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As the sweltering heat of summer begins to fade and the days grow shorter, there’s an unmistakable shift in the atmosphere. The air becomes cooler, the sun sets earlier, and a creeping sense of autumn unease starts to settle in. This is the perfect time to dive into some end of summer horror movies that capture the eerie transition from the bright, carefree days of summer to the darker, more foreboding nights of early fall. These films tap into that strange in-between time when the warmth of the season lingers, but there’s a chilling edge just around the corner.

Whether you’re a fan of the rural horrors lurking in cornfields or the unsettling rituals of isolated communities, these late summer horror movies offer a mix of unsettling dread and atmospheric tension, dripping with the last drops of summer humidity. Each film on this list is perfect for...

Théoden, King of Rohan, is dead. British film and television actor, Bernard Hill, best known for portraying the ruler of Rohan in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, passed away on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at the age of 79. No details have been provided, but it has been confirmed that he was in the company of his fiancée Alison and his son Gabriel. No official cause of death has been provided.

Bernard Hill had several memorable roles both on film and television, but younger audiences will probably best remember him for his role in The Lord of the Rings, but also for portraying Captain Edward J. Smith in James Cameron’s Titanic, which also earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Bernard Hill was born in Manchester in 1944. He attended the Xaverian College, and then Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama at the same time as Richard Griffiths, another...

“Arise, arise, riders of Rohan! Spears shall be shaken! Shields shall be splintered! A sword-day…a red day…ere the sun rises!”

So begins The Battle of Pelennor Fields, a centerpiece in Peter Jackson’s Best Picture-winning adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”. It’s a visually triumphant scene, with thousands of fighters on horseback and the horns of Howard Shore’s score lifting the sequence off the screen, but it’s Bernard Hill and his character King Theóden’s rousing speech to his troops that pulls the audience in and makes us a part of the action. That was Bernard Hill’s gift. He made things real. He offered a level of authenticity and commitment that transcends the screen and made movie-going a holy experience. Sadly, it was confirmed by his agent, Lou Coulson, that Hill died early this morning...

Bernard Hill, the English actor known for his parts in films like Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, and more, has died. He was 79 years old.

Hill’s passing was confirmed on Sunday by his agent Lou Coulson (per the BBC).

Born in Manchester, England on December 17th, 1944, Hill was the son of a miner and grew up in working class conditions. After graduating from the Manchester School of Theatre in 1970, he began his acting career with a string of television and film performances. In 1976, he had a small role in the show I, Claudius, and in 1979, he debuted as Yosser Hughes in the television play The Black Stuff, which then became the acclaimed series, Boys from the Blackstuff.

As Hughes, Hill gave a voice to the working class of England during the economic and social difficulties of the Thatcher era. An out-of-work tarmac layer struggling to hold on to a sense of dignity,...

A sad day for all Lord of the Rings fans – actor Bernard Hill has passed away at the age of 79 as confirmed by his agent Lou Coulson. The veteran actor died in the early morning of May 5th, as relayed to BBC.

Bernard Hill in Lord of the Rings

Hill is best known for his works on Titanic and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he played Captain Edward Smith and King Théoden, respectively. He rose to stardom when he starred in the BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff.

Bernard Hill Loved Working On Lord Of The Rings And Shared Advice For Future Directors

Bernard Hill’s family is yet to release a statement regarding the actor’s death. He was scheduled to attend Liverpool Comic-Con this week, but the event confirmed he won’t be making an appearance anymore after they issued a message on Twitter:...

Bernard Hill, who played Captain Edward Smith in Titanic and King Théoden in two of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films, died early Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson confirmed. He was 79. No cause has was given.

His breakout role was in BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, where he portrayed Yosser Hughes, a character who struggled — and often failed — to cope with unemployment in Liverpool.

Hill will be seen in Season 2 of The Responder, a BBC drama starring Martin Freeman, which begins airing on Sunday.

Along with Best Picture Oscar winners Titanic and The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King and the latter’s predecessor The Two Towers, his credits also included the 1976 BBC TV series I, Claudius, an appearance in 1982’s Gandhi, True Crime (1999) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999). The Scorpion King in 2002 and the 2008 Tom Cruise film Valkyrie.

The Manchester...

There have been, as of this writing, approximately 900 "Star Trek" episodes and 13 "Star Trek" motion pictures. That is, and forgive me for getting technical about this, a whole heck of a lot of "Star Trek."

Indeed, there has been so much gosh-darned "Star Trek" that the various writers have probably cycled through just about every possible type of story there is. This is the type of franchise where the exact same characters could do a "Bad News Bears" episode, a heart-wrenching drama about overcoming Ptsd, and an "Ocean's Eleven" episode over just a couple of months, and nobody in the audience ever batted an eye or thought that was weird. Heck, it's one of the main reasons why people now argue that "Deep Space Nine" is the best "Trek" show ever."

And yet throughout what's getting close to 1,000 episodes, there is one type of story that "Star Trek" has never done,...

It’s hard to believe at first glance that the surreal Lovecraftian horrors of Messiah of Evil are courtesy of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who wrote both the warm nostalgia bath that is American Graffiti and the absurd comic book antics of Howard the Duck. But there are definite similarities between these films. American Graffiti and Messiah of Evil each capture a particular milieu at the end of an era, whether that’s provincial Modesto before the Beatles and Vietnam, or a beach town being overtaken by an evil cult. And Messiah of Evil and Howard the Duck both concern a cataclysmic threat from another realm.

Messiah of Evil focuses on Arletty (Marianna Hill), a young woman who’s come to Point Dune on the California coast looking for her famous artist father, Joseph Lang (Royal Dano). She soon makes the acquaintance of raffish Thom (Michael Greer), a nomadic...

A 1973 curiosity which has been released under several other titles – most notably Dead People – yet never quite taken off, Messiah Of Evil has recently been restored and is screening as part of the Retrospective strand at the 2023 Dundead film festival. It’s an oddly structured, messy yet atmospheric film with its roots in Hp Lovecraft tales, Night Of The Living Dead and Carnival Of Souls, clearly an influence on a lot of subsequent genre work yet easy for even quite serious fans to overlook altogether. Although the first half is very slow, once it picks up, there’s enough genuinely weird stuff to make you glad you didn’t.

The story revolves around Arietty, a woman who goes looking for her estranged father after he sends her a series of increasingly urgent-sounding letters and then falls...

“The Godfather” is an American film series consisting of three crime drama films directed by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The source material of the first movie, “The Godfather,” is a novel of the same name released in 1969 by Italian American author Mario Puzo.

The series received massive success at the box office, earning over 429 million worldwide, and the Godfather Saga has evolved into a cultural and artistic milestone over time.

Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece trilogy follows the Corleone family’s journey to create an underground mafia kingdom in New York City, revolutionizing the gangster movie genre. His brilliance and creativity brought forth a powerful story that resonates with fans around the globe.

In this blog post, we have discussed the Godfather film series and provided a brief synopsis of each movie.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

All “The Godfather” Movies in Order...

Click here to read the full article.

Jack Ging, the familiar character actor who recurred on such series as Tales of Wells Fargo, Mannix, Riptide and The A-Team and appeared in three films opposite Clint Eastwood, has died. He was 90.

Ging died Friday of natural causes at his home in La Quinta, California, his wife, Apache Ging, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In rare starring turns, Ging played the love interest of Diane Baker’s character in a remake of Tess of the Storm Country (1960), a soldier and reluctant hero in the waning days of the Korean War in the drama Sniper’s Ridge (1961) and a clinical psychiatrist on the 1962-64 NBC medical series The Eleventh Hour.

Alongside Eastwood, Ging portrayed a marshal in Hang ‘Em High (1968), a doctor in Play Misty for Me (1971) and Morgan Allen, the mine owner (and lover of Marianna Hill’s character), in High Plains Drifter...

Hello, everyone! August 23rd is a quiet day for horror and sci-fi home media releases, but that doesn’t mean that this week’s offerings aren’t pretty darn great all the same. Scream Factory has put together a killer Collector’s Edition 4K release for Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers and Kino Lorber has put together reissues of their Blu-ray box sets for seasons one and two of The Outer Limits, which genre fans will definitely want to pick up.

Cheers!

Dog Soldiers: 4K Collector’s Edition

A group of soldiers dispatched to the Scottish Highlands on special training maneuvers face their biggest fears after they run into Captain Ryan – the only survivor of a Special Ops team that was literally torn to pieces. Ryan refuses to disclose his mission even though whoever attacked his men might be hungry for seconds. Help arrives in the form of a...

Stars: Melora Walters, Jocelin Donahue, Joe Swanberg, Richard Brake | Written and Directed by Mickey Keating

Offseason, the new film from writer/director Mickey Keating opens with Ava Aldrich addressing the viewer in a scene that recalls Marianna Hill’s warning at the start of Messiah of Evil.

That film involved a woman’s trip to a touristy coastal town in search of her missing and presumed dead father, Offseason opens with Marie Aldrich heading to the touristy island where Ava is buried. It seems her grave was desecrated and her presence is required to remedy it.

As she and George arrive their trip is almost derailed. It seems the drawbridge to the island is raised during the offseason and the Bridge Man only relents and lowers it after finding out why she’s there. He also warns them that after tomorrow it’ll be locked until spring.

Keating opens Offseason...

Anyone familiar with this column knows my deep-rooted affection for Ms. Kate Jackson; I espoused her many virtues when I covered Satan’s School for Girls (you can ponder my musings here), and I promise (warn?) you I will do so again as I discuss the couple-in-a-house-is-met-with-animosity-from-a-possible-ghost telefilm, Death at Love House (1976), aka How Much Is That Dead Actress In the Window?

Originally broadcast as The ABC Friday Night Movie on Friday, September 3rd, Love House was up against The CBS Friday Night Movies and NBC trotted out The Rockford Files/Quincy M.E. for folks like mine. So who won out? We all did! I loved Rockford and Quincy. Okay, CBS probably lost. But if you were looking for some charming stars doing charming things in a charming manor with a hint of danger, look no further than ABC.

Let’s open up our battered faux TV Guide and see...

While the easiest route to success post Halloween was to copy that particular formula, not everyone followed the slasher template; elements to be sure, but some films chose to borrow from their Italian brethren and dive into the giallo pool. Case in point: Schizoid (1980), an effective thriller that leans much more towards whodunit and shadowed menace.

Given a limited release by Cannon Films stateside in the fall, Schizoid was soon relegated to home video for Klaus Kinski Kinky Kompletists only and no one else, it seems. I saw it as an adolescent and took it as just an okay notch on the burgeoning horror belt; a revisit has shone a stronger light on its surprisingly potent themes of manipulation and toxic masculinity. That, and Klaus, of course.

After a quick opening scene of our heroine and reporter Julie (Marianna Hill – The Baby) working on an article in her home at night,...

While October is officially just days away now, we have another batch of excellent genre home media releases in the meantime to help get us ready for the best month of the year. Scream Factory has put together an incredible box set for the [Rec] series that fans will definitely want to add to their personal collections, and for those who have made the upgrade, John Carpenter’s original Halloween makes its debut in 4K this week.

Arrow Video has put together a Special Edition release for The Baby, and for those of you who may have missed it earlier this year, Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich heads to multiple formats on Tuesday. Both The Swarm (1978) and The Cyclops (1957) head to HD for the first time ever courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection, and there’s a bevy of cult classics headed to both Blu-ray and DVD from the likes...

“Maybe you think too much. When it comes to Baby, I do all the thinking.”

The Baby (1973) will be available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video September 25th

Still traumatized by the loss of her husband, well-meaning social worker Ann Gentry throws herself into her latest assignment: the case of Baby , a 21-year-old man with the mind of an infant who crawls, cries and has yet to make it out of nappies. But Baby s family the tyrannical Mama Wadsworth and her two demented daughters aren’t the only ones with a warped conception of familial relations, and the full horror only begins when Ann sets her sights on liberating the drooling man-child… and in so doing unleashes the wrath of the Wadsworth women.

45 years after its original release, this film remains one of the most bizarre horror movies ever committed to celluloid. Directed by Ted Post and co-starring Marianna Hill,...

It’s finally here in all its glory, the Howard Hawks movie nobody loves. The epitome of clueless ’60s filmmaking by an auteur who left his thinking cap back with Bogie and Bacall, this show is a PC quagmire lacking the usual compensation of exploitative thrills. But hey, it has a hypnotic appeal all its own: we’ll not abandon any movie where Teri Garr dances.

Red Line 7000

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: James Caan, Laura Devon, Gail Hire, Charlene Holt, John Robert Crawford, Marianna Hill, James (Skip) Ward, Norman Alden, George Takei, Diane Strom, Anthony Rogers, Robert Donner, Teri Garr.

Cinematography: Milton Krasner

Film Editors: Bill Brame, Stuart Gilmore

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Written by George Kirgo story by Howard Hawks

Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks

Critics have been raking Howard Hawks’ stock car racing epic...

Only in the ‘70s, man, only in the ‘70s. Long before PC culture invaded popular entertainment, movies were the haven of the taboo, a safe house for ideas two steps from the norm. Now, many of these films of perversion were relegated to grindhouse theatres and the third feature of a Dusk Til Dawn showing at your local Drive-In. But occasionally a film will crawl towards the mainstream and plop itself down, bawling for attention. The Baby (1973) is one such film, so twisted in conception that it’s hard to believe it would be released in any decade. Except the ‘70s of course, where you could even get the director of a Dirty Harry and a Planet of the Apes flick to helm it.

Distributed by Scotia International in March, The Baby was given a limited theatrical release; and that’s really for the best – as much as the film...

Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...

This week’s Blu-ray and DVD releases are an eclectic bunch, to say the least. Not only is Steve Miner’s criminally overlooked horror/comedy creature feature Lake Placid swimming its way onto Blu-ray, but Severin Films is also releasing a trio of controversial cult classics- Bloody Moon, The Baby and Bloody Birthday-all in high definition for the first time ever.

The Time Machine is also getting a Blu-ray release this week, along with Gareth Evans’ stunning action masterpiece The Raid 2 and a handful of indie horror films, including the wickedly entertaining horror musical Stage Fright starring Minnie Driver and Meat Loaf. Overall, it’s a good week to be a genre fan with oddball tastes because there’s a whole lot of wonderfully weird stuff arriving this Tuesday.

Spotlight Titles:

The Baby (Severin Films, Blu-ray)

An A-list director. A jaw-dropping storyline. And depraved depictions of suburban violence,...

Conscious-free kids who kill, a man living like a baby, and a killer stalking Spanish schoolgirls: Severin Films is plucking these three stories from the old-school horror shelf and bringing them to Blu-ray this summer, and we have the release details for you now.

Set for a July 8th home media release, the Blu-ray releases of 1981′s Bloody Birthday, 1973′s The Baby, and 1981′s Bloody Moon should excite fans of these grindhouse films and bring new viewers in, as well. Here are the release details from Severin Films:

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray:

“Get ready for the rarely seen slasher classic from the ’80s that may also be the most disturbing ‘killer kids’ movies in grindhouse history: Three babies are simultaneously born in the same hospital at the peak of a full solar eclipse. Ten years later, these adorable youngsters suddenly begin a kiddie killing spree of stranglings, shootings, stabbings, beatings and beyond.

It's always an exciting thing when horror flicks hit Blu-ray for the very first time, and Severin Films has three such debuts in store for us on July 8, inviting us to a Bloody Birthday, allowing us to hold The Baby, and encouraging us to howl at the Bloody Moon.

Read on for complete release details for all three!

Bloody Birthday Synopsis

Get ready for the rarely seen slasher classic from the 80s that may also be the most disturbing "killer kids" movies in grindhouse history: Three babies are simultaneously born in the same hospital at the peak of a full solar eclipse. Ten years later, these adorable youngsters suddenly begin a kiddie killing spree of stranglings, shootings, stabbings, beatings, and beyond. Can the town's grown-ups stop these pint-sized serial killers before their blood-soaked birthday bash? K.C. Martel (E.T., "Growing Pains"), Joe Penny ("Jake and The Fat Man"), Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja...

I watched Universal's newly restored and remastered Blu-ray edition of Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (10/15; Amazon) last night and before hitting play I'd actually forgot I'd seen it before until Eastwood as "The Stranger" came into view, riding into the small town of Lago where the duration of the film takes place. Released in New York 40 years ago this past April, Drifter is an interesting one when compared to today's cinema, which is hellbent on revenge whereas this is a story of retribution... or is itc The citizens of Lago are made to pay for their past misdeeds while at the same time seeking protection from a trio of gunmen they previously watched whip their own town marshal to death after he threatened to reveal their mining town was actually on government land. Riding into town looking for a whiskey, a shave and a bath, Eastwood channels his iconic...

Cinematic Titanic is the live movie riffing show from the creator and original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and they’re bringing their show to St. Louis this Saturday October 12th for what they’re calling their ‘Farewell Tour’ which I guess means this is the last time you’ll be able to see these guys riff on movies. Like MST3K, the show was created by Joel Hodgson and features the same team that first brought the Peabody award winning cult-classic series to life: Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrester), J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo, Dr. Erhardt), Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank), and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), Cinematic Titanic continues the tradition of riffing on ‘the unfathomable’, ‘the horribly great’, and the just plain ‘cheesy’ movies from the past.

Four years ago when Cinematic Titanic came to the St. Louis area’s St. Charles Family Arena, they riffed on...

Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, the Israeli titans of the Cannon Film Group, had a huge business theatrically and on home video throughout the 1980’s producing lower budget films. Mainly known for their genre output, Scream Factory presents two of their offerings in a new double feature set.

Shizoid (1980) stars Klaus Kinski as a psychiatrist who runs a therapy group that is quickly losing its members to a serial murderer, while X-Ray finds Barbi Benton trapped in a hospital and stalked by a killer after a routine examination.

Schizoid (1980) plays like a TV movie of the week with a little gore in it. Julie (Marianna Hill) is a columnist for a newspaper who is receiving threatening letters while members of her support group drop like flies. Could it be her therapist, the aforementioned Kinski? A co-worker? Is it the therapist’s daughter (Donna Wilkes)? The murder mystery in Schizoid is void of suspense or interest,...

Scream Factory has given us official release details for their August titles: X-Ray, Schizoid, Q The Winged Serpent, and Dark Angel:

“This August, loyal fans are invited to combat the summer heat with a quadruple dose of 80s high-camp horror classics when a double feature presentation of Boaz Davidson’s X-ray (aka Hospital Massacre), starring former Playboy Playmate Barbi Benton, and David Paulsen’s Schizoid, starring cult film favorite Klaus Kinski (Crawlspace), debut on home entertainment shelves together in a double-feature Blu-ray™ + DVD combo pack on August 20, 2013; Larry Cohen’s creature terror classic Q The Winged Serpent, starring Michael Moriarty Law & Order), Candy Clark (American Graffiti), David Carradine (Kung Fu, Kill Bill) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft); and Craig Baxley’s Dark Angel starring Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables) arrive on Blu-ray™ for the first time on August 27, 2013. Available for the first time on Blu-ray, each movie collection boasts original theatrical key art,...

Okay, kids! Time for the goods on Scream Factory's Schizoid / X-Ray double feature Blu-ray as well as Q The Winged Serpent and Dark Angel, which was better known here Stateside as I Come in Peace.

From the Press Release

This August, loyal fans are invited to combat the summer heat with a quadruple dose of 80s high-camp horror classics when a double feature presentation of Boaz Davidson’s X-ray (aka Hospital Massacre), starring former Playboy Playmate Barbi Benton, and David Paulsen’s Schizoid, starring cult film favorite Klaus Kinski (Crawlspace), debut on home entertainment shelves together in a double-feature Blu-ray™ + DVD combo pack on August 20, 2013; Larry Cohen’s creature terror classic Q The Winged Serpent, starring Michael Moriarty Law & Order), Candy Clark (American Graffiti), David Carradine (Kung Fu, Kill Bill) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft); and Craig Baxley’s Dark Angel starring Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables) arrive on Blu-ray™ for the...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 21, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Verna Bloom and Robert Forster tries to figure things out in Medium Cool.

The 1969 film drama Medium Cool is the first narrative film directed by the famed documentarian/cinematographer Haskell Wexler, who shot One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Days of Heaven, among other greats.

In, with the U.S. in social upheaval, Wexler decided to make a film about what the hell was going on and plunge audiences straight into the moment. With its mix of scripted fiction and seat-of-the-pants documentary technique, the film’s story looks at the working world and romantic life of television cameraman John Cassellis (Robert Forster, Jackie Brown). Set in Chicago, Cassellis finds himself becoming personally involved in the violence that erupts around the 1968 Democratic National Convention, just as he’s forced to deal with a whole lot of romantic and lifestyle issues.

The Baby

Directed by Ted Post

Written by Aby Polsky

USA, 1973

Shocking and unsettling in breaking a number social taboos, this forgotten gem centres on the kind of dysfunctional family seldom depicted on screen. The Baby is a politically-incorrect pseudo horror film about motherly love gone horribly wrong.

Our story follows a recently widowed social worker (Anjanette Comer) who investigates a strange case of child abuse and discovers a grown man (David Manzy) has been held in a state of infantile his entire life. The grown man still behaves like a baby, dressed in diapers, unable to speak and under the full dependance and care of a mother and her two teenage daughters. The social worker becomes increasinly obsessed with Baby, fearful for his wellbeing under the manipulative, psychotically abusive family who control and torture him for their own benefit.

Ted Post’s The Baby is surely one of the...

A quick recommendation of a new DVD of an old cult film: 1973's "The Baby," from director Ted Post. The story is sort of "Cinderella" if instead of forcing Cinderella to do manual labor, the wicked stepmother and stepsisters brutalized her into pretending she was a giant overgrown baby so they could suckle off the government teat by collecting her welfare checks. There's no Prince Charming in this version, but there is a charming social worker who believes the "baby" (whose name is, well, Baby) is being mistreated and abused and is capable of acting like the adult he physically is.

For the life of me I can't figure out how this film came to exist. A world in which no one but a single social worker is concerned or even skeptical about the "Grey Gardens" nutjobs and their adult baby son? Even her bosses at the welfare offices tell...

DVD Playhouse June 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion) Robert Aldrich’s 1955 reinvention of the film noir detective story is one of cinema’s great genre mash-ups: part hardboiled noir; part cold war paranoid thriller; and part science- fiction. Ralph Meeker plays Mickey Spillane’s fascist detective Mike Hammer as a narcissistic simian thug, a sadist who would rather smash a suspect’s fingers than make love to the bevvy of beautiful dames that cross his path. In fact, the only time you see a smile cross Meeker’s sneering mug is when he’s doling out pain, with a vengeance. When a terrified young woman (Cloris Leachman, film debut) literally crossed Hammer’s path one night, and later turns up dead, he vows to get to the bottom of her brutal demise. One of the most influential films ever made, and perhaps the most-cited film by the architects...

Filmmaker and cinematographer Haskell Wexler.

Haskell Wexler Shoots From The Hip

By

Alex Simon

Two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was adjudged one of the ten most influential cinematographers in movie history, according to an International Cinematographers Guild survey of its membership. He won his Oscars in both black & white and color, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and Bound for Glory (1976). He also shot much of Days of Heaven (1978), for which credited director of photography Nestor Almendros -- who was losing his eye-sight, won a Best Cinematography Oscar. In 1993, Wexler was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award by the cinematographer's guild, the American Society of Cinematographers. He has received five Oscar nominations for his cinematography, in total, plus one Emmy Award in a career that has spanned six decades.

Born in Chicago to a wealthy family on February 6, 1922, Wexler cut his teeth shooting industrial films, TV commercials and documentaries. He...

Capri in the acclaimed 1972 film Payday

Sad to report that Ahna Capri was killed in a car accident over the weekend in La. She began as a child actress in the 50s and morphed into a sexy 60s starlet who resembled a cross between Sandra Dee and Joey Heatherton. Using the name Anna Capri, she appeared in such films as Kisses for My President and The Girls on the Beach (co-star Gail Gerber remembers Anna as "such a lovely girl. I remember when first meeting her I couldn't believe how beautiful she was.") She popped up all over TV in such series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West, The Invaders, Run for Your Life, and It Takes a Thief. In the 70s, a la Mariana Hill, she changed her name also to Ahna Capri (she remarked, "Too many people pronounce 'Anna' with a flat 'a' and it comes out as ugly 'Aaana.

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Night of the Creeps, the original Stargate, The Sam Fuller Collection, Orphan and the complete The Prisoner series starring and created by Patrick McGoohan (pictured above).

Check them out.

Movies

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan ~ Edward James Olmos, Tricia Helfer (DVD and Blu-ray)

42nd Street Forever 5: Alamo Drafthouse Edition ~ Charlton Heston, Robert Englund (DVD)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ~ Ray Romano (DVD and Blu-ray)

Into Temptation ~ Kristin Chenoweth, Jeremy Sisto (DVD and Blu-ray)

Messiah of Evil: The Second Coming ~ Michael Greer,...

• Screamkings Productions has announced that its new shocker Frat House Massacre (pictured) will have its first U.S. screening next Wednesday, February 4. It’ll be showing at New York City’s Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue) as part of the NewFilmmakers New York series.

The movie begins at 8 p.m., and director Alex Pucci and cast members Jon Fleming, Niki Notarile and Rane Jameson will attend and hold a Q&A. Scripted by Draven Gonzalez, Frat House Massacre is supposedly based on true events and is set in 1979, following two brothers as they join the Delta Iota fraternity and find themselves enmeshed in sex, drugs and brutal hazing that leads to torture and murder. Veteran Italian composer Claudio Simonetti provided the score. You can check out the movie’s official website here.

• While it continues to search for a distributor, Jim Isaac’s new film Pig Hunt has been set...