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To celebrate the release of the multi award-winning & critically acclaimed music biopic Schemers which will be hitting DVD and digital download, 25th January, we are giving you the chance to win a special prize bundle including an official 40th anniversary Iron Maiden vinyl and a Schemers movie poster signed by the cast!

Based on the true story surrounding music promoter David McLean’s stream of ambitious gigs in 1980’s. Schemers follows Davie (Conor Berry) who is a dreamer from the council schemes of Dundee, who is constantly hustling for his next buck, then losing it on the horses. After a football injury, Davie falls for trainee nurse Shona (Tara Lee) and tries to impress her by running a disco. Along with friends John and Scot, the trio start promoting bands – culminating in a hugely ambitious Iron Maiden gig at the Caird Hall, Dundee. With ambition so grand they go deep in debt with Fergie,...

Scheme Birds Edinburgh International Film Festival is putting Scottish films in the spotlight again this year, with stars including Shauna Macdonald, Jack Lowden, Angus Macfadyen, Peter Mullan and director Mark Cousins joining the line-up.

Among the films announced today is Dundee-shot Schemers, by writer/director David McLean. An autobiographical look at the director’s early years in the music business. Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin's Motherwell-set documentary Scheme Birds - which won the Albert Maysles Award and Best Documentary accolade at Tribeca Film Festival last month - will also screen.

Macfadyen reprises the role of Robert the Bruce, from Braveheart, in a retelling of the story, while Brian Cox stars alongside Blythe Danner in thriller Strange But True.

Scottish-born producer Sophia Shek brings comedy drama Go Back To China to this year’s Festival. Directed by Emily Ting, the film tells the story of Sasha Li, a spoiled rich kid whose father.

1985: Santa Barbara's Mason interrupted C.C. and Gina's wedding.

1993: All My Children's Kendall Hart arrived in Pine Valley.

1994: All My Children's Maria and Edmund were married.

2013: Dallas' Ewing family mourned at J.R.'s funeral."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Another World, at the dance, Dr. Joe Bernardi (Joe Bennett) encouraged Lee Randolph (Gaye Huston) to see the man underneath the doctor, then discouraged her from speaking to Dr. Farmer about John. He wouldn't let her use his medical opinion to...

1953: Valiant Lady premiered on CBS.

1979: As the World Turns' Lisa was spooked

1981: David Canary debuted on Another World as Steve Frame.

1993: Days of our Lives' Jack Deveraux left Salem."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1950: NBC aired the final primetime episode of Hawkins Falls, one of network television's first successful soap operas. The show premiered in June 1950 as an hour-long weekly nighttime drama in a summer replacement slot but was cut back to a half-hour in August until the end of its run. Hawkins Falls returned to the air in April 1951 as a fifteen-minute weekday soap for NBC.

1985: Santa Barbara's Mason interrupted C.C. and Gina's wedding.

1993: All My Children's Kendall Hart arrived in Pine Valley.

1994: All My Children's Maria and Edmund were married.

2013: Dallas' Ewing family mourned at J.R.'s funeral."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."

― Machiavelli

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Another World, at the dance, Dr. Joe Bernardi (Joe Bennett) encouraged...

Lock your doors! Hulking menace Victor Buono gets the full-on psycho treatment, based (very) roughly on early reports of The Boston Strangler. The 'baby doll' killer also prefigures the fiendish Richard Speck. Burt Topper's film is routine but ex- Baby Jane star Victor Buono's performance is decidedly not. The Strangler DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 10, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Victor Buono, Diane Sayer, Davey Davison, Jeanne Bates, Ellen Corby, Mimi Dillard, Selette Cole, David McLean, Baynes Barron, Michael Ryan, Russ Bender, Wally Campo, Byron Morrow, John Yates, James Sikking, Robert Cranford. Cinematography Jacques R. Marquette Film Editor Robert S. Eisen Original Music Martin Skiles Written by Bill S. Ballinger Produced by Samuel Bischoff, David Diamond Directed by Burt Topper

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The old-time independent producer Edward Small gravitated to United Artists in the 1950s, while his counterpart...

It's a grim pattern, familiar enough that it's even gotten the Hollywood treatment: Eric Lawson, an actor who played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads during the late '70s, died on Jan. 10 of a smoking-related illness - at least the fifth Marlboro Man to pass away from such circumstances. Lawson, an actor and model who had smoked since age 14, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 72. Like other former Marlboro Men, he turned against tobacco later in life, speaking out against smoking on Entertainment Tonight and in an anti-cigarette PSA, though he did not give up...

This morning I figured it was time to bust out with some cult Pa news and since I just caught up with this newly released Roger Corman double-header disc featuring two old school Pa cheese fests and it turned out to be a blast-and-a-half to watch I figured I'd plug it.

What can we say about Deathsport. The worldwide success of Death Race 2000 fueled Corman’s desire to make Deathsport, which also stars David Carradine. It was not a direct sequel and not nearly as well conceived, but it's enough of a thematic follow-up. There's lots of motorcycle mayham and awesome scifi matte paintings that look totally fake, but I personally love that stuff.

Set 1,000 years in the future, following the Great Neutron Wars, Deathsport shows a world that is divided into desert wastes and isolated city-states. Lord Zirpola (David McLean, Kingdom of the Spiders) captures the notorious “Desert...

When deciding on a movie to watch, you are hard pressed to go wrong when picking a film adorned with the title of “Roger Corman Cult Classics” right at the top of the case.

The genuine geniuses over at Shout! Factory have been slowly but surely knocking it out of the ballpark with each subsequent release of this massively expansive set, detailing cult classics like Death Race 2000, and rarely seen gems like Galaxy Of Terror.

The series has produced DVDs that not only have fantastic transfers, but also rather expansive special features, ranging from hour long documentaries, to interviews with Corman himself.

However, Shout! Factory may have finally hit a little bump in the road.

The newest release in the ongoing series, a special double feature featuring the sci-fi films Deathsport and Battle Truck (a.k.a. the best title in film history), aren’t truly bad releases. That said,...

Another pair of offerings from In2Film’s Roger Corman Collection and this time we venture forward into the 70’s, to two movies that span the spectrum of Corman’s career as a film producer. From the good: Grand Theft Auto, which marked the directorial debut of Happy Days actor Ron Howard; to the not so good: Deathsport.

Grand Theft Auto

Stars: Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, Elizabeth Rogers, Barry Cahill, Rance Howard, Paul Linke, Marion Ross | Written and Directed by Ron Howard

This amiable screwball comedy is part road movie, part chase movie and part destruction derby, and concerns one young man’s elopement with his heiress girlfriend from La to Vegas while her father, her fiancé and various others are in hot pursuit hoping to prevent the forthcoming nuptials. However, the car crashes are the real stars of a film that marked the directorial debut of one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers.

With Piranha and Humanoids from the Deep getting all the love lately in the news, we'd be remiss if we did not mention two other Corman cult classics that are poised to make their special edition double-feature DVD debut from Shout! Factory.

From the Press Release:

Brace yourself for twice the fun, twice the adrenaline rush, and twice the traction as Shout! Factory, in association with New Horizons Picture Corporation, is set to release a dynamic duo of Roger Corman classics on one double-feature collector’s edition DVD. August 3, 2010, will see the release of Deathsport/Battle Truck Collector’s Edition, which marks the first time Deathsport is being presented in a widescreen format as well as the first-ever DVD release of Battle Truck (released theatrically as Warlords of the 21st Century). This double-barreled dose of high-octane excitement decisively marks the latest summer installment from fan favorite Roger Corman’s Cult Classics home entertainment series.