I have a question to ask you – What exactly did Todd and Margo Chester do in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to do be villainized and suffer the burnt of Clark Griswold’s mayhem? I’ll wait. Can’t think of anything, can you? When we first see Todd and Margo (Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus), they areContinue reading “Justice For Todd And Margo”
Category Archives: Movie Flashback
‘Runaway’ Stumbled 40 Years Ago, But The Future Is Now
The question of what came first – the chicken or the egg can apply to many science-fiction movies. Did people read Jules Verne and become inspired to make submarines and spaceships or was Verne just expanding on what others were designing? Submersibles date back 300 years before Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. WhatContinue reading “‘Runaway’ Stumbled 40 Years Ago, But The Future Is Now”
‘The Terminator’ Turns 40
A movie like The Terminator could’ve easily been a huge disaster. It featured an Austrian bodybuilder whose accent wasn’t the right tone for actors of the era. The “hero” dies at the end. And the main character is a young actress who was in that Children of the Corn movie. Oh, the director was alsoContinue reading “‘The Terminator’ Turns 40”
Don’t Invite ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ To Your Holiday Get-Together
Getting together for Thanksgiving weekend is always a hassle for families. There’s all the cooking and the rearranging of family coming to visit. And then, you have law enforcement interrupt your plans by planning a raid where you have several people tied up in the basement. Or you’re stopping by a roadside motel only toContinue reading “Don’t Invite ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ To Your Holiday Get-Together”
Happy Thanksgiving!
I want to wish each and everyone of you a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. I have no plans for today but something later this weekend. I’m probably going to watch the parade and then Planes Trains and Automobiles. If you’re not a fan of football but want to watch something else, you can alwaysContinue reading “Happy Thanksgiving!”
All That ZAZ: Thanks For The Laughter, Jim Abrahams!
Some movies seemed to just come around at the right time. When Airplane! opened in the summer of 1980, the Irwin Allen-produced era of the disaster movies that dominated the 1970s had ended with the atrociously bad When Time Ran Out… and it seemed the movie could’ve been a parody that was a few yearsContinue reading “All That ZAZ: Thanks For The Laughter, Jim Abrahams!”
‘The Dead Pool’ Is Dirty Harry’s Swan Song In Metafictional Thriller
A movie like The Dead Pool is now more famous for its supporting cast and the unrelated media franchise its named spawned. It is the fifth and final Dirty Harry movie as Clint Eastwood was well into his 50s by the time of the movie’s release in the summer of 1988. My thinking Eastwood madeContinue reading “‘The Dead Pool’ Is Dirty Harry’s Swan Song In Metafictional Thriller”
‘Return Of The Living Dead III’ Gives Zombie Horror Some Fresh Taste
By the time, Return of the Living Dead III hit theaters in the Fall of 1993, the zombie genre was for lack of a better word – dead. No one was really making movies about people who came back to life and ate human flesh or brains at this time. It didn’t help that theContinue reading “‘Return Of The Living Dead III’ Gives Zombie Horror Some Fresh Taste”
The ‘Candyman’ Can: Farewell To Master Of Horror Tony Todd
As is always the case with many icons of horror, they didn’t start out making horror movies. Kane Hodder was a stuntman and some of his earliest roles were in action movies like Lone Wolf McQuade or comedies like Hardbodies. Robert Englund appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Stay Hungry and Kris Kristofferson and Barbra StreisandContinue reading “The ‘Candyman’ Can: Farewell To Master Of Horror Tony Todd”
‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ Turns 40
By the Fall of 1984, the slasher subgenre of horror was at the bottom of the barrel of movies. The critics hated them. Parental groups were trying to get them removed from theaters. And major studios realized they weren’t making the money they once did. Most of the movies were independently produced on the pre-soldContinue reading “‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ Turns 40”
Zane Says 