|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 26, 2023 19:12:19 GMT
Any luck? I tried Canon Street and the larger store at Liverpool Street Station mid-morning but no joy. Will try at Victoria tomorrow ... No luck in WHSmith, as I couldn't find anything in the direction the shop assistant vaguely gestured to when I asked. I did find a local newsagent's that sold them, so I grabbed a set of issues there. I have some copies ordered through the publishers, but I need to wait till they're ready to be collected. Mags Direct still have a very limited stock of Nightmare Express, and copies of the batch that's just gone off sale in shops (including the Gorgons issue), though, oddly, they don't have the other three that came out today. magsdirect.co.uk/?s=commando&post_type=productI couldn't resist popping my copy onto the shelf where I have my Amicus Blu-rays and DVDs lined up just to see it next to its inspiration. Now I just need to summon up the courage to read the damn thing...
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 26, 2023 11:42:40 GMT
I remember seeing a clip of a Soviet Sherlock Holmes (I think it was The Hound of the Baskervilles), I looked it up and it must have been from one of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes_and_Dr._WatsonQuote: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Russian: Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона) is a series of Soviet television films portraying Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional English detective, starting in 1979. They were directed by Igor Maslennikov. They seem to get positive reviews. I love those Russian Holmes series. The only one to have a DVD release in the UK is The Hound of the Baskervilles, which is a pity, as the whole series works so beautifully, tracing Holmes and Watson's partnership from the early days through to their last cases. Livanov and Solomin are a terrific Holmes and Watson, the episodes are very atmospheric, and the scripts very cleverly weave different Conan Doyle stories together in interesting ways.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 26, 2023 10:30:50 GMT
I thought Peter Cushing made a good Sherlock Holmes. Yes, an excellent Holmes, and with three top notch Watsons in Andre Morell, Nigel Stock, and John Mills. Much as I love Nigel Bruce, Morell was the first actor on screen to get Watson right. I wish Hammer had made more Holmes films. And it's a pity so few of Cushing's BBC Holmes episodes survive.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 26, 2023 9:40:43 GMT
I heard one that he did with Peter Cushing that had a kind of dystopian telepathy theme--they had some delightful dialogue together. It was supposed to be based on "an idea" of Robert Holmes. Hel. Aliens in the Mind, which was adapted by Rene Basilico from an unused Robert Holmes Doctor Who script/storyline called Aliens in the Blood. Price played writer Curtis Lark and Cushing was scientist John Cornelius.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 21:30:39 GMT
I remember seeing the 1989 version of Usher in the video shop, but that's the closest I have come to seeing it--doesn't sound like I missed much. I might have seen the 1948 version decades ago, but will keep my eyes peeled for it appearing on TP. 30 years since we lost Vincent Price. It's certainly worth remembering the great man with a viewing of one of his films...maybe House on Haunted Hill. There's a great story about him and Coral Brown shopping for a bed--they met on Theatre of Blood I think. They were getting very old when shopping for a bed and asked the assistant how long it would take to get the one they liked. The assistant told them and it was quite a while. I believe it was Brown that replied, "Take a look at us. Do you think we have that long?" I'd have picked House on Haunted Hill for viewing, only I recently backed a Kickstarter for a company who have transformed the film into a 3D version, so I'm holding off for that Blu-Ray. The trailer looks great if you have 3D specs handy... www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9E75ae_BxYOn the subject of Coral, I was reminded today of the story of her appearing on stage in Oedipus Rex where part of the design involved massive phalluses being carried onto the stage. The whole of the stalls and most of the circle heard Coral turn to Charles Gray and 'whisper', 'Nobody we know, dear... unfortunately.'
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 21:22:40 GMT
A great cover. Evokes a lot of wonderful and beloved genre works. Someone on Facebook remarked that he thought it was an Iron Maiden album cover... but, yes, I'm delighted to have my first attempt at a Commando drawn by Mike Dorey. And though I've only seen the internal artwork briefly, so far, it's all I could have hoped for and more. I, too, shall be haunting the nearest WHSmith branch tomorrow, as I'm far too impatient to wait for the copies I requested from the publisher.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 21:15:50 GMT
I'll have you know that for a time Sinister was practically my middle name...
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 12:35:15 GMT
If you are a House of Usher film completist there is a version called The House of Usher from 1989 with Oliver Reed and an odd little version from 1950 made by a British studio (GIB Films) called The Fall of the House of Usher. The first I have a note for saying weirdly bad movie, the second I have: This is an obscure British version made in 1948, but released in 1950. It's an odd mix. Some of the acting seems wooden for today's standards, but maybe they were stage actors; also the accents sound very upper class, of a type that isn't really heard anymore. It has a weird plot element added, which I won't give away, which adds nothing to the original story. However bits of the directing work and the lead female, Gwendoline Watford, is the standout of the cast. I haven't seen the Oliver Reed and Donald Pleasence film, and I've never heard anything good about it. I have seen the 1948 film, and it really is a weird take on the story. Some nice imagery, a wonderfully over the top intro of some bluff, plummy chaps in a club comparing tales of terror, and a creepy, odd atmosphere. I bought it on a VHS years ago from a company in America specialising in rare horror films, and I'm pretty sure there was a reel missing somewhere. These days it crops up fairly regularly on the wonderful Talking Pictures TV channel. Gwen Watford is the only cast member who sticks in mind, and she went on to a long and impressive career, with roles in The Ripping Yarns, Miss Marple, Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Ghoul among others. As well as Vincent Price's anniversary, I'm reminded that Amicus's Vault of Horror opened in the UK 50 years ago today, so an anniversary rewatch of that is added to tonight's list of programmes.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 11:25:12 GMT
I thoroughly enjoyed The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, Mike Flanagan's ingenious melding of a mosaic of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and ideas with a family drama, a satire, and a state of the nation address. A great relief after the unfortunate mess that was The Haunting of Bly Manor. I thought this series was beautifully done and beautifully played by a terrific cast. The use of genuine Poe poetry was also a fantastic touch.
Tonight, though, it will be the Roger Corman version of House of Usher, possibly on a double bill with a Dr Phibes film, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Vincent Price's death.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 9:57:26 GMT
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2023 0:19:00 GMT
Also, seeing as there's not much Mystery left in our Mystery & Supernatural these days, we're considering a change in name. Any thoughts on this also welcomed! Wordsworth Macabre Wordsworth Dark Wordsworth Eerie Wordsworth Uncanny Wordsworth Weird (Weirdsworth?)
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 23, 2023 18:51:22 GMT
I particularly enjoy the carnival and immortality stories. The first story is quite nasty and Clu gulager gives a great performance. It's chilling to see him finally snap after having to take care of his sister for years. By the way, the actress playing the sister was Gulager's real-life wife. I'm mainly familiar with Clu Gulager from Return of the Living Dead. He's great in this nasty little tale - the role was originally intended for a younger actor but Gulager specifically requested it, having initially been approached for Cameron Mitchell's role, and reshaped it, while his wife, Miriam, also wrote the song he sings after the murder. There's a terrific, in-depth making of documentary in the blu-ray set, as well as a delightful documentary about director Jeff Burr and his friends' teenage years making Super 8 films in their hometown of Dalton, which was where From a Whisper was shot.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 22, 2023 21:31:33 GMT
Oh yes. I have seen the announcement of Fiends. I am a big fan of the original, which I thankfully still have the first reprint which was done years ago when they gave free reprints with the Megazine. I even bought a few of the prose novels. I'm mainly buying the new edition for the original story, as I missed the previous reprint volume. Haven't read any of the sequels yet, but it's the Finley-Day and Ezquerra strips I'm looking forward to revisiting.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 22, 2023 17:40:28 GMT
Last night's viewing: Vincent Price reveals four grisly tales of Southern Gothic from the haunted history of Oldfield, Tennessee in the late Jeff Burr's feature debut, From A Whisper To A Scream. I hadn't seen this since renting it on VHS in the late 80s, but Turbine Films in Germany released a fantastic deluxe blu-ray set a couple of years ago.
The film was criticised at the time - by Vincent Price, among others - for its violence and bad taste - one of the stories is about necrophilia - but it stands up very well, I thought. There's a certain EC Comics tone to a couple of the stories, and Price adds a touch of sardonic wit to his linking scenes. And there's a nice Hammer link in a cameo by Martine Bestwick as Price's niece. It also has a Tod Browning connection in Angelo Rossitto, who was in Freaks, and appears in a carnival story here.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 22, 2023 17:14:22 GMT
Did you read the new Battle Action from Rebellion this year, Lurker? It had a impressive creator line-up and looked good. I didn't. My Rebellion purchases have tended to be more from the Misty and Scream side of things, plus revisiting some old 2000AD favourites. I never really got into straight war comics, though I can appreciate the skill that goes into them - the Commando editorial team and their writers do a lot of research to keep the details correct. I've always preferred my stories with a touch of the macabre or fantastic, so I'm looking forward to the new Fiends of the Eastern Front collection.
|
|