Posts by Kevin Nickelson

At some point in its history, Hollywood decided that more eye-popping effects, blood, violence, and nudity were needed to bring more viewers to theaters and put more money into industry coffers. Unfortunately, this often led to a lazy, less-nuanced approach to filmmaking. Fans of the haunted house chiller, in particular, saw first-hand how the new, in-your-face angle negatively impacted their favorite horror sub-genre. Where you now see the ghosts and supernatural forces through optical and computer trickery, the ghost stories of filmdom's golden age relied on simple sound, lighting, and wind machine effects to get the viewer's already active imagination to scare the pants off them. One of these subtle gems of yesteryear is 1944's The Uninvited, a sumptuous-looking, superbly directed and acted hair-raiser of the highest caliber.(read more...)

With the boom of the Beta/VHS industry in the early 80's, there was a need for lots of film product to fill video rental store shelves. Video distributors filled the quota with cinema that either had a limited theatrical release or were made straight-to-video. While this meant a lot of titles for consumers to choose from, it was often a dice roll as to level of quality. For every gem, there were ten films that were such mis-fires they were best left collecting dust bunnies on the shelf. One such dirt magnet is Twice Dead, a film replete with a two dollar budget, amateurish direction and even worse acting. (read more...)

Are you one of those growing numbers of horror film fans inflicted with sequel-itis? That is the condition, caused by money-hungry studio execs, that affects the areas of the brain that block impulses to see a movie, no matter the quality level, just because it has a favorite returning character and a number added to the title. If you're looking for a cure, you won't find it with Exorcist II: The Heretic, a good-looking film with a big budget and even bigger name cast that still manages to be a mess on so many levels.(read more...)

When you look at the history of horror cinema, there are few actors whose name is synonymous with an entire sub-genre. There's perhaps Boris Karloff and the mad scientist film or Christopher Lee in the Dracula/vampire realm. There's one actor who doesn't often get mentioned amongst the elite group of horror icons, and that's Barbara Steele. With her exotic, striking beauty and graceful physicality, she could move from playing icy villainess to strong but vulnerable heroine with incredible ease. Steele's popularity reached its peak in the 1960s with gothic chillers like Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Horrible Dr. Hichcock. One of Steele's lesser films is 1965's Nightmare Castle, a visually sumptuous entry that manages to hold interest despite a wildly silly plot.(read more...)