tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57513608144891467542012-02-14T21:19:47.863ZShaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.comBlogger3481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-26199831809224533772012-02-13T19:05:00.000Z2012-02-13T19:05:16.008Z

Dir: MICHAEL MANN Country: USA/UK The gothic horror fantasy The Keep had everything going for it when pre-production began in 1982/3. The novel by F. Paul Wilson was a bestseller, and the director Michael Mann was coming into his second film off the back of a critical and commercial success with his debut effort Thief (1981). The film had a respectable budget of $6,000,000, and a solid and

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-66625966252814698962012-02-11T21:24:00.001Z2012-02-11T21:31:48.663Z

Dir: KENNETH ANGER Country: USA My introduction to the works of Kenneth Anger began when I saw Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) [on the Channel 4 show Midnight Underground.] My first thoughts were “What the hell is this?” Bizarre imagery set to classical music, with a guy who had impressively long fingernails. In the pre-internet days, a trawling of the library uncovered a book featuring

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-55197142529572303342012-02-07T20:34:00.000Z2012-02-07T20:34:43.283Z

This months thrilling edition of the Lobby Card Collection completes Sergio Leone's trilogy of 'Dollars' film featuring Clint Eastwood as the nameless anti-hero. In comparison to previous instalments lobby card images for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly were relatively thin on the ground, but on my travels I still managed to find some interesting examples that were used to promote the film in

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-25742218384255759482012-02-06T18:54:00.001Z2012-02-06T19:01:37.738Z

Thief (1981) - US Poster  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The Keep (1983) - US Poster---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manhunter (1986) - US Poster Manhunter - US Poster Manhunter - UK Quad Poster ----------------------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-39284149393720926692012-02-02T20:55:00.000Z2012-02-02T20:55:20.059Z

Dir: LUCIO FULCI Country: ITALY/SPAIN/MEXICO It is not unfair to say that Fabrizio De Angelis and Ugo Tucci’s decision to hire Lucio Fulci as director for their horror production Zombi 2 (1979) saved his career. The pair embarked on a wave of excessively gory and increasingly incoherent horror pictures, inflicting such delights as The Beyond (1981), The House by the Cemetery (1981), The New York

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-62441839151270912482012-02-01T17:26:00.000Z2012-02-01T17:26:09.990Z

Dir: UMBERTO LENZI Country: ITALY/SPAIN AKA: Il coltello di ghiaccio Silent Horror I should start this review by saying I’m not a big admirer of the films of Umberto Lenzi. I’m well aware of the high esteem he is held in by enthusiasts of cult Italian cinema, but to date I’ve only seen marginal evidence to suggest that Lenzi is little more than an incompetent and talentless hack. I say marginal

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-10765513480445108512012-01-29T19:33:00.002Z2012-01-29T19:41:09.418Z

One of the major benefits of having a blog such as The Celluloid Highway is that I can advertise on it for free. With this mind I'd like to direct my readers and friends to a new site I created this weekend. I've always been fascinated by the various fonts and graphics used in the design of film titles, and I've decided to create a database that chronicles the title screens of all the films that

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-70961593180431917512012-01-25T20:38:00.000Z2012-01-25T20:38:27.894Z

Dir: JURAJ HERZ Country: CZECHOSLOVAKIA If there were two defining characteristics of art cinema in the 1960’s then it was a need to challenge prevailing orthodoxies (both in terms of film form, filmic traditions, and politics) and to reconstitute the theme of national identity in the wake of tumultuous world events. It became a decade of national cinema and new waves. The most prominent

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-82370800707988903432012-01-24T21:01:00.000Z2012-01-24T21:01:41.631Z

Director: DONALD CAMMELL Country: USA With the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), and Westworld (1973) technophobia became one of the major ‘meta-narratives’ of 1970’s American cinema. It sat comfortably alongside the ‘Revolt of Nature’ movie, the conspiracy thriller, the disaster movie, and movies set in post apocalyptic wastelands. All of these

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-86475961918192768312012-01-18T17:26:00.002Z2012-01-19T14:35:15.531Z

Many thanks to my good friend James Gracey of the stupendous Behind the Couch for the donation of Cigarette Burns. I'm still after the titles for Elvis and Pro-Life, please get in touch if you're feeling a little generous.

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-39126367013064928712012-01-14T22:08:00.000Z2012-01-14T22:08:54.897Z

Dir: SERGIO MARTINO Country: ITALY AKA: Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh Next! Blade of the Ripper The Next Victim! Like his contemporaries Umberto Lenzi, Enzo G. Castellari, and Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino was a director who possessed a highly developed degree of generic utility. This ensured that Martino and the others were constantly in demand in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but the price they

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-80459224869895326112012-01-13T18:59:00.000Z2012-01-13T18:59:44.694Z

 Performance (1970) - US Poster  Performance #2 - West German Poster---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walkabout (1971) - US Poster  Walkabout #2 - UK Quad Poster Walkabout #3 - Japanese Poster ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Don't Look Now (1973) - US

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-75001707319366585522012-01-09T16:28:00.001Z2012-01-09T16:34:17.009Z

Following quickly on the heels of the lobby cards for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) I present a selection of stills for Sergio Leone's 1965 sequel For a Few Dollars More. This is my personal favourite of Leone's westerns, and the following three sets of lobby cards were used to promote the film in British, French and West German cinemas. -----------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-52270366363174053862012-01-08T21:07:00.000Z2012-01-08T21:07:05.434Z

Dir: TERENCE FISHER Country: UK Although To the Devil - A Daughter (1976) officially marked the end of Hammer’s first cycle of horror film production, it is Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, made two years before, that has the more genuine feel of a concluding statement. It was the final example of Hammer’s archetypal brand of gothic Victoriana (though Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires [1974

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-23018497335878412182012-01-04T18:59:00.000Z2012-01-04T18:59:36.593Z

Dir: DARIO ARGENTO Country: ITALY/FRANCE/WEST GERMANY AKA: Il gatto a nove code History hasn’t been kind to Dario Argento’s second feature film The Cat O’ Nine Tails. It hasn’t helped that Argento himself has been quick to dismiss the film as his least favourite, though Argento has also gone on record saying his favourite film is the 1985 debacle Phenomena. It’s abundantly clear from this that

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-45962464258530090842012-01-03T21:10:00.001Z2012-01-03T21:21:35.125Z

Dir: GIULIO QUESTI   Country: ITALY/FRANCE AKA: La morte ha fatto L'uovo Italian writer/director Giulio Questi deserves a more prominent position in the history of popular Italian cinema. One of the most challenging things for a filmmaker working within the restricted conventions of fashionable cycles or genres is to make the familiar seem unfamiliar. His films achieve this through an

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-69226113080116285902012-01-01T20:27:00.001Z2012-01-01T20:28:25.799Z

Throughout 2010 I had resisted the urge to dip my toe into the waters of High Definition film presentation. But in January 2011 I finally took the plunge and immersed myself in the world of the blu-ray. My main motivation for doing so was that the discs had become more affordable, and a far greater selection of older and interesting titles were seeing the light of day courtesy of niche

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-56805997943756318042011-12-31T17:07:00.000Z2011-12-31T17:07:15.620Z

This edition of the ever popular and world famous Celluloid Sounds will investigate the musical contribution of Fabio Frizzi and Giorgio Cascio to Lucio Fulci’s gore soaked zombie opus Zombie 2 (aka too many different names to list). For pure entertainment I don’t think Fulci ever eclipsed this film, and it remains a firm favourite of mine. Intellectually I find myself gravitating to more nuanced

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-31672043336909270152011-12-26T21:26:00.001Z2012-01-09T16:28:37.147Z

Italian director Sergio Leone's rip off of Akira Kurosawa's masterful samurai flick Yojimbo (1960) has achieved a huge prominence in the bitter and cynical landscape of the European western. Although it made Clint Eastwood a star, and showcased Leone's exaggerated stylisations, it is the music by Ennio Morricone that has had a greater lasting appeal. Here is a selection of lobby cards used to

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-5117173643764380162011-12-21T21:12:00.000Z2011-12-21T21:12:09.033Z

Dir: JOHN LLEWELYN MOXEY Country: UK AKA: Horror Hotel "Just Ring for Doom Service" The City of the Dead belongs to a subset in British horror cinema that explores the relationship between the arcane beliefs of witchcraft and the occult and contemporary modernity. Other notable examples include Night of the Demon (1957), Night of the Eagle (1962), Witchcraft (1964), and The Witches (1966).

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-48113267550919644082011-12-18T23:30:00.000Z2011-12-18T23:30:08.033Z

This latest instalment of the Lobby Card Collection features Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Vladamir Nabakov's scandalous Lolita  I was only able to find one set of lobby cards for this film on my travels, nevertheless I hope you enjoy them.        

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-24717120998178344142011-12-11T19:08:00.000Z2011-12-11T19:08:20.383Z

Dir: JOSEPH ELLISON Country: USA This dreary and depressing slasher flick was the inspiration of writer/director Joseph Ellison. I use the word inspiration cautiously in this case, because it would be fairly clear to anyone who has watched this film that Ellison was very familiar with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Elements borrowed include a socially inept alienated psychopathic protagonist,

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-91521915675420210692011-12-10T16:29:00.001Z2011-12-10T16:30:10.486Z

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-16262168848704846192011-12-09T16:34:00.001Z2011-12-09T16:35:03.147Z

         

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-59012853708647250202011-12-04T16:34:00.001Z2011-12-04T18:44:21.377Z

"A politician would promise an amnesty to the murderer of his own father to win an election." - Sheriff Burnett ("The Great Silence") The Mercenary aka A Professional Gun (Sergio Corbucci, 1968) - US Poster ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Find a Place to Die (Guiliano Carniemo, 1968) - Spanish Poster----------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-71952873677325301962011-12-02T17:35:00.007Z2011-12-20T12:30:25.950Z

This two part celebration of  Spaghetti Western poster designs is by no means definitive. This is a purely subjective selection, so if your favourites are not amongst the images I apologise. Without further ado I invite you to explore some wonderful art work for one of my favourite popular European film cycles. "There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around their

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-72643232100246881232011-11-27T17:25:00.000Z2011-11-27T17:25:09.761Z

Stanley Kubrick's science-fiction masterpiece needs no introduction from me. Kubrick is a true celluloid hero of mine, and his epic grandiose tale of the origins of mankind remains a landmark in cinematic history. Here is a selection of lobby cards released to promote the film in cinemas.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-41705722358622546482011-11-26T17:23:00.000Z2011-11-26T17:23:48.656Z

Dir: RUGGERO DEODATO Country: ITALY AKA: La casa sperduta nel parco Although Italian director Ruggero Deodato has directed over twenty films in a career spanning four decades, his reputation almost entirely rests on two films that emerged in 1980. Both Cannibal Holocaust and House on the Edge of the Park introduced audiences to a brand of cinematic sadism the like of which was (and still is)

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-5250365408893389632011-11-21T16:24:00.000Z2011-11-21T16:24:31.818Z

Dir: PETER CARTER Country: CANADA/USA AKA: The Creeper The success of John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972), which dramatised the clash between the white collar urbanity of middle class America and a disenfranchised backwoods rural community created ripples of influence that extended far and wide. Although ostensibly an action orientated adventure movie, there was enough paranoia and nightmarish

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-28209710134358776242011-11-16T17:25:00.001Z2011-11-27T22:29:00.706Z

Dir: BERT I. GORDON Country: USA AKA: H. G. Wells' Food of the Gods Writer/director/producer/visual effects designer Bert I Gordon is living proof that one can be a jack of all trades and master of none. Despite Gordon’s obvious shortcomings there is a certain infectious enthusiasm to many of his films - especially his science-fiction efforts of the 1950’s. How can one not enjoy the absurd

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-67923819643575043772011-11-14T00:46:00.000Z2011-11-14T00:46:44.639Z

One of the very first soundtracks I purchased was Giorgio Moroder’s pulsating score for Alan Parker’s controversial and brutal prison drama Midnight Express. Midnight Express was the Italian’s first soundtrack, and at the time he was heavily embroiled in the late 70’s disco scene. It was a musical trend particularly receptive to Moroder’s brand of repetitive synth based pop. In addition to being

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-80202241903993675572011-11-11T17:19:00.001Z2011-11-11T17:20:06.980Z

Dir: DAN CURTIS Country: USA Original Transmission Date: 21/02/1973 History tends to be written by the winners, and as a result the landscape of 1970’s horror strains under a stifling orthodoxy. A prevailing critical consensus (partly attributable to academia as well as fan worship) that propels names like Argento, Craven, Romero, Hooper, Cronenberg and Carpenter into the forefront at the

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-80080814740489979082011-11-09T15:14:00.002Z2011-11-27T22:29:35.773Z

For your viewing pleasure - a selection of lobby cards for the under-appreciated Hammer horror production Kiss of the Vampire (1963) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-81365303326902734262011-11-08T19:53:00.000Z2011-11-08T19:53:26.335Z

Eraserhead (1977) - US poster Eraserhead #2 - UK Quad poster Eraserhead #3 - Japanese poster----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Elephant Man (1980) #1 - Hungarian poster The Elephant Man #2 - UK Quad poster The Elephant Man #3 - Japanese poster The Elephant Man #4 - Polish poster------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-52332854148347001492011-11-07T20:35:00.000Z2011-11-07T20:35:06.122Z

Dir: WALTER GRAUMAN Country: USA Original Transmission Date: 24/11/1970 The relative emptiness of The Celluloid Highway’s Cult TV Archive has bothered me for some time, so I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to explore in more detail, the often fertile soil of the small screen. In the United States the made-for-television horror movie became something of a cult institution, and flourished

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-33430681410889204452011-11-06T18:45:00.001Z2011-11-27T22:30:17.032Z

Dir: PETER SASDY Country: UNITED KINGDOM Original Transmission Date: 25/12/1972 The 1970’s represented a high watermark of creativity in the small screen landscape of British television. Fans of science-fiction thrilled to the ongoing adventures of Doctor Who (1963 - present), Doomwatch (1970-72), The Tomorrow People (1973-79), and Blake’s 7 (1978-81). Meanwhile fans of the supernatural were

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-62588870283414303972011-11-03T19:17:00.001Z2011-11-21T16:54:49.906Z

A selection of lobby cards for Dario Argento's nightmarish fairy tale Suspiria from France, Spain, and the United States.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-2051742430065100472011-11-03T15:55:00.001Z2011-11-03T15:55:34.601Z

Dario Argento's stunningly composed giallo Deep Red was released in Spain under the title Rojo oscuro. Here are a selection of lobby cards that were used to promote the film in Spanish cinemas.

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-87457425287625855472011-11-01T20:48:00.000Z2011-11-01T20:48:51.658Z

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-16573109888775997232011-10-29T17:23:00.000+01:002011-10-29T17:23:20.160+01:00

Dir: FRANK DE FELITTA Country: USA Original Transmission Date: 24/10/1981 Very few made for television movies have achieved the cult prominence of Halloween favourite Dark Night of the Scarecrow. It was originally broadcast on CBS in October 1981, became a network mainstay for many years, a success on video rental, and an unlikely success in other territories as well. I can personally attest to

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-27125017968641891232011-10-28T19:32:00.000+01:002011-10-28T19:32:48.498+01:00

Regular visitors to The Celluloid Highway may well have noticed a little image in the sidebar promoting a very special Halloween collaboration. I was invited by my erstwhile colleague Franco of the effervescent and consistently informative blog The Film Connoisseur to contribute to a themed post exploring the esoteric nature of the supernatural in film. My brief was to provide five obscure and

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-17097840336931258122011-10-27T15:18:00.002+01:002011-12-26T16:18:14.942Z

The regeneration and resurrection of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) has been something of a personal crusade for me. It was the first Halloween franchise film I ever watched (yes, even before Carpenters 1978 original) and its impression on me has remained undiminished in the intervening twenty years. While I would by no means argue it is the best film in the franchise, that honour

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-86417290336168918802011-10-26T18:37:00.001+01:002011-10-26T18:43:01.446+01:00

Dir: BRIAN HENSON Country: USA/AUSTRALIA Original Transmission Date: 12/06/2006 The Stephen King short story Battleground remains one of my favourite pieces from the worlds leading writer of dark fiction. I first read it at the age of fifteen and its ingenious narrative and rapier sharp construction left a lasting impression on me. It was first published in the September 1972 edition of

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-16825578304499312062011-10-23T16:05:00.001+01:002011-11-17T16:53:00.174Z

Dir: FREDDIE FRANCIS Country: UK Distributors have been slow to mine the archives of Hammer for potential high definition blu-ray releases. To date we have had only three; the dual edition package of Vampire Circus (1972) courtesy of US distributor Synapse, UK distributor Optimum’s dual edition package of Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and Eureka’s presentation of Paranoiac. The latter was the

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-24694071033830084382011-10-19T16:34:00.002+01:002011-11-01T12:23:30.472Z

Many thanks to Brian Bankston of the excellent Cool Ass Cinema for kindly donating the title screen for Rob Zombies abominated abortion of a film Halloween II. 

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-40508374005294323992011-10-17T17:09:00.002+01:002011-12-26T16:14:03.119Z

I make no apologies for the fact that the legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone will figure prominently in the landscape of Celluloid Sounds. I have been a great admirer (who isn’t?) of Mr. Morricone’s film music for many years and am excited at the opportunity to pay fulsome tribute to him on The Celluloid Highway. In the first of this two part series I will be casting my eye and ear over

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-3467234434290136502011-10-15T19:44:00.000+01:002011-10-15T19:44:57.791+01:00

Dir: PASQUALE FESTA CAMPANILE Country: ITALY AKA Autostop rosso sangue Death Drive Hitchhike: Last House on the Left The Naked Prey The screen image of songwriter and actor David Hess is entirely based on a triumvirate of roles in which he played a psychopathic sadist. The recent untimely death of Mr. Hess prompted me to return to the lesser known of these three performances, the criminally

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-36076860971178521152011-10-13T20:34:00.003+01:002012-01-28T14:38:14.210Z

I’ve always considered the soundtrack of Dario Argento’s Phenomena to be one of its most controversial aspects. The light textures and insinuating melodies of Ennio Morricone’s contributions to Argento’s early gialli, had rapidly made way for the grandiose and progressive rock inflected rhythms of Goblin. In the 1980’s Goblin’s approach took on a more synthetic and electronic sound which

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-3700732866875700002011-10-12T15:43:00.001+01:002011-10-12T15:49:21.870+01:00

HALLOWEEN (John Carpenter, 1978)  - US Poster HALLOWEEN - UK Quad Poster HALLOWEEN - Japanese Poster HALLOWEEN - Italian Quad poster-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HALLOWEEN II (Rick Rosenthal, 1981) - US Poster----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HALLOWEEN III:

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-46443284227326059702011-10-10T17:39:00.000+01:002011-10-10T17:39:46.843+01:00

Dir: JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI Country: UK/WEST GERMANY I am a firm supporter and collector of the BFI’s Flipside imprint. With a remit to release obscure British cinematic rarities in dual format edition packages, already such wonderful treasures as The Bed Sitting Room (1969), Herostratus (1967), The Party’s Over (1965), and Bronco Bullfrog (1971) have been unearthed for an unsuspecting audience. The

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-7148568973187385062011-10-07T17:21:00.000+01:002011-10-07T17:21:28.495+01:00

Dir: NICOLAS ROEG Country: UK/ITALY For me one of the most lamentable aspects of theatrical distribution was the abolition of the double bill. It was common practice at one time for cinemas to offer support for the feature presentation, and try as I might, my own efforts at engineering double bills at the local multiplex often end in failure. The best I have managed was a double bill of Land of

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8Hereford, UK52.0559922 -2.71754669999995752.031292199999996 -2.768656699999957 52.0806922 -2.666436699999957tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-81596536885622256062011-10-06T20:22:00.000+01:002011-10-06T20:22:01.984+01:00

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Many thanks to David Chisholm of Lara and the Reel Boy for the title screen of Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs.

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-48367678452574121352011-09-23T16:41:00.009+01:002012-01-18T22:07:30.765Z

Four of the Apocalypse - International Trailer Title The Black Cat - US Trailer Title The House by the Cemetery - International Trailer Title  House by the Cemetery - US Trailer Title The New York Ripper - US Trailer Title Conquest - US Trailer Title Many thanks to Nigel Maskell for the title screen to I due avasi di Sing-Sing. Please head over to Nigel's excellent

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US Trailer Title Screen Cat O' Nine Tails - US Trailer Title The Five Days of Milan - Italian Trailer Title Deep Red - US Trailer Title Suspiria - International Trailer Title Inferno - US Trailer Title Tenebrae - US Trailer Title Phenomena - US Trailer Title Opera - US Trailer Title Two Evil Eyes - US Trailer Title Trauma - US Trailer Title The Stendhal Syndrome - US Trailer

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-36505769255706636902011-09-16T20:04:00.001+01:002011-09-16T20:05:21.099+01:00

THE WAY OF THE DRAGON aka RETURN OF THE DRAGON (Bruce Lee, 1972) #1 US poster (dubbed version) THE WAY OF THE DRAGON #2 - Hong Kong Poster THE WAY OF THE DRAGON #3 - Japanese poster----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO aka YELLOW FACED TIGER aka CHUCK NORRIS vs. THE KARATE COP (Wei Lo, 1974) - Hong Kong

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-60610472508999552442011-09-15T21:22:00.000+01:002011-09-15T21:22:17.828+01:00

Dir: JOSEPH ZITO Country: USA The mindless Chuck Norris action flick Missing in Action slots seamlessly into a strain of cinema in 1980’s America that sought to revise attitudes to the Vietnam War. The screenplay by James Bruner is typically jingoistic with an anti-communist backbone that would have done President Reagan proud. The question of illegally held American soldiers in Vietnam, and the

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-3609675107435814402011-09-08T21:22:00.001+01:002011-09-15T21:23:43.743+01:00

Dir: STEVE CARVER Country: USA The Chuck Norris action vehicle Lone Wolf McQuade immediately signifies its intent with an opening credit sequence that highlights the sub-Morricone music of Francesco De Masi. We are firmly in the territory of the modern day spaghetti western pastiche. In the early moments the film seems at pains to emphasise its status as a contemporary western. We have a group

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-82864321695097453012011-09-07T17:55:00.000+01:002011-09-07T17:55:39.402+01:00

Dir: TAKASHI MIIKE Country: JAPAN AKA: Bijita Q Love Cinema Volume 6 When prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike was invited to contribute to the Love Cinema series, few could have predicted the outcome would be the highly controversial Visitor Q. Love Cinema was a series of six direct to rental films from independent filmmakers which were all shot on digital video for ultra low budgets. Of

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-31446852608789158102011-09-05T18:03:00.001+01:002011-11-27T22:30:48.496Z

Dir: ROY WARD BAKER Country: UNITED KINGDOM AKA: Five Million Years to Earth Quatermass and the Pit was writer Nigel Kneale’s third adventure featuring the eminent scientist and was transmitted on the BBC over six weeks between December 1958 and January 1959. On this occasion André Morell followed in the small screen footsteps of Reginald Tate and John Robinson. It would be a wait of eight

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-5052633388907378632011-08-31T20:55:00.001+01:002011-11-27T22:31:14.966Z

Dir: VAL GUEST Country: UNITED KINGDOM AKA: Enemy from Space Nigel Kneale’s second adventure to feature the gifted British scientist Professor Quatermass, imaginatively titled Quatermass II, was broadcast on the BBC over six weeks in the Autumn of 1955. A change of lead actor saw John Robinson take on the role after the untimely death of Reginald Tate. No such fate befell Hammer Film

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-40713058971265672972011-08-29T19:10:00.001+01:002011-11-27T22:31:47.290Z

Dir: VAL GUEST Country: UNITED KINGDOM AKA: The Creeping Unknown Shock Nigel Kneale’s BBC television drama The Quatermass Experiment was little short of a phenomenon when it was originally broadcast over six weeks in the summer of 1953. Audiences flocked to the cliffhanging science-fiction serial led by Reginald Tate as the eponymous British professor. Although Hammer Film Productions had a

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-30562222094109336042011-08-25T17:26:00.001+01:002011-08-25T23:08:26.271+01:00

Dir: LUCIO FULCI Country: ITALY AKA: Tempo di massacro Colt Concert The Brute and the Beast The superbly titled Massacre Time was Italian writer/director Lucio Fulci’s first of five adventures in the brutal and cynical landscape of the spaghetti western. Up to this point Fulci was chiefly known (if he was known at all) for writing and directing comedies. A career in stomach churning horror

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-13435567971996209902011-08-21T21:33:00.001+01:002011-08-22T20:18:05.693+01:00

Dir: DAMIANO DAMIANI Country: ITALY AKA: Perche si uccide un magistrato Damiano Damiani’s How to Kill a Judge is a low key thriller that sits uneasily within the poliziotteschi cycle to which it has been consigned. It is almost totally devoid of action set pieces, and is remarkably bloodless for a 1970’s Italian crime flick. Compared to the high octane thrills and spills of Enzo G. Castellari

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-67017737922711229752011-08-19T18:58:00.000+01:002011-08-19T18:58:23.822+01:00

Dir: LUCIO FULCI Country: ITALY AKA: Luca il contrabbandiere The Smuggler The Naples Connection Contraband was Italian writer/director Lucio Fulci’s only entry into the bitter and cynical terrain of the poliziotteschi. The films status as a departure for Fulci is indicated by the fact that it was made in between Zombi 2 (1979) and City of the Living Dead (1980), and at a time when the

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-16092380578846440442011-08-14T22:48:00.000+01:002011-08-14T22:48:02.676+01:00

Dir: ENZO G. CASTELLARI Country: ITALY AKA: La vie della droga Drug Street The Heroin Busters was director Enzo G. Castellari’s fourth poliziotteschi flick after High Crime (1973), Street Law (1974), and The Big Racket (1976). By now Castellari was as firmly associated with adrenaline pumping contemporary set thrillers as he was with the dust and bloodshed of the Euro-western. The difference

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-81377210595212078692011-08-12T22:40:00.001+01:002011-08-12T22:43:30.765+01:00

SETTE WINCHESTER PER UN MASSACRO aka PAYMENT IN BLOOD aka RENEGADE RIDERS (1967) - UK Quad poster-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------VADO...L'AMMAZZO E TORNO aka BLOOD RIVER aka ANY GUN CAN PLAY aka FOR A FEW BULLETS MORE (1967) - Italian poster-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Dir: ENZO G. CASTELLARI Country: ITALY AKA: Il grande racket The Big Racket was director Enzo G. Castellari’s third poliziotteschi thriller after the tremendous commercial success of High Crime (1973) and Street Law (1974). These two films were marked by high octane chase and action sequences, remarkable stunts, and imperiously charismatic lead performances by Franco Nero. In many ways both

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-59448382745811647772011-08-08T21:42:00.002+01:002011-08-10T21:26:47.778+01:00

Dir: ENZO G. CASTELLARI Country: ITALY AKA: Il cittadino si ribella Vigilante II The Citizen Rebels The Anonymous Avenger Like most filmmakers working in the environment of popular Italian cinema between the mid 1960’s to the mid 1980’s Enzo G. Castellari found switching from one genre to another an easy task. It was made easy to him because the only difference between his westerns, crime

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-7387656756911266212011-08-01T16:20:00.001+01:002011-08-01T16:24:17.181+01:00

Dir: AKIRA KUROSAWA Country: JAPAN AKA Yoidore tenshi This beautifully constructed and expertly composed noir gangster film was Akira Kurosawa’s eighth production as director. Prior to Drunken Angel is it fair to say that Kurosawa’s career had been one of interesting, but ultimately forgettable films. Kurosawa himself believed that Drunken Angel represented a major creative breakthrough, and

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-71583105222510556142011-07-24T21:49:00.001+01:002011-07-24T21:53:35.594+01:00

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) #1 - US poster NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD #2 - Italian Poster NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD #3 - West German poster NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD #4 - US poster ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON OF THE WITCH # 1 - US poster -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Dir: WALTER HILL Country: USA Extreme Prejudice is a criminally underrated and underappreciated film that has improved considerably with time. It was pretty much lost in the macho action movie shuffle in the late 1980’s, seemingly unable to compete with the empty headed adventures of Schwarzenegger, Segal, Stallone et al. One immediately notices its difference by the decision to cast Nick Nolte

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com18Hereford, UK52.0559922 -2.71754669999995752.031292199999996 -2.768656699999957 52.0806922 -2.666436699999957tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-11491796195515501452011-07-17T17:19:00.000+01:002011-07-17T17:19:09.129+01:00

Dir: DOMINC SENA Country: USA Despite having shown genuine acting ability, and a genuine flair for quirky and peculiar characters, actor Nicolas Cage continues to make atrocious career choices. He recently crafted a wonderful performance as the corrupt New Orleans detective Terence McDonagh in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009). It came as a surprise to most because

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Dir: SHINYA TSUKAMOTO Country: JAPAN AKA: Rokugatsu no hebi Cult Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto has time and again proven himself to be the perfect embodiment of what is traditionally understood as an auteur. From the moment he exploded in a shower of twisted metal onto the international scene with his dystopian tale of bodily transformation Tetsuo (1989), he has written, directed,

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-34686195005284874162011-07-13T21:51:00.000+01:002011-07-13T21:51:42.080+01:00

Dir: JEE-WOON KIM Country: SOUTH KOREA AKA: Akmareul boatda South Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim continues to enjoy a remarkable level of distribution in the West. His latest film I Saw the Devil was paraded around the festival circuit, before receiving relatively wide distribution in the both the US and the UK. Kim first emerged as a name of note with his debut film The Quiet Family (1998) a

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-59124780794393126272011-07-10T17:34:00.000+01:002011-07-10T17:34:06.533+01:00

Dir: TOSHIHARU IKEDA Country: JAPAN AKA: Shiryô no wana Tokyo Snuff Evil Dead Trap is an absorbing oddity that takes it inspiration from a myriad of western sources. Unusually for a Japanese horror film it pays little heed to its own indigenous traditions and history, preferring to take its cue from the expectations of westernised genres. The screenplay by Takashi Ishii could have conceivably

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Dir: STEVEN R. MONROE Country: USA In principal I do not object to the idea of remaking films. Genres are after all founded upon filmmaking elements that are entirely familiar to the audience. Anyone with a love of genre cinema, should by the very definition of a genre, have a very high tolerance for the idea of remakes. The trick of course is to present those familiar elements in a manner which

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-29598729470482191462011-07-04T21:01:00.000+01:002011-07-04T21:01:11.087+01:00

Dir: ANTHONY MANN Country: USA Between 1950 and 1955 filmmaker Anthony Mann made five westerns in collaboration with actor James Stewart. From a structural point of view they adhered quite closely to the traditional western. There was nothing exceptional about them in terms of their narratives and their use of iconography. But the interest in rich characterisation, psychological states,

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-9511617144749443762011-06-26T16:05:00.001+01:002011-06-28T14:49:05.335+01:00

Dir: SAM PECKINPAH Country: USA AKA: Guns in the Afternoon Sacramento There is an internal paradox to the delightful western Ride the High Country that makes it an intriguing and important proposition. For the actors Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea it was the concluding statement on careers honed in the dust and gunfire of the traditional western. For young filmmaker Sam Peckinpah it was a

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-77583859709044932032011-06-17T17:04:00.001+01:002011-07-15T13:54:30.033+01:00

Dir: JOHN FORD Country: USA The gunfight at the OK Corral and the events surrounding it have become one of the most enduring of Hollywood myths. The traditional Hollywood western is particularly suited to the propagation of myths and legends, the efficiency of the genre lies in its attitude too its own mythology and symbolism, so recognisably iconographic, it is no surprise that film theorists

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-83702345478513664552011-06-12T17:13:00.000+01:002011-06-12T17:13:11.895+01:00

Dir: DANIEL STAMM Country: USA The Blair Witch Project (1999) was a heavy stone thrown into calm waters, and ever since this event the ripples on the surface have steadily increased. In a single stroke The Blair Witch Project validated the internet as a source of promotion, and legitimised the faux documentary form within the terms of genre filmmaking as commercially viable. It did all the

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-87885316931693333402011-05-30T20:41:00.000+01:002011-05-30T20:41:01.063+01:00

ATTACK OF THE 50 FT WOMAN (Nathan Juran, USA, 1958) THE BLOB (Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr, USA, 1958) THE BRAIN EATERS (Bruno VeSota, USA, 1958) THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK (Eugene Lourie, USA, 1958) EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (Bert I. Gordon, USA, 1958) THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER (Montgomery Tull and David Paltenghi, UK, 1958) FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (Arthur Crabtree, UK, 1958) THE H-MAN (Ishiro Honda, Japan,

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-62080278341678546062011-05-29T21:01:00.000+01:002011-05-29T21:01:06.068+01:00

THE BEAST WITH 1,000,000 EYES (David Kramarsky, USA, 1955) CONQUEST OF SPACE (Byron Haskin, USA, 1955) CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (Edward L. Cahn, USA, 1955) KING DINOSAUR (Bert I. Gordon, USA, 1955) REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (Jack Arnold, USA, 1955) TARANTULA! (Jack Arnold, USA, 1955) THIS ISLAND EARTH (Joseph Newman, USA, 1955) THE BLACK SLEEP (Reginald Le Borg, USA, 1956) THE BEAST OF

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-10650425527355354912011-05-28T20:49:00.001+01:002011-05-28T20:54:50.633+01:00

DESTINATION MOON (Irving Picher, USA, 1950) ROCKETSHIP X-M (Kurt Neumann, USA, 1950) THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Robert Wise, USA, 1951) FIVE (Arch Oboler, USA, 1951) FLIGHT TO MARS (Lesley Selander, USA, 1951) LOST PLANET AIRMEN (Fred C. Brannon, USA, 1951) THE MAN FROM PLANET X (Edgar G. Ulmer, USA, 1951) THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (Christian Nyby, USA, 1951) TWO LOST WORLDS (

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-89122628503254874802011-05-25T21:59:00.000+01:002011-05-25T21:59:23.920+01:00

Dir: CHRISTIAN NYBY Country: USA AKA: The Thing Howard Hawks’ production The Thing from Another World is a towering heavyweight within the landscape of 1950’s science-fiction. Its status as such is in fact highly contestable however because this was the first notable occasion that the tropes of the horror genre were melded seamlessly with that of science-fiction. Like the alien creature that

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Dir: ROGER CORMAN Country: USA Day the World Ended was Roger Corman’s third official film as a director and his first major foray into the realm of science-fiction. Corman has quite rightly become a cult hero, the messiah of low budget guerrilla filmmaking. But I’m under no illusion that his greatest contribution to cinema came as a producer. There is an easy temptation to be overly generous

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-65765181241913470102011-05-20T15:55:00.000+01:002011-05-20T15:55:52.380+01:00

Dir: ARNOLD LAVEN Country: USA The Monster that Challenged the World is a curious little film from 1957 that is very undeserving of the relative obscurity it has endured. The essential premise borrows liberally from the giants of atomic age science-fiction, but presents the material in a charming and self-effacing spirit made all the more enjoyable by the likeable characters. The story was

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-5435822438490099432011-05-14T22:04:00.000+01:002011-05-14T22:04:25.092+01:00

Dir: BERT I. GORDON Country: USA AKA: Six Inches Tall I Was a Teenage Doll The Fantastic Puppet People It was very difficult for me to resist a film with the title Attack of the Puppet People, but I wish I had. This flimsy waste of celluloid was created entirely to cash in on the success of Universal-International’s intelligent and philosophical The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). The

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Dir: EDWARD LUDWIG Country: USA The Black Scorpion is a mundane pillar of unimaginative derivation. It efficiently sweeps through the landscape of convention in a desperate bid to resurrect the insectoid nightmare of the far superior Them! (1954). But if one digs around determinedly in the generic soil, one discovers that The Black Scorpion still manages to possess an historical importance. The

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Dir: ROBERT GORDON Country: USA AKA: Monster from Beneath the Sea It Came from Beneath the Sea marked the first occasion that producer Charles H. Schneer and visual effects wizard Ray Harryhausen collaborated. The two filmmakers would establish a partnership that would survive throughout the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s finally coming to rest with Clash of the Titans (1981). This alone provides

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Dir: FELIX E. FEIST Country: USA Writer/producer/director Curt Siodmak was an instrumental figure in establishing the cross pollination of horror and science-fiction in the 1940’s and 1950’s. This émigré filmmaker who hailed from Dresden in Germany, wrote key screenplays for Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941), the Val Lewton produced I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and the brilliant Earth vs. The

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-12219268619430832702011-05-02T14:52:00.003+01:002011-05-11T13:08:14.409+01:00

The following is a chronological guide to science-fiction in the 1950s, a shopping list for those just starting out on this fantastic odyssey. Those titles highlighted in blue indicate films that I consider important, either for reasons of influence and generic development, commercial succcess, or sheer entertainment value. As with any list of this nature there may be some titles I have

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A myriad of influences and pressures, both external and internal to the American film industry, coalesced in the early 1950’s to create a habitat in which the science-fiction film could thrive. The 1950’s became a golden age for the genre on the cinema screens and the moment at which science-fiction established itself as a major commercial draw. During World War Two and in its aftermath American

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-40341891498001497432011-04-30T15:25:00.001+01:002011-04-30T20:31:32.498+01:00

Over the last three months regular visitors to The Celluloid Highway will have noticed that a poll to decide the next themed month has been in session. I’d like to thank all those who took the time to vote, and thus decide my fate for the month of May. The last themed month was January’s successful exploration of the Italian giallo, a category which led from day one and won at a canter. This

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Dir: GARETH EDWARDS Country: UK I can imagine that many a mindless moron rented or purchased this title expecting the usual masturbatory excesses of modern CGI, and the hollow spectacle of alien marauders laying waste to mankind. One can well imagine the disappointment of the retards when Monsters develops into a subtle and nuanced character driven narrative that is far more concerned with

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Dir: DON CHAFFEY Country: UK Hammer had a long tradition in the production of historical adventure films, one which dated back to their first Robin Hood adventure The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954), which featured Don Taylor in the role of the outlaw thief. Two more Robin Hood pictures followed in 1960 and 1967, in addition to several controversial tales of Eastern cruelty (The Strangles of

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Dir: TERENCE FISHER Country: UK AKA: The Devil's Bride Of the three Dennis Wheatley properties optioned by Hammer The Devil Rides Out is by some margin the most enjoyable. It has steadily risen to a position of prominence within the annals of British horror, and can now be viewed as an exemplar of the gothic horror form. The other two Wheatley films The Lost Continent (1968) and To the Devil - 

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-91558815564957382322011-04-15T22:07:00.000+01:002011-04-15T22:07:42.492+01:00

Dir: HIGUCHINSKY Country: JAPAN AKA: Spiral Vortex For many J-Horror began with the investigation into a certain cursed video tape, and the cycle of death and tragedy that followed a viewing of it. Although Hideo Nakata’s low budget Ring (1998) exposed the limitations of modern technology through the incursion of the supernatural, it overflowed with the signifiers of past traditions. Nakata was

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RODAN (1956) VERTIGO (1958) YOJIMBO (1961) THESE ARE THE DAMNED (1963) KWAIDAN (1964) THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964) KES (1969) SOLDIER BLUE (1970) THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY (1971) DUEL (1971) THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1971) FRENZY (1972) THE LAST DETAIL (1973) O LUCKY MAN (1973) EARTHQUAKE (1974) LE ORME/FOOTPRINTS (1975) PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975) TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (

Shaun [The Celluloid Highway]http://www.blogger.com/profile/18066744649878418309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5751360814489146754.post-55169219698523752842011-04-11T17:13:00.001+01:002011-04-11T17:18:51.924+01:00

If you haven’t been exposed to the weird and wonderful world of Polish film poster designs you have missed out on some peculiar and fascinating concepts. Naturally of greater interest is the interpretations given to major Hollywood productions, and they are often given a surreal dimension which makes one wonder quite how they would entice Polish cinemagoers to part with their cash and buy a

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