Christopher Kenneally’s documentary on the film industry’s switch from film stock to digital media comes at an important time when the fate of film – in terms of stock, cameras, and modes of exhibition – has been apparently written off like the LP…
First of a multi-part retrospective on producer Jack H. Harris starting with the original 1958 production of The Blob + its 1972 sequel, the 1988 remake (new on Blu from Twilight Time), Mario Bava’s fun Blob riff, Caltiki (1959) + respective soundtrack reviews.
Highly underrated remake of a sci-fi classic that doesn’t attempt to improve upon nor present a radically upgraded interpretation, this 1988 version of The Blob is both an homage and a tongue-in-cheek retelling of the core story from producer Jack H. Harris’ 1958 film in which teens rescue a town from an alien glob of pink goo that absorbs its victims and just keeps growing…
The Blob is one of those sci-fi films several generations grew up watching on TV, scaring fans when they were kids, and providing good laughs from the movie’s bountiful clichés, and seeing 27 year old Steve McQueen earning his rent money playing a high school teenager…
Already an esteemed cinematographer and wonderful effects whiz, Mario Bava remained a reluctant director – reportedly wanting to move into the director’s chair, but keeping a deliberate distance – so it took some clever maneuvering by Riccardo Freda, Calitiki’s original director, to give Bava a taste of directing a full movie…
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
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