English Mono

Intro

Here we have perhaps the most ambitious of all the biblical epics. John Huston’s film isn’t content with dealing with just one story from the Bible. Oh no. This is the first 22 chapters of Genesis. Needless to say, the scope is BIG.

Intro

It’s amazing the effect that the passage of time has. It was hard to find a series that had a cheaper and nastier reputation than the Friday the 13th films back when they were first released. Now, in the wake of the slick postmodernism of Scream and its ilk, these slashers seem oddly quaint and innocent. Watching one is an exercise in Generation X nostalgia, and not at all an unpleasant one at that.

Intro

“If you have a taste for terror, you have a date with CARRIE.” So intones the original theatrical trailer for 1976’s “Carrie,” Brian de Palma’s cinematic adaptation of Stephen King’s identically named novel. This is a revenge story: Carrie is a high school student (at “Bates High” – yes this did come out after Psycho) who is tormented by her peers for her lack of physical prowess, weird family, homeliness, et cetera. Her contemporaries mysteriously overlook that fact that she is telekinetic and can...randomly set things on fire with a mere thought; thinking back to high school, I think that these two characteristics would have made her quite popular regardless of her volleyball ability. At any rate, the climax of the movie sees Carrie go ballistic and get her revenge on an uncaring high school populace and staff.

Intro

This was the last of the notable Rat Pack films. No more Sinatra and Martin after this, only dire stuff with Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.