How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive (2024) – Craig DiLouie

I greatly enjoyed Craig DiLouie’s Episode Thirteen, and liked how he converted the found footage genre into a novel. So when I heard that he had a new one coming out I had to get my hands on a copy. How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive came out this week, released through Orbit…

Vamp (1986) – Richard Wenk

This one has been on my list to eventually get to for quite some time, and apparently now was the time. If I’d realized how much of a comedy it was before this, I would have dug into it a while ago, Ias it ends up being a lot of fun. If silly. A.J. (Robert…

Starman (1986) – Best Buddies, and Secrets

Paul (Robert Hays) begins having dreams, something he hasn’t done before, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg for what is going to happen to he and Scott (Christopher Daniel Barnes) in Best Buddies. Written by Leon Tokatyan, it first aired on 24 October, 1986. As their road trip to find Jenny Hayden continues,…

Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) – Steve Carver

With a musical score by Francesco De Masi and an opening credits sequence that feels very much in line with a Sergio Leone western, expectations surrounding Lone Wolf McQuade on my initial viewing went up a little. Despite the fact that I know Chuck Norris isn’t a very good actor. Norris plays the titular McQuade,…

Starman (1986) – The Return, and Like Father, Like Son

John Carpenter’s Starman resonated with a lot of people, and it seems that in the 80s spin-off series were happening fairly regular, there was Fame, Fast Times, 9 to 5, and Private Benjamin. There are a number of issues with the series but I was eager to dig into it and see how it stands…

Deathstalker (1983) – James Sbardellati

Deathstalker is pure 80s sword and sorcery, and while I’m all for gratuitous nudity, there is a lot of it, I don’t need all the rape, I don’t care what the thought process is behind it. It’s repugnant and doesn’t serve to tell us anything about the characters we didn’t already know. Setting that aside,…

Overboard (1987) – Garry Marshall

The 80s were a different time, and there are definitely some issues in this film that wouldn’t work today, some gender roles and sexism issues. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a lot of fun watching Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn play with one another on screen. Russell plays Dean, a single father of four…

Starman (1984) – 4K Review

Starman is on 4K and part of Sony Pictures’ release of Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection, Volume 4. I love John Carpenter movies. He’s one of my favourite directors because he’s happy to take on all genres and give his imaginative take on each of his films. Starman may have been the first Carpenter…

The Final Girls (2015) – Todd Strauss-Schulson

The Final Girls is a delightfully meta-horror comedy with an emotional heart thanks to the performances of Taissa Farmiga and Malin Akerman. Farmiga is Max Cartwright, the daughter of Alexandra (Akerman) who has always wanted to be a movie star, but keeps getting recalled for her one big role, in an 80s cult classic slasher…

Hill Street Blues (1986) – Slum Enchanted Evening, and Come and Get It

Slum Enchanted Evening, the penultimate episode of the sixth season of Hill Street Blues first aired 27 March, 1986 and was written by Walon Green and Robert Ward from a story by Jonathan Lemkin and Micheal Wagner. There’s a lot (A LOT) of melodrama but there’s also some nice character beats. Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti)…