Jess Franco’s Count Dracula is an example of what happens when certain parameters designed to bolster a production’s salability reduce a filmmaker, known for sex and violence and trippy perversions, to a hired gun, and a bored one at that…
During the filming of Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), experimental filmmaker Pere Portabello was engaged to direct a making-of documentary, titled Cuadecuc, vampir (1971), and sometime before, during, or after, it seems star Christopher Lee was snagged to appear in a few scenes which Portabello edited into a feature film…
A triple-threat of Jess Franco sleaze: reviews of Bloody Moon (1981) on Blu and Devil Hunter (1980) on DVD from Severin Films + Franco’s Linda (1981), and quick thoughts on Solar Crisis, Richard C. Sarafian’s orphan epic sci-fi flick that sort of popped up in a related news report this week.
Although promised by German producers he’d have a top American special effects whiz and a score by Pink Floyd (!), after agreeing to make Bloody Moon, Jess Franco discovered the only truth in their sales pitch was the casting of actress Olivia Pascal…
The second of Severin Films’ Jess Franco-Video Nasty couplet (after Bloody Moon) is this wan tale of a kidnapping gone awry when crooks lose their meal ticket (and sexual pin-cushion) on an island populated by a cannibal cult that periodically offer up the other white meat to a flesh-eating freak…
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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