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VIDEO WATCHDOG
The Perfectionist's Guide To Fantastic Video
Fantasy, Classic Monsters, Horror, Sci-Fi, Bimonthly Magazine from Cincinnati , United States
Ceased publication

- First and last issue: 1990-2017
- Fantastic cinema is the top priority but no genre is neglected.
- At the beginning there was Tim's column in Video Times and Gorezone and then in 1990 he started publishing VW.
- More details than any other edition is what characterizes VW. Usually there is a cover story with exclusive interviews and a lot of reviews.
In color, small size (A5), 80 pages magazine without any ads but with plenty to read.
- Published by Tim and Donna Lucas (Eds.)
- Website: www.videowatchdog.com

Last updated:
20 September 2021
(see recent updates)

Special thanks for this page goes to:
Scott Matheson
Garry Malvern

COVERS FOUND & MISSING

Info from the Database

Highslide JS Listing is complete and all covers have been found.

See The listing

CONTENTS: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

GALLERIES: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 All

Issue 145
November 2008

DVD Spotlight : The Films of ROB ZOMBIE: It's high time that VW covered the work of this 21st century horror maverick, and Shane M. Dallmann is on the case with reviews of HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS: UNRATED and HALLOWEEN: UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT!
GEORGES MeLI?S: First Man on the Moon: David Kalat reviews Flicker Alley's GEORGES MeLI?S: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA (1896-1913), the only truly comprehensive collection of short films by the father of fantastic cinema. In the process, he takes us back in time to origin of motion picture exhibition and discusses other relevant collections, including MeLI?S THE MAGICIAN, SAVED FROM THE FLAMES (1896-1944), THE MOVIES BEGIN: A TREASURY OF EARLY CINEMA (1894-1913), and more!
Cincinnati, Heaven and Hell: Tim Lucas reacts to achieving his 30 year dream of seeing SWEDEN, HEAVEN AND HELL with an appreciation that is part essay, part review, and part fever dream. Revised and re-illustrated from its original appearance on Video WatchBlog!!
Sex, Lies and Bikini Lines: A Swede's Response to SWEDEN, HEAVEN AND HELL: On the occasion of the classic mondo movie's first-ever release in Sweden, Lars Erik Holmquist takes the film to task for its flagrant distortions of fact and tradition!
Including reviews of...
BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE: THE COMPLETE SERIES THE LAST WINTER OM SHANTI OM 101 DALMATIANS - PLATINUM EDITION ROGUE ROUTE 66: SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE SCARECROWS SCOTT WALKER 30 CENTURY MAN SHANGHAI EXPRESS THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES STARSHIP TROOPERS 3: MARAUDER THE TOYBOX WOLF CREEK
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell on CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on the recorded legacy of Joy Division!
All this and much, much MORE!

Issue 144
October 2008

The Ubiquitous: DABBS GREER: M.J. Simpson offers a 1999 interview with the late star of 100 features (including HOUSE OF WAX, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE GREEN MILE) and close to 600 different television roles (everything from SPACE PATROL to PICKET FENCES) covering his entire, incomparable career!
DVD Spotlight: ICONS OF ADVENTURE: Bill Cooke reviews Sony's premiere collection of Hammer holdings, including widescreen presentations of THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER, THE TERROR OF THE TONGS and THE DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES!
Including reviews of...
2103 THE DEADLY WAKE 6 FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE ALUCARD BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR: UNRATED EXTENDED EDITION BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! (incomplete - reprinted in issue 146) CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS (incomplete - reprinted in issue 146) CLOVERFIELD on Blu-ray DARK CHAMBER THE HOST I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOVE JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN THE LAST LEGION THE LUCK OF THE IRISH PARIS, JE T'AIME ROYAL FLASH SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN SODOM THE KILLER SPLATTER BEACH TRAPPED ASHES VENUS IN FURS (Massimo Dallamano version) THE VOYEUR THE WITCHING HOUR
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell on Cecil B. DeMille's shocking SIGN OF THE CROSS!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on the Ian Curtis/Joy Division biopic CONTROL!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of HAZEL COURT HORROR QUEEN and THE BIONIC BOOK: THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN RECONSTRUCTED!
All this and much, much MORE!

Issue 143
September 2008

RODD DANA L The Actor with the 3-D Name: Michael Barnum interviews the American actor who spent the Fifties with Roger Corman, Herman Cohen and Bert Gordon, and the Sixties in Italy, making CLEOPATRA, Spaghetti Westerns, Eurospy flicks, and dubbing well over 300 movies!
DVD Spotlight: THE LAWRENCE JORDAN ALBUM: New contributor Michael Barrett reviews a lavish new box set that collects the outstanding work of the great animator!
Also reviewed in this issue...
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD THE BOOTH BLACK NIGHT CEMETERY OF TERROR CUJO HOUDINI THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH THE MASTER P2 PHASE IV SERENITY: COLLECTOR'S EDITION TOBOR THE GREAT THE VICTIM ... and many other new releases, including the Blu-ray import of Powell & Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell on Michelangelo Antonioni's debut feature, STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on Claudio Simonetti's THE THIRD MOTHER and other new Italian soundtrack releases!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor on the book ORSON WELLES REMEMBERED!
All this and much, much MORE!

Issue 142
August 2008

THE PRISONER: A New Order: Tim Lucas reviews Network Video's 40th anniversary upgrade of the classic Patrick McGoohan teleseries and proposes his own unique viewing order of the 17 episodes!!
THE ROUTE 66 MONSTERS: In 1962, Bob Burns presented the first-ever color photo of Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney in makeup as the Frankenstein Monster and Wolf Man in a centerfold of his magazine FANTASTIC MONSTERS OF THE FILMS. Now Bob unveils the other never-before-seen color shots taken at his request on the set of ROUTE 66's 'Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing' in an historic VW photo gallery feature!
DVD Spotlight: THE SKULL: Tim Lucas reviews this new release from Legend Films and explains why this little-known widescreen thriller may be the best of the post HORROR OF DRACULA Lee and Cushing pictures and the finest horror film Amicus ever produced!
Also reviewed in this issue...
AB-NORMAL BEAUTY ALL SOULS DAY BABY FACE BOOGEYMAN 2 CELLO EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS THE END OF AUGUST AT THE HOTEL OZONE FRANKENSTEIN FRANKENSTEINS BLOODY NIGHTMARE HALLOWED GROUND IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA THE GALAXY INVADER THE GLADIATORS KILLING SPREE KONG ISLAND THE QUIET EARTH PLAYROOM PUNISHMENT PARK RED-HEADED WOMAN RINGO KILL (NIGHT OF THE SERPENTS) SATAN'S PLAYGROUND SEE NO EVIL: THE STORY OF THE MOORS MURDERERS SOUTHLAND TALES SUFFOCATION James Whale's WATERLOO BRIDGE THRESHOLD VITAL WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE WHITE NOISE 2 THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW WRESTLEMANIAC
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell traces the influence of Antonioni's LA NOTTE on horror cinema!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews new CD soundtracks, including 28 WEEKS LATER and ALL ALONE IN THE DARK!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor reviews Rob Cohen's new book THE FILMS OF LARRY BUCHANAN: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION!
All this and much, much MORE!

Issue 141
July 2008

Here Lies a Man Who Was Not of This Earth: A Eulogy for Charles B. Griffith: Justin Humphreys recalls his friendship with the late screenwriter of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS and many other Roger Corman classics, with quotations from his correspondence and descriptions of the movies that might have been!
DVD Spotlight: FOX HORROR CLASSICS: Bill Cooke reviews 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's collection of 1940s terror classics by cult director John Brahm: THE UNDYING MONSTER, THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE!
Also reviewed in this issue...
THE AMICUS COLLECTION: ASYLUM -AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! THE BEAST MUST DIE BEAUTY QUEEN BUTCHER BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE THE CHAIN REACTION CHARLIE CHAN VOLUME 4: CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND CHARLIE CHAN IN CITY OF DARKNESS DIVA DOLOROSA THE HELLFIRE CLUB HEROES TWO THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION, VOLUME 1-4 THE INVASION INVISIBLE STRANGLER THE IRON ROSE THE MIST: TWO DISC COLLECTOR'S EDITION THE NAKED PREY THE PINK PANTHER AND FRIENDS CLASSIC CARTOON COLLECTION: THE INSPECTOR (VOLUME 6) RAIDERS OF THE DAMNED THE SECOND COMING OF SUZANNE SHREK THE THIRD SPIDER-MAN THE HIGH DEFINITION TRILOGY SPIDER'S VENOM WITCHBOARD WITCHERY
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell looks back on one of Peter Sellers' breakthrough performances in John Guillermin's crime thriller NEVER LET GO!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter celebrates Digitmovies' 100th compact disc release with reviews of their most recent titles, including the coveted FEMINA RIDENS -- and also a limited release of Dave Neabore's score for LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED!
Biblio Watchdog: Tim Lucas reviews A NEW HERITAGE OF HORROR: THE ENGLISH GOTHIC CINEMA by David Pirie and WILD BEYOND BELIEF! INTERVIEWS WITH EXPLOITATION FILMMAKERS OF THE 1960s AND 1970s by Brian Albright
All this and much, much MORE!

Issue 140
June 2008

Bewitching Hazel: David Del Valle notes the recent passing of Hazel Court with an entertaining and sometimes moving memoir of his long friendship with the actress and her actor-director husband Don Taylor! Including Hazel's comments on films like THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and PREMATURE BURIAL, and co-stars Vincent Price and Anton Diffring!
Meiko Kaji: Woman with a Vengeance: Danish film scholar Rikke Schubart describes the unique and haunting appeal of the enigmatic star of the LADY SNOWBLOOD and FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION series!
Things From the Attic: CED VideoDisc: The Dawn of High End Video: Rebecca and Sam Umland look back at the introduction of letterboxing on home video--not on VHS, but on CED discs, a forerunner of laserdisc--with an archeological review of AMARCORD and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL!
DVD Spotlight: Kim Newman reviews rediscovered performances by Boris Karloff, Lee Marvin, George Reeves and others in SUSPENSE: THE LOST EPISODES, COLLECTION 1!
Also reviewed in this issue...: APARTMENT 1303, AQUARIUM, BLUE SUNSHINE, CHARLIE CHAN VOLUME 3: BEHIND THE CURTAIN, THE BLACK CAMEL, CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET, CHARLIE CHAN ON BROADWAY, CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO, DEATH SENTENCE, THE DEVIL'S RAIN, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (David Hemmings version), THE DUNGEON OF DR. DRECK, GAMERA, SUPER MONSTER, THE HOUSE OF USHER, JEKYLL: SEASON 1, LIZ & HELEN (aka DOUBLE FACE), LOFT, METAL SKIN: SPECIAL EDITION, MONSTROID, THE NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS, PLANET OF DINOSAURS: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE, VAMPIRA: THE MOVIE, WITCH'S MIRROR, ... and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY on Blu-ray!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell on Jean Renoir's LE CRIME DE MONSIEUR LANGE!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews new soundtrack releases, including THE BLOB, Roger Corman's THE INTRUDER and more!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor reviews John Kenneth Muir's HORROR FILMS OF THE 1980s and David Kalat's A CRITICAL HISTORY AND FILMOGRAPHY OF TOHO'S GODZILLA SERIES!

Issue 139
May 2008

A 'DOCTOR WHO' Special!: Where to Start with DOCTOR WHO? The Best of the Third and Fourth Doctors: With more than 700 episodes in the original series alone, where should latecomers jump aboard the TARDIS? Sheldon Inkol recommends four Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker classics from the 1970s: 'Inferno,' 'Genesis of the Daleks,' 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' and 'The Horror of Fang Rock'!
DVD Spotlight: DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE THIRD SERIES: David Kalat pens an appreciation of David Tennant's third season as the BBC's most popular Doctor ever, and Tim Lucas adds a postscript of praise for the season's most acclaimed episode, 'Blink'!
PLUS!
THEY CAME FROM PROTELCO!: In this interview, British producer Richard Gordon tells Tom Weaver the inside story of the short-lived company responsible for producing ISLAND OF TERROR (starring Peter Cushing) and THE PROJECTED MAN (starring Bryant Haliday)!
THIS MONTHS REVIEWS INCLUDE:: Stephen King's 1408, Billy Wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE, Radley Metzger's CAMILLE 2000, Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE, Jess Franco's EUGENIE DE SADE, The real Emmanuele directs LAURE, Crown International 'Grindhouse' classics MALIBU HIGH & TRIP WITH THE TEACHER, 1950s shockers THE RETURN OF DRACULA and THE VAMPIRE, SAW III: DIRECTOR'S CUT, SAW IV: UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT, Nobuo Nakagawa's SNAKE WOMAN'S CURSE, David Fincher's ZODIAC
...and many more... including the Paul Naschy double feature THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF and VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES on Blu-ray!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell takes on another Turkish turkey as The Iron Claw meets Fant?mas in DEMIR PENCE KORSAN ADAM!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews new soundtrack CD releases of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, FAHRENHEIT 451, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and more!
Biblio Watchdog: David Kalat, Tim Lucas and Brett Taylor review A YEAR OF FEAR: A DAY-BY-DAY GUIDE TO 366 HORROR FILMS by Bryan Senn, FANTOMAS IN AMERICA by David White, Staci Layne Wilson's 50 YEARS OF GHOST MOVIES and the uncredited picture/CD book DARIO ARGENTO!

Issue 138
April 2008

California Gothic: The Corman / Haller Collaboration: Roger Corman and his AIP art director Daniel Haller participate in a VW Round Table Discussion, about their classic Edgar Allan Poe series and other past projects, with fellow director-fan Joe Dante and moderator Lawrence French!
DVD Spotlight: UNIVERSAL HORROR CLASSIC MOVIE ARCHIVE: Bill Cooke reviews five of Universal's 1940s B-horror classics: MAN MADE MONSTER, HORROR ISLAND, THE BLACK CAT (1941), NIGHT MONSTER and CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN!
PLUS REVIEWS OF...: ALIBI, BASKET CASE 2, BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON, BLIND BEAST VS. KILLER DWARF, DEAD SILENCE (UNRATED), ELECTION, THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO, THE MAID, ONCE UPON A GIRL, RED ROAD, RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, SCREWED, SINGAPORE SLING, SPIDER FOREST, STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS, THE THIRD SECRET, TWILIGHT ZONE THE MOVIE, TWIN PEAKS DEFINITIVE GOLD BOX EDITION, UNHOLY, THE UNHOLY FOUR, VON RICHTHOFEN AND BROWN, THE WAR IN SPACE, WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END.
And...
Tim Lucas reviews the return of Lamberto Bava to the horror genre with two imports, THE TORTURER and GHOST SON!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell praises Jacques Tourneur's classic Western CANYON PASSAGE!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews new soundtrack releases by Francisco De Masi, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Mark Mancina and Enoch!
Biblio Watchdog: Anthony Ambrogio and Brett Taylor review FRANKENSTEIN: A CULTURAL HISTORY, THE MEXICAN CINEMA OF DARKNESS and EROTIC CINEMA!
All this and much, much MORE!
Other contributors featured in this issue: John Charles, Shane M. Dallmann, Sheldon Inkol, David Kalat, Kim Newman, and Richard Harland Smith.

Issue 137
March 2008

A Very Special Event!
Available in Regular and Signature Editions!
Amy and Her Friends The ANN CARTER Interview Tom Weaver returns to our pages with another prize interview catch! In her first-ever career-length interview, the star of Val Lewton's THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE reminisces about her many onscreen friends (Simone Simon, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Muni, Sir Lancelot, Barbara Stanwyck and more), describes her participation in several other 1940s fantasy classics (I MARRIED A WITCH, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT and more), and shares the amazing story of her past fifty years! Illustrated with more than 40 rare and never-before-seen photos from Ann's personal collection!
Plus!
'Introducting Ann Carter' An essay-length appreciation of the actress by Tim Lucas.
And..
Tim Lucas reviews the new documentary VAL LEWTON-THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS and Lewton's recently restored and reissued Depression era novel NO BED OF HER OWN!
Reviewed in this issue: BLACK SHEEP, CAPTIVITY (UNRATED), THE FOOD OF THE GODS, HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN, HELP!, HOSTEL PART II (UNRATED), THE HOUSE ON SKULL MOUNTAIN / THE MEPHISTO WALTZ, KING BOXER, 5 FINGERS OF DEATH, ONE MISSED CALL, POPEYE THE SAILOR 1933-1938 VOLUME 1, THE PSYCHIC, BEATRICE CENCI, SAM KATZMAN: ICONS OF HORROR COLLECTION, - CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, - THE WEREWOLF, - THE GIANT CLAW, - ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU, TALES FROM THE CRYPT / THE VAULT OF HORROR, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND-30TH ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE EDITION, GHOST SHIP.
...and many other exciting new releases!
Plus!
Ramsey Campbell on the Bizarre Turkish horror film THE SERPENT'S TALE!
Douglas E. Winter on a new boxed set of Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs!
All this and much, much MORE!
Other contributors to this issue: John Charles, Bill Cooke, Shane M. Dallmann, Sheldon Inkol, David Kalat, Charlie Largent, Michael Lennick, and Kim Newman.

Issue 136
January/February 2008

Special GRINDHOUSE Issue!
GRINDHOUSE A VW Round Table Discussion Kim Newman, Stephen R. Bissette, Shane M. Dallmann and Tim Lucas put their heads together to weigh the pros and cons of the controversial GRINDHOUSE theatrical release and the separate home video issues of Quentin Tarentino's DEATH PROOF and Robert Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR!
DVD Spotlight: SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #1 and #2 Tim Lucas steps to the lectern to teach VW readers everything they always wanted to know about the ins and outs of Ernst Hofbauer's classic Seventies sexploitation film series-from its origins on the German bestseller list to its arrival on DVD from Impulse Pictures!
DVD Reviews in this issue include: ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, THE BLOOD ROSE, CHOSEN SURVIVORS, THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING, FIRE AND ICE, FLASH GORDON: SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE EDITION, THE GIANT BEHEMOTH, HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT, KARZAN, JUNGLE LORD, POLICE STORY, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, RETRIBUTION, SWORDSMAN II, A TOUCH OF GENIE, VIRGIN WITCH.
Plus!
John Carpenter's classic HALLOWEEN on Blu-ray!
Ramsey Campbell on Hayao Miyazaki's KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE!
David J. Schow reviews THE BATTLE FOR BOND: THE GENESIS OF CINEMA'S GREATEST HERO!
Audio Watchdog Douglas E. Winter reviews David Arnold's GODZILLA and the latest Bava soundtrack releases from Digitmovies!
All this and much, much MORE!
Other contributors featured in this issue: Anthony Ambrogio, John Charles, Bill Cooke, David Kalat, Charlie Largent, and Brett Taylor!

Issue 135
December 2007

The VW Interview: JUDI BOWKER: BEYOND ANDROMEDA: With her ethereal beauty and surprising depths of courage and strength, Judi Bowker became a fast fan favorite as the star of BROTHER SUN SISTER MOON, the Louis Jourdan version of COUNT DRACULA, and CLASH OF THE TITANS. Mark F. Berry makes his VW debut with an inviting profile and candid interview with one of the most beloved and respected British actresses to emerge in the 1970s!
DVD Spotlight: PAN'S LABYRINTH: Tim Lucas reviews Guillermo del Toro's latest and most celebrated addition to his filmography!
DVD Reviews: 1984 BEDAZZLED DARK SHADOWS - THE BEGINNING (COLLECTION 1) DEVILS OF DARKNESS DOCTOR STRANGE FEED FIDELITY (Andrzej Zulawski) 'G' MEN GODZILLA AND OTHER MOVIE MONSTERS GHOST RIDER HARD-BOILED HELLBOY ANIMATED: BLOOD & IRON THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM THE MANITOU STREETS OF FIRE VACANCY VIRGINS FROM HELL WITCHCRAFT WOMEN BEHIND BARS and much MORE! Plus!:
Ramsey Campbell on NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (BURN, WITCH, BURN)!
Douglas E. Winter on Simon Boswell's CLOSE YOUR EYES!
Kim Newman on Stephen Thrower's NIGHTMARE USA!
Tim Lucas on Tom Weaver and Michael & John Brunas' UNIVERSAL HORRORS and
Gary D. Rhodes & Richard Sheffield's BELA LUGOSI DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES! and, again, much MORE!

Issue 134
September/October/November 2007

EDGAR WALLACE: Your Pocket Guide to the Rialto Krimi Series: Kim Newman patrols all 33 films of the delightfully grisly and wickedly humorous West German horror-crime sequence, now available in state-of-the-art transfers in eight import DVD box sets from TOBIS/UFA Home Entertainment! Illustrated with amazing images!
INGMAR BERGMAN Tribute: Sam Umland goes solo to pay homage to one of our favorite filmmakers, a realist who brought to the screen some of its most penetrating scenes of horror, fantasy and dark psychology. Covered in this article are Bergman's classics THE SEVENTH SEAL, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, and a number of nascent gems collected in Eclipse's box set EARLY BERGMAN!
DVD Spotlight: INLAND EMPIRE: David Lynch is back with one of his most maddening mysteries yet! Kim Newman sorts through the rabbits to get to the core of this story of 'A Woman in Trouble'!
Dog Bytes: Al Adamson takes fairy tales into the 21st century and sets the cinema back 100 years in CINDERELLA 2000... But do we stop there? No, we proceed to cover the Al Adamson double feature FIVE BLOODY GRAVES and NURSE SHERRI... then Raymond Briggs' proto-SHREK childrens' book becomes a TV miniseries in FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN... Orlando James learns to outrun a gigantic crocodile in PRIMEVAL... Hayao Miyasaka animates the classic fable of PUSS 'N BOOTS... and James Houghton protects a dysfunctional family from supernatural attack in SUPERSTITION!
DVDs (In-depth reviews): Glen Morgan remakes Bob Clark's other holiday classic BLACK CHRISTMAS... Bette Davis murders her twin sister to take her place in DEAD RINGER... Dan Grimaldi (THE SOPRANOS) invites women into his house and torches them alive in the sadistic '80s shocker DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE... more aspiring filmmakers try their hands at horror in the compilation FANGORIA BLOOD DRIVE II... Hammer Films features American actors in four film noir B-pictures: THE GLASS TOMB (John Ireland), PAID TO KILL (Dane Clark), Terence Fisher's TERROR STREET (Dan Duryea), and WINGS OF DANGER (Zachary Scott)... Kara Hui Ying-hung scintillates in the HK action comedy MY YOUNG AUNTIE... Joan Crawford concludes an impressive screen career with Herman Cohen's TROG... plus an HD review of the new remake of THE HITCHER, and an Import review of the Tony Anthony Spaghetti Western BLINDMAN, featuring Ringo Starr!
Ramsey's Rambles: This month, Ramsey continues his fling with Simone Signoret with a discussion of Jacques Becker's period crime thriller CASQUE D'OR!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter spins some of the latest Italian movie soundtracks from Digitmovies, including SODOM AND GOMORRAH, WAR OF THE ZOMBIES and the Steve Reeves classic THE SLAVE!

Issue 133
August 2007

'THESE ARE THE DAMNED': The Restored Director's Cut Examined: Joseph Losey's 1961 Hammer film was mutilated for its theatrical releases both here and abroad and then disappeared from circulation for more than 20 years. With Sony's fully restored version now showing on TCM and rumored for DVD release in the near future, Tim Lucas takes an in-depth look at what's been put back!
DVD Spotlight: CHARLIE CHAN VOLUME 2: It's Kim Newman at the Movies as he reviews 20th Century Fox's second set of classic CHARLIE CHAN mysteries: AT THE CIRCUS, AT THE RACE TRACK, AT THE OPERA and AT THE OLYMPICS!
Watchdog News: A detailed report on the differences between the Spanish and English language versions of the Mexican horror-exploitation film NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES!
Dog Bytes: Capsule-length reviews of the recently rediscovered 'lost' Herschell Gordon Lewis sexploiter THE ALLEY TRAMP and its companion feature OVER 18... AND READY... then a steep turn toward the refined and magisterial Powell & Pressburger classic A CANTERBURY TALE... followed by another extreme turn to Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as a couple of cops on the make in CRIME BUSTERS... the critically acclaimed health care satire THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU... Mark Redfield ventures back to 19th century Baltimore to chronicle THE DEATH OF POE... the 1970s HK drive-in perennial FEARLESS FIGHTERS... India's first Miss World is terrorized by a man who won't stay dead in the Bollywood suspenser THE FOG... Godzilla returns to stomp Tokyo as well as Planet X in GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER and INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER... characters try to out-do one another in the Crazy department in MACHINES OF LOVE AND HATE... Ralph Fiennes teams with David Cronenberg for a memorable portrait of schizophrenia in SPIDER... and Nicolas Cage takes a most peculiar trip to Summersisle in Neil LaBute's remake of THE WICKER MAN! ('Oh, no! Not the bees! Not the bees!')
Things From the Attic: Richard Harland Smith emerges from a candle-lit trip into the upper tiers of his domicile with a three-part tribute to the films of Al Mulock and Pedro Mari S?nchez: FLYING FROM THE HAWK, REFUGE OF FEAR and A WITCH WITHOUT A BROOM!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of John Gulager's FEAST: UNRATED and James Gunn's equally slimy SLITHER... Joseph Cotten steals a million dollars bound for destruction to fund a new uprising of the Confederacy in THE HELLBENDERS... Tony Kendall and Brad Harris co-star in the trilogy of films composing THE KOMMISSAR X COLLECTION (KISS KISS... KILL KILL, SO DARLING SO DEADLY, and DEATH IS NIMBLE DEATH IS QUICK)... Gordon Liu wields the LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA... Retromedia pays tribute to a worthy subject in THE LON CHANEY COLLECTION (including MANFISH and INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN)... Lloyd Nolan embodies Brett Halliday's pulp hero in MICHAEL SHAYNE MYSTERIES VOLUME 1 (MICHAEL SHAYNE PRIVATE DETECTIVE, THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T DIE, SLEEPERS WEST and BLUE WHITE AND PERFECT)... Martin Landau and Barbara Bain accept dangerous assignments from Steven Hill in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE COMPLETE FIRST TV SEASON... Tyler Tharp keeps the spirit of '70s horror alive in RETURN IN RED... strange things happen in a very peculiar way in THE COMPLETE SHORT FILMS OF DAVID LYNCH... Elliott Gould cuts in on a bank robbery to the intense displeasure of THE SILENT PARTNER... a New Yorker runs afoul of a voodoo sorcerer in SLIME CITY... variations of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Ape Man drops his loin cloth in the double feature TARZ, JANE & CHEETA and TARZUN AND THE VALLEY OF LUST... Elliot Ness cracks down on Prohibition era bootleggers in THE UNTOUCHABLES, SEASON 1, VOLUME 1, and AIP explores the dark side of the 1960s youth culture in WILD IN THE STREETS and GAS-S-S-S!
Plus: HD-DVD reviews of Alfonso Cuaron's science fiction gem CHILDREN OF MEN and Ben Affleck as George 'Superman' Reeves in HOLLYWOODLAND!
An Imports review of John Phillip Law's classic Spaghetti Western DEATH RIDES A HORSE!
Ramsey Campbell on Jean-Pierre Melville's newly restored masterpiece ARMY OF SHADOWS!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on Percepto's essential new box set: MAD, MOD & MACABRE: THE RONALD STEIN COLLECTION, including the full scores for such cult favorites as ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES, DEMENTIA 13 and THE TERROR!

Issue 132
July 2007

An All-Review Issue!
THE WILD WILD WEST - SEASON TWO: David J. Schow follows up his coverage of the first season of Michael Garrison's cult spy Western in VW #128 with a detailed overview of Season Two! Guests include Boris Karloff, Hurd Hatfield, Ida Lupino, Victor Buono, John Astin, Agnes Moorehead, and of course, Michael Dunn!
Dog Bytes: Bite-sized reviews of John Malkovich as Alan Conway, the man who challenged the world to COLOR ME KUBRICK... the 'Starlite Drive-In' double features of HUSTLER SQUAD & WILD RIDERS and MADMEN OF MANDORAS, THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN & THE DEVIL'S HAND... the atmospheric Korean horror thriller THE RED SHOES... Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry provide voices for the Canadian animation feature ROCK & RULE... Jonathan Yudis carries the torch for Russ Meyer in the effectively buxotic PERVERT!... there's a whole lot of flogging goin' on in the Shaw Brothers production THE SHADOW WHIP... Brandon Routh assumes the mantle of the Man of Steel in SUPERMAN RETURNS... and the Long Brothers brandish their weapons in VENGEANCE IS A GOLDEN BLADE!
Things From the Attic: By Popular Demand! Tim Lucas dusts off some wild, vintage VHS thrills as Paul Naschy adds more monster performances to his growing gallery in LYCANTHROPUS: THE MOONLIGHT MURDERS and THE MUMMY'S REVENGE... Edward D. Wood, Jr. teams up with MANSTER director Kenneth G. Crane for the unbelievable THE REVENGE OF DR. X... Jean-Louis Trintignant finds himself involved in a deadly affair with Carroll Baker in Umberto Lenzi's SO SWEET... SO PERVERSE... and Teri Tordai presides over Black Widow-like orgies and executions in TOWER OF SCREAMING VIRGINS!
DVD Spotlight: TARZAN COLLECTION VOL. 2: Bill Cooke swings back with a follow-up to his MGM TARZAN article for VIDEO WATCHDOG #114, a critical appreciation of Johnny Weissmuller's last half-dozen Tarzan adventures for RKO! Read all about TARZAN TRIUMPHS, TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY, TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS, TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN, TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS, and TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of Bob Kane's 'other' gift to posterity -- COOL McCOOL: THE COMPLETE SERIES... Christopher Lee stars in an Italian adaptation of Sheridan LeFanu's 'Carmilla': CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE (aka TERROR IN THE CRYPT)... David Cronenberg takes the fast lane to exploitation in his racing drama FAST COMPANY, and the high road to experimentation in STEREO and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE... Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy bring a touch of elegance to FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY... Nicole Kidman takes a walk on the wild side in FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS... the horror genre's favorite sisters return in the inspired sequels GINGER SNAPS 2 UNLEASHED and GINGER SNAPS BACK THE BEGINNING... Ishiro Honda makes a profound post-atomic statement with GOJIRA and Toho resurrects its thunder lizard for GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN and MOTHRA VERSUS GODZILLA... Vermont-based horror director Lance Weiler shows us THE LAST BROADCAST before inflicting a little HEAD TRAUMA... Japanese science fiction achieves new high notes of the bizarre in PRINCE OF SPACE and INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN... and Lucky McKee dares to probe the darkness of THE WOODS! Plus a detailed review of John Boorman's EXCALIBUR on HD-DVD!
Imports: Kim Newman reviews CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING and DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY!
Ramsey's Rambles: Join Ramsey Campbell for a hilarious viewing of Onar Films' incredible Turkish double feature of THE DEAD DON'T TALK and THIRSTY FOR LOVE, SEX AND MURDER!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of DONALD CAMMELL - A LIFE ON THE WILD SIDE... THE CHANGING VAMPIRE OF FILM AND TELEVISION... THE HELLRAISER FILMS AND THEIR LEGACY... THE WINSTON EFFECT: THE ART AND HISTORY OF STAN WINSTON STUDIO... and WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN FIFTIES SCIENCE FICTION FILMS!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter attends the latest work of Dominic Frontiere to surface on CD (including his score for the OUTER LIMITS episode 'The Forms of Things Unknown'), as well as the new-to-disc legacy of the Colpix label!

Issue 131
June 2007

A Toast to Curtis Harrington: Tim Lucas remembers the late director of GAMES, RUBY and WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? as one of horror cinema's first critics and preservationists, as an filmmaker, and as a friend.
Athens After Midnight: A Guide to Greek Fantastic Cinema: You've read all about the horror and fantasy cinemas of Spain, Italy, China and Mexico, but what about Greece? In a groundbreaking article full of information new to English reference, Dimitris Koliodimos explores more than a half-century of mind-bending film from the Mediterranean isles where myth and legend were born!
DVD Spotlight: CASINO ROYALE: Tim Lucas reviews Sony's standard, widescreen and Blu-ray discs of the 21st 007 adventure and explains why nobody does it better than Blu-ray!
Dog Bytes: Short form reviews! Alain Robbe-Grillet details a detective's dream encounter with a lady in distress (or is she a vampire?) in LA BELLE CAPTIVE... Philip Ko must battle an evil wizard in the mind-bending Shaw Brothers epic THE BOXER'S OMEN... he sucks and she... fights back in EMMANUELLE VS. DRACULA... the great Meiko Kaji completes her run from corrupt law enforcement in FEMALE PRISONER #701 SCORPION: BEAST STABLE and FEMALE PRISONER #701 SCORPION: GRUDGE SONG... one episode isn't enough, so we cover THE MILTON THE MONSTER SHOW THE COMPLETE SERIES... Jess Franco mixes Pauline Re?ge with his own Sadean tropes in THE SEXUAL STORY OF O... Terence Hill is the cop a bullet can't stop in SUPER FUZZ... and we revel in the extras included with Tobe Hooper's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 THE GRUESOME EDITION!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of TV's altogether ooky THE ADDAMS FAMILY (VOLUMES 1 and 2)... thought-provoking science-fiction comes to DTV with ASCENSION... the Dark Knight and the Man from Krypton raise the bar of TV toons in BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES VOLUMES 3 and 4 and SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES VOLUMES 1 and 2... Zalman King explores eroticism, vampirism, and many other isms in CHROMIUMBLUE.COM... Bollywood does its own version of THE EYE in NAINA... Paul Naschy plays three roles in VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES and directs himself as Waldemar Daninsky for the first time in THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF... and Robert W. Chambers' classic 'The King in Yellow' opens its gnostic realms to an unwitting artist's model in THE WEIRD TALE COLLECTION, VOLUME 1: THE YELLOW SIGN AND OTHERS!
Plus!
HD/BLU-RAY reviews of Terry Gilliam's THE BROTHERS GRIMM and Richard Linklater's Philip K. Dick adaptation A SCANNER DARKLY!
And IMPORT reviews of a new R2 Special Edition of Nicolas Roeg's classic 'DON'T LOOK NOW'... Enzo G. Castellari's Shakespearean Spaghetti Western JOHNNY HAMLET... and Noel Black's dark Americana gem PRETTY POISON!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell on Allen Baron's independent noir BLAST OF SILENCE!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor reviews new books on Philip K. Dick in the cinema, Hammer composer James Bernard, Mondo movies and Roman Polanski!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on the latest spy-themed soundtrack releases, including David Arnold's CASINO ROYALE and Lalo Schifrin's THE LIQUIDATOR (with a theme song by Shirley Bassey)!

Daniel Craig

Issue 130
May 2007

In Remembrance of Freddie Francis: Ted Newsom pays his respects to the talented British director-cameraman responsible for the indelible images of films like THE INNOCENTS, PARANOIAC, THE SKULL, DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE ELEPHANT MAN. Includes excerpts from Ted's interview with Francis himself!
In Search of Ganja & Hess: All Day Entertainment's David Kalat recounts the behind-the-scenes story of bringing a more complete version of Bill Gunn's renowned vampire classic to DVD!
DVD Spotlight: The Boris Karloff Collection: Kim Newman critiques Universal's welcome if somewhat inglorious tribute to their greatest horror star, with reviews of NIGHT KEY, TOWER OF LONDON, THE CLIMAX, THE STRANGE DOOR and THE BLACK CASTLE!
Dog Bytes: Short form reviews! Jason Statham must keep his (and your) heart rate up or die in CRANK... Leif Garrett and a group of psychotic kids terrorize a house of adults in DEVIL TIMES FIVE... Barry Prima wields a lustrous weapon in the Indonesian fantasy THE DEVIL'S SWORD... John Carradine shares the screen with Tina Louise and Julie Newmar in EVILS OF THE NIGHT... Doris Wishman explores (or exploits?) the transsexual subculture in LET ME DIE A WOMAN... Klaus Kinski and Tina Aumont seek to extend their LIFESPAN... and James Coburn acts with someone else's voice in the Italian 'Dirty Dozen' Western A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of all three titles in THE AZTEC MUMMY COLLECTION (THE AZTEC MUMMY, CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY and THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY-in both their Spanish and English versions!)... Ulli Lommel's BOOGEYMAN 2 and BOOGEYMAN 2: DIRECTOR'S CUT... Hideo Nakata's directorial debut CURSE, DEATH, AND SPIRIT... Cameron Mitchell and Jayne Mansfield meet in Yugoslavia while filming DOG EAT DOG... all three titles in THE DR. MABUSE COLLECTION (THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE, THE INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE and THE DEATH RAY MIRROR OF DR. MABUSE)... Robert Aldrich rides the action thriller to the end of the line in EMPEROR OF THE NORTH... Gordon Mitchell fuses pepla and science fiction in THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS (we review TWO versions!), while Gordon Scott fights a giant mollusc in HERCULES AND THE PRINCESS OF TROY... Darren McGavin keeps his stakes sharpened and his crucifixes shiny in the TV series KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER... Stuart Whitman and Janet Leigh get all hopped up on horror in NIGHT OF THE LEPUS... Ray Milland tackles THE PYJAMA GIRL CASE... PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES' Angel Aranda invites some friends to his humble abode to spill SATAN'S BLOOD... in the tradition of Godzilla and Mothra, Toho unveils SPACE AMOEBA... and hippie bikers grow hairier in WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS!
Plus!
Import reviews of Johnny Depp in Emir Kusturica's surreal ARIZONA DREAM... Mario Bava's Le spie vengono dal semifreddo (the original Italian version of DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS)... and Massimo Dallamano's harrowing giallo WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?!
Not enough? Sam & Rebecca Umland also bring you their detailed HD reviews of CONSTANTINE and the '50s science fiction classic FORBIDDEN PLANET!
Also...
Ramsey Campbell on Gaspar No?'s IRREVERSIBLE... Audio Watchdog Douglas E. Winter on the CD soundtracks of THE PRESTIGE, THE ILLUSIONIST and THE FOUNTAIN... book reviews of SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AT THE CINEMA, THE MEXICAN MASKED WRESTLER AND MONSTER FILMOGRAPHY and CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES... the surprise return of 'Watchdog News'... and much, much more!

Issue 129
March/April 2007

THE DESCENT: United They Bite, Divided We Fall: Sam Umland and Richard HarIand Smith discuss the pros and cons of the Lionsgate horror hit, the latest work from DOG SOLDIERS writer-director-editor Neil Marshall!
DVD Spotlight: The SAW Trilogy: Shane M. Dallmann takes an in-depth, unbiased look at Lionsgate's other top horror franchise! Do SAW, SAW II and SAW III cut the mustard, or do they merely spray the catsup?
Dog Bytes: Love spells run amok in the Shaw Bros. classic BLACK MAGIC... Jack Nicholson makes his movie debut in the Roger Corman production THE CRY BABY KILLER... Linnea Quigley and Aldo Ray caution us DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK... we ponder the question of upgrading to the DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITIONS... your worst fears about amusement park rides come true in FINAL DESTINATION 3... Roy Thinnes tracks a zombie in the Dan Curtis production THE NORLISS TAPES... kung fu zombies attack visitors to Thailand in SPIRITED KILLER... and a junkyard suffers a cheap hooch meltdown in STREET TRASH!
DVDs: In depth reviews of the Toho sci-fi tech spectacle ATRAGON... Warner Oland takes most honorable bite out of crime in THE CHARLIE CHAN COLLECTION VOLUME 1... Dark Sky Films enters the 'drive in double feature' game with CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (Andy Warhol's favorite movie!) and Antonio Margheriti's WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS... Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino explore the dual meaning of the word HOSTEL... Zohra Lampert is tormented within a shred of her sanity in LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH... nature turns against campers in the Aussie horror item LONG WEEKEND... Patrick McGoohan stars in a new 'megaset' of the classic British spy series SECRET AGENT aka DANGER MAN... Hayata flashes his Beta capsule to become the kaiju-bashing superhero ULTRAMAN... Princess Dragon Mom unleashes her monsters against SUPER INFRAMAN... Toho apes STAR WARS in the kooky THE WAR IN SPACE... Plus: IMPORT REVIEWS of the French pulp hit ARSENE LUPIN... Nigel Kneale's rarely seen teleseries BEASTS and KINVIG... Russell Mulcahy's directorial debut RAZORBACK... and VW's first-ever HD review section!
Also
The long-awaited return of THINGS FROM THE ATTIC... Biblio Watchdog Tim Lucas on Richard Scrivani's GOOD NIGHT, WHATEVER YOU ARE: MY JOURNEY WITH ZACHERLEY, THE COOL GHOUL... Ramsey Campbell rambles on Max Oph?ls' THE RESTLESS MOMENT... Audio Watchdog Douglas E. Winter audits Scott Bradley's MGM Cartoon music, Armando Trovajoli's HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD, the MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. movie scores, and much, much more!

Issue 128
February 2007

Tony Russel: Our Man on Gamma I: He was the star of the cult classic THE WILD WILD PLANET, a swashbuckling villain on the classic Disney series ZORRO, Elvis Presley's bartender in KING CREOLE, a sword-and-sandal hero, and a movie dubber par excellence! Meet Tony Russel in this exclusive interview by Michael Barnum!
THE WILD WILD WEST: OUTER LIMITS COMPANION author David J. Schow sings the praises of his other favorite Sixties TV series in this extended review of the classic CBS-TV show's First Season-now on DVD!
DVD Reviews: Our trademark intensive coverage of Don Dohler's homemade horrorfest ALIEN FIEND (THE ALIEN FACTOR / FIEND)... Indian horror star Ajay Agarwal headlines two features (BANDH DAWARZA and PURANA MANDIR) in THE BOLLYWOOD HORROR COLLECTION VOLUME 1... Laura Gemser straps on the role that made her famous and infamous in BLACK EMANUELLE (soft and hardcore imports!)... Mexican horror finds its zenith in BLACK PIT OF DR. M, CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN and THE WITCH'S MIRROR... J-Horror returns in CURSED and PULSE... two from the late director William Girdler, DAY OF THE ANIMALS and GRIZZLY... some of Hollywood's finest special effects artists cut their teeth on the 16mm home movie project EQUINOX... Dr. Nadir looks for pregnable Earth women in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER... Halloween horror resurrects the Headless Horseman in THE HOLLOW... two from Jess Franco's seldom seen 1980s period, MACUMBA SEXUAL and MANSION OF THE LIVING DEAD... Boris Karloff wields his own unique brand of weird science in THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND and THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES... PULSE... vampire hunter Dr. Nietsche pounds some stakes during a SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES... the Asian dietary horror SLIM TILL DEAD... Barbara Stanwyck is troubled by threatening calls in SORRY, WRONG NUMBER... and much, much more!
Imports: Special Hammer Section: Detailed reviews of recent UK releases of Peter Sasdy's COUNTESS DRACULA and HANDS OF THE RIPPER (plus its German release version, HAND VOLLER BLUT), and four early Terence Fisher titles: STOLEN FACE... FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE... SPACEWAYS... and MASK OF DUST!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews the latest horror, cult and fantasy soundtracks, including Howard Shore's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and Leigh Harline's THE 7 FACES OF DR. LAO!
Ramsey's Rambles: Ramsey Campbell wraps his mind around the bizarre spectacle of 3 DEV ADAM, a Turkish film that pits Captain America against Spider-Man!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of ROGER CORMAN: METAPHYSICS ON A SHOESTRING... JULES VERNE ON FILM: A Filmography of The Cinematic Adaptations of His Works, 1902 Through 1997... COUNT DRACULA GOES TO THE MOVIES: STOKER'S NOVEL ADAPTED, 1922-2003 Second Edition... MAKING FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE LEGEND OF CAMP BLOOD... and THE RING COMPANION!
This Issue's Contributors: Anthony Ambrogio, Michael Barnum, Stephen R. Bissette, Ramsey Campbell, John Charles, Bill Cooke, Shane M. Dallmann, David Kalat, Tim Lucas, Kim Newman, David J. Schow, Richard Harland Smith, Brett Taylor, and Douglas E. Winter.

Issue 127
November 2006

BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS: Sheldon Inkol salutes 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's long-overdue two-disc release of Russ Meyer's cult classic as a DVD worth waiting for!
In Search of Del Tenney: Auteur of PARTY BEACH: His work is immediately recognizable and consistent, but is Del Tenney one of the horror genre's auteurs? Tim Lucas screens VIOLENT MIDNIGHT, THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH, THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, I EAT YOUR SKIN and DESCENDANT in search of the answer!
Hammer & Universal: A Marriage of Monsters: From THE BRIDES OF DRACULA to THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, Bill Cooke's latest monster round-up attends the eight fright films that resulted when the world's greatest horror manufacturers joined forces in the early 1960s!
PLUS! JOE DANTE collects his final batch of retrospective reviews for the farewell edition of 'Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks'!
RAMSEY CAMPBELL on his 'favorite Horror-Western,' Anthony Mann's MAN OF THE WEST!
DOUGLAS E. WINTER on the latest crop of Euro cult soundtracks from Digitmovies, Goblin's reunion disc, and an assortment of Goblin tribute recordings!
BOOK REVIEWS of Doyle Greene's MEXPLOITATION CINEMA, Howard Hughes' ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE ITALIAN WEST, and more!
PLUS dozens of DVD reviews! Among the highlights: Bruce Campbell battles space termites in ALIEN APOCALYPSE; Alain Delon on both sides of the law in Jacques Deray's BORSALINO & CO. and FLIC STORY; Candy Samples, Uschi Digart, and Cheryl 'Rainbeaux' Smith bare their emotions in the sexploitation anthologies FANTASM and FANTASM COMES AGAIN; Howard Vernon, Rosalba Neri, and Barbara Bouchet are up to no good in the 'Euro trash must-see' FRENCH SEX MURDERS; John Carradine and Lon Chaney make a hoot out of an owl's ear in the mind-boggling GALLERY OF HORRORS; Reg Park appears in new and recycled Bava and Cottafavi footage in HERCULES THE AVENGER; Alan Steel crosses swords with Spanish rogues in HERCULES AND THE BLACK PIRATE; a hotsy-totsy android tears up a town in the Indonesian action rip-off LADY TERMINATOR; Joe D'Amato puts the 'horror' back in 'horny' in PORNO HOLOCAUST; Mary Woronov gives us a guided tour of PRISON A-GO-GO; Paul Bartel makes his directorial debut in the kinky thriller PRIVATE PARTS; sexploitation scrapes the bottom of a lager barrel in SS CAMP WOMEN'S HELL and SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP; Jess Franco experiments with carte blanche in 'The Sensation of '69,' SUCCUBUS; we enter the sensual world of Dr. Emy Wong in the hilarious YELLOW EMANUELLE; and we offer a crash course in the works of British shockmeister Pete Walker with our reviews of THE COMEBACK, DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE, THE FLESH & BLOOD SHOW, FRIGHTMARE, HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, and HOUSE OF WHIPCORD! All this-and much, much more!
This Issue's Contributors: Ramsey Campbell, John Charles, Bill Cooke, Shane M. Dallmann, Joe Dante, Sheldon Inkol, Tim Lucas, Kim Newman, Richard Harland Smith, Brett Taylor, and Douglas E. Winter.

Issue 126
September 2006

Edgar Wallace and the Paternity of KING KONG: Merian C. Cooper once declared that Edgar Wallace 'didn't write a bloody word of KING KONG.' Now, in a groundbreaking feature article, Tim Lucas refutes that statement by detailing Wallace's four-month stint as the film's first screenwriter, and by tracing Kong's bloodline to surprising ancestors in Wallace's own bibliography!
Francesco de Masi: The Noble Heart of Italian Film Music: Francesco de Masi died last November, bringing the curtain down on a long and distinguished record of service to the Italian popular cinema. In this article-part tribute, part personal memoir-John Bender reflects on de Masi's contribution to Italian horror, Italian pepla and, above all, the Italian Western!
DVD Spotlight: KING KONG: Tim Lucas reviews Universal's two-disc widescreen edition of Peter Jackson's KING KONG, of course!
Also reviews of ACE HIGH... THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON... THE AGATHA CHRISTIE MISS MARPLE MOVIE COLLECTION (MURDER AT THE GALLOP, MURDER AHOY)... BETTY... Radley Metzger's THE CAT AND THE CANARY... CLONUS... CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER... CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY... Umberto Lenzi's THE CYNIC, THE RAT, AND THE FIST... DEEP CRIMSON... DRACULA III LEGACY... FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY... two versions of GASLIGHT... JACQUELINE HYDE (unrated version)... Jeff Lieberman's JUST BEFORE DAWN... LIVING HELL... MPD PSYCHO 1-3... THE PREMONITION... SCARY TRUE STORIES... Walt Disney's original THE SHAGGY DOG... SHAOLIN VS EVIL DEAD... SORUM... A STUDY IN TERROR... TENEMENT - GAME OF SURVIVAL... TEN LITTLE INDIANS with Daliah Lavi and Shirley Eaton... WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?... and the latest 'Zatoichi' releases, ZATOICHI AND THE FUGITIVES (#18) and SAMARITAN ZATOICHI (#19)!
Plus ... The latest installments of JOE DANTE'S FLEAPIT FLASHBACKS... RAMSEY 'S RAMBLES (Ramsey Campbell)... AUDIO WATCHDOG (Douglas E. Winter)... BIBLIO WATCHDOG (book reviews)... and much, much more!
Other contributors to this issue: Anthony Ambrogio, John Charles, Bill Cooke, Shane M. Dallmann, Kim Newman, Richard Harland Smith and Brett Taylor.

Issue 125
June 2006

LAND OF THE DEAD: A Video Watchdog Round Table Discussion: It's George A. Romero's first movie as a director in 5 years, his first zombie script in 15 years, and the first zombie picture he's directed in 20 years. So what does his eager audience think of LAND OF THE DEAD? VW regulars-Kim Newman, Stephen R. Bissette, John Charles, Richard Harland Smith, Shane M. Dallmann, David Kalat, and editor Tim Lucas-discuss the unrated return of one of the fantastic cinema's great mavericks!
DVD Spotlight: KING KONG: Bill Cooke reviews Warner Home Video's deluxe two-disc set of the 1933 Cooper/Schoedsack classic-the most eagerly awaited DVD ever, and the VW's Kennel's choice for 0ur Favorite Disc of 2005!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Joe takes a third row aisle seat for vintage screenings of Barry Brown in BAD COMPANY, Faye Dunaway in Rene Clement's THE DEADLY TRAP, Bernie Casey in George Armitrage's blaxploitation fever dream HIT MAN, and Tony Curtis in SUPPOSE THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME?, while Jay North enters Angel Tompkins' course in THE TEACHER!
Plus Reviews of...: THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN-THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, ALONE IN THE DARK, BATMAN BEGINS, DAY OF THE DEAD 2: CONTAGIUM, DERANGED, ENTRAILS OF A VIRGIN, ENTRAILS OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, EXORCIST-THE BEGINNING and DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, GODZILLA FINAL WARS, HOLY BATMANIA!, HOUSE OF WAX (2005), KING KONG-PETER JACKSON'S PRODUCTION DIARIES, KONGA, MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN, MARK OF THE WITCH/THE BRIDES WORE BLOOD, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, NIGHT AND THE CITY, NIGHT OF THE SKULL, RED COCKROACHES, SHATTER DEAD, SIXTEEN TONGUES, SON OF KONG, SPIDER-MAN 2, THIEVES' HIGHWAY, ZATOICHI CHALLENGED, ZATOICHI THE OUTLAW
And... RAMSEY CAMPBELL on THE CALL OF CTHULHU, the new silent film produced by The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society!
DOUGLAS E. WINTER on new soundtrack releases from Monstrous Music (THIS ISLAND EARTH), Percepto Records (DINOSAURUS!), and La La Land Records (KING KONG VS. GODZILLA)!

Issue 124
April 2006

Toho Terrors!: Bill Cooke celebrates the golden age of Japanese fantasy with reviews of DOGORA (THE SPACE MONSTER), MATANGO (ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE), THE MYSTERIANS and VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE-new on DVD from Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters!
The Third Dimension of Evil: The Making of AMITYVILLE 3-D: Filmmaker Paul Talbot documents the production of the only three-dimensional entry in the popular 'Amityville' franchise, with exclusive interview input from director Richard Fleischer!
Ramsey's Rambles: New Column! Ramsey Campbell has written some of the finest ghost stories and horror fiction of our time, so which films would you expect to find bedevilling his imagination? Well, this month it's Lu?s Bu?uel's 1950 classic, Los Olvid?dos-he'll tell you why!
Things from the Attic: Back by Popular Demand! Tim Lucas and Rebecca & Sam Umland clear the cobwebs off their copies of the vintage bizarre! Jack Palance sacrifices nubile young beauties to the bargain basement African love god Chuku in CRAZE... Bert I. Gordon (THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) documents how size counts in different ways in HOW TO SUCCEED WITH SEX... A B-movie master shepherds a new generation of filmmakers into the fields of exploitation-with-a-message in ROGER CORMAN: HOLLYWOOD'S WILD ANGEL... and Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre stalk the Swing Era of Kay Kyser in YOU'LL FIND OUT!
Dog Bytes: Celebrity cameos enliven the slashfest BLOODY MOVIE... Warren Oates runs an errand worthy of an Edgar Allan Poe character in Sam Peckinpah's BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA... Jess Franco stars in his own Raymond Chandler pastiche DOWNTOWN... Sonny Chiba gives a commanding performance in G.I. SAMURAI... Al Adamson directs the usual suspects (and KFC's Colonel Sanders!) in HELL'S BLOODY DEVILS... C. Thomas Howell faces down a Martian invasion in the other version of H.G. WELLS' WAR OF THE WORLDS... the '30th Anniversary Edition' of Steven Spielberg's JAWS... Ray Dennis Steckler sequelizes his HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER MEETS THE SKIDROW SLASHER in THE LAS VEGAS SERIAL KILLER... Sonny Chiba takes a backseat to Hiroyuki Sanada in NINJA WARS... Roberta Findlay offers a Queens-side view of rubbery monsters and the supernatural in THE ORACLE... aliens in the abyss meet fanged fish in RAGING SHARKS... Lee Van Cleef earns a box set in two of the three films composing MGM's THE SABATA TRILOGY (SABATA, ADIOS SABATA, RETURN OF SABATA)... England's Compton Cameo and producer Tony Tenser reveal the SECRETS OF A WINDMILL GIRL... yet another Sonny Chiba contest, this time against Ken Ogata, in SHOGUN'S SHADOW... and Jacky Wu Jing demonstrates astounding agility in the condensed period miniseries THE TAI CHI MASTER!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: It's a Western/Action festival in the old Fleapit this issue, as Joe tears your tickets for vintage reviews of Yul Brynner and Daliah Lavi in CATLOW... Charles Bronson in CHATO'S LAND... John Woo's early directorial effort FISTS OF THE DOUBLE K... George Peppard in the sci-fi-tinged espionage thriller THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY... Clint Eastwood in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and JOE KIDD... Raquel Welch in KANSAS CITY BOMBER... Ron O'Neal in SUPERFLY T.N.T.... and Barry Morse (though not as Lt. Phillip Gerard!) in the forgotten sexploitation flick THE TELEPHONE BOOK!
DVDs: Detailed reviews of Walerian Borowczyk's erotic fairy tale THE BEAST... Maurice Tourneur's silent screen classics THE BLUE BIRD and LORNA DOONE... a new deluxe 'Special Edition' of the anime classic GHOST IN THE SHELL... J-Horror gets body conscious in Masayuki Ochiai's INFECTION... Jim Carrey looms large in the baroque children's fantasy LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS... Yuen Woo-ping tries his hand at a terroist action thriller in RED WOLF... Paul Naschy returns to the screen in Brian Yuzna's ROTTWEILER... American independent cinema turns metaphysical in THE STICKY FINGERS OF TIME and PRIMER... and Michael Keaton is haunted by telephonic messages from his dead wife in WHITE NOISE! Plus import reviews of the spectral Shaw Brothers comedy THE FAKE GHOST CATCHERS and Paul Ouellette's returns to H.P. Lovecraft's Miskatonic University, THE UNNAMABLE and THE UNNAMABLE RETURNS!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor reviews Phil Hall's THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNDERGROUND MOVIES: FILMS FROM THE FRINGES OF CINEMA and Tom Weaver's SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY FILM FLASHBACKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH 24 ACTORS, WRITERS, PRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE!

Issue 123
February 2006

LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION VOLUME 2: Steven Lloyd returns with a look at Warner Home Video's second collection of classic Warner Bros. cartoons, including Porky's foray into Wackyland, Wile E. Coyote's patronage of Acme Inc., Hubie and Bertie's head games on Claude Cat, the song stylings of Owl Jolson and Michigan J. Frog, and much, much more!
DVD Spotlight: Three by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: David Kalat profiles a current master of 'J-Horror' with reviews of CURE, CHARISMA and BRIGHT FUTURE!
Dog Bytes: CAMP FEAR... FEEDING THE MASSES... THE FIEND (aka BEWARE THE BRETHREN)... FLESH-EATING MOTHERS... HEX VS WITCHCRAFT... LIBERA ME... RAZORTEETH... STREET TRASH... and A WHISPER IN THE DARK!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: CAHILL UNITED STATES MARSHALL... THE DIRTY HEROES... EASY VIRTUE... HELL'S BELLES... THE SLAMS... SOME KIND OF NUT... THE SPECTRE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE... and WESTWORLD!
DVDs: THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT... THE BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER... CASTLE KEEP... CONQUEST OF SPACE... THE FREAKMAKER... HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN... MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP... THE NAKED JUNGLE... RED TROUSERS... SASQUATCH HORROR COLLECTION (SASQUATCH: THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT, SNOWBEAST, SNOW CREATURE)... SECRETS OF A CALL GIRL... SEED OF CHUCKY (Unrated and Fully Extended)... SHADOW OF THE WRAITH... TAKE ME NAKED and A THOUSAND PLEASURES... plus Import reviews of I, MONSTER... JESS FRANCO'S PASSION... and KARL MAY DVD COLLECTION I (THE TREASURE OF SILVER LAKE, HALF BREED and WINNETOU AND HIS
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter covers the soundtrack CD beat with Michael Winterbottom's CODE 46... Alex Wurman's MARCH OF THE PENGUINS... BT's STEALTH... Chroma Key's GRAVEYARD MOUNTAIN HOME... and more!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of LIVING DANGEROUSLY: THE ADVENTURES OF MERIAN C. COOPER by Mark Cotta Vaz... THE CINEMA OF JOHN CARPENTER: THE TECHNIQUE OF TERROR, edited by Ian Conrich and David Woods... and THE SCARECROW MOVIE GUIDE!

Issue 122
October 2005

Edison's FRANKENSTEIN: Found & Lost?: Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, the phonograph... and the American horror film! Stephen R. Bissette reviews this 1910 relic, as it appears on a short-lived, already out-of-print DVD release, and ponders how the recent death of preservationist Alois F. Detlaff, Sr. will affect this once-lost film's future availability!
LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION: Steven Lloyd returns to our pages with a detailed appraisal of the 56 cartoons included in Warner Home Video's first box set of the classic Warner Bros. cartoons! Next issue: the second box!
VIDEODROME: Bill Cooke cracks the shrinkwrap on Criterion's deluxe edition of David Cronenberg's prophetic tale of techno-terror!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of Ray Dennis Steckler's noir tribute BODY FEVER... Joy Houck Jr.'s BOGGY CREEK knock-off CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE... Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele interpret an uncredited H.P. Lovecraft story in CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR... John Turturro seeks the answers to his wife's random murder in the Hubert Selby-scripted FEAR X... Halle Berry stars in the Dark Castle-produced GOTHIKA... MGM releases yet another disc of Dan Curtis' THE NIGHT STALKER / THE NIGHT STRANGLER... the gruesome South Korean mystert OLDBOY... the return of BEYOND THE DOOR producer Ovidio Assonitis in the giallo-like RED RIDING HOOD... a detective tries to find out why 54 schoolgirls would join hands and leap onto the tracks before an oncoming train in SUICIDE CLUB... Buster Crabbe ogles burly-q queen Ann Corio in the Retromedia double feature WHITE HUNTRESS and JUNGLE SIREN... Millie Perkins sharpens her blade to deal with some football players in THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA... Ichi the Blind returns in ZATOICHI 13: ZATOICHI'S VENGEANCE and ZATOICHI 15: ZATOICHI'S CANE SWORD... a marbles championship assumes unsuspected importance in the enchanting Mexican fantasy ZURDO... all this, plus remarks on the box set releases of FIREBALL XL-5... MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV'S STORIES FROM MY CHILDHOOD... TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED SET 1... THE TWILIGHT ZONE - THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, SEASON 1... and THE TWILIGHT ZONE - SEASON 1 1985 -86!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Joe is back with vintage trade magazine reviews of the Lee Van Cleef/Warren Oates Western BARQUERO... football pro Terry Carter turns detective in the blaxploitation item BOOTS TURNER... John Carradine, Robert Dix and other Al Adamson vets rev up for a slice of Civil War bloodshed called CAIN'S WAY... Sibylla Kay is the perky au pair girl in Tigon's MONIQUE... George Hilton and Klaus Kinski shoot up the West (West Germany, that is) in THE RUTHLESS FOUR... and an all-star cast turns topsy-turvy in the Irwin Allen disaster epic THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of Patty McCormack as THE BAD SEED... Marc Singer talks to the animals in THE BEASTMASTER... John Daniels sweet-talks some red hot mamas in BLACK SHAMPOO... Christina Ricci survives a werewolf bite in CURSED (unrated version, of course)... Pierce Brosnan finds himself seduced by the lifestyle of those who worship Kali the Destroyer in THE DECEIVERS... Peter Fonda leans on the speedometer in the '70s drive-in classics DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY and RACE WITH THE DEVIL... Tyrone Power drinks until he becomes a pathetic sideshow act in NIGHTMARE ALLEY... Lee Marvin rescues Sissy Spacek from meat-eating Gene Hackman in PRIME CUT... and alien lifeforms are shoved down the throats of the unsuspecting in STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION (would you like to know more?)
Imports: In-depth reviews of Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence in the Brian Eno-scored THE DEVIL'S MEN... the 'Dark Tales' of author Pu Songling are adapted in the Hong Kong omnibus FAIRY, GHOST, VIXEN... and Jim Mitchum joins the ranks of Eurocult stars in the early Sergio Martino Western MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (available as a German DVD import under the title KEINEN CENT F?R RINGOS KOPF)!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter stops watching the skies long enough to review Film Score Monthly's exciting new soundtracks of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and the 1970's remake of KING KONG (John Barry)!
Biblio Watchdog: Ramsey Campbell joins the VW Kennel with a review of BEATING THE DEVIL: THE MAKING OF NIGHT OF THE DEMON by Tony Earnshaw... and Bill Cooke reviews Roy Webber's THE DINOSAUR FILMS OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN!
...and much more!

Issue 121
September 2005

Shades of Renfield: 10 Buzzing Performances: To complement the arrival of his new novel THE BOOK OF RENFIELD: A GOSPEL OF DRACULA, Tim Lucas looks back on the screen history of one of the most beloved characters in the annals of horror fiction! Whose portrayal best embodies Renfield as Bram Stoker described him? Which of these performances are underrated? Which are overrated? Who among today's actors might still do justice to the role? Find out in this detailed analysis of ten outstanding performances!
DVD Spotlight: As long as we're talking about Renfield, Kim Newman weighs in with his appraisals of John Badham's romantic 1979 version of DRACULA, starring Frank Langella, and the recent short-lived Canadian program, DRACULA THE SERIES!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of TENEBRAE's Eva Robins in the Pierfrancesco Campanella giallo BAD INCLINATION... David Carradine plays four roles (and the flute!) in the Zen fantasy CIRCLE OF IRON... Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee trace the origins of Evil in THE CREEPING FLESH... the James Gunn-scripted movie that calls itself 'Sister-lickin' good,' INBRED REDNECK ALIEN ABDUCTION... Sonny Chiba stages a 'Hall of Mirrors' battle of his own in KARATE FOR LIFE... Merchant Ivory tackle a Bombay police procedural in THE PERFECT MURDER... new China tensions and homicide merge in SEVENTEEN YEARS... and screenwriter James Gunn shows a little more ambition in the superhero-spoof, THE SPECIALS!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: It's 'sex and suspense' month here in the Fleapit, as Joe hunkers down for Seventies screenings of the SCREW Magazine-related EROTICON... the third and final 'Ginger' movie GIRLS ARE FOR LOVING... Robert Culp and Bill Cosby surpise I SPY viewers' expectations in HICKEY AND BOGGS... the biker DIRTY DOZEN variation THE LOSERS (aka NAM'S ANGELS)... LUNCH (from the auteur who brought you STINKYBUTT!)... PRIVATE SCHOOL GIRLS, a non-SCHOOLGIRL REPORT series look at West German schoolgirls... Mercedes McCambridge in the rural jailbait meller SIXTEEN... and little Mark Lester returns to witness a political assassination in John Hough's SUDDEN TERROR (aka EYEWITNESS)!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES VOLUME TWO... the Czech zombie import CHOKING HAZARD... PITCH BLACK's Vin Diesel returns in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT... Stuart Whitman serves the Kool-Aid in Rene Cardona Jr's exploitative GUYANA: CRIME OF THE CENTURY... Antoine Fuqua casts Bond hopeful Clive Owen as KING ARTHUR... Tod Slaughter, the first British horror star, chortles over the topside of melodrama in THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN, SWEENEY TODD THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE, THE FACE AT THE WINDOW and HORROR MANIACS... two people are abandoned in shark-infested OPEN WATER... Hywel Bennett traces his family wee in the penis transplant comedy PERCY... a science fiction saga is set in the alternative history of the 1920s in the anime SAKURA WARS 1: RETURN OF THE SPIRIT WARRIORS and SAKURA WARS 2: WEDDING BELLS... Rene Cardona Sr. serves up the JULES AND JIM of killer shark pictures with TINTORERA... Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis vie for shapely princess Janet Leigh in THE VIKINGS... and Alfred Hitchcock puts a neorealistic spin on suspense in THE WRONG MAN!
Imports: In-depth reviews of the erotic '70s BBC serial CASANOVA, starring Frank Finlay... Max Mok Siu-chung falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a flesh-eating, blood-drinking spirit in the Shaw Brothers' THE ENCHANTRESS... John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW is ripped-off in detail by the Japanese LAST DROP OF BLOOD... and Laura Antonelli stars in an obscure adaptation of Georges Bataille's 'Story of the Eye' called Yo soy la pas?on ('I Am Passion')!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter assembles his choices for the Best (and the Rest) soundtrack releases of 2004!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of John T. Soister's UP FROM THE VAULT: RARE THRILLERS OF THE 1920S AND 1930s and Caelum Vatnsdal's THEY CAME FROM WITHIN: A HISTORY OF CANADIAN HORROR CINEMA!
Plus!: Letterbox correspondence from Yutte Stensgaard... the continuation of Tim's VOOM Diary...
...and much more!

Issue 120
June/July 2005

Dr. Paul Armstrong's: Handy Guide to '50s Sci-Fi Heroes: Larry Blamire (that 'Lost Skeleton of Cadavra' guy!) makes his VW debut with an amusing and insightful tribute to the stars who inspired him: Arthur Franz, Richard Carlson, John Agar... and every other screen scientist who rolled up his sleeves to clean a monster's clock!
Triffids on the March: From John Wyndham to the BBC: David J. Schow turns a new leaf by puttering around the science fiction classic THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS-from its roots in science fiction, to its motion picture offshoot, and its full flowering as a BBC serial (now available on DVD)!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of Al Adamson's BLAZING STEWARDESSES... Lash LaRue's return to the screen in the North Carolinian horror flicks THE DARK POWER and ALIEN OUTLAW... the Austrian existentialism of FREE RADICALS... the South Korean blade vengeance of SWORD IN THE MOON... and Image Entertainment's two-disc retrospective THE MUNSTERS: AMERICA'S FIRST FAMILY OF FRIGHT!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Joe collects ticket stubs for ACT OF THE HEART, a religious quasi-horror film starring Donald Sutherland and Genevi?ve Bujold... John Carradine and Joi Lansing in BIGFOOT... Mark Lester makes a play for family entertainment in BLACK BEAUTY... George C. Scott brings star power to Richard Fleischer's crime drama THE LAST RUN... Calvin Lockhart and Rosalind Cash headline the obscure blaxploitation murder mystery MELINDA... John Houseman grades Timothy Bottoms' law school tests in THE PAPER CHASE... and Paul Bartel makes his directorial debut with the memorably creepy PRIVATE PARTS!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of AIP's monster teen comedies GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW and THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI (starring Boris Karloff as The Corpse!)... the British-made Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT... Cheryl Smith lends her signature performance to Richard Blackburn's LEMORA: A CHILD'S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL... Fisherman Richard Harris is targeted for revenge by ORCA: THE KILLER WHALE... Steven Soderbergh parodies mainstream and arthouse cinema in SCHIZOPOLIS... Shinya Tsukamoto explores the middle ground of blackmail and erotic fantasy in A SNAKE IN JUNE... STREET MOBSTER and GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, two peak period yakuza thrillers from Kinji Fukasaku... THE UP SERIES, Michael Apted's 40 years-in-the-making study of British youth... and Park Ki-Hyung's seminal South Korean horror hit WHISPERING CORRIDORS!
Imports: Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi set the screen ablaze in Wong Kar-wai's melancholy, sci-fi-tinged masterpiece 2046... Nicole Kidman suffers a nightmare on Elm Street in Lars von Trier's DOGVILLE... and veteran director Bruno Mattei hits the DTV trenches with SNUFF TRAP!
Plus!: The 100th installment of Douglas E. Winter's 'Audio Watchdog' column... Kim Newman's 'Watchdog News' report on BBC4's live remake of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT... 'Biblio Watchdog' reviews of Tom Johnson & Mark A. Miller's THE CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY and editor Stephen Prince... 'Letterbox' appearances by director/cameraman Gary Graver and producer Richard Gordon...
...and much more!

Issue 119
May 2005

The Prosperities of Vice: An Unholy Three By Jess Franco: Tim Lucas essays three of Franco's earliest Sadean works: Marquis De Sade's Justine, Eugenie... The Story Of Her Journey Into Perversion, and The Bloody Judge!
DVD Spotlight: Franco's 101 Women: There is still more Franco to be found as we review the seminal WIP movie 99 Women, the Sax Rohmer pastiche The Girl From Rio, and the psychedelic fan favorite Venus In Furs! Also in this issue's 'Import' review section, reviews of Franco's 'monster rally' movies Dra'cula contra Frankenstein (aka The Screaming Dead) and Ein Jungfrauen in den Krallen von Frankenstein (aka The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein)!
Watchdog News: By Popular Demand! VW's News department returns with information about Columbia's 50th Anniversary Godzilla releases... a look at some interesting Italian DVD releases, including a couple of early films photographed by none other than Mario Bava... and a report card assessing the quality of the 8 movies comprising Volumes 1 and 2 of Rhino Home Video's Horrible Horrors!
Dog Bytes: Vic Morrow and Fred Williamson take action in 1990: Bronx Warriors... Gwen Verdon vies for the soul of Tab Hunter in Damn Yankees... Dennis Weaver tries to lose a tailgater in Steven Spielberg's Duel... Roger Corman crosses the finish line first in The Fast And The Furious... Jayne Mansfield falls for Tom Ewell because The Girl Can't Help It... Tom Hanks makes his big screen debut in the '80s slasher pic He Knows You're Alone... Meet a vampire slayer named Alucard in the anime Hellsing: Complete Collection... Sonny Chiba graduates from bulls to bears in Karate Bearfighter and then fights blood-bathing demon women in Legend Of The Eight Samurai... Ulli Lommel takes Suzanna Love into Hitchcock territory in the Vertigo-like Olivia... a comatose patient wreaks mental havoc in the extremely graphic Italian rip-off Patrick Still Lives... two different silent film adaptations of The Student Of Prague... a J-Horror DTV series reaches its conclusion with Tomie: Forbidden Fruit... and George Stover polishes his stake and sharpens his crucifix before going up against the Vampire Sisters!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: This month, Joe's grindhouse retrospective reviews favor the Old West as 'Alan Smithee' directs Richard Widmark in Death Of A Gunfighter... Rock Hudson saves Sylva Koscina from being raped by a bunch of horny teens (then rapes her himself) in Hornets' Nest... Omar Sharif presides over a brutal and unusual game in The Horsemen... Mary Woronov stars with fellow Warhol Factory alumni (and John Carradine!) in token horror title Silent Night, Bloody Night... Swiss filmmaker Erwin C. Dietrich offers a new definition of 'layover' in The Swingin' Stewardesses... Gary Graver directs and photographs the obscure exploitationer There Was A Little Girl... and John Wayne saddles up with Ann-Margret in The Train Robbers!
DVDs: Subterranean film noir in the Chinese import Blind Shaft... Danny Elfman does Cab Calloway while Susan Tyrell does Herve' Villechaize in Forbidden Zone... Tong Lung doubles Bruce Lee and also plays his brother in the delirious Game Of Death II... Japan's biggest export stomps his old stomping grounds in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.... Paul Naschy rules in a special two-disc set devoted to one of his scariest films, Horror Rises From The Tomb... three schlocky '50s sci-fi films are assembled for Horrors From Space Collection (Teenagers From Outer Space, Phantom From Space and Killers From Space)... Lifeforce is given an anime remake (sort of) in Kimera... ambitious anime culminates in a massive WTF ending in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth and The End Of Evangelion... Paul Naschy makes an extraordinary comeback in the new Rojo Sangre... Misty Mundae loses her virginity to a crucifix in Satan's School For Lust... a bunch of slackers eventually arise to the occasion of saving humanity from a zombie takeover in Shaun Of The Dead... H.G. Wells follows Jack the Ripper into the disco era in Time After Time... and a woman possessed by evil forces is compelled to commit murders in the South Korean period fantasy The Legend Of The Evil Lake!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews Digitmovies' new two-disc set of Bruno Nicolai's Eugenie De Sade '70 (containing his music for Eugenie... The Story Of Her Journey Into Perversion and other Franco films of the early '70s) and the latest 'Bruno Nicolai in Giallo' disc, La Coda Dello Scorpione! Also, Locust Music's soundtrack of the classic Cornel Wilde adventure The Naked Prey!
All this... plus Bob Burns' report on Paul Blaisdell's unheralded contributions to Teenagers From Outer Space.

Issue 118
April 2005

Universal's Other Monsters!: ~A Legacy Written in Gauze, Claws and Tana Leaves~: Bill Cooke follows his Rondo-nominated coverage of Universal's first three Classic Monster 'Legacy Collections' in VW #111 with a Monster Rally sequel of his own! Read all about the screen sagas of The Invisible Man, The Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon... all thirteen of 'em! As before, lavishly illustrated with original art by Charlie Largent and rare stills from the Del Valle Archive!
DVD Spotlight: A Tale Of Two Sisters: Tim Lucas reviews the hottest new chapter in the annals of Asian horror: a ghostly tale of broken lives and shattered minds by Korean director Kim Jee-woon - now available in single and two-disc editions from Tartan Asia Extreme!
Dog Bytes: You get pretty much what you'd expect in Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires... teens find holiday peril in Bloody New Year... original horror host John Zacharle chortles his merry way through the DTV epic Dr. Horror's Erotic House Of Idiots... Something Weird Video delivers the ultimate Andy Milligan double feature with The Ghastly Ones / Seeds Of Sin... an anime classic spins off a new sci-fi police procedural series in Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Vol. 01... Fred Olen Ray and Steve Latshaw argue on the commentary track of JACK-O... Sonny Chiba brains some bulls in Karate Bullfighter... our coverage of a major anime series concludes with Noir Volume 6: Cloaks And Daggers and Volume 7: The End Of The Matter... Shakespeare comes to DVD in contemporary attire in Richard The Second... a new DVD release of the Vincent Price thriller Shock... and Fred Olen Ray gives Dinosaur Island a sexy makeover as Teenage Cavegirl!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Some real obscurities this month, along with a couple of cult classics, as Joe attends first run screenings of the German sexinstruktion import The Adult Workshop On Love... Peter Lawford meets Luciano Pigozzi in Dead Run... something called The Deviates... Lenore Kasdorf as a kung fu-fighting stewardess in New World's forgotten softsploitation Fly Me... George Lucas spins a student film into his directorial debut feature THX 1138... Marvin Gaye scores Trouble Man... and Green Acres director Richad L. Bare makes his bid for horror history with Wicked, Wicked ('filmed in Duo-Vision')!
DVDs: Bill Cooke on Tod Browning's Freaks... Kim Newman on Larry Cohen's mutant baby trilogy It's Alive, It's Alive Ii: It Lives Again and It's Alive III: Island Of The Alive... Shane M. Dallmann on Stephen King's Lars von Trier adaptation Kingdom Hospital: The Entire Series... Sam & Rebecca Umland on John Woo's all-star Philip K. Dick adaptation Paycheck... Richard Harland Smith on Shikoku, an early ghost story appearance by Kill Bill's Chiaki Kuriyama... plus reviews of Stephen Sommers' overblown Van Helsing... Zero Focus and The Demon, two adaptations of Japanese mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto... Lucio Fulci's paura pasta Zombi 2: 25th Anniversary Special Edition... and Import reviews of The Norman J. Warren Collection (Satan's Slave, Prey, Terror and Inseminoid)! Also, John Charles praises the boundary-shattering horror of the Asian horror anthology Three... Extremes and the feature-length 'director's cut' of its tastiest story, Dumplings: Three... Extremes!
Biblio Watchdog: Anthony Ambrogio reviews Mark Clark's Smirk, Sneer and Scream - Great Acting In Horror Cinema!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews a number of recent solo piano soundtrack releases by Philip Glass and Dave Grusin, as well as other soundtracks from Glass and Craig Armstrong!
All this - plus the first installment of Tim Lucas' Voom Viewing Diary.

Issue 117
March 2005

Issue #117-March 2005 The Strange Loves of Yutte Stensgaard: An Interview with the Vampire!: Danish filmmaker Nicolas Barbano interviews his country's most famous horror personality, the lovely and elusive star of Lust For A Vampire and Scream And Scream Again! In this exclusive interview, Ms. Stensgaard talks about her life today, her philosophies and the peace she has made with her movies from the screaming Seventies!
DVD Spotlight: Your friendly neighborhood VW critic Shane M. Dallmann spins his opinionated web on Buena Vista Home Entertainment's lavish box set of Spidey's complete animated exploits from the 1960s! Is Shane right? Listen, Fred - he's got Video Watchdog cred!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of Irene Papas in a George Tsavellas' 1961 production of the Greek tragedy Antigone, plus... H. B. Warner takes his gun and badge into the City Of Missing Girls... vehicles guzzle more than gas in Peter Weir's The Cars That Ate Paris... an enchanted pendant makes unsuspecting people horny in Curse Of The Erotic Tiki... 'Devil's Night' Halloween riots and worse await you in Filthy... Anthony Mann co-directs with Alfred Werker in the noir classic He Walked By Night... Tangerine Dream lends a new prog score to the Italian silent spectacle L'Inferno... Sonny Chiba cracks a few dozen more skulls in Killing Machine... Jack LaRue runs the mob in the UK crime programmer Murder In The Night... Don Dohler rehashes his earlier The Alien Factor in Nightbeast... Marlon Brando and Richard Boone terrorize Pamela Franklin in The Night Of The Following Day... vampires are on the loose in the DTV horror anthology Realms Of Blood... Repo Man director Alex Cox turns his attention to 17th century drama in Revenger's Tragedy... Rob Lowe heads an all-star cast in TNT's remake of 'Salem's Lot... and Frank Sinatra plays a would-be Presidential assassin in Suddenly!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Reminisce about the heyday of grindhouse entertainment with these vintage reviews: Lucretia Love stars as a good-girl warrior in Alfonso Brescia's Battle Of The Amazons... Clint Eastwood and Don Rickles head an all-star cast in the Yugoslavia-made Kelly's Heroes... David Hess scares the yell out of everybody in Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left ('It's only a movie... it's only a movie...')... Kate Jackson and David Selby endure a Night Of Dark Shadows... Marie Liljedahl heats up the screen with a little help from ABBA's Bjorn and Benny in Joe Sarno's The Seduction Of Inga... and Antoinette Bower uses animal extract to turn Craig Littler into Superbeast!
DVDs: In-depth reviews! Ashton Kutcher makes a powerful bid to be taken more seriously in the child abuse fantasy The Butterfly Effect... Roman Polanski directs Sharon Tate for the first and only time in The Fearless Vampire Killers... Tobe Hooper shows us that there are worse things awaiting man than the sideshow in The Funhouse... Bret Wood chronicles the darker avenues of road safety cinema in the documentary Hell's Highway: The True Story Of Highway Safety Films... Fantoma delivers more discs in their 'Educational Archives' series: Driver's Ed, On The Job, Religion and Patriotism... Umberto Lenzi tackles an Edgar Wallace krimi in Seven Blood-Stained Orchids and dabbles in the giallo genre with Spasmo... and Lucio Fulci's Zombie is followed up with the not-for-the-squeamish Zombi 3 and Zombie 4: After Death!
Plus: Import Reviews!: Chang Cheh directs the Shaw Brothers classic The Brave Archer (aka Kung Fu Warlords)... a new Italian import double-feature offering first-time-ever anamorphic masters of Mario Bava's Lisa And The Devil and The House Of Exorcism... and the unauthorized Australian import of Sergio Martino's tantalizingly titled Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (aka Gently Before She Dies), starring Edwige Fenech!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of Mr Skin's Skincyclopedia by Mr. Skin... Brad Stevens' Monte Hellman: His Life And Films... and William Tsutsui's Rondo Award-nominated Godzilla On My Mind: Fifty Years Of The King Of Monsters!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter lends his reliable ears to an amazing new two-disc set of Bronislau Kaper's music for the 1962 Mutiny On The Bounty, as well as other Film Score Monthly titles... and covers recent releases composed by The X-Files' Mark Snow, including The Best Of Millennium and Helter Skelter!
All this and another brilliant Charlie Largent cover, Tim Lucas's 'The Watchdog Barks' and much, much more!

Issue 116
February 2005

Things from the Attic: By Popular Demand! We're bringing back our 'Tapes from the Attic' feature on an irregular basis, but now it's expanded into 'Things from the Attic'-not just domestic tapes, but rare foreign tapes, laserdiscs and even out-of-print DVDs! In a special 'EuroCult' installment, Tim Lucas blows the dust off Riccardo Freda's Double Face, The House With The Yellow Carpet, Antonio Margheriti's Disneyesque Mr. Superinvisible, Ruggero Deodato's superhero actioner Phenomenal And The Treasure Of Tutankamen, and a comparison review of Margheriti's Seven Deaths In The Cat's Eye and its French widescreen edition, Les Diablesses!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: More vintage fun as Joe Dante tears your tickets to retrospective reviews of Cheri Caffaro in The Abductors... Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee in Blood Suckers... Ingrid Pitt in the heavily-cut domestic release of Countess Dracula... Alex Cord and Samantha Eggar in Armando Cripino's The Dead Are Alive... Woody Allen's R-rated sketch comedy Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)... and Giacopetti/Prosperi's appalling 'You Are There' shockumentary about slavery in the Old South, Farewell, Uncle Tom!
DVD Spotlight: Interested in how Kino on Video's box set The Wong Kar-Wai Collection stacks up against import disc releases of As Tears Go By, Chungking Express, Days Of Being Wild, Fallen Angels and Happy Together? John Charles answers all your questions in a detailed Spotlight review!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of Lui's Bun~uel's surrealist classic L'Age d'Or... Bob Swaim's film noir pastiche La Balance... Peter Cushing makes his final performance in Biggles: Adventures In Time... Don Johnson and his best friend trod a post-apocalyptic landscape in A Boy And His Dog... anime explodes into wild pop art in Dead Leaves... Catherine Breillat directs a deadly portrait of sibling rivalry in Fat Girl... Catherine Deneuve introduces Susan Sarandon to The Hunger... Lon Chaney Jr. quivers his baggy eyes in the '50s programmer Indestructible Man... four heads aren't necessarily better than two when you buy the MGM double feature The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant/The Thing With Two Heads... Moon Lee CHoi-fung lashes out in the martial arts spectacular Iron Fist... the low-budget graveyard lunacy of Ring Of Terror... John Carradine guards the entry to Hell In The Sentinel... Michael Murphy hits the campaign trail in Robert Altman & Garry Trudeau's political satire Tanner '88... our nation's figure head runs a few victims up the flagpole in Uncle Sam... and we witness the birth of psychoanalysis in Young Dr. Freud!
DVDs: In-depth reviews of William Castle's swan song Bug... Robert Altman's masterpiece about the gambling bug, California Split ... Robert Quarry finds stardom at AIP in Count Yorga, Vampire and its sequel The Return Of Count Yorga... Robert Bresson's ascetic classics Diary Of A Country Priest and A Man Escaped... Mark Redfield's surprising homegrown production of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde... Fangoria hosts a filmmaking competition with Fangoria Blood Drive: America's Best Short Horror Films, hosted by Rob Zombie... Grade A giggles in Larry Blamire's B-movie spoof The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra... a trio of Claude Chabrol suspensers (La Ce're'monie, Masques, Story Of Women)... Vincent Price meets John Carradine at The Monster Club... Macha Me'ril makes a terrifying impression in Night Train Murders... Matt Frewer dons a deerstalker cap in yet another Sherlock Holmes Collection... Santa decks the halls with the bowels of Holly in Silent Night, Deadly Night and Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2... Japan's favorite superhero returns in Ultraman Gaia The Battle In Hyperspace... Alberto Sordi stars in Federico Fellini's debut feature The White Sheik... and an excursion into Japanese 'pink' cinema with The World Of Geisha and A Woman With Red Hair!
Imports: Tsui Hark directs a legion of bloodsucking flappers in his debut feature The Butterfly Murders... and Peter Cushing battles an army of bonesucking silicate creatures on the Island Of Terror, then sweats out an alien invasion with Christopher Lee on the Night Of The Big Heat! Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews Trey Parker & Marc Shaiman's score for Team America: World Police, Jeff Rona's Traffic: The Miniseries, Basil Poledouris's Amerika, and also The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Volume 3 with music by Jerry Goldsmith, Morton Stevens, David Grusin and Gerald Fried!

Issue 115
January 2005

24 Monsters Per Second: The Dvd Voyage Of Ray Harryhausen: With Columbia TriStar and Warner Home Video's releases of Ray Harryhausen's feature catalog now complete, it's time for VW to pay the master stop-motion animator some long overdue, extravagant hommage! Charlie Largent gladly obliges with a 14-title overview of a career that... well, moves us! Included: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, It Came From Beneath The Sea, Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles To Earth, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, The 3 Worlds Of Gulliver, Mysterious Island, Jason And The Argonauts, H.G. Wells' First Men In The Moon, One Million Years B.C., The Valley Of Gwangi, The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger And Clash Of The Titans!
DVD Spotlight: Star Trek Generations: Michael Lennick returns to our pages with a lavish review of Paramount Home Entertainment'ss new deluxe double-disc of the movie in which Captain Picard meets Captain Kirk, and Kirk... well, that would be telling!
Dog Bytes (Capsule Reviews): Two giant serpents get into a hissing match in Boa Vs Python... Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung spark some steel in Butterfly Sword... Lawrence Tierney co-stars with his brother Edward in the hard-hitting crime drama The Hoodlum... Aerial pulp thrills predominate in Pilot X: Murder In The Sky... Rex Harrison and John Saxon go Bollywood in Raiders Of The Sacred Stone... Fangoria's Michael Gingold heads the cast of the DTV compendium The Tenement... the J-Horror trilogy Tomie, Tomie Re-Birth and Tomie Replay... and somehow they made a movie about an Undiscovered Tomb!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: George Lucas has his first blockbuster success with American Graffiti... Sean Connery returns to challenge Blofeld once again in Diamonds Are Forever... Angel Tompkins plays moll to a gang of bankrobbing midgets in Little Cigars... Francis Coppola embarks on a new road of independent filmmaking in The Rain People... Pam Grier growls at a different kind of Bat Man in Twilight People... and Joe Don Baker swings a different kind of bat in Walking Tall!
DVD Reviews: William Marshall finds belated stardom in Blacula and Scream Blacula Scream... Elvis joins forces with JFK (?) to combat a soul-suckin' mummy in Bubba Ho-Tep... scads of James Bonds scurry across the screen in the monumentally excessive Casino Royale... Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Delon join forces once again for the classic heist film Le Cercle Rouge... Paul Naschy makes his American horror film debut in Countess Dracula's Orgy Of Blood and returns to the screen as Waldemar Danisky in Tomb Of The Werewolf... Larry Cohen writes and directs a couple of offbeat pictures called Perfect Strangers and Special Effects... Anton LaVey is the subject of the exploitative documentary Satanis The Devil's Mass, while Ray Dennis Steckler offers the chaotic co-feature Sinthia, The Devil's Doll... Japanese animation gets jumper-cabled in Speed Racer Collector's Edition... and Christina Lindberg takes aim at the people who took her eye and ruined her life in Thriller-A Cruel Picture (aka They Call Her One-Eye)!
Plus! Import DVD reviews of a new German anamorphic release of Hammer's Plague Of The Zombies and Tsui Hark's cannibal frenzy We're Going To Eat You!
Biblio Watchdog: Reviews of Nightmares In Red, White And Blue by Joseph Maddrey and Cult Movies In Sixty Seconds: The Best Films In The World In Less Than A Minute by Soren McCarthy!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter takes a privileged listen to a promotional-only issue of Tyler Bates' soundtrack to the Dawn Of The Dead remake, as well as a two-disc bootleg... and offers additional reviews of Jeff Danna's Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the various artist compilation Music From & Inspired By Resident Evil: Apocalypse... Dan Mudford and Pete Woodhead's Shaun Of The Dead... and Hideakuri Sakurai & Kunihiko Murai's The Best Of Lone Wolf And Cub!
All this plus The Return Of Donnie Dunagan and much, much more!

Issue 114
December 2004

'Ungawa!': Tarzan, Lord Of The DVDs!: Bill Cooke outdoes himself with a heroic swing through Warner Home Video's The Tarzan Collection, with in-depth reviews and appreciations of MGM's Tarzan The Ape Man (1932), Tarzan And His Mate (1934), Tarzan Escapes (1936), Tarzan Finds A Son! (1939), Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) and Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)! Including rare images of the Eck Bird and scenes cut from the banned original version of Tarzan Escapes! But that's not all! Elsewhere in this issue, Bill continues his expedition through more than a half-dozen other adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs' character currently on DVD, including Tarzan Of The Apes (1918) with Elmo Lincoln, Tarzan The Fearless (1933) with Buster Crabbe, Tarzan And The Green Goddess (1938) with Herman Brix, Tarzan's Revenge (1938) with Glenn Morris, Tarzan And The Trappers (1958) with Gordon Scott, Tarzan The Ape Man (1981) with Miles O'Keefe and Bo Derek, and Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes (1984) with Christopher Lambert!
DVD Spotlight: Kim Newman on Warner Home Video's recent DVD issues of Hammer's Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Taste The Blood Of Dracula!
Dog Bytes (Capsule Reviews): Don Dohler returns with Alien Factor 2: Alien Rampage, which isn't a sequel but a remake of another Dohler movie that was a remake of Alien Factor (got that?)... A killer in an Elvis mask gets a music video crew all shook up in The Backlot Murders... David Carradine meets a carload of director cameos in Paul Bartel's Cannonball... Edward Arnold meets Mantan Moreland in Eyes In The Night... a woman finds her suburban life beset by The Ghosts Of Edendale... Strother Martin plus King Cobras equals SSSSSSS... Jamie Lee Curtis meets magician David Copperfield on Terror Train... and the latest batch of movies about master samurai Ichi the Blind: Zatoichi 10: Zatoichi's Revenge, Zatoichi 11: Zatoichi And The Doomed Man and Zatoichi 12: Zatoichi And The Chess Expert!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Angela Mao kicks back (but winsomely) in Deadly China Doll... Woody Strode unholsters his authority in The Italian Connection... Catherine Spaak takes a horsey ride on Jean-Louis Trintignant in The Libertine... Cornel Wilde offers the apocalyptic ecological nightmare of No Blade Of Grass... Adam Roarke commandeers millionaire Jay Robinson's jet in This Is A Hijack... No Blade Of Grass star Lynne Frederick returns to meet the undead in Hammer's Vampire Circus... and Dean Stockwell attacks the President of the United States when a full moon turns him into The Werewolf Of Washington!
DVD Reviews: Martin Scorsese returns to his independent film roots with the quirky black comedy After Hours... Retromedia Entertainment recreates the 1960s double bill of Alfred Vohrer's Dead Eyes Of London and Riccardo Freda's The Ghost... John Marley and Lynn Carlin are the parents tortured by the return of a son from a war he did not survive in Deathdream... a young animated woman takes unusual roads in search of an orgasm in the anime F3 Menage A Trois... the Devil gets the Amazing Kreskin's goat in Horror... a child's hopes are raised by his discovery of a unicorn in Carol Reed's A Kid For Two Farthings... plus ImporT reviews of Piers Haggard's 'witchfinder' classic The Blood On Satan's Claw... The Eye's Angelica Lee Sinjie runs afoul of a kidney thief in Law Chi-leung's Koma... and Roger Corman anticipates the Viking craze of the early 1960s with the marquee-challenging The Saga Of The Viking Women And Their Voyage Into Waters Of The Great Sea Serpent!
Plus! Biblio Watchdog reviews Peter Hutchings' The Horror Film and Chas Balun's Beyond Horror Holocaust... Douglas E. Winter's Audio Watchdog reviews the soundtracks of Hellboy, Collateral and the latest releases from Film Score Monthly!

Issue 113
November 2004

Quest for Jonny: In this in-depth essay, David J. Schow scopes out Warner Home Video's Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season, examining each of the 28 episodes, tracing the program's roots back to the 1930s Doc Savage pulp novels of Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent), and giving credit where credit is due to an under-acknowledged key creator!
DVD Spotlight: Tim Lucas takes a look at the fates of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other greats of Warner Bros.' stable of cartoon characters on the big screen in a lengthy review of Space Jam and Joe Dante's Looney Tunes Back In Action complete with exclusive photos from Joe's own collection!
Other Animation Coverage in this Issue: Witness the dawn of cartoon animation in Winsor Mccay: The Master Edition... DC Comics on the move in Batman The Animated Series Volume One and Justice League: Starcrossed The Movie... Vin Diesel, more animated than usual, in The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury... and anime thrills in Blue Seed: Perfect Collection, Dangaizer 3: Volume 1, Dai-Guard: Terrestrial Defense Corp. Volume 1-Hostile Takeover, Noir Volume 5: Terminal Velocity and Zone Of The Enders: Idolo!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Peter Cushing clamps an artery in Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell... James Earl Jones becomes the first black President of the United States in the Rod Serling-scripted The Man... Mimsy Farmer takes a lot of drugs and takes off her clothes in More... the 3D sexploitation of Prison Girls... Jacqueline Bisset intrudes on a disturbed adolescent's Secret World... and Britt Ekland has a politically incorrect affair with stepson Mark Lester in What The Peeper Saw!
Also Reviewed in this Issue: Beverly Garland trapped in the Louisiana swamps of The Alligator People... the nostalgic ninja fu of Yuen Woo-ping's Chinese Heroes... Lucio Fulci films naked women and werewolves out of focus in Conquest... Zach Snyder's no-holds-barred remake of George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead... the silent screen gives rise to the first superhero in Louis Feuillade's JUDEX... Bert I. Gordon at his best in The Magic Sword... Woody Strode shakes a spear in the vintage TV series Ramar Of The Jungle Volume One... Roger Corman sends Touch Connors up river with a boatload of Swamp Women... superhero mythology is humorously deconstructed in Superguy: Behind The Cape... a group of campers take a Wrong Turn... and Ichi the Blind returns in Zatoichi 8: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight and Zatoichi 9: Adventures Of Zatoichi! All this, plus Import DVD reviews of Jess Franco's La Fille Du Dracula ('Dracula's Daughter') and Danny & Oxide Pang's scary sequel THE EYE 2!
'Biblio Watchdog' reviews of Brad Stevens' Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision and Mickey Knox's memoir The Good, The Bad And The Dolce Vita: The Adventures Of An Actor In Hollywood, Paris, And Rome
Douglas E. Winter's 'Audio Watchdog' audits the soundtracks of Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising, Klaus Badelt's Ned Kelly and much more!

Issue 112
October 2004

Issue #112-October 2004 'Here's to a Son of the House of Frankenstein!': The Donnie Dunagan Interview: Tom Weaver crowns nearly 25 years as an interviewer by finding the most elusive of all Universal Classic Horror stars: the curly-topped moppet of Son Of Frankenstein! A jackpot of priceless stories about the filming of SON, Tower Of London and Walt Disney's Bambi, for which Donnie provided the title character's voice! With many incredible never-before-seen stills from Donnie's personal collection!

Also published as
Signature Edition #1
Limited to 500 copies with
same interior text
and autographed
by Donnie Dunagan.

Among the DVDs Reviewed in this Issue: A robotic gambler takes centerstage in the French silent classic The Chess Player... The Lord of the Undead gets probed by modern day lab rats in Dracula Ii: Ascension... Ridley Scott makes his directorial debut with The Duellists... Death comes to collect in Final Destination 1 & 2... VW returns to Baker Street with Paul Morrissey's The Hound Of The Baske+F4859rvilles and the Spielberg-produced Young Sherlock Holmes... Atomic Age paranoia runs amok in Invasion U.S.A.... the serial fun of King Of The Royal Mounted and Radar Men From The Moon... the Grade Z bliss of Manos: The Hands Of Fate... the anime action of Ninja Scroll, Noir Volume 4, Samurai Deeper Kyo, The Twelve Kingdoms and Virus Buster Serge... your favorite masked wrestler goes head-to-head with new monsters in Santo contra los Jinetes del Terror... Al Adamson makes his directorial debut with Psycho A Go-Go... Something Weird offers a demented triple bill of Rent-A-Girl, Aroused and Help Wanted Female, and a prehistoric double bill of When Women Played Ding Dong and 50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing)... Fred Olen Ray has tickets for Scalps... George Stover defies the Undead in STAKES... Maurice Devereaux takes on Reality TV in Slashers... British science fiction hits a commercial high with Village Of The Damned and Children Of The Damned... plus import DVD reviews of The Beheaded 1000 and Dario Argento's latest, The Card Player... and many more!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Joe's vintage Film Bulletin coverage of Mauro Bolognini's Arabella... Carlo Ponti's X-rated The Best House In London... blaxploitation favorites Cool Breeze and Trick Baby... the Bondian blaxploitation of Live And Let Die... and it's snakes ahoy in Sssssss! (Don't say it... hiss it!)
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter on the new CD of incidental music from Dawn Of The Dead.
Biblio Watchdog: Anthony Ambrogio on David Hughes' book The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made.
And a special installment of The Letterbox featuring the return of legendary Eyes Without A Face actress Edith Scob!

Issue 111
September 2004

Universal's Monsters: A Legacy of Blood, Fur & Electricity: Bill Cooke reviews Universal's 'Legacy Collection' box sets and throws the switch on an informative, action-packed overview of the Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf Man series-fourteen films in all! And wait till you see the rare (in some cases, never-before-published) stills and artwork courtesy of The Del Valle Archive! You'll be blown to atoms!
Re-Arranging the Rue Morgue: You've probably seen Robert Florey's Universal terror classic starring Bela Lugosi... but did you know that it was re-edited against the director's wishes prior to its 1932 release? In this article, Tim Lucas suggests an alternative editing scheme (using the timecodes of Universal's out-of-print laserdisc) that may bring Florey's foiled intentions into sharper focus!
Dog Bytes (Capsule Reviews): Forrest J Ackerman hosts The Creep, the first DTV episode of 13 O'clock Theater... Bela Lugosi avenges himself on being retired from the cologne racket in The Devil Bat... Deborah Kerr wants to join the Irish Republican Army in I See A Dark Stranger... John Cusack and Ray Liotta star in the shocker Identity... Alec Guinness, Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers connive to steal £60,000 in The Ladykillers... wholesome DTV sorcery and mysticism rule in Max Magician And The Legend Of The Rings... Tom Mix takes his last gallop in the serial The Miracle Rider... various macabre short films compose Night Of The Yardsale Monkey... Susan Penhaligon cares for a comatose telepath in Patrick... the adult film industry is profiled, black socks and all, in Red, White & Blue... Hong Kong cinema's Charlie's Angels clone So Close ... Tony Leung stars in Water Margin: The True Colors Of Heroes, a remake of the Shaw Brothers' 1972 classic Pursuit... and Ichi the Blind returns in Zatoichi 5: On The Road, Zatoichi 6: Zatoichi And The Chest Of Gold, and Zatoichi 7: Zatoichi's Flashing Sword!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: JCliff Robertson scores with Pamela Franklin in Ace Eli And Rodger Of The Skies... Amicus sets a horror anthology in a looney bin in Asylum... British spy sexploitation rules in Big Zapper... John Wayne meets Bruce Dern in The Cowboys... Roy Thinnes meets his doppelganger in the Gerry Anderson production Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun... and Pamela Franklin returns to join a coven ruled by putty-nosed Orson Welles in Bert I. Gordon's NECROMANCY!
DVDs (In-Depth Reviews): Warhol protege Edie Sedgwick gets her moment of glory in Ciao! Manhattan... Classic Dick Tracy Movies collects Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball, Dick Tracy's Dilemma and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (starring Boris Karloff as guess who!)... Toilet Seat Girl becomes Grim Reaper in Dead Like Me-The Complete First Season... Jess Franco dances with Miss Death in The Diabolical Dr. Z... a nuclear-armed warship reverts through time to the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor in The Final Countdown... Osamu Tezuka's Jungle Emperor Leo, the anime classic that may have inspired Disney's The Lion King... Sleazeploitation trailer narrator Joel Holt earns a black belt, but not in filmmaking, in Karate: The Hand Of Death... Mary Woronov stars in a sci-fi twist on an old Cukor favorite in The New Women... Francis Coppola sends out a refurbished edition of his '70s musical fantasy One From The Heart... Criterion offers a definitive edition of Kaneto Shindo's erotic horror masterpiece Onibaba... Klaus Kinski smokes a full pack while ogling Rosalba Neri and Margaret Lee in Slaughter Hotel... home video jumps on the summer blockbuster bandwagon with Universal's animated Van Helsing: The London Assignment and the unauthorized (but Stoker-crediting knock-off) The Adventures Of Young Van Helsing: Quest For The Lost Scepter... Antonio Bido joins forces with Herman Cohen in the giallo Watch Me When I Kill... and VW discovers new layers at the bottom of the barrel in a triple feature review of Nathan Schiff's 8mm messterpieces Weasels Rip My Flesh, Long Island Cannibal Massacre and They Don't Cut The Grass Anymore! Plus Import reviews of Hex (the latest from the Chinese director of Killer Snakes) and the Japanese jolter Ju-On: The Grudge 2!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews the latest soundtrack releases from BT (Monster), Francesco de Masi (India), Mario Nascimbene (Footprints In Jazz) and more! Biblio Watchdog: Tim Lucas reviews A Quaint & Curious Volume Of Forgotten Lore: The Mythology & History Of Classic Horror Films by Frank J. Dello Stritto!
A lengthy and eye-opening 'Letterbox' report on scenes missing from Warner Home Video's incomplete Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941)!

Issue 110
August 2004

Once Is Not Enough! Sergio Leone's Railroaded Masterpiece: Steven Lloyd, a first-generation fan of Once Upon A Time In The West, charts the five different versions of the film which have played theatrically in the United States since 1969-and explains why Paramount's DVD, billed and widely acclaimed as the 'original uncut masterpiece,' is neither uncut... nor the original version!
DVD Spotlight: Kill Bill, Vol. 1: Who better to review Quentin Tarantino's maximum blood-shed revenge opus for VW than Bill himself? Bill Cooke delivers a perfectly honed, steel-edged appraisal of Miramax's domestic DVD release, as well as the more gruesome Japanese and Korean imports!
Dog Bytes (Short Reviews): Fred Olen Ray offers a new remastering of his early opus The Alien Dead... Patrick Bergin suffers more than monthly in Dracula's Curse... jailhouse erotica meets ferocious feminism in the Japanese Female Convict #701 Scorpion... the raucous misbehavior, '70s drive-in style, of The Girls From Thunder Strip... the wholesome spooky shenanigans of I Downloaded A Ghost... Andzrej Vajda's Polish cinema classics Kanal and Ashes And Diamonds... Herschell Gordon Lewis taps into the 'Laugh-In' craze with the very nude Miss Nymphet's Zap-In... Heather O'Rourke is back in Poltergeist Ii and Poltergeist Iii... and the first four adventures of Japan's famous blind samurai/masseur in Zatoichi 1: The Tale Of Zatoichi, Zatoichi 2: The Tale Of Zatoichi Continues, Zatoichi 3: New Tale Of Zatoichi and Zatoichi 4: The Fugitive!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Joe pops up a buttery assortment of titles worthy of VW's 'Special Revenge Issue': Lewis Gilbert's overblown epic of Harold Robbins' trashy novel The Adventurers... Russ Meyer's cotton-pickin', bra-stuffin look at the Old South, Blacksnake!... Sam Fuller's Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street, scored by the great German rock group Can... Lady Kung Fu... the Brother Man goes to the Mother Land in Shaft In Africa... and Barbara Leigh signs up for showers and mistreatment on Terminal Island!
DVDs (In-Depth Reviews): Two different approaches to Patricia Highsmith's 'Ripley' character in The American Friend and Ripley's Game... the first Argentinian vampire movie, Blood Of The Virgins... an H. G. Clouzot double feature of art and suspense in Le Corbeau and The Mystery Of Picasso... Takashi Miike's urban crime/science fiction Dead Or Alive Trilogy (Dead Or Alive, Dead Or Alive 2 and Dead Or Alive Final)... believe it or not, a Tai Chi variation on DR. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, produced by Francis Ford Coppola... it comes from the commode in Ghoulies and Ghoulies Ii... Let's Scare Jessica To Death auteur John D. Hancock returns to suspense with Suspended Animation... Larry, Moe and Curly Joe introduce Martians to pie-fighting in The Three Stooges In Orbit... Walt Disney's 'Rondo Award'-winning live action fantasy masterwork 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea... and Seijun Suzuki's highly decorative yakuza dramas Underworld Beauty and Kanto Wanderer!
Imports: Rutger Hauer's brain is squirmin' like a toad in the deluxe British/German import, The Hitcher... weird monsters arise from the ancient past in Mortuary Blues... and reality TV gets out of hand in My Little Eye!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter reviews Vic Mizzy's The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, Capitol's new domestic remaster of Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad And The Ugly... and Tangerine Dream's Bootleg Box Set and Bootmoon Series releases!

Issue 109
July 2004

The Sherlock Holmes Collection: Continuing our overview of Universal's film series (begun in VW 103), Tim Lucas offers an in-depth report on MPI Home Video's The Sherlock Holmes Collection, Volumes Two and Three, containing eight more Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce classics: The Spider Woman, The Pearl Of Death, The Scarlet Claw, The House Of Fear, The Woman In Green, Pursuit To Algiers, Terror By Night and Dressed To Kill!
Plus!: Elsewhere in this issue, Kim Newman reviews an additional 10 Sherlock Holmes films from America, Great Britain and Russia!
DVD Spotlight: Rebecca & Sam Umland embark on the mammoth quest of Reviewing The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers: Special Extended DVD Edition!
Dog Bytes: A Woody Allen lookalike meets Russ Meyer starlets in Bang! Bang! The Mafia Gang... Fred Williamson earns his nickname on the big screen in Hammer... Lene Riefenstahl scales The Holy Mountain... a quality report card on the five movies in Platinum's cheap-o Horror Classics: Bela Lugosi (The Ape Man, The Gorilla, The Devil Bat, The Human Monster And The Invisible Ghost)... the BBC's Christmas production of The Hound Of The Baskervilles... Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke star as Holmes and Watson in The Master Blackmailer and The Eligible Bachelor... Seijun Suzuki stages a Pistol Opera... Edgar Allan Poe, puppet-style, in Puphedz: The Tattle-Tale Heart... the self-explanatory Santo And Blue Demon Vs. The Monsters... Baker Street done Smallville-style in Sherlock... four vintage television episodes are collected in The Sherlock Holmes Collection... Ian Richardson dons the deerstalker cap (at least figuratively speaking) for The Sign Of Four... and Spielberg is beaten to the punch by 1981's Young Sherlock: The Mystery Of The Manor House!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Booked in Joe's grindhouse of yesteryear this month are Anthonies Quinn and Frans in Across 110th Street... the Mario Bava classic Baron Blood... Kerwin Mathews follows Harryhausen with hairy makeup in The Boy Who Cried Werewolf... the self-explanatory An Elephant Called Slowly (well, not really-we just don't want to explain it!)... Victoria Vetri stars in the sexy sci-fi of Invasion Of The Bee Girls... The Postgraduate, one of those dreary sex education for adults movies... and Woody Allen, preserved like a TV dinner, awakens in a far-flung future in Sleeper!
DVDs: Sergio Martino's futuristic biker rumble 2019: After The Fall Of New York... innocent grocers get sauced in Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes... Rankin/Bass (and Boris Karloff!) enter the stop-motion business with the Hans Christian Andersen romp The Daydreamer... you thought he was dead, but Snake Plissken returns in Escape From New York: Special Edition... Eddie Albert saves Disney tots from peril in Escape To Witch Mountain... same tots, now pre-teens, run afoul of Christopher Lee and Bette Davis in Return From Witch Mountain... Ang Lee throws some new curves into the Marvel universe with the controversial Hulk... Scilla Gabel is kept young and alive by her insane father in the Italian horror classic Mill Of The Stone Women... William Shatner makes an early acting appearance (behind a mask) in Oedipus Rex... Russia hops aboard the Conan Doyle bandwagon with Sherlock Holmes And Doctor Watson, The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes And Doctor Watson: The King Of Blackmail and The Hound Of The Baskervilles... Russian fantasy master Aleksandr Ptushko adapts Pushkin's classic poem in The Tale Of Tsar Saltan... and Christopher Lee serves the reincarnation of a 17th century sadist in Antonio Margheriti's The Virgin Of Nuremberg!
Imports: Five movies (Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors, ... And Now The Screaming Starts!, The Beast Must Die, Asylum And The House That Dripped Blood) are collected in a coffin in The Amicus Collection... Jennifer Connelly follows her Argento experience with another Italian thriller called Etoile... Karine Gambier and Erik Falk run a women's prison in Gefangenefrauen (Caged Women)... the Shaw Brothers remake one of their 1970s classics in Lust For Love Of A Chinese Courtesan... and Jean Renoir offers a unique addition to the Jekyll/Hyde filmography in Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier!
Plus! 'Audio Watchdog' on Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai... 'Biblio Watchdog' reviews Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life... Edith Scob writes to 'The Letterbox'... and much, much more!

Issue 108
June 2004

The Poetic Universe of Georges Franju: Never Before in English! L'Ecran Fantastique founder Alain Schlockoff interviews the father of French horror-fantasy about his classics Eyes Without A Face (1960), Judex (1963) and Shadowman (1974)!
DVD Spotlight: Rediscovering Polanski: Kim Newman revels in a wealth of Roman Polanski titles now available on DVD, including Knife In The Water (1962), Repulsion (1965), Cul-De-Sac (1966), What? (1974), The Pianist (2002) and eight early short films!
Dog Bytes: Frank Agrama brings out the gore of ancient Egypt in Dawn Of The Mummy... William Sanderson explodes the limits of political correctness in Fight For Your Life... Juliana Margulies and Gabriel Byrne seek treasure aboard a Ghost Ship... a 'Big G' triple feature of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla Mothra And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla... Dyanne Thorne stars in the pre-Ilsa sleazefest Love Me Like I Do... San Francisco horror host John Stanley writes and directs a Nightmare In Blood... Andreas Schnaas gets medieval in Nikos The Impaler... Carlo Collodi meets The Jetsons in Pinocchio In Outer Space... Laurence Payne and Adrienne Corri star in the Brian Clemens' scripted shocker The Tell-Tale Heart... Jess Franco attends the jungle rhythms of Voodoo Passion (aka Der Ruf Der Blonden Gottin)... and Arch Hall Sr. satirizes late night TV talk shows in The Weird Ones.
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: Dick Van Dyke pays tribute to silent comedy in the cult feature The Comic... Christina Lindberg gets in your face in the West German sexploitation comedy Love In 3-D... Reggie Nalder painfully produces the confessions of witches in Mark Of The Devil and Mark Of The Devil, Part II... Kurt Russell goes back to Medfield College for Disney's Now You See Him, Now You Don't... and Isaac Hayes is a baaaad mutha (shut your mouth!) in Truck Turner! Can you dig it?
DVDs: In-depth reviews of Bruno Bozzetto's animation classic Allegro Non Troppo... a flesh-eating virus is no vacation for the stars of Cabin Fever... Chuck Barris goes from Gong Show host to CIA hit man in Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind... George A. Romero's zombie classic goes five channels in Anchor Bay's new 'Divimax' 5.1 release of Dawn Of The Dead... Paul Naschy offers an interesting approach to Bram Stoker's classic character in Dracula's Great Love... Jess Franco gets his biggest budget in twenty years in the curiously campy horror drama Faceless... Pakistan enters the horror film sweepstakes with The Living Corpse... Evans Chan Yiu-shing charts human geography in the thought-provoking The Map Of Sex And Love... Keanu Reeves plugs back into black for The Matrix Reloaded, while various filmmakers explore Matrix terrain in short form in The Animatrix... Lon Chaney is unmasked, and unmasked again, in two distinct versions of his classic The Phantom Of The Opera... Ajita Wilson rules over a women's prison with a leather whip in Sadomania... Plus! Import reviews of new releases of Dario Argento's The Bird With The Crystal Plumage and Tenebrae... the 3D HK thriller The Park... and Jackie Chan faces the undead in The Twins Effect!
Biblio Watchdog: Brett Taylor reviews Stefan Jaworzyn's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Companion!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter listens to the latest from Ennio Morricone... Daniele Luppi's delirious Eurocult pastiche album An Italian Story... and new titles from Film Score Monthly, including Logan's Run: Television!

Issue 107
May 2004

Our Lady Of The Fantastique: The Edith Scob Interview: Frederic Albert Levy and Tim Lucas peer behind the mask of Eurocult cinema's seminal star in her first-ever English language interview, covering her work with Georges Franju (Eyes Without A Face, Judex), Luis Bunuel (The Milky Way) and Christophe Gans (Brotherhood Of The Wolf)! With many rare and exclusive photos!
Dog Bytes: Brett Piper's stop-motion bugfest Arachnia... undead George Zucco and his hunchbacked minion Dwight Frye prove to a hick PRC cast that Dead Men Walk... Larry Buchanan raises poor man's goosebumps in the Azalea productions It's Alive! and Year 2889... Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree and Jim Kelly bring back blaxploitation in One Down Two To Go... Colin Farrell has hang-ups in the Larry Cohen-scripted thriller Phone Booth... Eighties schlock sequelitis runs rampant in Return Of The Killer Tomatoes! and Return To Horror High... the story of The Kung Fu Master [VW 93:14] continues in Revenge Of The Kung Fu Master... Minetaro Mochizuki's yakuza manga gets the live action treatment in Shark Skin Man And Peach Hip Girl... Jess Franco tries his hand at mondo and report movies in Virgin Report... and Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin score in the Richard Fleischer's film of the hit Broadway thriller Wait Until Dark!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: America quits smoking and goes Cold Turkey... Kurt Russell tops the honor roll at Medfield College in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes... people have sex on camera in He And She... Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee work up a sweat in Terence Fisher's Island Of The Burning Damned... Rock Hudson waxes studly in Roger Vadim's Pretty Maids All In A Row... and Robert Stack and Bibi Andersson test the waters of Italian filmmaking in Leonardo Bercovici's Story Of A Woman!
DVD Spotlight: Bill Cooke examines Kino on Video's new DVD of a true and influential classic of silent fantastic cinema-Paul Leni's adaptation of a Victor Hugo novel, starring the great Conrad Veidt!
DVDs (In-Depth Reviews): Spooky trash times three in the Something Weird triple header The Atomic Brain/Love After Death/The Incredible Petrified World (with John Carradine!)... Rural raunch times two in the Something Weird double bill Common Law Wife and Jennie: Wife/Child (by The Sadist director James Landis!)... Blake Edwards and Glenn Ford conduct an Experiment In Terror... see the first-rate sci fi that most people missed in the recently cancelled Firefly: The Complete Series... Perry Tong's gory indie joins Sam Sherman's 'Cult Cinema Collection' in Hands Of Blood... Roger Corman tackles H.P. Lovecraft in The Haunted Palace and then scarifies Shakespeare with producer brother Gene Corman in Tower Of London (both starring Vincent Price!)... Masayuki Ochiai creates a Mabuse-like thriller in The Hypnotist... Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's acclaimed graphic novel reaches the screen with Sean Connery at the helm in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen... Black Mask director Daniel Lee Yan-kwong adapts a 20-volume martial arts novel as The Master Swordsman... the monument to absurdity that is Queen Kong... Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis get caught up in some deadly Road Games... Charlton Heston learns the truth about tomorrow's snack food and turns Soylent Green... Oscar-winning writer-director Bill Condon (Gods And Monsters) writes his first script for Strange Behavior... Keith Carradine is back on the street in Sam Fuller's Street Of No Return... classic Toho gets an anime twist in Super Atragon: The Motion Picture... and Barbara Lass is terrorized by hirsute Curt Lowens in the Italian cult classic Werewolf In A Girl's Dormitory! Plus import discs! The Shaw Brothers resurrect their weird HK sex-horror romp Black Magic... and Klaus Kinski goes for the ladies in Jess Franco's thinly-disguised Awful Dr. Orlof remake, Jack The Ripper!
Biblio Watchdog: Gilles Boulanger's John Carpenter-The Prince Of Darkness and Gary D. Rhodes' Horror At The Drive-In: Essays In Popular Americana, reviewed by Brett Taylor!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter and his team of sonic experts list their favorites of 2003 in Audio Watchdog's annual 'Best and Rest of...' column!

Issue 106
April 2004

The Alien Quadrilogy: It presents eight distinct cuts of four films on nine discs! This 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment release truly raises the bar for what is possible within the home video format! Bill Cooke signs up for the long haul with the sort of definitive, fully illustrated, feature-length review that only VW can deliver!
Dog Bytes: Capsule reviews of Joseph Losey's British underworld drama The Criminal... Republic's Sax Rohmer serial Drums Of Fu Manchu... Neil Jordan's Bob le Flambeur remake The Good Thief... Klaus Kinski meets Edward G. Robinson in the Italian heist caper Grand Slam... Daphne Zuniga stars in the Texas-made slasher pic The Initiation... Metrov's fascinating DVD-R sleeper Little Eden... Jean-Pierre Denis' Murderous Maids, about a 1933 double-homicide that rocked France... Demi Moore and Cherie Currie meet Parasite... Oliver Reed locks and loads for Sergio Sollima's Revolver... Mexico's famed masked wrestler meets the monsters in Santo en Atacan las Brujas ('Santo in Attack of the Witches'), Santo en La Venganza de la Momia ('Santo in The Mummy's Revenge') and Santo y Mantequilla Napoles en La Venganza de la Llorona ('Santo & Mantequilla Napoles in The Vengeance of The Crying Woman')... Sergio Martino and Ernesto Gastaldi give crime thrillers a spin in The Violent Professionals... and Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney are on the lam in Fritz Lang's existential classic You Only Live Once!
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks: This month, we tear your tickets for vintage reviews of Alex de Renzy's Censorship In Denmark-A New Approach... Luchino Visconti's Death In Venice... John Boorman's Deliverance... Donovan in Jacques Demy's fable The Pied Piper... and Entertainment Ventures' smut expose Red White And Blue!
DVDs: Oliver Reed and Bette Davis star in Dan Curtis' Burnt Offerings... More chests are bursting with alien thingies in Luigi Cozzi's Contamination... Fredric March and Spencer Tracy interpret two of the great roles in fantastic literature in the 1932 and 1941 versions of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (the topic of next month's Round Table Discussion at www.videowatchdog.com!)... Billionaire J.K. Rowling's brainchild is back in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets... Robert Wise delivers one of the screen's great ghost stories in The Haunting... Lonelyhearts Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco are The Honeymoon Killers... Suzannah York is a schizophrenic losing touch with reality in Robert Altman's frighteningly fragmented Images... Passion Of The Christ effects man Les Bernstien's turns director with the contemporary noir Night Train... A top-to-bottom examination of all three movies in the Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit... and James Arness is the mind-boggling intellectual carrot that is The Thing From Another World!
Imports: A look at Peter Watkins' pioneering docudramas Culloden and The War Game... Jess Franco's Killer Barbys vs. Dracula... the elaborate Thai mermaid fantasy Phra-Apai-Mani... and John Mills portrays Nigel Kneale's classic sci-fi hero in Thames Television's four-part miniseries Quatermass and its feature-length condensation, The Quatermass Conclusion!
Audio Watchdog: Douglas E. Winter is first on the scene with a review of Claudio Simonetti's score for Dario Argento's latest, Il cartaio ('The Card Player') and CD reissues of his scores for Demons and Opera... as well as Lalo Schifrin's The Hellstrom Chronicle, Danny Zeitlin's Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, and the latest from Film Score Monthly: Ron Goodwin's Where Eagles Dare/Operation Crossbow, Elmer Bernstein's McQ and Miklos Rozsa's Moonfleet!
Biblio Watchdog: Richard Harland Smith reviews a new McFarland and Company title, Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cettl!
...and in The Letterbox...Would you believe a letter from Bonnie Bedelia?

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