It’s little wonder many in Hollywood dismissed Victor Mature as a block of brainless beefcake when he landed at Hal Roach’s Culver City studio complex in the summer of 1939 – after all, one of the primary practitioners of anti-Mature humour was Victor himself. Read More »Archive: Victor Mature — Hollywood’s Court Jester, But Nobody’s Fool
Few showbusiness celebrities presented a sharper contrast between their public image and personal life than Will Hay. Read More »Archive: Will Hay, the Star-Gazing Star of Stage and Screen
The spring of 1965 found Tony Hancock attempting to relax at the lavish Beverly Wiltshire Hotel, located in an historic suburb of Los Angeles southwest… Read More »Archive: Tony Hancock, Haunted Genius
The advent of talking pictures saw a steady stream of theatrically-trained British actors quitting these shores for the warmer climes and potentially more lucrative prospects offered in California, Read More »Archive: Tod Slaughter, Newcastle’s Forgotten Horror Star
What exactly is the appeal of the zombie in contemporary cinema? Be they the brain-famished cannibals of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, the shambling lost souls of Tourneur’s I Walked With a Zombie or the crazed killing machines of Boyle’s 28 Days Later, there seems no end to the march of the resurrected across our cinema screens. Read More »Archive: The Legions of Entropy
Just as there are times when random elements magically combine to produce a classic movie (Casablanca being perhaps the most famous example), there are many more occasions where the ingredients simply fail to ignite and the project is left languishing on the launch pad. Read More »Review: Ghosts of Mars (2001)
The opportunity to write and direct a screen adaptation of the Len Wein / Bernie Wrightson horror comic came at an interesting juncture in Wes Craven’s career. Read More »Review: Swamp Thing (1982)
The last of Bela Lugosi’s films for “Poverty Row” studio Monogram, Voodoo Man reunited the fading horror legend with William Beaudine, who’d directed him in the previous year’s The Ape Man. Read More »Review: Voodoo Man (1944)
My friend Chrissie Harper has begun posting art videos on her Patreon page, the latest of which is Let’s Draw Darkseid in 15 Minutes (Approx). It’s free to view, so enjoy! Read More »Ol’ Red Eyes is Back
I’m currently working my way through the first four volumes of Pacific Comics’ Johnny Hazard by Frank Robbins, which reprints the daily newspaper strip from its launch on 5 June 1944 (the morning before D-Day, in case anyone needs reminding). Read More »Hazard Warning