In the 1930s, Universal laid claim to the two biggest horror stars of the era, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and it was only a matter of time before the pair would meet on screen. In 1932, only months after each rocketed to stardom in Dracula and Frankenstein respectively, the two were dressed in tuxedoes and brought together for a genial photoshoot that simultaneously announced their partnership and implied a rivalry. Through a series of circumstances, it was another two years before the pair would star in a film together. As one might expect, it was in the most transgressive horror film of the era, 1934’s The Black Cat, a film that remains shocking not only for the early 1930s but even more surprising as a product overseen by the newly enforced Hays Code.

The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.

Spoilers for "The Fall of the House of Usher" follow.

You might call Carla Gugino Mike Flanagan's secret weapon. The actor has worked with Flanagan on multiple occasions, from "The Haunting of Hill House" to "Gerald's Game," and beyond. Their latest collaboration is "The Fall of the House of Usher," an Edgar Allan Poe-infused series now streaming on Netflix. In the series, Gugino plays Verna, a mysterious, supernatural woman who has a habit of popping up seemingly everywhere in various forms. And believe it or not, one of those forms is that of a chimpanzee. Sort of.

In the series, the wealthy, corrupt Usher family, which made a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry, finds themselves being picked off one by one in increasingly gruesome ways (inspired by Edgar Allan Poe stories). In an episode inspired by Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue," Usher daughter Camille (Kate Siegel...

Mike Flanagan brings back several of his favorite actors for his new Netflix series “The Fall of the House of Usher,” including wife Kate Siegel, Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood and Henry Thomas. You’ll also recognize several cast members from the canceled-too-soon “Midnight Club” and a few from the film “Doctor Sleep” and the limited series “Midnight Mass.”

And you might need help keeping track of who’s who within the Usher family, headed up by Roderick and Madeleine Usher. Flanagan drew on various Edgar Allan Poe writings for this macabre tale, including the title story, as well as “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Raven” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Here’s a complete “Fall of the House of Usher” cast and character guide.

Netflix

Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher

Roderick Usher is a wealthy pharmaceutical patriarch who proudly welcomes all his children by different mothers. The...

These last few years the Criterion Channel have made October viewing much easier to prioritize, and in the spirit of their ’70s and ’80s horror series we’ve graduated to––you guessed it––”’90s Horror.” A couple of obvious classics stand with cult favorites and more unknown entities (When a Stranger Calls Back and Def By Temptation are new to me). Three more series continue the trend: “Technothrillers” does what it says on the tin, courtesy the likes of eXistenZ and Demonlover; “Art-House Horror” is precisely the kind of place to host Cure, Suspiria, Onibaba; and “Pre-Code Horror” is a black-and-white dream. Phantom of the Paradise, Unfriended, and John Brahm’s The Lodger are added elsewhere.

James Gray is the latest with an “Adventures in Moviegoing” series populated by deep cuts and straight classics. Stonewalling and restorations of Trouble Every Day and The Devil, Probably make streaming debuts, while Flesh for Frankenstein,...

Mike Flanagan, the master of soulful horror whose previous Netflix series include "The Haunting of Hill House," "The Haunting of Bly Manor," "Midnight Mass," and "The Midnight Club," is returning this year with a mix of familiar cast members and fresh faces for "The Fall of the House of Usher." Though it takes its name from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the series is set in the modern era and incorporates a number of other Poe tales.

Netflix has built up a solid library of original horror series, from mega-hit "Stranger Things" to lesser-recognized gems like "Marianne." Following the success of "The Haunting Hill House," Netflix inked a multi-year overall television deal with Flanagan and his longtime producing partner, Trevor Macy. The pair were poached by Amazon in December 2022, so "The Fall of the House of Usher" will be the last "Flana-verse" show to arrive on Netflix for the foreseeable future.

Historically, the character of Renfield is known for doting on Dracula. So it's only fitting that "Renfield," the new film by Chris McKay starring Nicholas Hoult as the titular servant and Nicolas Cage as the world's preeminent vampire, loves all things "Dracula."

Dracula is one of the most consistently popular fictional characters, turning up in numerous books, films, TV shows, and other media since his debut in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. While "Renfield," being a Universal Picture, is most reverent toward the original cycle of Universal Horror films (of which Tod Browning's 1931 "Dracula" is often considered the start), there is obviously a wealth of other Draculas that followed.

"Renfield" is not only well aware of these progenitors but McKay, Hoult, and Cage were eager to pay homage to as many of them as possible within their movie. These tributes run the gamut from acting as creative inspiration for certain...

I don’t know about you, but this writer is more than ready to start looking forward to the Halloween season. And one of the staples of my own ongoing cinematic celebration every year is checking out all the wonderful classic horror movies that Turner Classic Movies airs on their channel. And considering the mess that 2020 has been over the last several months, I thought this year it might be helpful to also include all the genre films that will be playing on TCM throughout the month of September, as it’s never too early to get ready for Halloween.

Check out all the great classic horror movies playing on the small screen over the next two months on TCM, and be sure to set those DVRs so you don’t miss any of the classic films that are sure to get you into the Halloween spirit this year.

Thursday,...

With Christmas officially just right around the corner, we have one last big push for home media before the big day, just in case you have any last-minute shopping to do. This week’s horror and sci-fi releases make for a pretty great final batch of titles for 2019, too, with Scream Factory at the forefront. Not only have they put together a Collector’s Edition for Silver Bullet (which is probably my most anticipated release of theirs for the entire year), but they’ve also put together a new volume of Universal Horror films and are showing some love to Murders in the Rue Morgue and To The Devil… A Daughter as well.

Ad Astra is also hitting various formats this Tuesday, and if you missed it during its release in October, Patrick Lussier’s Trick comes home on both Blu-ray and DVD this week, too.

Other releases for December 17th include Gags the Clown,...

In the first of four issues of Elvira: Shape of Elvira #1—now on shelves—Elvira is on the cusp of becoming the star she was always meant to be. Check out all five covers of this series featuring the Mistress of the Dark in all her glory! Also: Spawn #293, Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Terror #4, Hex Wives #4, and Monstrous #2.

Elvira: Shape of Elvira #1: "The Mistress of the Dark lands the leading role in a touching art film about human/gill monster romance, but there's something decidedly fishy about her costar. Is there an Oscar in her future, or is director Billy Bullworth interesting in spawning something more than an Academy Award-winning movie? Dive into the first issue of this special four-part miniseries, by David Avallone

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Cover A: Francesco Francavilla

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Ah, Andrew Fleming's The Craft, such fond memories! If you would like to revisit this movie or anything else playing on Comet TV this month, read on for more details! Also in today's Highlights: release dates revealed for The Lodgers, Still/Born, Black Creek, and Before We Vanish, Creepy Co.'s new apparel, and a look at the Frightfest Glasgow Film Festival 2018 lineup.

Comet TV January Schedule Revealed: “Airing On Comet in January

You Don’T Need A Subscription To Watch These Great Movies…

They’Re Airing For Free On Comet!

The Craft (1996)

Teen movies might want you to believe that high school was all about keggers and beautiful cheerleaders, but we prefer The Craft’s version of events. Featuring a quartet of angsty teens who turn to witchcraft in the face of personal high school horrors, The Craft casts a spell that leaves you wishing you had an...

'Under the Volcano' screening: John Huston's 'quality' comeback featuring daring Albert Finney tour de force As part of its John Huston film series, the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be presenting the 1984 drama Under the Volcano, starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, and Anthony Andrews, on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater in the Los Angeles suburb of Westwood. Jacqueline Bisset is expected to be in attendance. Huston was 77, and suffering from emphysema for several years, when he returned to Mexico – the setting of both The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Night of the Iguana – to direct 28-year-old newcomer Guy Gallo's adaptation of English poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry's 1947 semi-autobiographical novel Under the Volcano, which until then had reportedly defied the screenwriting abilities of numerous professionals. Appropriately set on the Day of the Dead – 1938 – in the fictitious Mexican town of Quauhnahuac (the fact that it sounds like Cuernavaca...

Edgar G. Ulmer movies on TCM: 'The Black Cat' & 'Detour' Turner Classic Movies' June 2017 Star of the Month is Audrey Hepburn, but Edgar G. Ulmer is its film personality of the evening on June 6. TCM will be presenting seven Ulmer movies from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, including his two best-known efforts: The Black Cat (1934) and Detour (1945). The Black Cat was released shortly before the officialization of the Christian-inspired Production Code, which would castrate American filmmaking – with a few clever exceptions – for the next quarter of a century. Hence, audiences in spring 1934 were able to witness satanism in action, in addition to other bizarre happenings in an art deco mansion located in an isolated area of Hungary. Sporting a David Bowie hairdo, Boris Karloff is at his sinister best in The Black Cat (“Do you hear that, Vitus? The phone is dead. Even the phone is dead”), ailurophobic (a.

Later this month, the mighty Kong returns to the big screen! To celebrate, we’re looking back at all the major primate appearances in film.

For as long as films were being made, humans have starred alongside primates. Unlike other animals, their human-like qualities can lend a sense of comedy or horror. Throughout the history of film, primates have been used to fulfill certain roles. In the early days, they were often a form of antagonist, carrying out dastardly deeds or causing mayhem. More common is the primate cast in a role of mischief, causing all sorts of comedic hijincks. While most primate roles were portrayed by live animals, it was not uncommon for men to dress up in ape suits for roles where the primates needed to carry out specific actions. Later, the advent of CGI has led to men mimicking primates in real time to create a motion-capture performance.

Jim Knipfel Feb 26, 2019

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is almost a hundred years old, yet still casts a long shadow over all the genres it invented.

At its heart, is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari an anti-authoritarian call for rebellion, an object lesson in conformity, or an allegory about how we are all mere pawns lost in a culture gone completely mad? That’s up to you to decide. What’s interesting is that nearly a century after it was first released, the film’s backstory remains such a swirl of misinformation, conflicting memories, urban legends, shaky recordkeeping, and contradictory ego trips. It’s impossible to pin down any solid truth.

How the script originated, how the production went, who decided to tack on the framing story at the last minute, what the framing story means, who decided to go with the Expressionist design, and what sort of critical and...

Mario Bava turns from spooky gothic tales to a relentlessly violent murder spree in the glossy world of high fashion. The large cast gives us a fistful of prime suspects, while the main draw is Bava's powerful direction and razor-keen images - and in this excellent transfer, the colors can only be described as hallucinatory. Blood and Black Lace Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video U.S. 1964 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 89 min. / Sei donne per l'assassino / available through Mvd Entertainment / Street Date July 5, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Ariana Gorini, Dante Dipaolo, Mary Arden, Franco Ressel, Claude Dantes, Luciano Pigozzi, Lea Lander, Massimo Righi, Francesca Ungaro, Giuliano Raffaelli, Harriet White Medin. Cinematography Ubaldo Terzano Editor Mario Serandrei Original Music Carlo Rustichelli Written by Marcello Fondato, Giuseppe Barilla, Mario Bava Produced by Alfredo Mirabile, Massimo Patrizi <Directed by Mario Bava

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

When Arrow Video released a U.K. Blu-ray...

Woo hoo! The pre-Code marvels return for one last go-round -- tales of sin and moral turpitude but also serious pictures about social issues that the Production Code effectively swept from Hollywood screens -- financial crimes and ethnic bigotry. Forbidden Hollywood Volume 10 Guilty Hands, The Mouthpiece, Secrets of the French Police, The Match King, Ever in My Heart DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1932-1934 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 63, 62, 78, 85, 70 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 40.99 Starring Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans; Warren William, Sidney Fox, Aline McMahon; Frank Morgan, Gwili Andre, Gregory Ratoff Rochelle Hudson; Warren William, Lili Damita, Glenda Farrell, Claire Dodd; Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Donnelly. Cinematography Merritt B. Gerstad, Barney McGill; Alfred Gilks; Robert Kurrie; Written by Bayard Veiller; Joseph Jackson, Earl Baldwin, Frank J. Collins; Samuel Ornitz, Robert Tasker; Houston Branch, Sidney Sutherland, Einar Thorvaldson; Bertram Millhauser, Beulah Marie Dix.

Shock reviews yet another Aip double feature Blu-ray from Scream Factory. I’m confused, on occasion, as to the criteria that dictates which titles merit stand-alone Scream Factory discs and which ones are subject to getting stacked on these sorts of double feature releases. Take this pair of otherwise unrelated Aip potboilers, one a Poe-flavored would-be…

The post Blu-ray Review: Murders In The Rue Morgue/The Dunwich Horror appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, March 29th, 2016.

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Follow-Up Kickstarter Projects: Ben Model, Disney Television Animation Don Hertzfeldt Blu-rays News The Iron Giant Kino Lorber: Teen Witch, The Mark of Zorro, Rawhide, 3 Bad Men, The Pit, Chandu The Magician Scream Factory: Bad Moon, Hell Hole, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf Warner Archive: Father of the Bride (1950), Devlin, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Code Red: The Dark 88 Films: Drive-In Massacre Cinema Epoch: Private Lessons Eureka: Upcoming Titles Twilight Time April Preorders Links to Amazon Bicycle Thieves Blue Ice Chantal Akerman: Four Films Cherry Falls The City of the Dead Code 7, Victim 5 / Mozambique Concussion Confession of a Child of the Century Corruption Hidden Fortress Frightmare The Gong Show Movie Hateful Eight Murders in the Rue Morgue...

March’s home entertainment releases are ending on a quiet note, as we’ve only six titles arriving on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday. Scream Factory has their Cherry Falls and Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror double feature Blus for you guys to look forward to, and Vinegar Syndrome is keeping quite busy themselves with three different releases: Frightmare, Pigs, and their Revenge of the Virgins / Teenage Zombies double feature. Last but certainly not least, the Christopher Lee cult classic The City of the Dead is also getting the HD treatment on March 29th as well.

Cherry Falls (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

A fiendish take on the teen thriller genre, where there’s a method to a killer’s madness, and only one naughty way to insure you’re not the next victim in the town of Cherry Falls. Dark secrets, darker motivations, and the blackest...

Two written works—one by Edgar Allan Poe and the other by H.P. Lovecraft—come to life on March 29th in Scream Factory’s double feature Blu-ray of Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror, and we’ve been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror double feature Blu-ray.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on April 1st. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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From the Press Release: “A pair of...

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror comes a Scream Factory double feature with the same names. Ahead of the Blu-ray’s release on March 29th, a Blu-ray clip and trailer for both films have dropped, and we have them to share with our readers.

From the Press Release: “A pair of horror’s most famous authors – Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft – provide the inspiration for a most diabolical double feature. Scream Factory presents two terrifying tales from literary legends with the release of Murders in the Rue Morgue & The Dunwich Horror on Blu-ray on March 29th, 2016. These two American International Pictures classics are now finally available for the first time on Blu-ray, in a release complete with new audio commentary with author and film historian Steve Haberman, and a stage tricks and screen frights featurette.

Your first...

Look out! Here come two A.I.P. horror pix from the soggy end of the Poe cycle: the first features Jason Robards, an impressive cast and a disorganized storyline. The second is an almost-good Lovecraft horror with interesting performances from Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee.     Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Color Scream Factory Street Date March 29, 2016 / 26.99

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Scream Factory's new double feature disc finishes off two different American-International horror series. The first picture is the last fright film made for the company by the directing and writing team of Gordon Hessler and Christopher Wicking. It's no gem, but it's a lot more interesting on a second viewing. The second is the company's final try to make that old joker H.P. Lovecraft into a filmic horror icon, like Edgar Allan Poe. It has a lot going for it, but also its own set of problems.

The works of two literary giants of horror (Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft) are getting their very own double feature! Scream Factory will release Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror together on Blu-ray packed with special features on March 29th.

Press Release: A pair of horror’s most famous authors – Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft – provide the inspiration for a most diabolical double feature. Scream Factory presents two terrifying tales from literary legends with the release of Murders in the Rue Morgue & The Dunwich Horror on Blu-ray on March 29th, 2016. These two American International Pictures classics are now finally available for the first time on Blu-ray, in a release complete with new audio commentary with author and film historian Steve Haberman, and a stage tricks and screen frights featurette.

Your first frightening film is 1971’s Murders in the Rue Morgue. In early 20th-century Paris,...

Scream Factory unleashes 2 more classic cult films from the Aip vaults. Scream Factory continues to raid the amazing Aip vaults with the release of a pair of under-appreciated contemporary riffs on classic literary horrors, 1971’s bizarre Poe impression Murders In The Rue Morgue and 1970’s psychedelic Lovecraftian head trip The Dunwich Horror, coming…

The post Gordon Hessler’s Murders In The Rue Morgue and Daniel Haller’s The Dunwich Horror Come to Blu-ray appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Murders in the Rue Morgue & The Dunwich Horror – Scream Factory Delivers Again

Scream Factory Presents Murders in the Rue Morgue & The Dunwich Horror On Blu-ray March 29, 2016 A pair of horror’s most famous authors – Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft – provide the inspiration for a most diabolical double feature. Scream Factory presents two terrifying tales from literary legends with the release of Murders ...

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Two more horror classics are on their way to Blu-ray from Scream Factory, Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror. Read on for details! From The Press Release: A pair of horror’s most famous authors – Edgar Allan… Continue Reading →

The post Scream Factory Brings Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror to Blu-ray! appeared first on Dread Central.

A friend pointed out that a shot of a girl on a swing in Renoir's A Day in the Country (filmed in 1936, completed in 1945) seemed surprisingly similar to one in Robert Florey's Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932). The girl swings, and the camera swings with her. Was Renoir influenced by Florey? Both men were French. Maybe Papa Jean was a Bela Lugosi fan. But now it seems like both were influenced by Charles Vanel, who includes an identical shot in the only film he directed, Dans la nuit (1929).Vanel also sets his camera on various fairground rides, and in this, as well as much of his visual style, he seems influenced by the impressionist school: Jean Epstein features a long, ecstatic funfair scene in his Cœur fidèle (1923). Like Epstein, Vanel exults in hallucinatory moments of disorientation, transient effects of light, and contrasting overheated emotion with gritty locations and a naturalistic depiction of working life.

The folks at Scream Factory are celebrating Halloween with a slew of new Blu-ray announcements for 2016, including respective Collector's Editions of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Manhunter, as well as Lady in White, three Species sequels, and a double feature of Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror.

Scream Factory revealed via Facebook that they are planning to release a Collector's Edition Blu-ray of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 before the summer of 2016, while their Blu-ray Collector's Edition of 1986's Manhunter is slated to debut sometime next summer.

They also announced spring releases for the respective Blu-rays of 1988's Lady in White, Species II, a double feature of Species III and Species IV: The Awakening, as well as a double bill of Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror.

Specific release dates and bonus features will be revealed early next year. Stay...

Based very loosely on an 1844 short story from Edgar Allan Poe, Gordon Hessler’s 1969 version of The Oblong Box isn’t a very unique endeavor other than its distinction as the first onscreen pairing of horror icons Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Lost somewhere in the slew of Poe adaptations from Roger Corman and Jacques Tourneur, Hessler (who would reunite with Price several times, as well as direct more famed Poe property with 1971’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Jason Robards) can’t quite maintain a semblance of tension, even with its customarily eerie co-stars. Less thrilling than it seems roundly determined to remain obsessively complicated since its narrative hobbles any chance of mystery in its first act, the film is about as unnecessary as Poe’s titular euphemism for a coffin.

After an African tribe ruthlessly deforms Sir Edward Markham (Alistair Williamson) for unknown reasons, his brother Julian...

There's one ironclad rule for mad scientist movies:  if you show a monstrous caged ape-creature in the first act, that ape-creature must absolutely break loose and wreak havoc before the end of Act III.  Just ask George Zucco or John Carradine, they'll tell you. It makes no difference if the film is being made on Gower Gulch, or at Germany's prestigious UfA Studios. Alraune Region 2 Pal (Germany) DVD Arthaus 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Unnatural, Mandragore, Vengeance / Street Date July 6, 2007 / Available at Amazon.de / Eur 16,90 Starring Hildegard Knef, Erich von Stroheim, Karlheinz Böhm, Harry Meyen, Rolf Henniger, Harry Halm, Hans Cossy, Gardy Brombacher, Trude Hesterberg, Julia Koschka, Denise Vernac. Cinematography Friedl Behn-Grund Film Editor Doris Zeitman Costume Designer Herbert Pioberger Original Music Werner R. Heymann Written by Kurt Heuser from the novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers Produced by Günther Stapenhorst Directed by Arthur Maria Rabenault

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...

Los Angeles' Bendix Building. Photo by Jordan Cronk.The bats have left the bell towerThe victims have been bled Red velvet lines the black boxBela Lugosi's dead —BauhausBela-Bonkers Brit Bloke Brazenly Boosts Bendix-Building Black Bandana!In the annals of Los Angeles crime, it was hardly an episode to titillate James Ellroy. Was it even really a crime? I was on the short stairwell that connects the 11th—the top—floor of the Bendix Building, a Garment District block on the corner of Maple St and 12th St, when I spotted the square of white-patterned black cotton. Into my pocket it rapidly went, compensation for the fact that my quest for rooftop access had been stymied. An orange plastic sign across the door up ahead, warning (bluffing?) of alarms that would ring out if opened, dissuaded further progress. I wasn't too disheartened—my unplanned visit to the Bendix Building had yielded sufficient delights.

Scariest movies ever made: The top 100 horror films according to the Chicago Film Critics (photo: Janet Leigh, John Gavin and Vera Miles in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho') I tend to ignore lists featuring the Top 100 Movies (or Top 10 Movies or Top 20 Movies, etc.), no matter the category or criteria, because these lists are almost invariably compiled by people who know little about films beyond mainstream Hollywood stuff released in the last decade or two. But the Chicago Film Critics Association's list of the 100 Scariest Movies Ever Made, which came out in October 2006, does include several oldies — e.g., James Whale's Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein — in addition to, gasp, a handful of non-American horror films such as Dario Argento's Suspiria, Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre, and F.W. Murnau's brilliant Dracula rip-off Nosferatu. (Check out the full list of the Chicago Film Critics' top 100 horror movies of all time.

 

The 21st Annual Austin Film Festival and Conference is in full swing. Movies are taking place from now through Thursday at venues across town including the Paramount, Stateside and Hideout theaters downtown, Rollins Theater at the Long Center, both theaters at the Texas State History Museum and Alamo Drafthouse Village. Badges are still available to purchase for you procrastinators. Keep an eye out here on Slackerwood for daily reports and reviews from the fest.

The Alamo Ritz is going to be hosting a special event tomorrow afternoon with author Anne Helen Peterson, celebrating the release of her new book Scandals Of Classic Hollywood. She'll present a special double feature of 1927's It starring Clara Bow (35mm) and 1954's Carmen Jones starring Dorothy Dandridge (Dcp) and discuss the tragic careers of both actresses. On Monday night, you can enjoy another Universal Horror double feature. This week, they've got Murders In The Rue Morgue...

I must have been about 12 years old when I first saw Tarzan and His Mate. I loved the Tarzan movies. Tarzan was the undisputed King of the Jungle and was the greatest, Cheetah was man’s best friend, Boy was annoying, and Jane was the Queen of the Jungle and a young male’s introduction to the allure of the female. The uncensored version, with a naked Jane silhouetted while changing clothes in a backlit tent and the spectacular underwater ballet scene would have been a revelation to me; Tarzan and Jane are frolicking in their favorite swimming hole, Tarzan in his usual loincloth and Jane naked – not naked from the waste up, or presumed naked as they hid her behind some lake flora or rocks – Jane was naked.

Madam Satan

Most film fans knowledge of Pre-Code Hollywood movies doesn’t go much further than King Kong, Frankenstein, and a few other titles.

Gordon Hessler passed away in his sleep January 19th at the age of 83. An underrated horror director, Hessler cut his teeth on the Hitchcock Presents TV show then helmed several genuinely creepy and atmospheric British films. He worked with Vincent Price three times, all with scripts by Christopher Wicking; Scream & Scream Again (1970) was an outrageous sci-fi/horror hybrid that presented a berserk view of swinging 60′s London (and also starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee). Cry Of The Banshee (1970) was gritty and mean-spirited featuring Price as a sadistic monarch with an intense hatred of witchcraft and a sardonic sense of macabre. The Oblong Box (1969 – co-starring Chris Lee) was a dark and moody tale of voodoo, body snatching, medical experiments, brotherly betrayal, and being buried alive.

Hessler’s Murders In The Rue Morgue was like a Vincent Price movie without Price (it starred Herbert Lom and Jason Robards). It mixed Poe...

This month sees the release of Beyond Rue Morgue, an anthology of original stories featuring Edgar Allan Poe’s Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, the world’s first literary detective. The book features stories from authors such as Clive Barker, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Maberry, and Weston Ochse, and we have Mike Carey’s story for you to read right now:

“Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ introduced the world to its first literary detective, Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, and established many literary devices used in future fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Now Dupin’s legacy continues in brand-new tales of ratiocination, mystery, and the macabre. Experience the further exploits of Dupin as he faces enemies both human and otherworldly; follow the adventures of his grandson, the Pinkerton detective; learn the fate of Dupin’s great-granddaughter; discover how Dupin connects his creator,...

We recently told you about Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective, an anthology of original stories featuring Poe's beloved character Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, and now we have an exclusive excerpt to share.

The book was released today, July 16th, by Titan Books; and its stories feature Poe's iconic creation Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, the world's first literary detective. The excerpt is from the tale entitled "The Vanishing Assassin" by Jonathan Maberry (visit his official site here).

Click here for our exclusive Beyond Rue Morgue excerpt!

Synopsis:

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue introduced the world to its first literary detective, Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, and established many literary devices used in future fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

Now Dupin’s legacy continues in brand-new tales of ratiocination, mystery, and the macabre.

Whether you do your summer reading by the pool, at the beach, or in the A/C, here are three new releases that should be on your radar: an anthology featuring Edgar Allan Poe's Detective Dupin, an historical horror novella, and a zombie tale from an Active Duty soldier.

First is news of Titan Books' Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective, an anthology of original stories featuring Poe's iconic creation Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, the world's first literary detective.

Synopsis:

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue introduced the world to its first literary detective, Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, and established many literary devices used in future fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

Now Dupin’s legacy continues in brand-new tales of ratiocination, mystery, and the macabre. Experience the further exploits of Dupin as he...

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is a monthly newspaper run by Steve DeBellis, a well know St. Louis historian, and it’s the largest one-man newspaper in the world. The concept of The Globe is that there is an old historic headline, then all the articles in that issue are written as though it’s the year that the headline is from. It’s an unusual concept but the paper is now in its 25th successful year! Steve and I collaborated last year on an all-Vincent Price issue of The Globe and I’ve been writing a regular movie-related column since. Since there is no on-line version of The Globe, I post all of my articles here at We Are Movie Geeks as well. When Steve informed me that this month’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat is written as if it’s 1934, I jumped at the chance to write about the...

When Eclipse Comics ended the Tapping the Vein series after the fifth volume, it wasn’t because they’d run out of material to adapt – Vein only scratched the surface of the short stories Clive Barker had published under the Books of Blood title. Eclipse continued to adapt those stories in a series of standalone releases beginning in 1991 and going right up until the company’s closure in 1993.

Eclipse may have jettisoned the title, but their subsequent adaptations shared many similarities with those that had fallen under the Tapping the Vein masthead. Creators from Vein popped up in these releases, most notably writer Steve Niles (who scripted stories in all but one of these releases) and artist John Bolton. The Vein volumes each featured two stories, and two of these new releases did as well (Rawhead Rex was paired with Twilight at the Towers, while The Life of Death and...

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is a monthly newspaper run by Steve DeBellis, a well know St. Louis historian, and it’s the largest one-man newspaper in the world. The concept of The Globe is that there is an old historic headline, then all the articles in that issue are written as though it’s the year that the headline is from. It’s an unusual concept but the paper is now in its 25th successful year! Steve and I collaborated last year on an all-Vincent Price issue of The Globe and I’ve been writing a regular movie-related column since. Since there is no on-line version of The Globe, I post all of my articles here at We Are Movie Geeks as well. When Steve informed me that this month’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat is written as if it’s 1934, I jumped at the oppurtunity to write about the...

Paul Davis, director of the An American Werewolf in London documentary Beware the Moon and the superb short film Him Indoors, is back in the directors chair fro another short film entitled The Body – a tale of a murderer (Alfie Allen) who uses the cover of Halloween night to causally transport his latest victim from the scene of the crime to his final resting place. Wrapping the body in tarpaulin and dragging it through the busy streets of London as bloody Halloween prop, all goes to plan until an old school mate (Christian Brassington) recognises the murderer and drags him along to a swanky Halloween party nearby, where a chance meeting with a beautiful girl (Hannah Tointon) takes his evening on an even bigger turn for the bizarre…

Davis on the story:

It’s a movie about facades and how we perceive things. You never really know what’s real...

The official teaser trailer for The Body, starring Alfie Allen of "Game of Thrones," arrived online; and we have it right here for your viewing pleasure. Check out the sly peek into this short right here.

In addition to Allen, The Body stars Hannah Tointon ("The Inbetweeners"), Jack Gordon (Panic Button) and Christian Brassington (Burke and Hare). It was co-written and produced by Paul Fischer for Ten Cent Adventures (Radioman) and co-written and directed by Paul Davis (Him Indoors).

"It's a movie about facades and how we perceive things," director Davis said. "You never really know what's real and what isn't with the characters in this, and it's made all the more ambiguous under the disguise of Halloween - where everybody is somebody else. We live in such a sophisticated age, which tends to bring out the cynic in a lot of people. If we saw someone dragging a body along the street,...

Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund, MoreHorror.com

Mad Love (U.S.A 1935) Movie Review

Director: Karl Freund

Based on the novel The Hands of Orlac by Maurice Renard and a remake of the original 1924 silent film (with the same title as the novel), Mad Love stars Peter Lorre as Doctor Gogol, a surgeon who is obsessed with stage actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake). Yvonne is listening to her husband’s piano concert on the radio after her last show when Gogol comes to see her. Gogol is distressed to learn that Yvonne is leaving the stage to be with her husband Stephen (Colin Clive). Dr. Gogol is so obsessed with Yvonne that he pays the moving men a large sum of money to have her wax statue delivered to his home.

Yvonne goes to the train station to meet Stephen, who is coming home after a tour, but there has been a terrible train accident.

Neither the rousing adventure it.s being marketed as nor the disaster I was braced for, The Raven is a fittingly dark and brooding mystery speculating on the fate of American writer Edgar Allan Poe who was found on a Baltimore park bench in a state of dementia in 1849 and died four days later at age 39. Though it.s assumed his death was caused by some disreputable cause such as alcoholism, the details have remained a mystery, all which serves as a springboard for this new film which theorizes he met his end while helping to solve a series of gruesome murders. The Raven is a mixed bag, a familiar serial killer film dressed up in 19th-century drag that.s sporadically enjoyable alternating between camp and seriousness.

The premise of The Raven is someone.s using scenarios from the works of Poe as inspiration for a series of ghastly murders...

John Cusack, stunning Alice Eve and helmer James McTeigue talk The Raven from Relativity Media. Its 1849 and a killer is on the loose in Baltimore, using Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of the macabre as a template for murder in “The Raven.” Poe joins Det. Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) in the hunt for the killer after the famed writer is a suspect himself in the brutal killings that resemble his writings like “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and other tales. When Poe’s love, Emily (Alice Eve), is snatched, the killer sends taunting clues to Poe that may lead to where she is held captive. John Cusack, who has stretched his acting talents from 1980s teen comedies like “Sixteen Candles” to the end-of-the-world action drama “2012,” said he wanted to tackle Poe because he was a “fascinating figure” in a life that he could immerse himself in. Poe’s own words,...

John Cusack, stunning Alice Eve and helmer James McTeigue talk The Raven from Relativity Media. Its 1849 and a killer is on the loose in Baltimore, using Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of the macabre as a template for murder in “The Raven.” Poe joins Det. Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) in the hunt for the killer after the famed writer is a suspect himself in the brutal killings that resemble his writings like “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and other tales. When Poe’s love, Emily (Alice Eve), is snatched, the killer sends taunting clues to Poe that may lead to where she is held captive. John Cusack, who has stretched his acting talents from 1980s teen comedies like “Sixteen Candles” to the end-of-the-world action drama “2012,” said he wanted to tackle Poe because he was a “fascinating figure” in a life that he could immerse himself in. Poe’s own words,...

Kerry Haggard sentenced to six years in prison for forging vintage posters for films including 1931 Frankenstein

A Georgia man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison and ordered to repay more than $1.3m in the Us after being found guilty of forging vintage horror movie posters

Kerry Haggard, 47, sold the posters and lobby cards on eBay and similar sites to fellow collectors at prices ranging from $500 to $5,000 between January 2006 and August 2009, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Victims thought they were getting genuine original promotional material for films such as 1931's Frankenstein and 1939 sequel Son of Frankenstein.

In reality, Haggard had used a New York printing company to make high-quality copies from prints and digital scans he provided. He then worked with a restoration company to attach the forged posters to old-fashioned lobby card stock to make them look more genuine. Some of the two dozen plus collectors...

As John Carter and The Raven bring American literature of the past up to date, James wonders if it isn’t about time Hollywood got around to making a Lovecraft movie…

Unfathomable, eldritch cosmic forces are stirring, the Elder Gods are getting restless and in his house at Ry’leh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. It’s about time the abomination woke up.

I know that these malevolent entities are moving, because I can feel it in my gills and because they’re haunting my dreams. I’m sure I’m not alone in discerning this, and I’m willing to bet that, right now, a disparate bunch of afflicted individuals across the globe are experiencing a similar overwhelming sense of dread in anticipation of something epic and earth shattering. The Esoteric Order of Dagon are also no doubt operating in the shadows, whispering in arcane tongues and performing their rites with increased vigour.

With The Raven heading to cinemas, we met its director, James McTeigue, to talk films, R-ratings, V For Vendetta Masks, pet raccoons, and much more…

Director James McTeigue was responsible for adapting the shadowy world of Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta in 2006, and painted the big screen crimson in the violent Ninja Assassin three years later. Now, McTeigue has brought shadows and gore together for the period serial killer thriller The Raven, which sees Edgar Allan Poe on the trail of a murderer whose crimes are inspired by the author’s tales of the macabre.

Ahead of The Raven’s UK release this Friday, it was a pleasure to sit with McTeigue and talk about Poe, the iconic status of V For Vendetta’s Fawkes mask, R-rated movies, and best of all, pet raccoons…

I wanted to start off, if I may, by talking about raccoons. Was the idea...