Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Made at the height of Roger Corman’s successful Edgar Allan Poe series (with his perennialstar Vincent Price), these two pictures, while similar in tone to the Poe films, adapt two differentwriters. Tower of London, a remake of the Basil Rathbone/Boris Karloff film from 1935,is a version of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with Price taking on the role of the villainoushunchback, plotting and killing his way to the throne of England. The Haunted Palace,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Charlton Heston drives around deserted Los Angeles. In the wake of a biological war, he isthe only human survivor of the plague. But he is not alone. At night, psychotic albino zombiescome out to kill him. After two years of war with the zombies (led by TV anchor turned madpreacher Anthony Zerbe), Heston discovers other human survivors. The race is on to see if hisblood can supply an antidote before these last people also perish of the plague. The first half ofthe fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Mother Karen Black, father Oliver Reed, young son Lee Montgomery and great-aunt BetteDavis escape New York to spend the summer at a country home. They get the huge mansion fora song, but the only catch is that they have to look after the aged owner of the house. Black takescharge of providing for the unseen old woman, and soon becomes dangerously obsessed withthe house. Strange accidents befall the family, and with each bad thing that happens to them, thehouse, which...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
People have been disappearing from the Russell Square station of the London Underground.The attention of the police is only really drawn, however, when one of the vanished turns out tobe a man well-placed in the Ministry of Defence. Inspector Donald Pleasance (wonderfullycranky and rude) is on the job. Meanwhile, two university students are also caught up in themystery. The reason people have been going missing is because they are being kidnapped andeaten by the last...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003
Synopsis
Richard Matheson, one of the most important talents in the horror field (his filmed novelsinclude Hell House, The Shrinking Man and I Am Legend -- the latterdone twice, as The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man), scripts this twoblack comedies. In The Comedy of Terrors, Vincent Price is the scheming owner of afuneral home. He has taken over the business from doddering and deaf Boris Karloff, and,desperate for money, forces t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003
Synopsis
A violent storm drops power lines into the swamp area of Fly Creek, Georgia. Driven madby the electricity, hundreds of thousands of giant, biting worms rise to the surface, and are heldback only by daylight. Three young people realize that something is up, but the adults won’tlisten, just as in The Blob, one of Squirm’s models. Come nightfall, the wormsattack. Squirm takes its time getting to the main event, and most of the build-up has aHardy Bo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003

Synopsis
Surely you know the story. It's WWII. France has fallen. Refugees from Europe are flowing into Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart is the cynical owner of Rick's Cafe. His life is disrupted byt he reappearance of former lover Ingrid Bergman, who is married to Resistance leader Paul Henreid. They need to escape to the US. Which way will Bogart go? Will he obey the demands of his heart? His greed? His honour? The film hasn't aged a day since its release, its grip is as powerful as ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003
Synopsis
Egyptology professor Boris Karloff is on his deathbed. He has just spent his fortuneacquiring a jewel he believes will open up the gates of the afterlife for him, and he demands to beburied with it, threatening to come back from the grave if his wishes are denied. Naturally, thejewel is stolen, and as a group of interested parties descend on his mansion, Karloff rises. ThisBritish film, made in the wake of the huge success of the early Universal horror classics, is als...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2003
It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 20 years since the Griswald family packed up the Family Truckster and stumbled their way halfway across the country to Wally World.Truth be told, I am not much of a Chevy Chase fan. I often find his buffoon act trying and old, but the Vacation films are a notable exception. With today’s political correctness it’s doubtful that the family dog would meet such a horribly funny end (Before you write to tell me how cruel I am, I own a Siberian husky who is loved no matter how much trouble she gets into).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003
Synopsis
Barbra Streisand is a perfume tycoon who, due to the dishonesty of an employee, suddenlyfinds herself broke. Her only remaining asset is a contract with a washed-up boxer (RyanO’Neal). Streisand decides to turn her fortunes around by managing O’Neal. The pair take aninstant dislike to each other, and squabble all their way into romance. The Main Eventmimics the rapid-fire delivery of the classic screwball comedies, but the effect is not so muchfunny as shrill and tir...
