News

Albert Kallis, the iconic illustrator of classic 1950’s American-Internationl exploitation science fiction and horror movie posters has died:

Under the ‘G.I. Bill’, Kallis studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, and became a commercial artist.

His advertising campaigns for American International Pictures helped propel the studio's success with wild posters for low-budget, exploitation cult films including “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman”…

…“Invasion of the Saucer Men”…

…”I Was A Teenage Frankenstein”…

…”Attack of the Crab Monsters”…

…“The Brain Eaters”…

…“Not of This Earth” and a whole lot more.

Click the images to enlarge…...

Famous for his B-grade horror films with exponential shock value and for giving countless stars their big break, the late great Roger Corman will forever be one of the most influential figures in horror cinema. From his well-renowned classic Little Shop of Horrors to his more attention-grabbing titles like Attack of the Crab Monsters, Corman produced an impressive and expansive resume of over 400 films throughout his career. After his passing, his daughter, Catherine Corman, made the heartfelt statement: When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, I was a film-maker, just that (via The Guardian). And he will be; especially due to his experimental and captivating Poe Cycle of the early 1960s.

This article was originally published in Empire in October 2020

There’s never been a filmmaker like Roger Corman – putting some of the wildest premises in Hollywood history onto the screen, igniting the careers of countless fellow cinematic legends, and continuing to create against all the odds. Following his death at the age of 98, Empire presents our 2020 interview with the man himself – looking back on his wildest career moves, sharing his vital rules for making movies, and detailing the projects he still had in the works. Because even in his 90s, Corman was giving his all to cinema.

No force on Earth has ever been able to stop Roger Corman. From the moment he bankrolled his first film, Monster From The Ocean Floor, back in 1954, he has worked at a velocity that makes even Ben Wheatley look like Stanley Kubrick. Churning out one low-budget genre flick after another, he’s given...

Roger Corman, the B-movie legend who helped launch the careers of Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Francis Ford Coppola, among many others, has passed away at the age of 98. His family told Variety that he died on Thursday, May 9, at his home in Santa Monica, surrounded by his loved ones. The family also released this statement:

"His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, 'I was a filmmaker, just that.'"

It's no exaggeration to say that Hollywood wouldn't be the same without Roger Corman. In a career that spanned half a century and hundreds of films, he directed and/or produced B-movie hits and cult classics like "House of Usher," "The Little Shop of Horrors," "Death Race 2000," and "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (not to mention a famously unreleased "Fantastic Four" movie...

Roger Corman, the pioneering independent film producer who helped launch the careers of numerous filmmaking greats and was hailed as “The King of Cult,” died on May 9 at his home in Santa Monica. He was 98.

His daughter Catherine Corman confirmed his death in a statement to the Associated Press. “He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him,” the statement said. “When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that.’”

Corman began his filmmaking career in the 1950s, crafting a slew of low-budget features that ranged from “The Fast and the Furious” to “Swamp Women” to “Attack of the Crab Monsters.”

In 1959, Corman got into distribution with the launch of The Filmgroup, then in the 1960s tackled a number of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations including 1960’s “House of Usher.”

Throughout his career, Corman directed 55 films and produced 385, spanning from 1954 to 2008. In that time,...

Roger Corman, the maverick producer of B-movies and iconoclastic subjects whose innovative low-budget enterprises launched the careers of numerous major filmmakers, died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 98.

Corman’s career encompassed seven decades and more than 500 producing credits, including early work that launched the careers of major Hollywood figures such as Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Frances Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, Gale Anne Hurd, John Sayles, Ron Howard and Jonathan Demme. Yet Corman resented the commercial studio system, and as both producer and as a director himself, he pursued his cheap, no-frills filmmaking style at all costs, while using lowbrow genre tropes as a Trojan horse for socially conscious themes.

Over the years, Corman’s name has been most closely associated with the zany escapist enterprises often referred to as exploitation films, a term he abhorred. With producing credits such...

The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival — the longest running genre fest in America — kicks off its 49th annual event this Wednesday, February 14, and runs through Sunday, February 18, in Somerville, Ma.

Programming highlights include: the US premiere of Shatter Belt and a 10th anniversary screening of Coherence, both with director James Ward Byrkit; premieres of the documentaries Life After the Navigator and Life After The Neverending Story with director Lisa Downs; Faceless After Dark with director Raymond Wood and star Jenna Kanell (Terrifier); and a live Black Friday commentary by special effects legend Robert Kurtzman and director Casey Tebo.

Kicking off on Sunday at noon, the 24-hour marathon will feature Attack of the Crab Monsters, Black from the Past, Deep Blue Sea, Dredd, Lapsis, Mad Max, One Million B.C., Predestination, Ready Player One, The Matrix, Top of the Food Chain, Upgrade, and more.

Other events include: short film blocks, the Cyberpunk Sweethearts Ball,...

Director/Tfh Guru Allan Arkush discusses his favorite year in film, 1975, with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Rules of the Game (1939)

Le Boucher (1970)

Last Year At Marienbad (1961)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)

Topaz (1969)

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary

The Innocents (1961) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)

Rope (1948) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)

The Awful Truth (1937) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Duck Soup (1933) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Going My Way (1944)

Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary

M*A*S*H (1970)

Shampoo (1975) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Bonnie And Clyde (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Nada Gang (1975)

Get Crazy (1983) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Night Moves (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Katt Shea’s trailer...

In the world of cinema, a filmmaker would count themselves extremely lucky to have just one movie that has a longer shelf life than its opening weekend, let alone a film that stands the test of time decades after its release. But Joe Dante, the man behind "Gremlins," "The Howling," and many other classics is a man that gets to say precisely that.

More than a filmmaker who was behind the camera for the likes of "Innerspace" and "The 'Burbs," Dante is also very much a film buff and historian, using his website Trailers From Hell to document and discuss classic films, not to mention his actual collection of film prints. As such, he seems like the perfect man to curate a movie marathon and, wouldn't you know it? That's exactly what he's done.

Shout! Factory TV has partnered with the director for "Joe Dante's Film Inferno," a marathon of...

(from left) The Howling (Embassy Pictures); director Joe Dante; Gremlins (Warner Bros.) Photo: Todd Gilchrist/ Shout Factory; Shout Factory; Warner Bros. Graduating alongside Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard from Roger Corman’s school for filmmakers with more creativity than cash, Joe Dante was always the director whose 1980s blockbusters felt...

In today’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo goes back in time to explore all of the nooks and crannies of filmmaker Joe Dante’s film career with the director himself, who is currently out promoting his Scream Factory and Shout Factory TV takeover entitled, “Joe Dante’s Film Inferno.” Taking place on September 3 on Screamfactorytv.com at 3pm Et, during the takeover, Dante will introduce and guide you through seven underrated classic feature films from the Shout Factory/Scream Factory catalog, including films like Roger Corman’s “Attack of the Crab Monsters,” William Castle‘s “House on Haunted Hill,” and more.

Continue reading ‘Joe Dante’s Film Inferno’: The Iconic Director Discusses All Things ‘Gremlins,’ His Lost ‘Halloween,’ ‘Batman’ Films & More [The Discourse Podcast] at The Playlist.

Iconic genre filmmaker Joe Dante is currently promoting his Scream Factory and Shout Factory TV takeover entitled “Joe Dante’s Film Inferno.” Taking place on September 3 on Screamfactorytv.com at 3pm Et, during the “Inferno,” the legendary director of ’80s classics like “Gremlins,” “Explorers,” and many more, will introduce and guide you through seven underrated classic feature films from the Shout Factory/Scream Factory catalog, including films like Roger Corman’s “Attack of the Crab Monsters,” William Castle’s “House on Haunted Hill,” and more.

Continue reading Joe Dante Talks Almost Making The Original ‘Batman’ Film & How He Wanted John Lithgow To Play The Joker at The Playlist.

Another key ’50s sci-fi makes it to Blu-ray in an admirable encoding. Roger Corman’s end-of-the-world survivalist struggle against radioactive mist and three-eyed mutants shines in the glory of Superscope: Richard Denning and cute Lori Nelson must contend with a human monster in Touch Connors’ gangster. Adele Jergens spices things up, while Paul Birch delivers downer sermons about doomsday. It’s a truly marvelous atom fable, full of fanciful silly-science that makes for good storytelling. With a commentary by Tom Weaver. And don’t forget to click the ‘Rhododendron’ link.

Day the World Ended

Blu-ray

1955 / B&w / 2.00:1 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date December 21, 2021

Starring: Richard Denning, Lori Nelson, Adele Jergens, Touch Connors, Paul Birch, Raymond Hatton, Paul Dubov, Jonathan Haze, Paul Blaisdell, Chet Huntley (voice).

Cinematography: Jock Feindel

Set Decoration: Harry Reif

Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair

Special Effects: Paul Blaisdell

Original Music: Ronald Stein

Written by Lou Rusoff

Executive Producer:...

The Herculoids: The Complete Original Series

Blu ray

Warner Archive

1967/ 1.33:1

Starring Mike Road, Virginia Gregg

Directed by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM between 1940 and 1956—and then they were fired. The following year they found new employment as America’s babysitters; debuting in December of 1957 was The Ruff and Reddy Show, a rise and shine treat for the little ones and one of the first Saturday morning cartoon shows produced exclusively for television. With its success the duo expanded their reach, greeting kids just home from school with the sweet-natured adventures of Huckleberry Hound, Pixie and Dixie, and Yogi Bear. But the Sixties were the Sixties and in the midst of that mind-bending decade Hanna-Barbera took a turn for the weird: Frankenstein Jr. featured a blimp-sized version of Mary Shelly’s creature. Birdman was a solar-powered superhero with the...

Writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, and actor Larry Fessenden chats with hosts Joe Dante & Josh Olson about some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Habit (1995)

Jakob’s Wife (2021)

Phantom Thread (2017)

The Last Winter (2006)

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

The Crawling Eye (1958)

The Reptile (1966)

Peeping Tom (1960)

Casablanca (1942)

Jaws (1975)

Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)

Scarlet Street (1945)

Suspicion (1941)

Rope (1948)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Frankenstein (1931)

The Wolf Man (1941)

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Dracula (1931)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Mean Streets (1973)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Playtime (1973)

The Thing (1982)

The Howling (1981)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

An American Werewolf In Paris (1997)

I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)

Ginger Snaps (2001)

The Terminator (1984)

The Wolfman (2010)

Van Helsing (2004)

The Mummy (2017)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)

The Invisible Man (1933)

The Invisible Man (2020)

Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)

Wendigo (2001)

Fargo (1996)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Seven (1995)

Man Bites Dog...

Roger Corman began his boom year of 1957 with a marvelous bit of ‘way-out’ sci-fi — a ‘Tidal Wave of Terror’ no less. This note just arrived from Donald J.’s Seafood Emporium: “You puny, dunderheaded humans, don’t let the campy title fool you! Soon you will be ‘absorbed’ into our crabby super-mentalities, heh heh heh. We atom-age crustaceans are made of electric anti-matter — it’s incredible! Our telepathy is the best telepathy ever — everybody says so! It is what it is!” The new Blu-ray will charm fans seeking prime ‘fifties monster nirvana.

Attack of the Crab Monsters

Blu-ray

1957 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 62 min. / Street Date August 25 , 2020

Starring: Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson, Leslie Bradley, Mel Welles, Richard Cutting, Beach Dickerson, Tony Miller, Ed Nelson, Charles B. Griffith, Maitland Stuart.

Cinematography: Floyd Crosby

Film Editor: Charles Gross Jr.

Assistants of all stripes: Maurice Vaccarino, Charles B. Griffith, Lindsley Parsons Jr., Beach Dickerson,...

Hello again, dear readers. Right now, we’re living in unprecedented times, and it’s nice that, if nothing else, we still have entertainment to help us through all of this. Most of us are preparing for another month of self-isolation and thankfully we have a ton of horror and sci-fi titles hitting various VOD and Digital platforms throughout the month of April. Also, I decided to feature some special streaming events here as well, beyond the regular digital releases we usually get, as I thought it might be helpful to have as many distractions as we could possibly get over the next few weeks or so.

Later today, the Salem Horror Fest is hosting a virtual premiere for Mass Hysteria over on Facebook Live and the very next day, Shudder’s new series, Cursed Films, kicks off with their first episode on The Exorcist. The next installment of Blumhouse’s Into the Dark series,...

When it comes to the terms "living legend" and "prolific," perhaps nobody deserves those titles more than Roger Corman, who through hundreds of films has inspired and provided countless filmmakers and actors with opportunities to break into the movie industry. April 5th marks Corman's 94th birthday, and Shout! Factory TV is celebrating in grand fashion with a 48-hour livestream marathon of some of his most notable films as well as the 13-part series Cult-Tastic: Tales from the Trenches with Roger and Julie Corman.

Below, we have a trailer and an official press release with full details on the Roger Corman livestream marathon, which will kick off on Saturday, April 4th at 12:00am Pt on ShoutFactoryTV.com and various streaming platforms:

Press Release: Los Angeles – March 30, 2020 – Shout! Factory TV celebrates cult film icon Roger Corman’s 94th birthday with a weekend-long marathon livestream April 4 and 5. The marathon will present notable...

Roger Corman is alive and well and up to his old tricks.

At 93, the prodigiously prolific director, producer and mini-major mogul has been in the business long enough to receive scores of lifetime achievement awards — he’ll be getting another one this week in Houston, courtesy of the Houston Film Critics Society — and solidify his status as equal parts living legend and eminence grise.

He has more than 400 films to his credit, including the no-budget B-movies, darkly comical cult-faves and stylishly gothic Edgar Allen Poe adaptations he made in the 1950s and ‘60s, and the dozens of films he produced for American-International and his own companies, New World and Concorde Pictures, that provided major career boosts for such up-and-comers as Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Gale Anne Hurd and on and on and on.

In 2009, the Motion Picture Academy’s Board of Governors...

“You crazy rat you croaked him!” Yes, you’ve probably heard better hardboiled dialogue, but this British imitation of American gangster pictures takes the cake for screwy line deliveries. It’s derived from a book and play that’s already derived from a salacious William Faulkner story. Jack La Rue and Linden Travers try to make a kidnapper-rapist into a sympathetic, romantic figure, with marvelously awkward results. This Brit import comes with significant extras.

No Orchids for Miss Blandish

All-Region Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / / Street Date May 27, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00

Starring: Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoé Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson, Michael Balfour, Frances Marsden, Sydney James.

Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs

Film Editor: Manuel del Campo

Original Music: George Melachrino

From the novel by James Hadley Chase

Written, Produced and Directed by St.

Radiation and ’50s sci-fi go together like glowing peanut butter and jelly: the theaters and drive-ins were packed with them, some good and most not so swell; regardless of quality, they were churned out for the teenage masses to devour like a box of buttered corn. This brings us to The Hideous Sun Demon (1959), a low-budget number that has had viewers oscillating between gem and garbage since its release.

Personally, I hew closer to the former verdict than the latter; The Hideous Sun Demon is filled with uneven performances, a few slow spots, and some ludicrous dialogue. However, it also takes an earnest stab at an alcohol allegory, mixed in with a neat twist on The Wolf Man and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and pretty cool makeup. For me, ambition will always gain the upper hand.

Premiering in August of ’58 on a double bill with Roger Corman’s Attack of the Crab Monsters,...

It’s a spooky, snowy train ride across thousands of miles of Siberian rails — trapped on board with a victim-possessing creature from outer space, with eyes that kill! Actually, ‘Pánico en el transiberiano’ is a fine show for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, a Spanish-made chiller with a smart script and some effective shocks.

Horror Express

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1972 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date February 12, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Julio Peña, Ángel del Pozo, Helga Liné.

Cinematography: Alejandro Ulloa

Original Music: John Cacavas

Written by Arnaud d’Usseau, Julian Zimet

Produced by Bernard Gordon

Directed by Eugenio Martín

Dedicated horror fans look to the past to uncover forgotten chillers, or just to complete their lists of rare items unseen. For instance, although no release date has been given, we’re told that Kino Lorber will be giving...

Devotees of crime and film noir will get a kick out of this Brit attempt to capture the American style, that now comes off as screamingly funny. It was both a huge hit and a big scandal in London, 1948, where the censors came down hard on the film’s flagrant immorality and over-the-top violence. Former pre-Code second-banana thug Jack La Rue tries hard to be Humphrey Bogart. Leading lady Linden Travers’ role is as non-pc now as it was then: an heiress falls in love with the gangster, who has raped her, because she likes it. But the film’s maladroit hardboiled dialogue is hilarious fun.

No Orchids for Miss Blandish

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date March 20, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers, Walter Crisham, MacDonald Parke, Danny Green, Lilli Molnar, Charles Goldner, Zoë Gail, Leslie Bradley, Richard Nielson,...

Remember the warning to avoid ‘crossing the streams’ in Ghostbusters? Director Geoff Murphy enjoyed a world-wide release for this eerie sci-fi fantasy about a scientist who becomes unstuck in time-space, alone in an empty world.

The Quiet Earth

Blu-ray

Film Movement

1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95

Starring Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith

Cinematography James Bartle

Production Designer Josephine Ford

Art Direction Rick Kofoed

Film Editor Michael Horton

Original Music John Charles

Written by Bill Baer, Bruno Lawrence, Sam Pillsbury from the novel by Craig Harrison

Produced by Sam Pillsbury, Don Reynolds

Directed by Geoff Murphy

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

New Zealand was indeed quiet on science fiction filmmaking before the massive production Lord of the Rings. When Geoff Murphy and Bruno Lawrence surfaced in 1985 with The Quiet Earth it was received as a pleasant surprise, a brainy alternative to the Australian Road Warrior series. Distinguished...

Stars: Michelle Simone Miller, Kathryn Metz, Rich Lounello, A.J. DeLucia, Steve Diasparra, Danielle Donahue, Ken Van Sant | Written and Directed by Brett Piper

The latest film from cult auteur Brett Piper (They Bite, The Screaming Dead, Raiders of the Living Dead) Queen Crab is – from start to finish – a loving, action-packed tribute to the classic days of practical stop-motion animation, evoking the days of Ray Harryhausen creature features.

The official synopsis reads thus: A meteor crashes into a quiet lake in the remote countryside, awakening a centuries-old beast. She emerges from the deep and tears through a nearby town and its inhabitants. The humans must fight for their lives and stop this Queen Crab before she can hatch an army of babies that will overrun the entire world.

Though to be fair that synopsis exagerates things a little. It’s more a case of girl develops relationship with a crab,...

New World Pictures

There’s something magical about 1980’s horror movies that simply can’t be found in any film made before or since. On the outskirts of all the classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Shining there were your cheesy movies full of giant monsters, gross out special effects, and some of the most incomprehensible plots you’ll ever find on the big screen.

During this time, the genre began to see a shift back to the schlocky movies of the late 1950s like Attack of the Crab Monsters and Earth vs. The Spider. While the majority of horror films in the ’70s were rather serious, featuring realistic killers and reflecting anxiety over the Vietnam war, the ’80s were anything but. Filmmakers got back into making fun, intentionally goofy movies with Ash Williams killing zombies while spouting one liners, calling on you to turn off your...

The Guanajuato International Film Festival revealed yesterday all the details for its upcoming seventeenth edition, which is going to be celebrated from Friday, July 25 to Sunday, August 3. This is one of Mexico's top festivals and this year's lineup turned out to be both exciting and surprising, especially thanks to the fact that Giff is paying homage to B movie king Roger Corman. Producer of Death Race 2000, Piranha, Forbidden World, and hundreds others; director of such films as Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Little Shop of Horros, and The Pit and the Pendulum; and mentor of several consolidated directors, including Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, and Jonathan Demme; Roger Corman is quite simply a living film legend. At age 88, Corman is...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Roger Corman and Joe Dante, and even Dick Miller, were in attendance at last night "Kings of Cult" art show reception at Hero Complex in Los Angeles this weekend. This latest gallery welcomed various artists to pay tribute to the works of these two men, from Attack of the Crab Monsters and The Masque of Red Death to The Howling and Gremlins (a lot of Gremlins). Hell, a couple of artists even tipped a loving hat to Dante's Small Soldiers.

The post Over 35 Photos from the Roger Corman, Joe Dante Kings of Cult Art Show! appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Actor Russell Johnson, best known for playing The Professor on Gilligan’s Island, has died. He was 89. His longtime agent Mike Eisenstadt told Deadline that Johnson died this morning of natural causes at his home in Washington state. The Pennsylvania native had dozens of TV and film credits during his decades-long career, but it was as Professor Roy Hinkley in 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island for which he is best remembered. Johnson appeared on the show all three seasons it aired on CBS (1964-67). He reprised the role in The Castaways On Gilligan’s Island TV movie in 1979. Deadline recently reported that Warner Bros was planning a feature film based on the series. Russell’s Hollywood career began in the early 1950s, with early roles mainly in westerns including 1953′s The Stand At Apache River and Tumbleweed and sci-fi pics such as It Came from Outer Space (1953), This Island Earth...

Though rumors had been running for awhile now that Colin Firth would be stepping into the role of Roger Corman for Joe Dante‘s biopic The Man With the Kaleidoscope Eyes, Corman decided to casually mention in a profile with the Telegraph that Quentin Tarantino would be portraying him instead. Like that’s not news that would rock our worlds or anything. The mention of Tarantino is just a blip in the interview that also reveals that Corman will have a cameo in the film that chronicles the making of The Trip, his 1960′s film starring Jack Nicholson about LSD. Corman’s cameo, hilariously, will be the studio executive who didn’t want him to make the film. As “The King of the Bs,” Corman has had insurmountable influence on countless filmmakers and actors who worshiped his lo-fi masterpieces like The Little Shop of Horrors, Swamp Women, and Attack of the Crab Monsters. Tarantino...

Dan Boultwood’s It Came! #1 was released on Wednesday and tells the story of a giant robot from space appearing in a country town in 1950s England. Told from the perspective of our two heroes, Dr Boy Brett and his lady friend Doris, the comic is a funny, wonderfully drawn, and hugely entertaining comic that pays loving homage to cheaply produced sci-fi movies of this era, among other things. Dan spoke to me about his latest series and other topics, including his obsession with b-movies.

Noel Thorne: First of all, I loved this comic – congratulations on creating such a brilliant, clever and funny comic. What made you want to do a comedy about space robots coming to Earth framed as a 1950s b-movie?

Dan Boultwood: Hello Noel, I’m glad you enjoyed issue one I hope the rest lives up to expectations!

I’ve always loved B-movies, they’re my...

On Mondays and Wednesdays starting today (July 22) through August 5, Austin Public Library's Carver Branch invites you to watch some wonderfully terrible movies. The library is calling it the Return of the Revenge of the Son of the Bad Film Festival. These screenings are free and open to the public, showing in the Carver library's meeting rooms [map] at 6:30 pm. Do you dare to partake?

Here's the lineup:

Monday, July 22, Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) -- Directed by Roger Corman, this film has folks stuck on an island under the control of giant crabs who happen to eat brains.Wednesday, July 24, The Thing with Two Heads (1972) -- Ray Milland plays a bigot who has to share a body with convict Rosie Grier.  Here's the trailer:

read more...

John Gulager’s sequel to Alexandre Aja’s remake of Scott P. Levy’s remake of Joe Dante’s original Piranha b-movie is not to be confused with James Cameron’s sequel, Piranha II. Got it? Me neither.

For some reason, the killer fish convention just keeps coming back. Only, each movie increases its use of the Flailing Breast shot and seemingly embraces cinematic advance alongside the passing of time… hence the title of the latest movie… 3Dd! (- by far the biggest achievement in the whole film, naturally). So why do filmmakers and, more importantly, cinema-goers continue to relish these naughty nautical slaughter fests? After all, the content of these movies can be broken down into two very simple scenes: drunken spring-break sexy times and blood intensive death, interchanged (actually, when I put it like that, what’s not to like?).

Attack of the Crab Monsters

The convention of...

He’s the most mild-mannered of men, yet he’s responsible for such groundbreaking exploitation titles as Caged Women, Bloody Mama, and Attack Of The Crab Monsters. The new documentary Corman’S World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel tracks the career of writer-director-producer Roger Corman, the true godfather of independent filmmaking. St. Louisans will have the opportunity to see Corman’S World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel when it plays here this weekend at Webster University. Now 86 years old, Corman’s influence on modern American cinema is almost incalculable. In 2009, he was honored with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Over his amazing career, Mr. Corman has produced films, built studios, and launched the careers of so many young filmmakers and actors, some of whom have gone on to become the biggest names in Hollywood. Corman has been been interviewed many times in the past and this new film doesn...

Courtesy of the filmmaker Alex Stapleton

Alex Stapleton is the director of the new documentary “Corman’s World,” which opens in theaters Dec. 16.

I have always been fascinated by Roger Corman. I loved his low budget genre flicks like “Not of This Earth,” “Deathrace 2000″ and “Attack of the Crab Monsters.” Never having the opportunity to go to film school, books, films and DVD extras, and served as my personalized film course. One of the books I got my hands on...

Roger Corman is an interesting character. He’s a provocateur, a goof, a “schlockmaster,” a great assembler of talent, an independent film legend, an international film buff, an under-appreciated master of concepts and execution. All of these sides are shown in Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, director Alex Stapleton‘s new documentary that attempts to reconcile all of these disparate character traits and titles into one cohesive piece. And, happily, he mostly succeeds.

The film is a combination of Hollywood luminaries relating to the audience what makes Corman so unique through talking head interviews mixed with a mostly-chronological telling of his story to inform us of what exactly we should be admiring about him. The crux of the story seems to be that he is under-appreciated not only amongst the film elite but also from an entire new generation of film fans that grew up without drive-thrus or grindhouses (alas,...

Ryan Lambie Aug 11, 2016

Richard Matheson’s novel was adapted into The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957. Ryan compares the book to Jack Arnold’s classic movie.

For some writers, the most outlandish story ideas often come from unexpectedly mundane sources. Stephen King was inspired to write his claustrophobic short tale The Mist during a trip to his local supermarket. John Wyndham came up with the killer plant concept at the heart of The Day Of The Triffids when he spotted some vegetation shaking menacingly in the breeze.

Author Richard Matheson, meanwhile, was inspired to write his 1956 novel, The Shrinking Man, while watching an apparently incidental scene in the 1953 musical, Let’s Do It Again. A moment where actor Ray Milland puts on a hat belonging to someone else, which then flops down over his ears, made Matheson ask the question: what would happen if a man began to shrink in stature,...

Richard Matheson’s sci-fi novel was adapted into The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957. Here, Ryan compares the book to Jack Arnold’s classic movie…

For some writers, the most outlandish story ideas often come from unexpectedly mundane sources. Stephen King was inspired to write his claustrophobic short tale, The Mist, during a trip to his local supermarket. John Wyndham came up with the killer plant concept at the heart of The Day Of The Triffids when he spotted some vegetation shaking menacingly in the breeze.

Author Richard Matheson, meanwhile, was inspired to write his 1956 novel, The Shrinking Man, while watching an apparently incidental scene in the 1953 musical, Let’s Do It Again. A moment where actor Ray Milland puts on a hat belonging to someone else, which then flops down over his ears, made Matheson ask the question: what would happen if a man began to shrink in stature, so...

Crabs attack Stills We Love in a double-photo feature!

It’s Attack of the Crab Monsters today, folks. And we’ve got two photos for you. Best get to it. Just look:

Click to enlarge.

It’s always odd to see color photos from movies that have etched themselves into our memories in black and white. Here’s a scuba-geared Pamela Duncan on location in Bronson Canyon for one of Roger Corman and Chuck Griffith’s most durable creature features, Attack of the Crab Monsters. The state of the art Telepathic Talking Crab Puppeteers are working their magic in what may be a rehearsal but is more likely a test to see if the wires will hold. The guy on the right looks like he might be Ed Nelson, who was underneath the Crab whenever it had to move, and claims Jack Nicholson was hanging around hoping to get in on the gig.

Directed by: Declan O'Brien

Produced by: Roger Corman, Julie Corman

Written by: Mike MacLean

Cast: Eric Roberts, Kerem Bursin, Sara Malakul Lane, Héctor Jiménez

In my review of Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurous (Feb. 23 of this year), I suggested the folks in charge of The Asylum watch some of Roger Corman's older films and take a few notes on how to make a great monster flick. I hope they had pen and paper handy when Sharktopus hit the Syfy Network, as their chief competition just showed them how it's done. A gleeful mix of one part monster, one part bathing suit clad victims, and a lot of "how can we top the last scene" effort shaken into the mix, the film became one of Syfy's biggest successes. All I can say is, I told you so, The Asylum.

The film opens in California, with a young swimmer about to become a white shark snack.

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Celebrated producer and director Roger Corman will be in St. Louis this weekend to help kick off the Vincentennial Vincent Price Film Festival. We Are Movie Geeks has decided to take a look at the directing career of the man known as .King of the B.s’, a Hollywood legend who.s discovered so much talent and gave so many future directors and actors their starts, that he has to be considered a one-man movie industry. Since we just posted the Top Ten Best of Vincent Price last week and included three of the eight Corman/Price collaborations in that list, we decided to leave off the films he made with Price this week and focus on other films that he directed. Roger Corman will be at the Hi-Pointe Theater at 1005 McCausland Ave. in St. Louis on Saturday May 21 to speak...

To celebrate Roger Corman’s appearance as Guest of Honor at the upcoming Vincentennial, the Vincent Price 100th Birthday Celebration in St. Louis, we’re doing something special at the Way Out Club Tuesday May 3rd. It’s Super-8 Roger Corman Movie Madness !! That’s right, we will be showing seven films directed by the ‘King of the B’s’ in condensed format on Super-8 sound film (average length: 10 minutes). They are: The Raven, The St. Valentines Day Massacre, Bucket Of Blood, The Undead, Pit And The Pendulum, It Conquered The World, and Night Of The Blood Beast (not directed, but produced by Corman but in his style). Then we’re going to do something unprecedented at the Madness: some 16mm Madness !!! We’re going to take down the Super-8 projector at some point and put up a 16mm projector and screen a complete Roger Corman feature; his 63-minute 1957 epic...

While other releases in the Shout! Factory’s Roger Corman’s Cult Classics focus on his producing credits, the recent Sci-Fi Classics showcases three of his early directorial works. Oh, he also produced all three, worked with the writers on the scripts and even pitched the projects to investors. Like many directors today, when you call something a "Corman film", it’s because he’s influenced the project from the start.

First up is Attack of the Crab Monsters, which manages to be quite effective despite its ludicrous premise. A group of scientists arrive on a remote Pacific island to study the effects of fallout from recent nuclear testing in the Pacific. They also want to discover what happened to the first team, which disappeared without a trace.

It’s not long before mysterious things start to happen. A sailor is pulled out of the water without his head, the...

Encino, CA - While Charles Nelson Reilly is beloved for his time on Match Game, there’s more to this actor than Dumb Dora answers. He was the toast of Broadway with roles in Hello Dolly and Bye, Bye, Birdie and won the Tony for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. Later in life he directed several plays on the Great White Way. While many actors sum up their lives in thick tomes, Charles created a one-man show. He was a stage performer so this was the best way to distill his experiences for an audience. The Life of Reilly captures his final performance before his passing in 2007.

After playing the festival circuit and a limited theatrical release, Life of Reilly is finally out on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes. You can take Charles every where. In edition to the feature film, there’s tons of bonus features including...

Welcome back to Killer Film’s New Release Tuesday for January 18th! Before we get to these releases, let us remind you By ordering through our site, you not only get the best deals around from Amazon, but this one little click will help us out at no extra cost to you! It’s what keeps us killer!

Buried

Believe the hype. It’s tense, claustrophobic, and damn good. It’s the type of thriller Hitchcock would have loved to do. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Buy Donny says: Buy

Takers

On paper, here’s a rather standard issue heist film. That’s pretty much it, but when seen, there’s great performances – especially from Hayden Christensen (yeah, I just said that) and Idris Elba – and a really great midday heist sequence. Plus, Stephen King had it as his number 5 film of 2010! (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Rent Donny says:...

DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed

Buried Lionsgate is going the "single serve" route with Buried, offering it only in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack as I'm sure all studios are now hoping consumers begin adopting Blu-ray over DVD. I haven't yet rewatched this film, but I did enjoy it in the theater and wonder how it will play at home. I can only assume the best way is to turn the lights off completely and crank up the sound. However, I'm not sure if this is a film I want to return to. After all, who wants to watch a film about a guy trapped in a box multiple times? Animal Kingdom I have been meaning to rewatch this one for a while now. I wasn't as enamored with it my first time around as everyone else, but the more I thought about it...

Hey Fiends! Happy Monday! Got another list of flicks on the format of your choice.

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Triple Feature (Attack of the Crab Monsters / War of the Satellites / Not of This Earth)

Format: DVD

———————————–

Three Films Produced And Directed By Honorary Academy Award Recipient And King Of B-Movies, Roger Corman: With All New Film Transfers From The Negative!

In Attack Of The Crab Monsters, a group of scientists become marooned on an island while investigating the disappearance of researchers who were looking into atomic activity in the Pacific. They quickly fall prey to giant, mutant crustaceans that have the ability to absorb the minds of their prey. Starring Russell Johnson (Gilligans Island), Richard Garland and Mel Welles (Little Shop Of Horrors).

An alien comes to Earth, masquerading as a human, to scout our planet for a new blood source in Not Of This Earth. He needs...

Does claustrophobia set in easily for you? Then you may want to steer clear of the video aisles of your favorite stores as last year's intense buried alive flick (starring the future Green Lantern) is coming on home.

Being that this is another light week release wise, you don't have too many other options. That is unless you're in the mood for high speed chases featuring coffin-looking vehicles that could end up causing just as much anxiety.

Or maybe you'd just like to find comfort in another Roger Corman fest from a kinder, gentler era - a triple treat that has nothing to do with coffins. Yay!

Buried (Blu-ray Review)

Directed by Rodrigo Cortés

Starring Ryan Reynolds, and the voices of Samantha Mathis, Erik Palladino, José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky

Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up six feet underground with no...

Your Weekly Source for Blu-Ray and DVD Release News

Perhaps the most anticipated release this week is Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried, a groundbreaking indie thriller starring Ryan Reynolds who wakes up to find himself buried alive, but much more is at play in this ingenious film. David Michod’s Animal Kingdom — about a 17-year old coping with life in a criminal family – was also a festival favorite on the indie scene; Freakonomics is an anthology from six innovative documentary filmmakers that explores the hidden side of everything; and two classics from director Samuel Fuller — Naked Kiss, a film noir about a prostitute who finds redemption; and Shock Corridor, about a journalist who commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange murder — get the Blu-Ray treatment from Criterion Collection.

Blu-Ray for Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 Animal Kingdom (2010) Army Of Crime (2010) Buried (2010) Death Race 2: Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack (2011) Down Terrace (2010) Freakonomics (2010) Lebanon...

Cage tells MTV News he was inspired by B-movies like 'the great Roger Corman classics.'

By Eric Ditzian

Nicolas Cage

Photo: MTV News

Why the vitriol? The blogosphere has lit up in recent days with some staggering hate for "Season of the Witch," Nicolas Cage's supernatural tale of evil spirits haunting Europe during the Crusades.

Honestly, there are two ways to assess a movie: You can critique it for what you think it should have aspired to be or you can critique it on the grounds of what filmmakers themselves attempted to create. And with the latter sort of critical assessment, "Season of the Witch" hardly deserves all this fury, especially given how Cage describes his approach to the film. The actor stars, alongside Ron Perlman, as a warrior recruited to ferry a suspected witch to a bunch of monks in the hope of curing a devastating plague outbreak.