Alan Birkinshaw enjoys the distinction of directing two Edgar Allan Poe adaptations in South Africa in 1989: Masque of the Red Death and The House of Usher. But only one dared put Frank Stallone’s name atop its poster! It wasn’t this one. Set in the present day, Birkinshaw’s House opens with Ryan Usher (Rufus Swart, … Continue reading The House of Usher (1989)
Behind the camera of Dance Macabre stands a trifecta of 20th-century cinematic cheese in director Greydon Clark and producers Menahem Golan and Harry Alan Towers, so it’s a shame this Russia-lensed terror tale is more Limburger than Parmesan. In what originally was intended as a sequel to his 1989 turn as The Phantom of the … Continue reading Dance Macabre (1992)
Another of producer Harry Alan Towers’ travelogue-esque tax write-offs masquerading as a creative project (see: Five Golden Dragons), the overly punctuated Code 7, Victim 5! casts five-time Tarzan Lex Barker as Steve Martin — neither the wild-and-crazy comedian, nor the Godzilla journalist, but an American private dick. Apparently having left the “ain’t gonna play Sun … Continue reading Code 7, Victim 5! (1964)
Edge of Sanity does not find Anthony Perkins at his sleaziest. That would be Ken Russell’s Crimes of Passion, but if one discounts that 1984 film, then yes, holy crap, Edge of Sanity finds Anthony Perkins at his sleaziest. (Interestingly, both pictures contain scenes that sexualize nuns.) Like virtually everything he did in the wake … Continue reading Edge of Sanity (1989)
After Star Wars changed the world, each part of that world wanted its own Star Wars. Italy cooked up Starcrash; Japan produced Message from Space; and Canada clocked in with H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come. Quite a mouthful, eh? Based in name only on Wells’ 1933 speculative novel, Shape is an all-around … Continue reading H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1979)