Films That Matter
What Could Have Been: Shopworn
It’s usually hard to bet against Barbara Stanwyck. Starting her career in the late 1920s, within a few years she was already churning out star making roles as plucky working class girls who could rise to the top: think Ten Cents a Dance (1931) and Baby Face (1933) – both reviewed here on Filmizon, only to further elevate herself during the film noir era with starring roles like Double Indemnity (1944) and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) – also both on Filmizon, she even conquered television later in her career as matriarch Victoria Barkley in 112 episodes of Big Valley from the mid to late 1960s. In other words, it’s rather unusual to see her in a clunker... though with the film looked at here today, Shopworn (1932), directed by Nick Grinde, Stanwyck herself described it as, “one of those terrible pictures they sandwiched in when you started”.
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 2)
September 26, 2023The second Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some more horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be shrugged off like the lights going out simply because it’s an ‘old home’ – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
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What Could Have Been: The Cat Creeps
September 23, 2023Nearing the end of the Golden Years of Universal horror, The Cat Creeps (1946), directed by genre specialist Erle C. Kenton (Island of Lost Souls, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Who Done It?), is the dying whisper of the old haunted house murder mystery film (at least until Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! brought back the excitement for kids in the late 1960s). In fact, this would be the last horror movie produced by Universal until 1951's The Strange Door – excluding Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, which is more of a spoof of horror movies. What started with horror films (followed closely by comedy spoofs) like The Cat and the Canary (1927 and 1939), The Old Dark House (1932), The Black Cat (1934 and 1941), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Hold That Ghost (1941), was then met with a supernatural element found in Cat People (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), and She-Wolf of London (1946), to name but a few, The Cat Creeps pulling from all of these sources to make a, dare I say it, ‘copy-cat’ of the previous filmography.
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 1)
September 19, 2023The first Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be ignored like the dead body in the corner that college kids simply assume is their buddy sleeping off the alcohol and drugs – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
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CAPE of Good Hope
April 25, 2023After a raucous Saturday crowd, CAPE, or the Cornwall and Area Pop Event, had what has to be its biggest second day turnout yet. Excited crowds, many dressed in costume, flooded the Benson Centre, primed to explore its many booths. . . ranging from Funkos and vintage toys, to original artwork and literature, while others were looking to meet their favourite celebrities from film and television. With The Walking Dead continuing its reign as one of the supreme draws to any pop culture type weekend, organizers extraordinaire Randy Sauve and Carol Grant were able to bring in heavy hitters Cooper Andrews (who plays fan favourite Jerry... the right hand man of King Ezekiel, who first arrived on the scene in season seven)
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Fright Night Interviews with William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse
October 31, 2022As a special treat for Halloween, I’ve got two interviews for you. At this year’s CAPE (Cornwall & Area Pop Event), which was held on the weekend of April 23-24, 2022, I was fortunate enough to spend quite some time with William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse, the two leading teens of the iconic 1985 horror cult classic Fright Night, written and directed by Tom Holland (no, not of Spider-Man fame – he wasn’t born yet). I hope you enjoy these inside looks into this quirky horror movie this Halloween, and keep an eye out for upcoming Star Pick interviews with both, which will reveal their favourite movies.
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2022 (Part 1)
September 20, 2022The first Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2022, here are some horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher). . . but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be ignored like the drunken, scantily clad college girl wandering off into the woods after a bush party – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).