Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my fondness for the old, old Movie Host shows. Here is the ballot for 2019 which lets you select your five nominees for the Horror Host Hall of Fame. VOTING ENDS FEBRUARY 15th SO JUST ONE WEEK LEFT!
Filed under Bad and weird movies, humor, Movie Hosts
May 14th will see the Scream Factory releasing Blu-Ray editions of Quatermass II: Enemy from Space plus Quatermass and the Pit. NOTE: These are the THEATRICAL RELEASE versions. If you want the original 1950s British television versions of the Quatermass Serials they are available but sometimes just on Region 2 DVD.
To pre-order these Blu-Ray editions: Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
Dennis Quaid aka Furious DQ is the subject of this list of brief film reviews. Ignore Buzzfeed reports that Dairy Queen (DQ) is partnering with Balladeer’s Blog to sponsor a Dennis Quaid Film Festival in Rio. In fact, you should just ignore ALL Buzzfeed reports, period, at this point.
Let’s dive into this look at some of the films of Ed Miller himself from The Long Riders: Dennis Quaid. NOTE: These will be films in which Dennis was the male lead, hence no Right Stuff, Wyatt Earp, etc. Quaid should have been made the new Indiana Jones right after Harrison Ford’s Last Crusade in 1989. Magnificent missed opportunity.
THE BIG EASY (1986)
Role: Police Detective Remy McSwain
Female Lead: Ellen Barkin
Comment: One of the most underrated films of the 1980s. Think of The Big Easy as Cajun-blackened Film Noir, which, of course, makes it colorful and upbeat Film Noir with kickass music.
Set in New Orleans (known as the Big Easy for you overseas readers) this hardboiled mystery features Assistant DA Anne Osborne (Barkin) clashing, bickering, flirting with and falling for Quaid as Lt Remy McSwain. Remy is investigating Wiseguy murders that hint at an impending gangster war while Anne is probing police corruption.
The sparks fly between McSwain and Osborne but we viewers wonder if he’s playing her because he has too much to hide or if she’s playing him A Taxing Woman style. We also wonder if the omerta practiced by Remy and his police colleagues is simply because of the casual graft they’re into or if they’ve graduated from being crooked cops to being outright soldiers of organized crime.
Ned Beatty, Grace Zabriskie and John Goodman are in supporting roles in this enjoyable mystery/ rom-com/ travelogue for New Orleans.
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (1989)
Role: Jerry Lee Lewis
Female Lead: Winona Ryder
Comment: What The Buddy Holly Story was to Gary Busey, this movie was to Dennis Quaid. Hollywood bio-pic rules apply so the emphasis is on old-school rock music and a rip-roaring good time instead of accuracy. The movie plays its story so lightly and entertainingly that the approach works. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
February 16th to 17th is when the 2019 Boston Sci-Fi Marathon will happen.
More info is below, but first a list of this year’s eleven movies:
SOURCE CODE (2011)
SUNSHINE (2007)
DR CYCLOPS (1940)
DESTINATION MOON (1950)
INNERSPACE (1987) Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, opinion
Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead strikes again with the old Duran Duran song The Reflex.
Filed under opinion
Midnight Marquee, the renowned magazine devoted to horror, sci fi and cult films, returns after a long hiatus.
The 80th issue is now available. Below find the table of contents of this latest issue and the click for ordering. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault! In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show.
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday February 14th, 1987 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.
SERIAL: None. The movie, Film Vault Corps comedy sketches and commercials filled up the entire two and a half hours this time.
FILM VAULT LORE: This episode marked the second time The Texas 27 Film Vault came with a warning about violent content. It was also at least the second time they riffed on a movie that was originally in 3-D. Randy and Richard did various jokes about wearing 3-D glasses and 3-D effects coming out of the screen at them as they watched the movie.
Randy and Richard firing their machine guns on the T27FV 3D poster.
When you throw in the previous year’s “Mock 3D” interview with Ben Johnson and the 1987 release of The Texas 27 Film Vault‘s official 3-D poster you could say Randy, Richard, Ken “Tex” Miller, Joe Riley and Laurie Savino had a definite fondness for taking shots at the whole 3-D concept.
FOR A LOOK AT THE 3-D TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT POSTER (courtesy of Randy Clower) –https://glitternight.com/2013/03/18/movie-hosts-the-texas-27-film-vault-poster/
THE MOVIE:
Friday the 13th Part 3-D was the most notoriously lame sequel in the Friday the 13th film series during the 1980s. Not only was it part of the laughable 1980s attempt to revive the 3-D craze of the 1950s but it’s also infamous for its DISCO VERSION of the iconic Friday the 13th theme. However it’s essential viewing for horror fans because it was the first time Jason Voorhees put on the hockey mask that is so closely associated with the character. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Forgotten Television, Movie Hosts
There will be three Monster Bash Events this year. June, August and October. The June and October shows will be the large scale gatherings at the Double Tree in Mars, PA (North Pittsburgh Double Tree location). August will be a movie marathon at the grand Palace Theatre in Canton, Ohio with vendors.
Here are some of the basics on the forthcoming June show:
MONSTER BASH – Double Tree Pittsburgh North, Mars, PA (Cranberry Township)/June 22-24, 2018 Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
BLACK ROSES (1988) – This legendarily laughable attempt at a horror film belongs to quite a few niche sub-genres. It’s a Canadian horror movie, it’s one of the wonderfully campy Heavy Metal Horror productions of the 1980s and most importantly for trivia lovers Black Roses is one of the Big Three Canadian turkeys to feature Frank Dietz in a supporting role. (The other two are Rock’N’Roll Nightmare and Zombie Nightmare. )
Dietz looked too young to be a police detective in Zombie Nightmare and he looks too OLD to be a high school student in Black Roses. But that’s part of his – and the movie’s – charm. He also plays one of the Black Roses in monster form during the film.
You want more kitsch-casting? How about Julie Adams of Creature From The Black Lagoon playing an elderly frump outraged over Heavy Metal’s supposed “Satanic” element?
How about noted musician Carmine Appice as Vinny Apache, one of the demonic members of the band Black Roses?
How about Vincent Pastore from The Sopranos as a Heavy Metal-hating parent who pays for that by getting mauled by a $1.49 spider-puppet AND getting sucked into a speaker playing Black Roses songs? Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season
Balladeer’s Blog’s fans know how in love I am with the books published by McFarland. They do some of the greatest and most useful reference material regarding every single obscure aspect of art and entertainment history. I’ve recommended their books to anyone who will listen, even going back to the days before I wrote this blog.
One of McFarland’s latest is Where Monsters Walked and it deals with the California filming locations of horror, sci-fi and fantasy films from 1925-1965. Despite how I always joke about Bronson Canyon being the site for virtually every low-budget flick of the 1950s onward, it’s terrific seeing the odd movie locations that you might not suspect were in the Golden State.
To order this and/or other McFarland masterworks Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
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