on Shudder) about the queer perspective of the horror genre, both from its creators and its fans.

THE POWER (2021) Movie Review

THE POWER (2021) d. Corrina Faith

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Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Jon Kitley, S. A. Bradley, Ashley Lamers, and Chelsea David) as they discuss this terrifying and relevant ghost story set in 1974 London starring Rose Williams.

SCARE-A-THON 2023: EVERYBODY LOVES A SEQUEL

Greetings, my allies in autumnal adulation! It’s that time of year again, when tricks and treats trade beats with greets on the streets....

It’s time for SCARE-A-THON 2023.

ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) TURNS 75!!!

ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) d. Charles Barton (USA)

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By the late 1940s, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Dracula had become more friends than fiends to audiences. In a flash of inspiration, producer Robert Arthur hit upon the idea of pairing his hit comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello with the creepy creatures. Though nobody, especially Abbott and Costello, were enthusiastic about the experiment, the results were astonishing.

THE FLY (1958) / RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) / CURSE OF THE FLY (1965) Round Table!!

Celebrating a classic sci-fi/horror trilogy: THE FLY (1958), RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), and CURSE OF THE FLY (1965)!

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Veteran director Kurt Neumann mostly toiled in mid-tier melodramas, Westerns and Tarzan movies throughout his long career, but had already made a few notable entries in the realm of science fiction cinema with Rocketship X-M (1950) and Kronos (1957). Released two months before his death in August 1958, THE FLY has endured for 65 years as true classic, not losing any of its power to shock and surprise.

TERROR TUESDAYS AT THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY!!

Following last year’s successful October shenanigans, Jon Kitley of Kitley’s Krypt and I will be returning to the Sulzer Regional Library (4455 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago IL 60625) for another installment of TERROR TUESDAYS!


Week #1:
TUESDAY, 10/3 6:30pm

Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: Horror Directors of the 1920s-1960s

Folks like Tod Browning, James Whale, Jack Arnold, Terence Fisher, and George Romero gave us the classics that sparked and defined the genre.

DOG SOLDIERS (2002) ROUND TABLE CELEBRATION

Dog Soldiers (2002) d. Neil Marshall (UK) (105 min)

 

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Dispatched to the Scottish Highlands, a half-dozen soldiers find their special training maneuver exercises interrupted by an S.O.S. signal flare. Upon arrival at the distress site, they discover the sole remaining member of a Special Ops team, Captain Ryan, raving and bleeding profusely. Moments later, the team is besieged by mysterious, snarling assailants that decimate one of their number and leave their leader, Sgt. Wells, grievously wounded. Their panicked retreat under the command of Pvt. Cooper leads to a chance encounter with a local woman, Megan, who helps them escape to a secluded cabin in the woods. Low on ammo and facing periodic but increasingly effective attacks, the pinned-down troops must use their every resource to combat the lycanthropic menace until the full moon sets.

THE BLOB (1958) / THE BLOB (1988) - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

THE BLOB (1958) d. Irwin J. Yeaworth (USA)
BEWARE! THE BLOB (1972) d. Larry Hagman (USA)
THE BLOB (1988) d. Chuck Russell (USA)

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By the 1950s, sci-fi had taken Hollywood by storm, with all manner of tales involving Man exploring the galaxy, or various intergalactic neighbors swinging down to our neck of the woods for a visit. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquent pics became all the rage following the 1955 smash Rebel Without a Cause. Misunderstood teenagers already flocking to the drive-ins to see their onscreen counterparts and giant monster flicks, so entrepreneur Jack H. Harris hit upon the idea of combining the two elements. The resulting film, THE BLOB (1958), became an instant sensation, making back its modest budget many times over, as well as generating a Top 40 hit on the radio with its catchy title tune, and launching a young upcoming actor, Steve McQueen to superstardom.

MARIO BAVA'S BLACK SABBATH (1963) TURNS 60!!!

BLACK SABBATH (1963) d. Mario Bava (Italy)

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Following the success of Roger Corman’s comic exploration of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven in 1963, Boris Karloff found himself in high demand with American International Pictures. In addition to The Terror, notoriously shot in two days on the Raven’s sets, the horror icon appeared in The Comedy of Terrors for Jacques Tourneur (alongside Raven co-stars Vincent Price and Peter Lorre), and tonight’s selection, the masterful anthology Three Faces of Fear, or, as it was better known for its Stateside release, BLACK SABBATH.

BELGIAN HORROR: LEFT BANK (LINKEROEVER) (2008) and CUB (WELP) (2014)

LEFT BANK (aka LINKEROEVER) (2008) d. Pieter Van Hees (Belgium)
CUB (aka WELP) (2014) d. Jonas Govaerts (Belgium)

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Tonight’s double feature takes us across the ocean to Belgium, a land renowned for lace, beer, chocolate, waffles, and a small but notable number of horror titles, including two films we’re going to be discussing tonight: Pieter Van Hees’ LEFT BANK from 2008 and Jonas Govaerts’ CUB (aka WELP) from 2014.

PONTYPOOL (2008) Movie Review Round Table!

PONTYPOOL (2008) d. Bruce McDonald (Canada)

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Tonight's selection, PONTYPOOL (2008), celebrating its 15th anniversary, is a fiercely intelligent variation on the “zombie/infected hordes” theme, indelibly anchored by film/TV veteran Stephen McHattie’s charismatic central performance.

1988 DOUBLE FEATURE: DEAD HEAT / NIGHT OF THE DEMONS

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) d. Kevin Tenney (USA)
DEAD HEAT (1988) d. Mark Goldblatt (USA)

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In the heady days of the late 1980s, VHS stores were on every corner, in every strip mall, with new horror films hitting the shelves seemingly every week. Tonight’s episode is entitled THE CLASS OF 1988, even if “class” may not be the first word that springs to mind when describing these two horror/comedy titles. Both enjoyed limited theatrical releases, but by and large, home video was where most fans encountered them for the first time.

THE EXORCIST (1973) 50TH ANNIVERSARY ROUND TABLE!!!

THE EXORCIST (1973) turns 50 this year. Is it still "the scariest movie ever made"?

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It’s amazing to believe that THE EXORCIST has been in our lives for a half century, because for many fans, it’s hard to imagine the horror landscape without it. Its release in the final days of December 1973 triggered a seismic shift in popular culture and the world has literally never been the same.

KING ON SCREEN (2022) Movie Review

King on Screen (2022) d. Daphne Baiwir (France/Belgium) (105 min)

Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, first landed on book stands in 1974 and was a relatively modest success. By the time Brian De Palma’s film version hit screens in 1976, King’s follow-up, ’Salem’s Lot had already been published, with The Shining just around the corner. Over the following 45 years, King continued to churn out tome after tome, oftentimes two (or more) in a single year. As of this writing, he has signed his name to 65 novels, over 200 short stories, and five non-fiction books, making him one of the most (if not THE most) successful living authors. It is therefore no surprise that the man’s work has been adapted time and again; over 80 feature films and TV projects (movies, miniseries, series) have their roots in King’s brainwaves, with many of them deemed modern classics.

SISTERS (1973) Movie Review

Sisters (1973) d. Brian De Palma (USA) (93 min)

 

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Following a stint together on a game show called Peeping Toms, aspiring model/actress Danielle (Margot Kidder) and the handsome and chivalrous Philip (Lisle Wilson) strike up a romance and end up back at her apartment. Across the alley, reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) witnesses a brutal murder through Danielle’s window, but when she arrives with the cops in tow, the body is gone and there is no trace of the crime. Undeterred, Grace hires a private detective (Charles Durning) to help her solve the mystery, which leads her down a twisty, tangled path that may cost her life, her mind, or both.