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The Time Guardian – starring Carrie Fisher and Dean Stockwell and directed by the co-writer of Mad Max 2 – has emerged on Prime Video UK.

Star Wars royalty Carrie Fisher. Blue Velvet and future Quantum Leap co-star Dean Stockwell. Filmmaker and Mad Max 2 co-writer Brian Hannant making one of the most expensive Australian films up to that point.

With a pedigree like that, you might think that The Time Guardian would be better known than it is. Instead, it largely sank without trace on its brief cinema release in 1987, and became one of those films that was doomed to lurk on the lower shelves of VHS rental libraries.

Unexpectedly, though, The Time Guardian has emerged on Prime Video in the UK, which means subscribers have the rare opportunity to watch one of the weirdest – and less often-discussed – sci-fi movies of the 1980s.

On paper, it’s a typical B-movie of its era.

The Oscars are known for recognizing the best movies yearly, but sometimes they get it wrong. It took legendary director Martin Scorsese decades to finally get a win at the Academy Awards. Meanwhile, Stanley Kubrick, writer-director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, never won an Oscar in his esteemed career. It shows that no matter how good a movie is, there is always the chance of being snubbed.

The list of movies that deserve Oscar nominations throughout cinematic history is enormous. So many iconic movies have been ignored by the Academy, but there could be many reasons for that. Genre bias is regularly brought up by fans as the Academy tends to look down at horrors, westerns and sci-fi movies, to list just a few. But for some movies, it's absolutely inexplicable that they didn't receive a single nomination.

Don't Look Now Was Completely Overlooked

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Rotten Tomatoes

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Don't Look Now's iconic ending features a chilling dwarf killer, adding to the film's psychological horror. The reveal of the dwarf killer in Don't Look Now is a shocking and unforgettable moment, leaving audiences unsettled. The dwarf killer's unexpected appearance and sinister demeanor make her a creepy and iconic horror movie figure.

Don't Look Now's dwarf killer adds to the impact of the movie's iconic ending while also being one of the most chilling elements of the film. Don't Look Now is a hugely influential psychological horror movie by director Nicolas Roeg and based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier. It stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as grieving parents who, in the wake of the loss of their young daughter, travel to Venice to heal. However, they soon find themselves in a surreal nightmare with John Baxter (Sutherland) haunted by visions of their child.

Don't Look Now...

The world recently lost one of the greatest actors to ever do it, when Donald Sutherland passed away at the age of 88. A legendary performer with an on-screen career spanning more than half a century, Sutherland brought to life countless characters that could all be considered "his best." Vernon Pinkley in "The Dirty Dozen," John Baxter in "Don't Look Now," Hawkeye Pierce in "M*A*S*H*," Matthew Bennell in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Mr. Bennet in "Pride & Prejudice," and John Klute in "Klute" would all be career-making roles for any other performer, but for Sutherland, they were just another day at the office. However, there's an argument to be made that his greatest performance came with one of his most recent roles -- one that helped introduce him to a much younger generation. I'm talking, of course, about President Corolanius Snow in "The Hunger Games" series.

President...

Donald Sutherland, a beloved film presence for more than 50 years whose warm, rich voice was as distinctive as the regal bearing he brought to so many of his roles, died Thursday at the age of 88.

Sutherland’s agency CAA confirmed the actor’s death to the Hollywood Reporter, adding that he died in Miami following a long illness. Sutherland’s son Kiefer also revealed his father’s death on social media, writing, “With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think...

Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films from The Dirty Dozen, Mash and Klute to Animal House and Ordinary People to Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games franchise and won an Emmy for Citizen X, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

The 2017 Honorary Oscar recipient also is the father of Emmy-winning 24 and Designated Survivor actor Kiefer Sutherland and veteran CAA Media Finance exec Roeg Sutherland. CAA confirmed the news to Deadline.

Related: Remembering Donald Sutherland: A Career In Photos

In some of his most well-known roles, he perfected a laconic, wry and dead-serious delivery. Such was the case for characters including the cool-headed amateur murder investigator John Klute, opposite Jane Fonda’s terrified and erratic call girl Bree Daniels in Klute; as Hawkeye Pierce in the film Mash, where he played opposite Elliott Gould’s cut-up Trapper John; and in Nicolas Roeg...

The Baxters arrives later this month on Prime Video, and the streaming service has now released a trailer, poster, and first-look images teasing the family drama series.

The series stars Roma Downey, Ted McGinley, Ali Cobrin, Masey McLain, Josh Plasse, Cassidy Gifford, Reilly Anspaugh, Emily Peterson, and Brandon Hirsch. It follows Elizabeth (Downey) and John Baxter (McGinley) and their five adult children. The story is based on a series of novels by Karen Kingsbury.

Read More…...

Check out the trailer and a sneak-peak clip of Prime Video's The Baxters. Starring Roma Downey and Ted McGinley, this moving family drama follows Elizabeth, John, and their five adult children through the challenges of life. Based on Karen Kingsbury's best-selling books, The Baxters drops on March 28.

“Find your way home.” From the New York Times best-selling author Karen Kingsbury, Season 1 of Prime Video’s The Baxters will be released March 28, 2024. The faith-inspired show is based on Kingsbury’s wonderfully crafted stories about the Baxter family, which began nearly 22 years ago with 2002’s Redemption — Book 1. And fans of the source material can check out the new trailer for the series above.

Fans of Touched by an Angel will immediately recognize Roma Downey in the footage. The actress plays the family’s matriarch, Elizabeth Baxter, in the new Prime Video series. And her husband, John Baxter, is portrayed by Married…...

The shocking ending of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now is a major reason why it's considered a classic in horror cinema. The killer in a red coat who murders John in the movie is hinted to be the serial killer mentioned throughout the film. The color red and water are powerful symbols in Don't Look Now, representing grief, anger, and violence.

Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now ending is a disturbing and shocking conclusion that is part of the reason the movie is so highly regarded in the history of horror cinema. Based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier, Don’t Look Now stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as Laura and John Baxter, a couple in crisis after losing a child. After the drowning of their young daughter, Christine, the Baxters travel to Venice, where John has accepted a job restoring an old church, and they hope...

Prime Video has picked up the family drama series The Baxters, from LightWorkers Media, the faith and family-focused company founded by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey which is owned by Amazon MGM Studios through Amazon’s the acquisition of LightWorkers parent MGM.

The 10-episode series, based on the best-selling book series by Karen Kingsbury, is executive produced by Downey who stars as the family matriarch, Elizabeth Baxter, alongside Ted McGinley as John Baxter. The Baxters, which is slated to stream spring 2024 exclusively on Prime Video, was filmed in 2018. Also executive produced by Will Packer, it was originally intended to stream on LightWorkers Media’s platform.

The Baxters follows Elizabeth and John Baxter and their five adult children. Season 1 centers on Elizabeth and John’s daughter, Kari, who learns the shocking truth that her professor husband, Tim, has been secretly having an affair with one of his college students. As her relationship is tested,...

If you're a character in a horror movie and have just checked into a hotel for an extended stay, there's a very unlikely chance you'll be checking out, especially if your reservation is at the infamous Overlook Hotel. Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining" takes its time building dread, as the spirits within its walls implore caretaker Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) to brutally dispatch his family. With the haunted location being a crucial component of the story, it was important to get the details right about how it should look.

Although the Overlook was initially inspired by Colorado's Stanley Hotel on account of Stephen King, the feature adaptation of his 1977 novel of the same name did not use it as a shooting location. Instead, Kubrick opted for a blend of the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, of which he shot his exteriors, in addition to the Ahwahnee Hotel near Yosemite National Park,...

Stanley Kubrick is remembered in many ways. He was a visionary genius — a pioneering auteur whose filmography stands as one of the finest in the history of filmmaking. He was also a bit weird. Very weird, at times. The notoriously eccentric director would often be the target of rumors, such as when the press claimed he wore a football helmet on his drive to the set of "Full Metal Jacket" and wouldn't let his driver go over 30mph. In response, he told Rolling Stone "I cannot dispel the myths that have somehow accumulated over the years. Somebody writes something, it's completely off the wall, but it gets filed and repeated until everyone believes it."

At the time, the director clarified that he didn't have a driver and in fact drove a "Porsche 928 S." But while many of the stories surrounding Kubrick were exaggerated or often complete fabrications, that doesn't mean...

Since 1989, we've had eight live-action "Batman" movies (not counting the Dceu films) and have yet to see as good an on-screen representation of Gotham as the city from Tim Burton's first movie about the Caped Crusader. At least, that would be true if it wasn't for Bo Welch's elegant expressionist nightmare from "Batman Returns." Still, "Batman" production designer Anton Furst created an indelible version of the Dark Knight's home turf that holds up to this day.

As the designer told Time magazine in a 2001 interview, his "riot of architectural styles," erected at England's Pinewood Studios, led director Tim Burton to refer to his Gotham as a city where "hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going." So effective was this foreboding, oppressive, New York-gone-wrong aesthetic that Furst nabbed the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1990. It was a well-deserved win for the British artist, who had...

One might find that there are very few films that venerate and celebrate the Vietnam War (1955 - 1975). Filmmakers looked at the quagmire in Southeast Asia, and discovered no small amount of horrendous violence, idiotic governmental bluster, and soul-hollowing atrocities. Oliver Stone's "Platoon" won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1986, and that film seemed like Hollywood's final exposé on the topic. The following year, however, Stanley Kubrick came in to deal a death blow to any and all films that seek to glorify war or venerate the soldier's experience with "Full Metal Jacket," a film so bitter, one might be tempted to call it a comedy.

"Full Metal Jacket" is a two-part drama. The first part of the movie takes place entirely during Marines basic training, overseen by Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), the drill instructor from Hell. He screams, berates, insults, cusses, and hits the soldiers in his charge.

Ironically, Willow was a bit too big. Or at least too big to succeed as George Lucas had imagined it could. The brainchild of Lucas since before the first Star Wars, the 1988 film starred Warwick Davis as the eponymous Willow Ufgood, a farmer and would-be sorcerer’s apprentice from a race of dwarves called Nelwyn. The premise was classic fantasy: after discovering a baby Daikini (or regular-sized folk), Willow goes on a journey to protect the baby from an evil sorceress queen (the deliciously pantomime-esque Jean Marsh) – by way of mountains, monsters, and some riotous action sequences.

Back then, studio bosses baulked at the film’s 35m (£29m) price tag. The production spanned three continents, a huge cast of little people and featured more special effects work than Lucas’s FX house, Industrial Light & Magic, was prepared for. The finished film is a bloated two hours-plus, which feels too much...

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Anyone who knows film likely knows about the genius of Stanley Kubrick. But watching movies isn’t the only way to immerse yourself in his creative vision. If you fall somewhere between a bibliophile and a film buff, we put together a list of the fascinating books on Kubrick that offer a wide scope on his legacy, using his movies as a roadmap into his life not only as a director, but as a friend and employer. Kubrick, who died in 1999, amassed a catalog of films such as “The Shining,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Spartacus,” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” and for those who want to dig a little deeper into his work,...

Double your Diabolik and double your pleasure! … this Australian import chases a domestic disc onto the market after only a few months, but of course comes with irresistible new extras to tempt collectors and completists. Mario Bava’s funny, dynamic action thriller was the first feature to really capture the graphic art ‘feeling’ of comic panels — we wish he’d directed a whole series of Diabolik adventures. The evaluation section notes the small differences between this disc and the U.S. release from last April.

Danger Diabolik

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint]

1968 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October, 2020

Starring: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi, Terry-Thomas, Mario Donen.

Cinematography: Antonio Rinaldi

Film Editor: Romana Fortini

Art Director: Flavio Mogherini

Original Music: Ennio Morricone

Written by Adriano Baracco, Mario Bava, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates,

Dino Maiuri story by Angela & Luciana Giussani

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis

Directed by Mario Bava...

A military coup in the U.S.? General Burt Lancaster’s scheme would be flawless if not for true blue Marine Kirk Douglas, who snitches to the White House. Now Burt’s whole expensive clandestine army might go to waste – Sad! John Frankenheimer and Rod Serling are behind this nifty paranoid conspiracy thriller.

Seven Days in May

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date May 8, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan, John Houseman, Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, George Macready, Richard Anderson, Malcolm Atterbury, William Challee, Colette Jackson, John Larkin, Kent McCord, Tyler McVey, Jack Mullaney, Fredd Wayne, Ferris Webster.

Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks

Film Editor: Ferris Webster

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by Rod Serling from the book by Fletcher Knebel, Charles W. Bailey II

Produced by Edward Lewis

Directed by John Frankenheimer...

Stuart Wilson Oct 12, 2016

Lots of ideas for the Indiana Jones films to date haven't yet made it to the screen - so could Indiana Jones 5 use them?

As the July 2019 release date inches closer, we still have no idea what will feature in the fifth Indiana Jones movie, that was confirmed earlier this year. If the earlier sequels are anything to go by though, there's a good chance we'll see some discarded concepts from previously ditched drafts.

You might think this kind of cobbling together of earlier ideas is what led to the rather messy Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. However, as of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, we were seeing scenes that Lucas and Spielberg hadn't been able to fit into Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The stopover in Shanghai was originally considered during the Raiders story conferences, as was the climactic mine cart ride.

The Nazis can't even keep the National Socialist propaganda out of a simple science fiction fable. Hans Albers is the Aryan King Midas as a scientist, and gorgeous Brigitte Helm the Englishwoman who thinks he's peachy keen. The climax is pure Sci-Fi heaven, an unstable 'Atomic Fracturing' installation, wa-ay deep down in a mineshaft under the ocean. Gold (1934) Blu-ray Kino Classics 1934 / B&W / 1:33 flat Full Frame / 117 min. / Street Date June 14, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Hans Albers, Friedrich Kayßler, Brigitte Helm, Michael Bohnen, Ernst Karchow, Lien Deyers, Eberhard Leithoff, Rudolf Platte. Cinematography Otto Baecker, Werner Bohne, Günther Rittau Art Direction Otto Hunte Film Editor Wolfgang Becker Original Music Hans-Otto Borgmann Written by Rolf E. Vanloo Produced by Alfred Zeisler Directed by Karl Hartl

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Hardy Encyclopedia of Science Fiction still teases Sci-fi fans that want to see everything listed in its pages. Thankfully, videodisc companies catering to collectors make possible the sale of titles that might never show up on some (authorized) streaming service. Video disc has brought us the original Der Schweigende Stern and Alraune from Germany, and I hope to someday see good copies of Kurt Siodmak and Karl Hartl's F.P. 1 Does Not Answer and the Harry Piel Sci-fi trilogy An Invisible Man Roams the City, The World Unmasked (an X-ray television camera) and Master of the World (a robot with a death ray). I've read about Karl Hartl's 1934 Gold for at least fifty years, since John Baxter's Science Fiction in the Cinema told us (not quite correctly) that its final reel had been borrowed for the conclusion of Ivan Tors' 1953 Sci-fi picture The Magnetic Monster. As it turns out, Kino is releasing both movies in the same week. Sometimes referred to as the Nazi Metropolis, Hartl's Gold is a follow-up to the director's very successful F.P.1. Does Not Answer, a spy thriller about a fantastic airport in the mid-Atlantic called Floating Platform One. Both pictures were filmed in simultaneous foreign versions to maximize the box office take. The German original of F.P. 1 starred matinee idol Hans Albers (The Blue Angel) Sybille Schmitz (Vampyr) and Peter Lorre, while a concurrent French version used Charles Boyer, Danièle Parola and Pierre Brasseur. A third English version starred Conrad Veidt, Jill Esmond and Donald Calthrop. The French version starred Brigitte Helm in the same role, but star Hans Albers reportedly rebelled at making two movies for the price of one. According to reports, the exceedingly expensive Gold was in production for fifteen months. We can see the cost immediately in the enormous main set for the 'atomic fracturing' machine built to transmute lead into gold. Otto Hunte and Günther Rittau designed and filmed special effects for Metropolis and the impressive set is very much in the same style. Off the top of my head I can't think of any technical apparatus quite so elaborate (and solid-looking) built for a film until the 1960s and Ken Adam's outlandish settings for UA's James Bond films. Writer Rolf E. Vanloo had worked on the silent classic Asphalt and is the sole writer credited on the popular Marlene Dietrich vehicle I Kiss Your Hand, Madame. His screenplay for Gold is tight and credible, even if its theme is even more simplistic than -- and somewhat similar to -- that of Thea von Harbou for Metropolis. Scientist Werner Holk (Hans Albers) aids the visionary Professor Achenbach (Friedrich Kayßler) in testing what looks like an electric atom smasher. The experiment: to turn lead into gold. The 'Atomic Fracturer' explodes, killing the old genius, whose work is discredited. Holk barely survives, thanks to a blood transfusion from his faithful girlfriend Margit Moller (Lien Deyers). When agents for the fabulously wealthy Englishman John Wills (Michael Bohnen) contact Holk, he realizes that the experiment was sabotaged. Werner allows himself to be taken to a fabulous yacht and from there to a Scottish castle, where, hundreds of feet under the ocean, Wills has constructed his own, far larger atom smasher with plans stolen from Achenbach. Split between his need for revenge and a desire to prove the dead Achenbach's theories, Holk goes through with the experiment. Wills' daughter Florence (Brigitte Helm), a gorgeous playgirl, is attracted to the German visitor, Holk finds that the workers' foreman, Schwarz (Rudolf Platte) is of a like mind on economic issues. But Wills' engineer Harris (Eberhard Leithoff) is jealous of Holk's talent, and cannot be trusted. Gold begins by repeating the 'big money hostile takeover of science' theme from Fritz Lang's Frau im mond: a pioneering German scientific exploit is siezed by an unscrupulous international business entity. The unspoken message is that the weakened Germany is being cheated in the world economy because it lacks the resources to exploit its superior technology. The avaricious John Wills makes big financial decisions all day long. There's no gray area in this conflict, as Wells murders, steals and spies on people to get what he wants. We've seen his ruthless agents wreck Achenbach's original, modest experiment. This 'England plays dirty' theme mirrors Germany's bitterness toward England for at least the better part of a century of colonial, naval and financial competition. Versailles and WW1 aren't mentioned, but that had to be on the minds of the audience as well: Germany innovates and works hard, but is consistently handed a raw deal. The scenes with the sleek, fascinating Brigitte Helm would be better if they went somewhere; her Florence does what she can to entice Herr Holk but withdraws when he declares his love for his faithful girl back home, the one whose life blood now flows in his veins. 'Das Blut' cannot be dishonored, even if Holk is half convinced that Wills is going to have him murdered after the giant machine starts turning out Gold by the ton. Act Two instead becomes a conflict between Big Capitalism and the lowly-but-virtuous Working Man. Down in the underground warren of tunnels (another Metropolis parallel) Wills' Scottish workforce of sandhogs and technicians side with Holk against their boss. After a preliminary test yields a tiny bit of gold, we get the expected montages of worldwide economic panic, standard material in socially oriented sci-fi as diverse as La fin du monde and Red Planet Mars. Wells plans to grow rich by flooding the world with his artificially produced gold, a strategy that will have to be explained to me. Gold is the world's standard of value precisely because it's rare; it can't be printed up like money. Thirty years later, the surprisingly sophisticated scheme of Auric Goldfinger is to increase the value of his stash of gold bullion by rendering America's gold reserves radioactive, and therefore worthless. If scarcity raises the value of the element, making more should do the opposite. (On the other hand, what about artificial diamonds? Is there any correspondence there?) [I'm acutely aware that discussing the subject matter of movies mainly points up how much I don't know, about anything but movies.] The Incredible Holk convinces the mob of workers that he represents their interests better than the greedy John Wills. The idea that rich English capitalists need to be rejected in favor of honest German morality is the only real message here. It's as simple as the 'heart mediating between the hands and the brain' slogan of Metropolis, but with a slightly arrogant nationalism added. The lavishly produced Gold was filmed on a series of truly impressive sets, including Wills' enormous Scottish mansion. But the giant setting for the climax, deep in a mine under the ocean floor, is the stuff of core Sci-fi. Millions of volts of electricity are harnessed to transmute lead into Gold. That's got to be a heck of an electricity bill; factor in the other enormous overhead costs and we wonder if Wills will ever turn a profit. The special effects for this sequence are sensational. The enormous apparatus is suspended on huge oversized porcelain insulators. The giant glass tubes atop the specimen stage are apparently visualized with mattes and foreground miniatures. But the camera pans and trucks all over the hangar-sized set; it all looks real, with bolts of electricity flashing like crazy. It's a dynamic special effect highlight of the 1930s. The actors sell the conflict well. Beefy Hans Albers sometimes looks like George C. Scott. He exudes personal integrity and a calm force of will. Lien Dyers is as wholesome here as she was wantonly sexualized six years earlier in Fritz Lang's Spies. Michael Bohnen is more than convincing as a powerful man trying to corner all business on an international scale. Although mostly in for decoration, Brigitte Helm is a sophisticated dazzler. Those penciled eyebrows remind us that she had become the Marlene Dietrich that didn't go to Hollywood. Although she did have offers, Helm wanted to stay in Germany. The Nazification of the film industry and the appalling political climate motivated her to leave for Switzerland in 1935, abandoning her career. Although the gist of Gold fits in with Josef Goebbels' National Socialist propaganda aims, the movie doesn't attack England directly. Ufa may have held hopes of foreign distribution. The one man in Scotland that Holk knows he can trust is the captain of Wills' yacht, a fellow German. Nine years later, Josef Goebbels' anti-British version of Titanic would make a German the single ethical person in authority on the doomed ocean liner. The fellow is constantly badmouthing the craven captain and the venal English ship owner. When Hans Albers finishes this movie with a ten-cent moral about love being the only real treasure, the show seems plenty dumb. But that amazing special effect set piece is too good to dismiss so easily. Gold is a classic of giddy '30s science fiction. The Kino Classics Blu-ray of Gold (1934) is a good encoding of the Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung's best copy of this once-rare item. The print we see is intact and with has good audio, but the contrast is rough. It shifts and flutters a bit, especially in some scenes in the middle. I did notice that the final special effects sequences looked better than much of the rest of this surviving print. But the parts of the movie repurposed for The Magnetic Monster look better on that 1953 science fiction film than they do here. In his book Film in the Third Reich David Stewart Hull explains that when the occupation forces reviewed the recovered German films, they ordered this one destroyed. They were concerned that the Alchemy / Atomic Fracturing machine might have some connection to Germany's wartime nuclear program. So how could Ivan Tors have bought the footage from Ufa, if the U.S. Army had seized it? I have a feeling - just idle speculation -- that it might have been obtained in a special deal made through government connections. Since the image looks much better on The Magnetic Monster, Ivan Tors might even have cut up Gold's only existing printing element to make his movie. After finally seeing Gold, one more thing impresses me besides the grandiose special effects. It's sort of a 'brain-drain' movie. In the '30s, Germany had a reputation for the best precision engineering in the world. Werner Holk is semi-kidnapped to serve John Wills' greedy science project, which was pirated from Germany in the first place. Also in awe of German scientific prowess is Brigitte Helm's Florence. The playgirl finds Werner Wolk's brilliance and clarity of mission irresistible. He's both smarter and more ethical than her father. Holk just stands there looking like he's posing for a statue, and Florence is carried away. Ms. Helm is terrific, but it would be nice if her character had a more central role to play in the story. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Gold (1934) Blu-ray rates: Movie: Very Good Video: Fair + This may be a rare surviving print. Sound: Good - Minus Supplements: none Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 10, 2016 (5137)

Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com

Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...

Remakes of horror movies are nothing new in Hollywood. We recently got one for Evil Dead, The Thing, and we’re a few weeks away from a modernized version of Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist. Even in terms of ’70s horror, there have been countless sequels and spinoffs all varying on the initial premise of The Exorcist.

But this latest planned remake boggles the mind. Don’t Look Now is Nicolas Roeg’s classic art house horror staple of the ’70s. Starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, it’s the story of a family who tragically loses their daughter in a drowning accident, then travels to Venice to try and piece their life back together, only to be warned by a clairvoyant nun that their daughter brings a message of danger from the afterlife. It’s not your typical jump-scare fest for teenagers to say the least.

The movie is also...

Criterion brings British auteur Nicolas Roeg’s most famous title to the fold, 1973’s enigmatic Don’t Look Now, a title that has influenced generations of filmmakers since its successful reception, and marks the director’s fifth title to be included in the illustrious collection. A refracted dreamscape of symbols and motifs, the film is a brooding jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t insist on answering all your questions, and happens to feature an unforgettable finale that’s lost none of its affect (despite providing iconic fodder for famed parodies, ranging from memorable bits in “Spaced” to “Absolutely Fabulous”).

After the drowning of their preadolescent daughter, Christine, in the backyard of their estate, John and Laura Baxter (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) take off for Venice, where John accepts a job to restore some mosaics in one of the city’s many dilapidated churches. However, once there, the couple is introduced...

Reviewed by Kevin Scott, More Horror.com

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Directed by: Nicolas Roeg

Written by: Daphne Du Maurier (Short Story), Allen Scott (Screenplay)

Cast: Donald Sutherland (John Baxter), Julie Christie (Laura Baxter), Hilary Mason (Heather), Clelia Matania (Wendy), Nicholas Salter (Johnny Baxter), Sharon Williams (Christine Baxter), Renato Scarpi (Inspector Longhi), Massimo Serato (Bishop Barbarrigo)

There’s a term for a spinoff hybrid of country music that I really can appreciate. “Countrypolitan” is the label used for country music with lush arrangements, maybe some horns and unconventional stringed instruments thrown in. A refined version of an elemental thing that was good on its own, but elevated while retaining the same beloved and established characteristics of its genre. The thing that is so great about “Countrypolitan” is that it gave some culture to the masses in a palatable way so that they almost didn’t know it. My Dad would...

Thirty years ago, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the much-awaited follow-up to "Raiders of the Lost Ark," debuted. Indiana Jones was back -- although the film was set earlier than the events of "Raiders" -- and this time, he had a dame (Kate Capshaw) and a kid (Jonathan Ke Quan) with him. Oh, and he wasn't fighting Nazis, just a deadly, child-enslaving cult.

If you're not old enough to remember, this (along with "Gremlins" and "Poltergeist") was the movie that prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating, after parents complained that a PG-rating wasn't adequate for a movie that includes a scene where a man's still-beating heart is ripped out of his chest.

But did you know that an Oscar-winning Hollywood legend almost had a small role in the film? Or what stars pranked Harrison Ford on the set? Didn't think so.

Here are 30 things you might not have known about the movie.

“Oculus” didn’t scare away the crowds as fans lined Hollywood Boulevard outside of the Tcl Chinese Theatre Thursday night to get a glimpse of the stars attending the Los Angeles premiere of the much buzzed about horror film opening next Friday. The red carpet showcased the film’s up-and-coming young cast: Karen Gillan, sporting short hair and head-to-toe sequins, along with costars Annalise Basso and Garrett Ryan. Relativity Media is banking on a fright-induced comeback to spark the box office. A carefully strategized ad campaign and social media marketing targeted toward a young, edgy demographic have given this film steam as it heads into it’s opening weekend. The film, directed by Mike Flanagan, tells the story of a woman who tries to exonerate her brother, who was convicted of murder, by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon. Photos by John Baxter...

Scream Factory will release The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray set this October and they’ve provided us with the final list of bonus features:

“Holidays arrive early this year for horror fans and pop culture enthusiasts. Prepare to bring home one of the most iconic haunted house movie collections! For the first time ever, experience three original classic Amityville horror films collected together on 3D Blu-ray! On October 1, Scream Factory is proud to present The Amityville Horror Trilogy Deluxe Collector’S Edition Three-Disc Blu-ray™ Pack. Featuring perfect high-definition picture visuals and purest digital sound available, this essential collection brings together The Amityville Horror (starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Oscar(R)-winner Rod Steiger), Amityville II: The Possession (starring James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Andrew Prine, Jack Magner, Diane Franklin) and Amityville 3D (starring Tony Roberts, Tess Harper, Candy Clark). Each movie from this collection is packed with extensive bonus features and more!

Every time we do a story about the Scream Factory, two things Always happen... 1 - We feel our wallets burning like The Wicker Man and 2 - We want to leave a fruit basket of thanks outside of their offices on the doorstep.

On tap right now is more about their upcoming releases of Prince of Darkness and The Amityville Trilogy.

Get ready for the ultimate presentation of the heart-pounding supernatural thriller by heralded master of horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, They Live) as the long-awaited Prince Of Darkness Collector’s Edition Blu-ray™ and DVD invade home entertainment shelves everywhere on September 24 from Scream Factory. Available for the first time on Blu-ray, this collector’s edition is brimming with insightful extras, including new interviews with John Carpenter and Alice Cooper, special audio commentary and much more!

Donald Pleasence (Halloween), Jameson Parker (Simon & Simon), Lisa Blount (Needful Things), rock icon Alice Cooper,...

Reviewed by Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com

Amityville 3-D: The Demon (1983)

Directed By Richard Fleischer

Written By: William Wales

Starring: Tony Roberts (John Baxter), Tess Harper (Nancy Baxter), Robert Joy (Elliot West), Candy Clark (Melanie), John Beal (Harold Caswell), Leora Dana (Emma Caswell), John Harkins (Clifford Sanders), Lori Loughlin (Susan Baxter), Meg Ryan (Lisa), Neill Barry (Jeff)

Amityville 3-D: The Demon has conjured up a mass amount of hate in the years as a massive down step from its two predecessors. I have seen this movie more than once and I cannot figure out why it is frowned upon the way it has from horror fans. Could it the main idea was already burned out? Sure, a concept like this can get old fast but this movie didn’t in any way try to be a cheesy sequel despite being billed in the “3-D boom” in the early 1980s.

Scream Factory has officially announced their fall lineup, with more than 15 classic horror titles making their way to Blu-ray, including Day of the Dead, Price of Darkness, The Amityville Horror Trilogy, and six Vincent Price movies:

Scanners II and III: “On September 10, Scream Factory will unleash Christian Duguay’s science fiction action thrillers Scanners II: The New Order and Scanners III: The Takeover in a Double Feature Two-Disc Blu-ray™+ DVD Combo Pack. In Scanners II, a breed of humans with dangerously powerful telepathic abilities – the scanners – are being recruited by a corrupt police commander, John Forrester, in his crusade to take over the city. Forrester first enlists the help of an evil scientist, Dr. Morse, who wants to conduct mind-control experiments on the scanners with a new drug. When the side effects render the scanners incapable, Forrester then finds David Kellum (David Hewlett, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes...

A nameless stranger rides into town and gets the family DVD warring against the family Blu-ray. I think his name might be Akira Kurosawa but he might not have a name at all. What used to only be available exclusively is now out everywhere. A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a Mexican village. The town is ruled by two families. On one side you have Sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy), his wife Donna Consuelo (Margarita Lozano), and their son Antonio (Bruno Carnotenuto). On the other side is the Rojo brothers Don Miguel (Antonio Prieto), Estaban (Sieghardt Rupp), and Ramon (Gian Maria Volonte). The stranger learns the history of the two families from barkeep Silvanito (Jose Calvo) and...

‘Nothing is what it seems’ is the main theme and much quoted line from this 1973 classic horror. In fact is it even a horror? It could easily be a psychological thriller or a drama dealing with grief and love. Though released in the same year as The Exorcist, it is Nic Roeg’s adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier short story that is often cited as the film that revolutionised the genre into an intelligent form.

Roeg stepped into this film barefooted, after slipping off a pair of other great reinventions in Performance and Walkabout; yet many critics say these earlier films were his better work and the type he should have continued to produce. I disagree. It was the enigma and the sense of nothing truly being what you experienced in Don’t Look Now that makes it Roeg’s finest venture into the cinematic arts. Furthermore, because this...

To mark the release of digitally restored Don’t Look now on Blu-ray 27th June, Optimum Releasing have given us three copies of the movie to give away.

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in Don’T Look Now, Nic Roeg’s brilliantly atmospheric adaptation of the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Following the death of their daughter, John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice where he is to oversee the restoration of an old church. Here they encounter a pair of elderly sisters: one of them a blind psychic who claims to have been in communication with the couple’s dead child. Whilst Laura is intrigued John resists the idea, despite the possibility that he is having his own visions that threaten to put his life in danger…. Genuinely unsettling, Don’T Look Now is widely acknowledged as perhaps Roeg’s finest film and one of the best British films ever made.

Michael York dashes onto the cinematic scene as the blundering but very enthusiastic D'Artagnan in Richard Lester's hugely enjoyable period comic romp. The late great Roy Kinnear is the long-suffering vassal of aristocratic swordsmen Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finlay, whilst Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway shine as heroine and villainess, respectively. Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind filmed the following year's sequel back-to-back with this more successful first part, which approach they would revisit shortly for Superman and Superman II. Dumas with wit, energy and integrity.

Notable Quotable: "That man in his time has insulted me, broken my father's sword, had me clubbed to the ground, laid violent hands on the woman I love! He is inconvenient. "

Martin Anderson

Mike Nichols and Buck Henry achieve what seemed impossible, at least on the evidence of an earlier attempt: to transliterate the pitch-dark war humour of Joseph Heller into a cohesive,...

Ian Powell is the director behind the gay psycho sexual horror thriller Seeing Heaven starring Alexander Bracq, Denton Lethe, Maximo Salvo and Anthony Styles. Seeing Heaven recalls a strong visual presentation reminiscent of Mario Bava and a sexually charged, but completely bizarre storyline that recalls the essence of David Cronenberg. The film deals with a beautiful young escort, Paul, who suffers from trip like dreams he doesn't understand, visions which are shared by his clients, both exciting and scaring them. Paul is searching for a twin brother, who he hasn't seen since childhood. He hooks up with enigmatic film director John Baxter. Desired by everyone but lost to himself, Paul is persuaded to make one adult film, which will help him discover himself and in the process find his twin. However, the journey he goes on is a dark one, involving dangerous clients, an unscrupulous rival producer and unsafe bareback sex.

If you have Netflix and are a horror fan in need of something to watch this Labor Day weekend, one look at this gargantuan list I compiled of the new terror titles Netflix has added for instant streaming in just the first three days of this month should keep you busy until Labor Day next year. You'll find something for everyone, from older titles to recent releases, famous to obscure, classic to not-so-classic, monsters to maniacs - you name it.

For the record, I considered compiling this list in alphabetical order or by year of the film's release, but then I realized I had already spent well over an hour just sorting through the massive catalogue of titles Netflix has now made available for instant streaming and realized Labor Day would be over by the time I finished arranging this list in any kind of order. Ready? Here you go.

It is fast approaching that unique portion of the year when all true matters arcane and diabolical are given the festive treatment, as Halloween prompts folks to deploy their broomsticks for something other than sweeping up after the household pet. Although we have recently seen cinematic quotas of the supernatural gobbled up by vampire and zombie flicks, it would be remiss to overlook the genuine chills instilled by the most successful exponents of the ghost movie genre. So here are ten of the scariest ghost movies to put the frighteners on us poor, trembling cinema-goers.

10. Dark Water (2002)

Leaky plumbing becomes an unlikely source of spine-tingling terror in this J-Horror offering from director Hideo Nakata, the man who had previously attached creepy connotations onto video cassettes and cold-calling in the first two Ringu films. Sharing some narrative ground with his earlier horror hits, Dark Water finds Nakata once again casting a...