cult film freak: July 2010

Written by James M. Tate / 7/17/2010 / No comments / dan curtis , horror , karen black , oliver reed , seventies , suspense

BURNT OFFERINGS

<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TEIovVynfnI/AAAAAAAAAeM/CG_OibmIScY/s1600/vlcsnap-193001.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494999289113837170" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TEIovVynfnI/AAAAAAAAAeM/CG_OibmIScY/s200/vlcsnap-193001.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 186px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>BURNT OFFERINGS<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>1976<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Oliver Reed, Karen Black<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">director:</span> Dan Curtis<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating: </span>**<br />
<br />
A family, consisting of a strong-willed, serious-minded husband; a faithful wife who sets up a room with his typewriter; and their young son moving into a large house for the summer. It's haunted, and within days, the father becomes violent towards the son. The house has a strange past that overlaps into the family's life. And after an extremely predictable ending, the last shot is of the family members seen in pictures within the house: as if they'd <span style="font-style: italic;">always </span>lived there. Sound familiar? This is very much like THE SHINING. Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick both should haven given credit to not only this film, but the novel in which it was based. Although since it's not very good... the suspenseful setup working much better than when the plot takes hold... and no one seemed to care to acknowledge it.

dan curtis, horror, karen black, oliver reed, seventies, suspense

BURNT OFFERINGS

title: BURNT OFFERINGS year: 1976 cast: Oliver Reed, Karen Black director: Dan Curtis rating: ** A family, consisting of a strong-wil...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/13/2010 / No comments / action , body count , crime , don siegel , drugs , eli wallach , fifties , film noir or melodrama , richard jaekal , robert keith , TV adaptation

THE LINEUP

action, body count, crime, don siegel, drugs, eli wallach, fifties, film noir or melodrama, richard jaekal, robert keith, TV adaptation

THE LINEUP

THIS REVIEW HAS MOVED HERE: CLICK FOR THE NEW IMPROVED LINEUP REVIEW

Written by James M. Tate / 7/06/2010 / No comments / british film noir/melodrama , british new wave , fifties , import , suspense

THE SNORKEL

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TDNrIMAJOkI/AAAAAAAAAcU/oJ2XLzlFJtI/s1600/snorkel.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/TDNrIMAJOkI/AAAAAAAAAcU/oJ2XLzlFJtI/s200/snorkel.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490850159099722306" style="float: right; height: 139px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><b>title:</b> THE SNORKEL<br />
<div>
<div>
<b>year:</b> 1958</div>
<div>
<b>cast:</b> Mandy Miller, Peter Van Eyck, William Franklyn, Betta St. John </div>
<div>
<b>rating:</b> *1/2</div>
<br />
<div>
This could have been a terrific comedy. A man wearing a big snorkel sits in an airtight basement while his wife suffocates on deadly gases above. Doesn't sound very funny, but it is... unintentionally. The woman's pre-teen daughter is on to this guy, who's just too perfect... and he's a conceited jerk. A perfectly conceited jerk covering up a "perfect murder" in a B&W British melodrama (somehow considered Noir) as suspenseful as deep-sea-diving in a swimming pool... in the shallow end. </div>
</div>

british film noir/melodrama, british new wave, fifties, import, suspense

THE SNORKEL

title: THE SNORKEL year: 1958 cast: Mandy Miller, Peter Van Eyck, William Franklyn, Betta St. John rating: *1/2 This could hav...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)HANNIBAL BROOKS 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER