Star Trek: The Next Generation – Masks (1989) – John Vornholt

Set during the events of season two of The Next Generation, John Vornholt’s novel, Masks, is a bit of a basic tale, but does give Captain Picard a bit of a romance. The Enterprise arrives at the planet Lorca, transporting ambassador-at-large Fenton Lewis to open diplomatic relations with the inhabitants. This seems kind of odd,…

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,…

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) – Tommy Lee Wallace

Halloween III surprised audiences when it came along. There was no Micheal Myers, which had already become synonymous with the holiday, and there was a strange combination of the supernatural and science fiction in the third entry in the franchise. A convoluted behind-the-scenes story affected the script and the filming, and with no Micheal, the…

Batman (1966) – True or False Face, and Holy Rat Race

False Face (Malachi Thorne) – who the hell is False Face? – shows up to menace Batman (Adam West) and Robin the Boy Wonder (Burt Ward) in True or False Face. Written by Stephen Kandel it first aired on 9 March, 1966. Constantly in masks and disguises False Face sends false messages to taunt the…

The Black Phone (2021) – Scott Derrickson

Director Scott Derrickson reteams with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke in Derrickson’s adaptation of the Joe Hill story, The Black Phone and Hawke is nothing short of terrifying as a child killer known, in the late 70s era Colorado the story is set in, as The Grabber. The Grabber is stalking a town that lives…

The Prisoner (1968) – The Girl Who Was Death, Once Upon a Time, and Fall Out

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) is back to being a superspy in swinging London, as he matches wits with a deadly female assassin, Sonia (Justine Lord), who is looking to off him, and protect her slightly crazed father, Schnipps (Kenneth Griffith), who is planning on destroying London and establishing him as its new Napoleon-esque leader. All…

A Classic Horror Story (2021) – Roberto De Feo, and Paolo Strippoli

I love taking a look at foreign horror films, because all filmmakers approach the genre from their own experiences, their culture, and their influences, and what scares some people may only be entertaining to others. The Italian film, A Classic Horror Story, plays our very enjoyable, and has a couple of shifts from horror sub-genre…

Mission: Impossible (1967) – The Diamond, and The Legend

For the first time, to me, I feel like Mission: Impossible takes me on a joyful romp, as I accept another pair of assignments from Paramount Pictures as I explore The Complete Series on blu-ray. The Diamond, written by William Read Woodfield, and Allen Balter and first aired on 4 February, 1967. There are familiar…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994) – Masks, and Eye of the Beholder

Captain’s log: stardate 47615.2 Joe Menosky pens this less than stellar episode that sees Data (Brent Spiner) taking on the role of the villain in the story. This story first aired on 21 February, 1994. The Enterprise comes across a comet that contains a hidden 87 million year old alien archive which begins to redesign…