Bad Day at Black Rock: An Open, American, Hardboiled Wound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpvrb6i9bI Bad Day at Black Rock. 1955. Directed by John Sturges. Screenplay by Millard Kaufman; adapted by Don McGuire & based on a story from Howard Breslin. Starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Russell Collins, & Walter Sande. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Not Rated. 81 minutes. Crime/Drama/Mystery …

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The House by the Cemetery: Victorian Era Scientific Basement Horrors

The House by the Cemetery. 1981. Directed by Lucio Fulci. Screenplay by Lucio Fulci/Giorgio Mariuzzo/Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Elisa Livia Briganti. Starring Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Anioa Pieroni, Giovannia Frezza, Silvia Collatina, Dagmar Lassander, Giovanni De Nava, Daniela Dora, Gianpaolo Saccarola and Carlo De Mejo. Fulvia Film. Rated R. 87 minutes. Horror ★★★1/2 …

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Psychological Trauma in The Haunting

The Haunting. 1963. Directed by Robert Wise. Screenplay by Nelson Gidding; based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. Argyle Enterprises. Rated G. 112 minutes (Black & White). Horror ★★★★★ Whatever the equivalent of a Renaissance Man in film, it certainly …

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The Amityville Horror Never Lets Truth Get in its Way

The Amityville Horror. 1979. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Screenplay by Sandor Stern; based on the book by Jay Anson. Starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, John Larch, Natasha Ryan, K.C. Martel, Meeno Peluce, Michael Sacks, Helen Shaver, and Amy Wright. American International Pictures. Rated 14A. 117 minutes. Drama/Horror. ★★★★ When …

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The Legacy of Spielberg & His Big Bad JAWS

An enduring piece of cinematic terror: Steven Spielberg's JAWS.

Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock & the Birth of the Slasher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJQfFQ40lI Psycho. 1960. Dir.  Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Joseph Stefano; based on the novel by Robert Bloch. Starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, and John McIntire. Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Rated PG. 109 minutes. Horror/Mystery/Thriller ★★★★★ (Film) ★★★★★ (Blu ray release) For my review of the sequel, Psycho II, click here. …

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is Celluloid Terror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgJQvyngAeM The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  1974.  Dir.  Tobe Hooper.  Starring Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, Wiliam Vail, Teri McMinn, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen.  Vortex.  18+.  83 minutes. ★★★★★ Between a mix of Tobe Hooper's raw filmmaking style, and my ability to empathize fairly well, I was absolutely shaken when …

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