Posts by Brent Lorentson

Back in 1964 a film was released about a reporter who wanted to know what it was like to be black in the deep south during the civil rights movement.  When I first heard this my initial reaction had me picturing some white guy in black face strolling the streets and then subsequently being beaten by both sides of the race coin.  It turns out this thankfully wasn’t the case, and the reporter, John Howard Griffin, underwent medical treatments, as well as hours under a sunlamp, to change the hue of his skin.  From the procedure on, the film explores a dark time in America seen through the eyes of both a white and a black man at the same time.

The idea of traveling out into the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and with no running water or toilet around, is not my idea of a nice vacation.  In fact, being a former Eagle Scout, just hearing about camping is enough to recall nights of sleeping on the hard ground, in the cold with rocks and sticks being stabbed into my back while trying to sleep.  It’s not that I hate the outdoors; I’ve simply grown to appreciate the niceties of life, and if getting in touch with nature means mosquito bites, I’ll stick with the motel 8 and enjoy the view from my room. 

This short-lived UK television series from 1995 is something I had never heard of, and after watching it, I consider it one of the best horror anthologies produced.  Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits all hold their own place in what they brought to the small screen, each with episodes that are given the same reverence we would give a classic film.  What Chiller managed in five episodes left me wanting so much more; five episodes simply was not enough.

"Everywhere you’ll go you’ll hear that slavery is a thing of the past.  Don’t believe it."

When I got handed this disc to review I didn’t pay it much attention till I noticed it had Michael Caine in it.  Then after a search on IMDB well I started to get more and more excited.  Filling out the rest of cast there’s Peter Ustinov (Spartacus), Omar Sharif (Lawrence of Arabia), and William Holden (The Wild Bunch) all together in an African adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer (Tora! Tora! Tora! and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) I couldn’t believe I had never seen, much less even heard of this film. 

Who doesn’t get a little creeped out any time they see an old van cruising slowly through their neighborhood?  Now, I’m not talking about the soccer mom mini-van you see plenty of, but I’m talking about those vans from the 80s and beyond that seemed to be the vehicle of choice in films where kidnapping is involved.  Creep Van takes the idea of the sleazy van and uses it to its fullest, transforming this white metal beast into the ultimate death trap on wheels.  Unfortunately the van and the gore are pretty much all the film has going for it.

"Meet the Robertsons clan. They turned duck calls into a multi-million dollar empire.  But running a family business is tough when the family just wants to run wild."

I have to admit when I got handed this to review my expectations were not just low, but part of me just wasn’t looking forward to this.  I’m just not a fan of reality television with the exception of every ghost hunting show out there.  I have no shame in admitting I want to believe. So a show about good ol’ boys that are millionaires for making duck calls, it simply sounded painful.

It’s hard to imagine where horror would be right now if George A. Romero never directed Night of the Living Dead.  Just look at the past decade and the slew of zombie releases…if not for Night of the Living Dead none of those movies would have ever been made.  For those of you who can’t miss a single episode of The Walking Dead, yet another thing that never would have been if not for Romero.  It’s not that he created the zombie; he simply created the zombie that we know and relate to today.  He’s the man who set the rules for the zombie and paved the way for the onslaught of gore-filled colloid that splashed across the screen.

If it was within your power to heal others’ sickness and injuries, would you? Most people’s answer to that question would undoubtedly be yes, but what if the price of healing someone else was to take their sickness on yourself? What would your answer be then? In Heaven’s Door, twelve-year-old Riley Taylor’s life is in shambles. After her mother suffered a miscarriage, her mother lost her faith and has filed for divorce from her father. Her little brother has been diagnosed with asthma, and she witness her grandfather suffer a heart attack and die before her very eyes (wow, that’s a lot to take; I’d crawl up in the fetal position).