Stargate SG-1 (1998) – Enigma, and Solitudes

Enigma introduces a couple of recurring items for the SG-1 team. We are introduced to the Tollan race, and two of their representatives, Narim (Garwin Sanford), Omoc (Tobin Bell), and Colonel Harry Maybourne (Tom McBeath) who will prove to be a thorn in the SGC’s side. Written by Katharyn Powers, this episode was first broadcast…

Dark Skies (2013) – Scott Stewart

Keri Russell doesn’t often do genre films, and while I like the subject matter of Dark Skies, I wish she had chosen a slightly stronger film to be a part of. The last third of the film is just terrible and isn’t executed very well. And why are the Greys, which have been portrayed as…

The Shadow of the Wind (2001) – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A friend of mine recommended this book to me, and I found myself completely swept away in the tale that is a love letter to books and Barcelona (it even comes with a walking tour at the end of the book which will allow those in the city to visit all the sites mentioned in…

TAD 2023: Daniel’s Gotta Die dir. Jeremy LaLonde

I’ve been a fan of Jeremy LaLonde for some time now, and have enjoyed all of his films. He assembles great casts and tends to have very sharp scripts, his latest, Daniel’s Gotta Die, screening tonight at Toronto After Dark is no exception to that. Shot in the Caribbean during lockdown, LaLonde delivers a fun…

Absentia (2011) – Mike Flanagan

So digging into Mike Flanagan’s work, I found his first horror feature film, which you can source on YouTube. Sure, it’s shot on a digital camera, and looks a little less sleek than some of his later works, but damn if a lot of recognizable elements aren’t there from the off; the use of family…

V – The Final Battle (1984) – Part Three

There’s a lot that needs to happen in this third and final part of V- The Final Battle, which first aired on 8 May, 1984. Brian Taggert and Craig Buck (as Faustus Buck) pen the teleplay from a story by series creator Kenneth Johnson (as Lillian Weezer), Buck, Diane Frolov and Peggy Goldman. Taking place…

Quantum Leap (1993) – The Beast Within and The Leap Between the States

Sam (Scott Bakula) finds himself in rural Washington state on 6 November, 1972. Despite the fact that he is mistaken for bigfoot in the episode’s opener, we soon learn he’s a Vietnam vet, named Henry, who has been living in the woods. The Beast Within was written by John D’Aquino, who previously played Frank in…

White God (2014) – Kornel Mundruczo

  White God is an amazing film, by turns beautiful and brutal, and rife with social commentary. This Hungarian film opens today at Toronto’s Lightbox, and other select theaters across the nation, and I implore you to go and see it if you are able. Mundruczo has made a film that isn’t afraid to venture…

House of Frankenstein (1944) – Erle C. Kenton

  Boris Karloff headlines in this classic Universal film as I continue my exploration of Frankenstein on film for Sci-Fi Chronicles. Karloff plays Dr. Gustav Niemann, who, alongside his hunchback companion Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) escape from prison. It seems they were imprisoned due to experiments that were similar to those conducted by  Frankenstein, and hey,…