There are haunted house movies that send a chill up your spine. Then there are haunted house movies that send you reaching for the remote, the bottle, or the business end of a fireplace poker—just to feel something. Night of Dark Shadows falls into the third category: a joyless, confused, meandering séance of a film … Read More ““Night of Dark Shadows” (1971): When the Haunting’s So Boring, Even the Ghosts Want Out” »
If Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde took a wrong turn at Watts and got lost somewhere between a George Clinton fever dream and an after-school special about anger management, you’d land squarely in Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde. Directed by William Crain—who previously gave us the far superior Blacula—this is the cinematic equivalent of a Halloween … Read More ““Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde” (1976): A Blaxploitation Monster Mash That Needed Less Serum and More Script” »
There are bad Westerns, and then there’s She Came to the Valley — a film so lifeless, so thoroughly bereft of dramatic tension or narrative urgency, it might actually be an experimental art piece about the slow decay of human will. Directed by Albert Band — yes, that Albert Band, the man who once dreamed … Read More “She Came to the Valley (1979) — And We All Regret That She Did” »
There are bad Westerns. Then there’s The Tramplers — a film so inert, so bafflingly tedious, it makes you wonder if everyone involved was trampled by the plot halfway through production and just kind of kept filming out of inertia. Directed by Albert Band (whose later legacy would include producing Ghoulies, which suddenly feels like … Read More “The Tramplers (1965) — Saddle Up for a Stampede of Mediocrity” »
There’s something refreshing about stumbling onto a forgotten film that doesn’t pander, doesn’t wink, and doesn’t come armed with explosions or a score by Hans Zimmer screaming at you. Face of Fire, directed by Albert Band in 1959, is one such film — a lean, black-and-white morality tale that walks quietly into the room, slaps … Read More “Face of Fire (1959) — A Small-Town Morality Play Wrapped in Burnt Flesh and Uncomfortable Truths” »
Let’s get this out of the way: Burnt Offerings is a slow burn. Emphasis on slow. It simmers like a pot of dread on a creaky stove, and Dan Curtis — the king of TV horror and candlelit trauma — lets it stew until it curdles into something weird, haunting, and wonderfully unsettling. It’s not … Read More “Burnt Offerings (1976) — Dan Curtis Throws a Housewarming Party in Hell, and You’re Invited” »
Oh, Dan Curtis. You magnificent bastard. You gave us Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Burnt Offerings — a trifecta of gothic gold that oozed fog and melodrama like Dracula doing interpretive dance. But then came Scream of the Wolf, a 1974 made-for-TV horror film so aggressively dull it makes you question whether Dan Curtis … Read More “Scream of the Wolf (1974) — When Dan Curtis Phoned It In, and the Call Was Coming from Inside the Script” »
If 1972’s The Night Stalker was the pilot light that sparked the age of monster-of-the-week television, then 1973’s The Night Strangler is Dan Curtis pouring gasoline on it with a grin, letting it all burn — slowly, atmospherically, and with enough vintage charm to light a Lucky Strike in hell. Written by horror maestro Richard … Read More “The Night Strangler (1973) — Dan Curtis Returns with Another Dose of Monsters, Murders, and Mustaches” »
Let’s be clear: House of Shadows is not just another flick about a brooding mansion where things go bump in the night — it’s Dan Curtis laying down the velvet-draped blueprint for all the campy supernatural soap operas, creaking floorboards, and emotionally constipated vampires that would slink their way into our black little hearts. Yes, … Read More “House of Shadows (1970) — Dan Curtis’ Gothic Hangover That Actually Works” »
Let’s start with the obvious: Blacula is a great title. It rolls off the tongue like a late-night punchline delivered by a half-drunk stand-up on amateur night. Unfortunately, the movie that comes attached to it isn’t nearly as cool as its name. Instead of a funky, bloodsucking thrill ride through the dark alleys of 1970s … Read More “Blacula (1972) — Count Suckula, Now with Sideburns” »
