cult film freak: george buck flower

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Written by James M. Tate / 10/31/2026 / No comments / action , eighties , george buck flower , horror , john carpenter , keith david , meg foster , norman alden , peter jason , raymond st jacques , science-fiction , susan blanchard , sy richardson

JOHN CARPENTER DIRECTING RODDY PIPER THROUGH 'THEY LIVE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lDXR7xSSgeyLeb_8Pg3HBHxT6M1euDlBBbnx-9mIb2YdabwlVdsvrthxJFbCtrv_qu2cfrikWHJgZPv22rWjvv1INXYAfdBSDCfYrF1yh3yXVeXBZNlK0qmURfHczP0pN6xasZxiPvGyIsivwwaUsryKynEAq4x-EHJlF6xO-H6pkoya1vqotHmYJgRh/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-10-31%20at%209.47.48%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lDXR7xSSgeyLeb_8Pg3HBHxT6M1euDlBBbnx-9mIb2YdabwlVdsvrthxJFbCtrv_qu2cfrikWHJgZPv22rWjvv1INXYAfdBSDCfYrF1yh3yXVeXBZNlK0qmURfHczP0pN6xasZxiPvGyIsivwwaUsryKynEAq4x-EHJlF6xO-H6pkoya1vqotHmYJgRh/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-10-31%20at%209.47.48%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THEY LIVE Year: 1988 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the last genuinely classic John Carpenter movie, THEY LIVE stars antagonist wrestler Roddy Piper, who couldn't stop kicking and screaming in the ring... yet here's a kind of spaghetti western loner that keeps his cool and hardly speaks...<br><br>Until the scenes the science-fiction alien-invasion thriller is known for, during the game-changing yet still slow-burn second act: after Roddy Piper discovers a pair of important cheap sunglasses... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, eighties, george buck flower, horror, john carpenter, keith david, meg foster, norman alden, peter jason, raymond st jacques, science-fiction, susan blanchard, sy richardson

JOHN CARPENTER DIRECTING RODDY PIPER THROUGH 'THEY LIVE'

Title: THEY LIVE Year: 1988 Rating: ****1/2 In the last genuinely classic John Carpenter movie, THEY LIVE stars antagonist wrestler Roddy Pi...

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfXz07UIJefJREII7VP4_Vfc3pWKPjHLC768VmpzyAmTyB8JJiIQGPFwiT9zjoC-mMo9QV57Om7yM8Sve4xGHMV2IbfCLKEKOlniTrTUfv5FoCvrcIpzXVR3zViBuGTXnaIgPIBTiddPr/s540/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="463" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfXz07UIJefJREII7VP4_Vfc3pWKPjHLC768VmpzyAmTyB8JJiIQGPFwiT9zjoC-mMo9QV57Om7yM8Sve4xGHMV2IbfCLKEKOlniTrTUfv5FoCvrcIpzXVR3zViBuGTXnaIgPIBTiddPr/w343-h400/44877151_592334171195763_9043340000082526208_n.jpeg" width="343"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pattern wraiths move in a slow, nightmarish pace. And within that mobile-moving, misty shroud are what you'd get from a good old fashion ghost story, which this is John Carpenter's homage version of...</p><p>Literally starting with old timer John Houseman spinning a campfire legend to kids while setting the plot in motion about their small seaport town, founded on a deception that a ship of lepers was accidentally destroyed by nature — with enough gold to get the town's proverbial ball rolling...</p><p>And now in the 100-year Centennial Celebration, the wraiths, brandishing giant hooks, blades and resembling demonic fisherman with obscured hoods and lighted eyes, are after exactly six people — their own unlucky number now unlucky for the surprisingly low body-count in what's also Carpenter's mellow "drinking movie" of sorts...</p><p></p><p>Starring Adrienne Barbeau, the director's then-wife, as a sultry-voiced deejay of mellow jazz, and otherwise providing a sort of strategic Roman Chorus for the fog's momentum, alerting both the characters where it's headed and the audience where the characters should go because of it... while Carpenter's HALLOWEEN ingenue Jamie Lee Curtis falls (way too quickly and unrealistically) head-over-heels for an older-man, and one of the director's regulars, tough guy actor Tom Atkins; both he and Curtis investigate his best friend's disappearance on a fishing boat leading to a cool "ghost ship" scenario... the duo provides an added bonus to alleviate Barbeau from having to work too hard...</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgqdCqAiHadwv3Z6B9Z8c3pGGj-vVfz7-OcWfeQaTr8YyOGnFUvvWoVTkmKhi6uYWbWn0oP4mxTstXhRuwiIOjEBPFpodukGlrzGMvcUVnca_MBh76BFPouCKv1ZFTAnAxThX-pj308np/s934/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="934" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgqdCqAiHadwv3Z6B9Z8c3pGGj-vVfz7-OcWfeQaTr8YyOGnFUvvWoVTkmKhi6uYWbWn0oP4mxTstXhRuwiIOjEBPFpodukGlrzGMvcUVnca_MBh76BFPouCKv1ZFTAnAxThX-pj308np/w400-h301/44544442_590180974744416_988086316258295808_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jamie Lee Curtis in THE FOG Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Different than HALLOWEEN and similar to THE THING and PRINCE OF DARKNESS, this is more of an ensemble, and, just as he would later on, Carpenter juggles his characters nicely... <br></p><p>And unlike most main female characters of this genre, the voluptuous brunette Barbeau is definitely no cliché uptight novice: well into her thirties, she has a curious young son who, while they are separated, gives Atkins and Curtis someone to protect along with an actual urgency and purpose leading to a narrowed-down third act. But it's the town's basement-dwelling priest, played with sublime ambiguity by Hal Holbrook, who steals the show while telling half of it...</p><p>Meanwhile, added to the mix is Jamie Lee's mom, legendary PSYCHO starlet Janet Leigh who, alongside another HALLOWEEN ingenue and Carpenter regular Nancy Loomis, provide a second duo to follow towards a particular location — where everyone winds up except the lighthouse-trapped Barbeau... And the split-second surprise-ending is one of the greatest ever in this solid, vastly underrated, personal favorite Carpenter vehicle that, compared to his more celebrated films surrounding, seemed to roll under the pop culture horror movie radar: A cult film's cult film, if you will.  </p><p><span></span></p>

adrienne barbeau, eighties, george buck flower, ghost ship, horror, james canning, jamie lee curtis, janet leigh, john carpenter, john houseman, nancy loomis, thriller, tom atkins

JOHN CARPENTER'S UNDERRATED GHOST STORY OF 'THE FOG'

The Fog autographed DVD Year: 1980 Depending how you look at it, John Carpenter's THE FOG is a zombie flick since the titular weather-pa...

JOHN CARPENTER'S THE FOG

adrienne barbeau, eighties, george buck flower, ghost ship, horror, james canning, jamie lee curtis, janet leigh, john carpenter, john houseman, nancy loomis, thriller, tom atkins

JOHN CARPENTER'S THE FOG

THE FOG HAS MOVED TO THIS LOCATION CLICK HERE

ROBYN HILTON BLAZES A STRANGE TRAIL IN 'VIDEO VIXENS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody Allen "old funny movies" and tackled later in KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, revels with exceptionally bad taste in VIDEO VIXENS, centering on an award show co-hosted by cult starlet Robyn Hilton, best known as the Governor's bimbo i.e. the bubbly blonde "bitch" at actor/director Mel Brooks's side in BLAZING SADDLES...<br>
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It's impossible to say which character came first since, while Hilton is no method actress otherwise, her high-pitched, airhead-bubbly voice is exactly the same as the comedy Western satire, only here she's the star VIXEN despite the fact her role is eventually limited to introducing each vingette, along with a porn director played by John Carpenter's future regular's regular George "Buck" Flower, whose producer wants their maligned and far-from-mainstream industry to be respected, thus forcing an uppity Felix Unger type critic to serve as the Master of Ceremonies, reacting woefully to each skit/sketch that are all tortuously unfunny, un-sexy, and unbelievably awful — yet it's great seeing Robyn Hilton in what might have landed her her BLAZING role. With an (opening) line from another actress, irritated at the director before a pornographic scene, shouting, "Easy on the beaver, you toilet pole!" it's a no-brainer it took no brains for the infamously awful Troma to make VIDEO VIXENS, and it takes even less to watch.  <br>

cheryl smith, exploitation, george buck flower, robyn hilton, seventies, troma

ROBYN HILTON BLAZES A STRANGE TRAIL IN 'VIDEO VIXENS'

Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)ROBBERY 3)HELL IS A CITY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)FALLEN ANGEL 19)A PRIZE OF ARMS 20)THE BIG HEAT 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)PAYROLL 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER