Category Archives: Vintage Screams

Vampire Movie Favourites

Vampire Movie Favourites

When I asked Horror News readers and Facebook friends to tell me their favourite vampire films, I received a terrific response. The suggestions poured in, and all kinds of weird, wonderful and outlandish films fronted up for selection. So while I can’t deny the quality or appeal of films like Planet Of The Vampires (1965), Count Yorga Vampire (1970), Vampyres (1974) or Shadow Of The Vampire (2000), I can only count it down to thirty.… More

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Invasions Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers 1956 poster 3

In 1955 author Jack Finney published a novel entitled The Body Snatchers, first serialised in Collier’s Magazine the year before. It describes the fictional town of Santa Mira, California being invaded by seeds that have drifted to Earth from space. The seeds replace sleeping people with perfect physical duplicates grown from plantlike pods, while their human victims turn to dust. The duplicates live only five years, and they cannot sexually reproduce. Consequently, if unstopped, they… More

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Stephen King’s Favourite Horror Films

SK Evil Dead 1

(as stated in a 1992 interview):

LADY IN A CAGE (1964)
Lady in a Cage is a classic film that few people in the modern generations are aware of. It was one of the few actual films directed by Walter Garuman, who spent the vast majority of his career doing television work. The film was not a major hit, but remains something of an underground spectacle to this day. The story begins with wealthy widow… More

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Serial Killer Movies A-E

SERIAL KILLERS A-E 1

A serial killer is defined as an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, usually with a cooling-off period between murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification. Serial killers are not the same as mass murderers nor spree killers, who usually commit murders in two or more locations with virtually no break in between. There is often a sexual element involved… More

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Serial Killer Movies P-Z

SERIAL KILLERS P-Z 1

The following article is the third and final part of a three-part list of films featuring serial killers. I’ve deliberately avoided movies concerning ‘spree killers’, ‘obsessed fan’ films, and movies that contain supernatural elements. It is not intended to be a complete list nor terribly insightful, but a simple rundown of the best, worst and most interesting serial killer titles to be found, and I thank both Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database for assisting… More

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Serial Killer Movies F-O

SERIAL KILLERS F-0 1

The following article is the second part of a three-part list of films featuring serial killers. I’ve deliberately avoided movies concerning ‘spree killers’, ‘obsessed fans’, and movies that contain supernatural elements. It is not intended to be a complete list nor terribly insightful, but a simple rundown of the best, worst and most interesting serial killer titles to be found, and I thank both Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database for assisting my research. I… More

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Video Nasties

video-nasties

Video Nasty‘ was a term coined in Britain around 1982 which applied to certain films distributed on video cassette that were criticised by the media and various religious organisations for their violent content. While cinema violence had been regulated by the British Board of Film Censorship for many years, the lack of regulations for video sales (combined with the claim that any film could be viewed by impressionable kiddies) sparked a massive public debate. Most… More

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George Lucas – A Feature Profile

GL George Lucas art

In 1964 a short skinny kid entered film school at the University of Southern California, and fifteen years later he was a multi-millionaire. He was still skinny and shy back then. His name is George Lucas and, for a time, it looked as if his first feature film, THX 1138 (1971) was going to be his last. It was produced by George’s friend Francis Ford Coppola as part of the output of his new company… More

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Anthology Television Part 2

AT2 Montage 3

Continuing on with our essay,  we present -  Vintage Screams: Anthology Television Part 2. If you missed the first part you can access Vintage Screams: Anthology Television Part 1 directly here.

DARKROOM aired from 1981 to 1982, each hour-long episode featuring two or more stories of varying length hosted by actor James Coburn. Starring Steve Allen, David Carradine, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, June Lockhart and Esther Rolle, in stories of suspense and terror which characterised the short-run series: An imaginative teenager… More

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Anthology Television Part 1

AT1 Montage 3

An anthology television series is a program that presents a different story with a different set of characters in each episode. These normally have different actors each week but some employed a permanent ensemble of actors who would appear in a different drama each week (like Four Star Playhouse). Others would have different actors and stories set in the same ‘shared world’ (like Welcome To Paradox). Many anthology shows would have a host to introduce… More

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