I remember seeing Sam Raimi’s original 1981 The Evil Dead in the lecture theatre at university and I found it very scary and gruesome at the time. The movie was (unusually for its era) released both in theatres and on VHS, and it generated a lot of controversy as a so-called ‘video nasty’. It has…
Grease
I recently saw Jimmy Fallon ran a segment on The Tonight Show called “Honest Movie Reviews”, where they described Grease as “a bunch of people in their 30s, playing teenagers in the 50s, singing songs written in the 70s”. All of which is true, but it doesn’t much detract from the charm of Grease. Grease…
Torn Curtain
Here are a pair of posters for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1966 thriller Torn Curtain. Like several of Hitch’s later movies, Torn Curtain is rather uneven, old-fashioned and boring in places. I saw it years again on TV and have not revisited it since. Stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews try hard, but don’t have much chemistry…
Scarface
Here are two very different posters for two very different versions of Scarface. The original 1932 movie is a terrific and hugely influential gangster picture chronicling the rise and fall of Italian immigrant Chicago gangster Tony played by Paul Muni. Directed by the great Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes, the movie faced multiple…
Summer Storm / Magnificent Obsession
Here are two very old posters for movies directed by Douglas Sirk. Now, I must admit I am not particularly familiar with Sirk, beyond him being name-checked in the 50s-style diner scene in Pulp Fiction (where a “Douglas Sirk Steak, bloody as hell” is on the menu). Sirk was active predominantly in the 50s and…
A Fistful Of Dollars
Here are an interesting pair of posters for the Belgian release of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western classic A Fistful Of Dollars. The first poster is from the first release in 1964 and is interesting because while it name-checks star Clint Eastwood (in his first leading role), the image is that of a generic cowboy, with…
The Spiral Staircase
Now here’s a rarity: this is a Swedish poster (the only one I own) for this 1946 film noir. I have this poster up for sale here, but if nobody buys it soon I may opt to hold onto it and get it framed. I really like the very graphic visual, which I think captures…
Assault On Precinct 13
John Carpenter’s original Assault On Precinct 13 is one of my all-time favourite thrillers. This movie is a master-class in how to make a low-budget exploitation classic. Carpenter shows a sure-hand throughout, beginning with the ear-worm electronic theme tune he composed himself, and he expertly builds the tension before bringing all the characters together in…
Desperately Seeking Susan
Madonna’s leading role debut is still for me the high-point of her acting career. Given she essentially plays herself in this movie, the role perhaps wasn’t too much of a stretch for her. She is out-acted anyway by Rosanna Arquette (one of those 80s stars who burned brightly for awhile then pretty much disappeared) in…
The House Of Hammer
This was one of my favourite magazines back in the 1970s. The House of Hammer was a UK magazine, which originally ran from 1976 to 1978. It went through a few name changes along the way, becoming Hammer’s House of Horror, then Hammer’s Halls of Horror. Its unique selling point was that it featured black…