Few American filmmakers of the last 40 years await a major rediscovery like Hal Hartley, whose traces in modern movies are either too-minor or entirely unknown. Thus it’s cause for celebration that the Criterion Channel are soon launching a major retrospective: 13 features (which constitutes all but My America) and 17 shorts, a sui generis style and persistent vision running across 30 years. Expect your Halloween party to be aswim in Henry Fool costumes.
Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort
Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...
Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort
Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...
- 8/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Is there anything scarier than being a teenager? Bd has learned that the Criterion Channel will be launching their 13-film High School Horror collection on September 1!
The streaming service previews, “Relive your high school nightmares with these tales of terror unleashed in classrooms, gyms, locker-lined halls, and cafeterias, where psychotic slashers and supernatural monsters pursue jocks, nerds, and prom queens alike.
“The everyday fears of adolescence—social anxiety! changing bodies!—have inspired some of horror cinema’s most giddily bloodthirsty visions, from VHS-era exploitation shockers like Massacre at Central High and Slumber Party Massacre to ’90s teen-movie touchstones like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty and cult favorites like Donnie Darko and Battle Royale.”
Of particular note, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will be included in the collection, marking the worldwide streaming premiere of the restored uncut version from Synapse Films!
The full “High School Horror” lineup includes…...
The streaming service previews, “Relive your high school nightmares with these tales of terror unleashed in classrooms, gyms, locker-lined halls, and cafeterias, where psychotic slashers and supernatural monsters pursue jocks, nerds, and prom queens alike.
“The everyday fears of adolescence—social anxiety! changing bodies!—have inspired some of horror cinema’s most giddily bloodthirsty visions, from VHS-era exploitation shockers like Massacre at Central High and Slumber Party Massacre to ’90s teen-movie touchstones like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty and cult favorites like Donnie Darko and Battle Royale.”
Of particular note, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will be included in the collection, marking the worldwide streaming premiere of the restored uncut version from Synapse Films!
The full “High School Horror” lineup includes…...
- 8/11/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Cinema’s Hidden Pearls – Part II
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few more of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Massacre at Central High (1976)
Dutch director, and former cameraman for the legendary Russ Meyer, Rene Daalder was hired by producers to direct an exploitation...
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few more of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Massacre at Central High (1976)
Dutch director, and former cameraman for the legendary Russ Meyer, Rene Daalder was hired by producers to direct an exploitation...
- 6/29/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The fine folks over at Olive Films have been carving out quite a nice niche for themselves by distributing obscure little titles that never seem to get enough love. Well, get set, kids, because things are gonna get even better. Read on for details.
From the Press Release
Olive Films has entered into an exclusive multi-year distribution agreement with Cult Epics, the independent label known for its catalog of cult classic horror, art-house and erotica titles from the 1920s to the present.
The deal includes all North American distribution rights across all platforms including theatrical, packaged media, digital, VOD, television and more. The deal was announced by Olive Films/Martini Entertainment Senior Vice President Eric D. Wilkinson.
“I’m excited to bring the Cult Epics studio under the Olive Films family of labels that also includes our recent partnership with 108 Media,” stated Wilkinson. “Cult Epics’ catalog of titles is a...
From the Press Release
Olive Films has entered into an exclusive multi-year distribution agreement with Cult Epics, the independent label known for its catalog of cult classic horror, art-house and erotica titles from the 1920s to the present.
The deal includes all North American distribution rights across all platforms including theatrical, packaged media, digital, VOD, television and more. The deal was announced by Olive Films/Martini Entertainment Senior Vice President Eric D. Wilkinson.
“I’m excited to bring the Cult Epics studio under the Olive Films family of labels that also includes our recent partnership with 108 Media,” stated Wilkinson. “Cult Epics’ catalog of titles is a...
- 4/4/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Firstly, Cult Epics has shifted its DVD of Rene Daalder’s psychochiller Hysteria (pictured), starring Patrick McGoohan and Amanda Plummer, from December to March 12, when there will also be a Blu-ray edition released. We also heard direct from the company that a making-of featurette and trailer will be included on the discs; retail prices are $24.98 for the DVD and $29.98 for the Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Paramount Home Entertainment will issue Paranormal Activity 4 January 22 in an unrated directors cut on DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($39.99). And XLrator Media brings The Thompsons, the sequel to The Hamiltons by The Butcher Brothers (a.k.a. Phil Flores and Mitchell Altieri), in which the titular family of vampires encounters a similar brood after fleeing to England, to DVD ($14.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($20.99) January 1.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
- 11/9/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Firstly, Cult Epics has shifted its DVD of Rene Daalder’s psychochiller Hysteria (pictured), starring Patrick McGoohan and Amanda Plummer, from December to March 12, when there will also be a Blu-ray edition released. We also heard direct from the company that a making-of featurette and trailer will be included on the discs; retail prices are $24.98 for the DVD and $29.98 for the Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Paramount Home Entertainment will issue Paranormal Activity 4 January 22 in an unrated directors cut on DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($39.99). And XLrator Media brings The Thompsons, the sequel to The Hamiltons by The Butcher Brothers (a.k.a. Phil Flores and Mitchell Altieri), in which the titular family of vampires encounters a similar brood after fleeing to England, to DVD ($14.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($20.99) January 1.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
- 11/9/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Firstly, Cult Epics has shifted its DVD of Rene Daalder’s psychochiller Hysteria (pictured), starring Patrick McGoohan and Amanda Plummer, from December to March 12, when there will also be a Blu-ray edition released. We also heard direct from the company that a making-of featurette and trailer will be included on the discs; retail prices are $24.98 for the DVD and $29.98 for the Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Paramount Home Entertainment will issue Paranormal Activity 4 January 22 in an unrated directors cut on DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($39.99). And XLrator Media brings The Thompsons, the sequel to The Hamiltons by The Butcher Brothers (a.k.a. Phil Flores and Mitchell Altieri), in which the titular family of vampires encounters a similar brood after fleeing to England, to DVD ($14.99) and Blu-ray/DVD combo ($20.99) January 1.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
Meanwhile, on the international-horror scene, Dark Sky Films has set a January 8 DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) date for Jaume Balagueró’s truly disturbing Sleep Tight.
- 11/9/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre’s formula. Author Vera Dika rather strictly defines the sub-genre in her book Games of Terror by only including films made between 1978 and 1984. In other words, she saw it as a movement. When someone describes Brick, they don’t define it as a noir, but instead neo-noir . In other words, it’s a modern motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in those from the 1940s and 1950s. So does one consider Scream a slasher film or a neo-slasher, or simply put, a modern slasher?
Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.
Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.
- 10/29/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Updated through 6/10.
To Hellman and Back: An Evening with Monte Hellman is set for this evening at the Walter Reade Theater, and here's how the New York Times' Dave Kehr recommends you be there if you can: "The undisputed master of the existential road movie (Two-Lane Blacktop, 1971) will be present for a 6 pm sneak preview of his new feature, Road to Nowhere, to be followed by a rare screening of Mr Hellman's magnificently bleak adaptation of Charles Willeford's novel Cockfighter, starring Warren Oates as an itinerant gambler. A discussion with Mr Hellman follows the screening, as does a book party celebrating the reissue of the Willeford novel from PictureBox Books."
"Combining an almost quaint self-reflexiveness with state-of-the-art digital filmmaking, Road concerns the production of a film based on a controversial lovers' double-suicide in North Carolina," explains Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "Director Mitchell Haven (Tygh Runyan) is determined to...
To Hellman and Back: An Evening with Monte Hellman is set for this evening at the Walter Reade Theater, and here's how the New York Times' Dave Kehr recommends you be there if you can: "The undisputed master of the existential road movie (Two-Lane Blacktop, 1971) will be present for a 6 pm sneak preview of his new feature, Road to Nowhere, to be followed by a rare screening of Mr Hellman's magnificently bleak adaptation of Charles Willeford's novel Cockfighter, starring Warren Oates as an itinerant gambler. A discussion with Mr Hellman follows the screening, as does a book party celebrating the reissue of the Willeford novel from PictureBox Books."
"Combining an almost quaint self-reflexiveness with state-of-the-art digital filmmaking, Road concerns the production of a film based on a controversial lovers' double-suicide in North Carolina," explains Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "Director Mitchell Haven (Tygh Runyan) is determined to...
- 6/10/2011
- MUBI
Long cited as an inspiration for Heathers, Rene Daalder’s 1976 drive-in favorite Massacre At Central High has been hard to see over the last couple of decades; it’s only been available on a long out-of-print VHS, since a couple of announced DVD editions haven’t panned out. But in June, New York City-area fans will be able to catch a rare theatrical screening.
- 3/24/2011
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Rex Steven Sikes started out his career with one of the leading roles in the critically acclaimed Massacre at Central High co-starring genre stars Andrew Stevens (The Fury, The Seduction, The Terror Within), Robert Carradine (Ghosts of Mars, Orca, Tag: The Assassination Game), and Kimberly Beck (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) along side Derrel Maury. Lately Rex has seen a resurgence back in the genre that he started out in with appearances in Backwoods Bloodbath, Horrid, The Amateur Monster Movie, and The Spade County Massacre. You can also catch Rex on his Inet radio show Rex Sikes' Movie Beat "conversations with filmmakers". With this interview, Rex Steven Sikes reminisces about his days on Massacre At Central High and what the future holds for him.
Hi Rex! It's really great to have you taking part in this interview.
Thanks it is always nice to be asked questions about movies,...
Hi Rex! It's really great to have you taking part in this interview.
Thanks it is always nice to be asked questions about movies,...
- 9/16/2010
- by Big Daddy aka Brandon Sites
- Big Daddy Horror Reviews - Interviews
The 1976 film Massacre At Central High was a political allegory mounted as T&A exploitation and disguised as a teen slasher flick, but despite its well-deserved reputation as a cult classic, it’s Not available on DVD. After opening with a deceptively drippy song (“You’re at the crossroads of your life…”) Massacre At Central High kicks into teen angst overdrive by creating a somewhat exaggerated fantasy of a high school notable for its complete absence of teachers, adult supervision, rules or even classes.
Promising young athlete David (Derrel Maury) moves to a new neighborhood and enrolls at the local high school. His old friend Mark (Andrew Stevens) is a student there and introduces him to his three sadistic friends who rule the school through bullying and intimidation. David declines the invitation to join the Nazi-wannabes and soon stops them from raping a girl (Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith). They take revenge...
Promising young athlete David (Derrel Maury) moves to a new neighborhood and enrolls at the local high school. His old friend Mark (Andrew Stevens) is a student there and introduces him to his three sadistic friends who rule the school through bullying and intimidation. David declines the invitation to join the Nazi-wannabes and soon stops them from raping a girl (Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith). They take revenge...
- 5/12/2010
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This, for the benefit of future rock historians, is the transscript of a screenplay I wrote in the summer of 1977. It was tailored for the historic punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and was to be directed by Russ Meyer and produced by the impresario Malcolm McLaren. It still carried its original title, "Anarchy in the U.K.," although shortly after I phoned up with a suggested title change, which was accepted: "Who Killed Bambi?" I wrote about this adventure in my blog entry McLaren & Meyer & Rotten & Vicious & me. Discussions with Meyer, McLaren and Rene Daalder led to this draft. All I intend to do here is reprint it. Comments are open, but I can't discuss what I wrote, why I wrote it, or what I should or shouldn't have written. Frankly, I have no idea.
 
    The Sex Pistols in Anarchy In The U.K.
Produced by...
 
    The Sex Pistols in Anarchy In The U.K.
Produced by...
- 4/27/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
"I need you out here," Russ Meyer told me on the phone in 1977. It was 6 a.m. He could not conceive that I might still be asleep. "Have you ever heard of the Sex Pistols?"
"No," I said.
"They're a rock band from England. They got a lot of publicity for saying 'fuck' on TV. Now they have some money and want me to direct their movie."
"The Sex Pistols?" I said.
"Their manager is a guy named Malcolm McLaren. He called me from London. He said their singers were big fans of 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.' They go to see it every weekend they're in London. It's playing at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road."
No director except possibly for Stanley Kubrick was better informed than Russ about where his movies were playing. Kubrick used to call specific theaters to complain about light intensity. Russ used...
"No," I said.
"They're a rock band from England. They got a lot of publicity for saying 'fuck' on TV. Now they have some money and want me to direct their movie."
"The Sex Pistols?" I said.
"Their manager is a guy named Malcolm McLaren. He called me from London. He said their singers were big fans of 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.' They go to see it every weekend they're in London. It's playing at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road."
No director except possibly for Stanley Kubrick was better informed than Russ about where his movies were playing. Kubrick used to call specific theaters to complain about light intensity. Russ used...
- 4/13/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Like fellow Dutchmen Paul Verhoeven and Jan De Bont, Rene Daalder was drafted by Hollywood to make genre films, though his inclinations ran a little artier. Daalder achieved some cult success with the 1976 drive-in classic Massacre At Central High; then Russ Meyer asked him to work on the star-crossed Sex Pistols movie Who Killed Bambi? Newly infatuated with punk rock, Daalder struck up a friendship with Tomata Du Plenty, leader of the theatrical L.A. synth-punk act The Screamers. Throughout the first half of the '80s, Daalder and Du Plenty tried and failed to get multiple music-video projects off the ground, until in 1986, they finally released Population: 1, a quasi-science-fiction art-punk musical cobbled together from pieces of footage Daalder shot with Du Plenty over the years, cleverly layered with the help of state-of-the-art image-manipulation effects. Population: 1 stars Du Plenty as a man who survives a nuclear holocaust...
- 12/3/2008
- by Noel Murray
- avclub.com
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