Showing posts sorted by date for query doug long. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query doug long. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
REST IN PEACE - LAWRENCE P. RAFFEL & DOUG LONG
Friday, February 14, 2025
HITCHCOCK’S PSYCHO LEGACY: FROM SHOWER SCENE TO BATES MOTEL
PSYCHO II (1983) d. Richard Franklin (USA)
PSYCHO III (1986) d. Anthony Perkins (USA)
PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING (1990) d. Mick Garris (USA)
PSYCHO (1998) d. Gus Van Sant (USA)
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is not just a film; it’s an institution in the world of cinema, one that redefined the horror genre forever. Based on Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel, audiences were introduced to Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a seemingly mild-mannered motel owner with a dark and twisted secret. The film's groundbreaking narrative, shocking twists, and chilling atmosphere have influenced filmmakers for decades.
Friday, January 24, 2025
LES DIABOLIQUES (1955) & H.G. CLOUZOUT: THE FRENCH HITCHCOCK
Slip into the dark and suspenseful world of “The French Hitchcock,” Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear), and his extraordinary nonpareil of suspense, 1955’s Les Diaboliques, where nothing is as it seems and every twist keeps you on the edge of your seat. Set in and around a remote boarding school, a frail wife (Vera Clouzout) and her romantic rival (Simone Signoret) plot to murder her cruel, abusive husband (Paul Meurisse). But when things do not go as planned, the two women are thrust into a terrifying psychological nightmare where nothing is what it seems.
Friday, December 13, 2024
UNWRAPPING THE MUMMY!!! (1932, 1959, 1999)
THE MUMMY (1959) d. Terence Fisher (UK)
THE MUMMY (1999) d. Stephen Sommers (USA)
One of the most enduring classic horror archetypes, The Mummy has appeared on film almost since the inception of cinema, with numerous silent efforts preceding Universal's landmark production in 1932 starring Boris Karloff.
Friday, November 22, 2024
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939) / (1959): A CLASSIC REBORN!!
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959) d. Terence Fisher (UK)
Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best-known. Over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions, and publications have featured the detective, and Guinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history. Tonight, we’ll be celebrating two film versions of Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated sleuth’s oft-adapted tale, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
BRING ON THE BIG BUGS - THEM! (1954) TURNS 70!!!
Unleashed upon a hungry-for-sci-fi movie-going public in the summer of 1954, Them! was the first of the “big bug” movies and proved to be the year’s biggest moneymaker for Warner Brothers. Originally slated to be shot in color and 3D, the studio cut the budget at the last minute, although the stark black and white cinematography may have worked to its advantage, yielding an impressively eerie visual landscape. These elements, combined with extraordinary sound design, art direction, and solid ensemble performances, resulted in a true genre classic that would go on to earn an Academy Award nomination for its imaginative and thrilling special effects.
Friday, February 2, 2024
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) / YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!!
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) d. Mel Brooks (USA
From the moment the original Frankenstein from Universal Studios was released in November of 1931, the landscape of cinema changed forever as Mary Shelley’s creation became a household word overnight. Unsurprisingly for Hollywood, further adventures featuring the Frankenstein monster followed, some critically acclaimed, others derided, while the fan base grew, passed on through generations of horror fans.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
IT CAME FROM 1953!! (INVADERS FROM MARS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, ROBOT MONSTER, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE)
INVADERS FROM MARS (1953) d. William Cameron Menzies
WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) d. Byron Haskin
ROBOT MONSTER (1953) d. Phil Tucker
By the closing of the 1940s, it seemed that audiences had grown weary of the classic monsters of yesteryear, and were hungry for new thrills. Those exciting new stories came not from moldy crypts or ancient curses, but rather from beyond the stars. With space exploration already a going concern among the world powers and reports of UFOs starting to make their way into the public consciousness, it was no surprise that filmmakers also cast their gaze to the heavens, imagining what fresh wonders and threats might make their way toward our little planet.
Saturday, December 9, 2023
KING KONG (and SON OF KONG) 90TH ANNIVERSARY JAMBOREE!!
SON OF KONG (1933) d. Ernest B. Schoedsack (USA)
It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance the original 1933 King Kong has had on the monster movie genre and on the history of cinema overall. As such, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there was a time before Kong, and that there were individuals who brought the character and the film surrounding him into existence. People like producers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, writers Edgar Wallace, James Creelman, and Ruth Rose, special effects wizards Willis O’ Brien and Marcel Delgado, composer Max Steiner, sound effects pioneer Murray Spivack, and stars Robert Armstron, Bruce Cabot, and the legendary Fay Wray.
Friday, September 29, 2023
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) TURNS 75!!!
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.
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
CAT PEOPLE (1982) Blu-ray/UHD review
Cat People (1982) d. Paul Schrader (USA) (118 min)
After years in orphanages, Irena (Nastassja Kinski) reunites with long-lost sibling Paul (Malcolm McDowell), who soon reveals a more-than-brotherly attraction to her. Seems the two are the supernatural offspring of panthers, doomed to mate only with their own humanimal kind, as any other coupling results in fanged-and-clawed death for their unsuspecting partner. Needless to say, this throws a wrench into zookeeper Oliver's (John Heard) romantic designs on the exotic female newcomer.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Fool's Views (11/1 – 11/15)
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| You WILL take your medicine, it's GOOD FOR YOU |
Howdy, folks!
Okay, every year I tell myself, “Hey, AC! You finished the October Challenge, you’re all caught up to date, wouldn’t it be great if you just kept going and stayed consistent with the Views? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Wouldn’t that be… hey, hey, where you going?”
Yup. Here we are again.
The truth is that the Challenge lives up to its name every October, requiring more time and energy than I anticipate, whereby other projects get pushed onto the proverbial back burner. As soon as Nov 1 rolls around, all of those back burners get turned up real high and, before you know it, I’m running around like a short-order cook at lunchtime with half the kitchen staff out sick. (Hey, nice metaphor-building there.)
As such, we’re a month behind and the end-of-year awards season is already starting to kick into high gear, so I figured it’s time to shut up and put up. These may not be the prettiest Views in the world, but Views they is and here they comes.
As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.
Enjoy!
Sunday, June 30, 2019
CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP!!! (Part 2 of 4)
This summer in Chicago has been exceedingly damp, with thunderstorms nearly every single day. Saturday proved to be no exception and while the forecast stated that morning skies would be clear, I was not five minutes into my 15-minute bike ride to the Music Box Theatre before the clouds opened up and dumped about 9,000 gallons of water onto your humble narrator. While it was a soggy and chilly (the air conditioning was turned way up, although they managed to make things slightly less meat locker-ish for the remainder of the festival) day of viewing, spirits were high and the programming was tight.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Fool's Views (2/1 – 2/29)
Hello there!
The shorter the month, the fewer the Views, if one were to believe the tale of the tape. And really, why wouldn’t you believe the tape? I mean, what has the tape ever done to you to deserve your mistrust? Then again, physical media is a dying form and it might just be trying to impress you by telling you what you want to hear. I mean, you’re reading this so-called tale of the tape on the INTERNET, for crying out loud.
But I digress.
February was actually a dynamite month for movies, with more hits than misses, and many of them viewed in the company of fellow fiends and friends – in fact, in looking at the titles below, I think I only watched one of them alone-ish (the femalien was popping in and out of Unfriended), while the rest were shared with one or more others. Perhaps this is the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown, when you don’t have to watch something like The Sinful Dwarf or Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood by your lonesome.
As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.
Enjoy!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Civilian 2014 Wrap-Up and Year-End Stats!
Back again!
Having addressed the horror genre in the previous entry (hey, this is HORROR 101 after all), it’s now time to give the civilian flicks their moment in the sun. As before, all titles listed were encountered for the first time from January 1 to December 31, 2014 (i.e. no repeat viewings were eligible), with top picks denoted with an asterisk. (*)
FOR PREVIOUS YEARS' RECAPS, CLICK HERE
TOP CIVILIAN RELEASES OF 2014
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Fool's Views (12/16 – 12/21)
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| AC after nine Hellraiser movies.... |
Back again!
This week was relatively quiet, right up until I headed up to Oshkosh to hang out with the gang and bear witness to my first “Franchise Marathon,” a long-standing tradition of amigos John Pata, Eric Egan, and Ashley MerCleod who have endured such epic series as The Amityville Horror, The Howling, Leprechaun, Children of the Corn, Saw, Final Destination, and so on, all in one sitting. This time around, well, let’s just say it involved a certain puzzle box…
As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back!
Enjoy!
Saturday, November 22, 2014
NIGHTBREED (1990) Director's Cut Blu-Ray Review
Nightbreed (1990) d. Barker, Clive (USA)
Based on his novel Cabal, Clive Barker’s follow-up to Hellraiser exhibits as many of that film’s strengths (vivid, original storyline, exemplary makeup effects) as its weaknesses (uneven performances, gore without scares, jarring jokes). Craig Sheffer stars as Boone, a troubled mental patient whose implication in a series of violent murders leads him to Midian, an underground “other-world.” Within this subterranean city, we encounter the “Nightbreed,” a wonderfully grotesque collection of freaks and mutants (wonderfully realized by makeup designer Paul L. Jones) that populate the shadows of the human world, unable to venture into the light.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) movie review
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) d. Guillermo del Toro (Spain)
Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) whose father had died, leaving her and her Mother (Ariadna Gil) all alone. The world was a dark and scary place, with war and death everywhere, and so, to save herself and her child, the Mother remarried a General (Sergi Lopez) to keep them safe. But the General was a selfish and brutal man, who only cared for the Mother as long as she could bear him a son. Once the Mother as with child, the General sent for her to live with him in the forest where he commanded his troops, stamping out the rebels that threatened the Evil King’s power. The Mother was sad, as was Ofelia, but the imaginative young girl had a special gift: she could see and talk to creatures that grown-ups couldn’t see, such as the Faun and the Pale Man (both played brilliantly by expert suit performer Doug Jones). She soon learned from the Faun that she was a Princess with a Destiny to fulfill. And so, her great adventure began....
Sunday, December 29, 2013
RAZE (2013) movie review
Raze (2013) d. Josh C. Waller (USA)
Two attractive women clad in white tank tops and gray sweatpants stand opposite one another inside a cylindrical brick room. The blinking red lights of surveillance cameras flicker in counterpoint to their panting as each sizes the other up. Then, without warning, they proceed to pound, punch, kick, pull, choke, slap, bite, and savage one another’s bodies until one lies dead and bleeding on the dirt floor. This scenario plays out over and over (and over) again in director Josh Waller’s feature debut, a film that resembles a live-action 90-minute Mortal Kombat video game session, only with more blood, tears, camera angles, and flash cuts (and only slightly more exposition).
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Interview with THE BATTERY director Jeremy Gardner!!
Every so often, horror fans encounter an independent venture
that make us want to collectively stand up and cheer. Writer/star Jeremy
Gardner’s directorial debut, The Battery (debuting Sept 16, 2014 on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory) is one of those films.
Forget the zombie trappings. Forget that it was made for $6K. Forget that it contains no major stars or studio backing or that you probably never heard of it before it started showing up on everyone’s “Best of 2013” lists. Just watch and revel in the breathtaking creativity, intelligence, resilience and filmmaking savvy on display. The Battery is the kind of microbudget horror effort that provides as much offscreen inspiration as it does onscreen entertainment.
Forget the zombie trappings. Forget that it was made for $6K. Forget that it contains no major stars or studio backing or that you probably never heard of it before it started showing up on everyone’s “Best of 2013” lists. Just watch and revel in the breathtaking creativity, intelligence, resilience and filmmaking savvy on display. The Battery is the kind of microbudget horror effort that provides as much offscreen inspiration as it does onscreen entertainment.
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