Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back for their tenth outing together in The House of Fear. Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Five Orange Pips, this one leans into using the Universal Monsters sets and, consequently has a very gothic feel to it. When a gathering of gentlemen, known as the…
Tag: scotland
TIFF 25: California Schemin’ dir. James McAvoy
I had never heard of Silibil ‘n’ Brains, but knowing this was James McAvoy’s directorial debut I had to check it out. It’s based on a true story, and it’s very entertaining. Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy (Samuel Bottomley) are just a couple of blokes from Dundee, Scotland. They dream big, and those dreams…
The Spider Woman (1944) – Roy William Neill
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is back! By his side, the redoubtable Watson (Nigel Bruce)! Despite the (once again) short runtime, I really liked this one. It got the series back on track to solving mysteries and while the War was still going on I liked the fact that it decided to be more escapism than…
Doomsday (2008) – Neil Marshall
Writer/director Neil Marshall pays homage to Snake Plissken and Mad Max with his actioner, Doomsday, which, as I rewatched it, had an opening that seems incredibly relevant as a pandemic sweeps the UK, and as the virus spreads there are lockdowns, quarantines, and curfews – until the infected are all locked away in Scotland, a…
Licence Renewed (1981)- John Gardner
In the early 80s, the estate of Ian Fleming reached out to author John Gardner to continue telling stories about James Bond, 007, and to perchance, bring him into the 80s. This involved a bit of a retcon moving the events of the previous novels from the 50s/60s to the 60s/70s. Gardner’s first effort, Licence…
Dog Soldiers (2002) – Neil Marshall
Cult favorite director Neil Marshall takes on werewolves with his engaging take on them, in the action horror, Dog Soldiers, the next stop on the Monsters in the Movies book from DK Canada. The cast features Liam Cunningham, Kevin McKidd and Sean Pertwee as the film takes us to the highlands of Scotland, and into…
The Little Vampire (2000) – Uli Edel
Even family films get into the vampire act as I learn with the next stop in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, the coffee table tome by legendary director John Landis. That film is The Little Vampire, based on the book by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg. Starring Jonathan Lipnicki, following his endearing turn in Jerry Maguire, the…
Space: 1999 (1976) – Journey to Where, and One Moment of Humanity
Moonbase Alpha continues to hurtle among the stars drawing us with them as Koenig (Martin Landau), Russell (Barbara Bain), Alan (Nick Tate), Maya (Catherine Schell), Tony (Tony Arnholt) and the rest of the crew try to survive. Trouble rears its head this week in Journey to Where, penned by Donald James this episode first debuted…
Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants (1991) – Rob MacGregor
Scotland 1925 I jump back into adventure with the man with the hat, as my travels with Indiana Jones continue in the officially licensed (and therefore canon until films prove them otherwise) series of novels that fill in the time between Hollywood Follies (The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones) to The Temple of Doom. Tying…
Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – The Eaters of Light, World Enough and Time, and The Doctor Falls
This week is my final entry in the Doctor Who category until Series 11, and the 2017 Christmas special come to blu-ray. I began this journey on 25 January, 2014 – a story a week (sometimes two with the revitalised series) and now, I’ve come to its (temporary) conclusion. Rona Munro, who wrote the classic…
The Mind Reels 