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This post contains spoilers for 1968's "Night of the Living Dead."

George A. Romero's second-best film, "Night of the Living Dead," takes place in a world that is already overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. These undead ghouls later emerged as the blueprint for zombie horror, their shambling gait and hunger for flesh defining what these fictional monsters look and act like. The zombie metaphor has since highlighted the idea of human survival in the face of a deadly contagion, but Romero's 1968 splatter film tackles this topic to startling effect. Romero focuses on a group of survivors cornered by these vicious creatures, where the true horror lies in the way these humans treat each other and react to such a world-ending threat. Instead of dwelling on the hordes of ghouls shuffling closer to claim their targets, Romero explores the violent identity politics that tear the survivors apart. Moreover, the film's shocking,...

Award-winning filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s debut feature ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’, a dystopian sci-fi animation film which recently had its World Premiere at the 2024 International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Bright Future section strikes a special chord with the audience.

‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ tells the story of a dystopian world where people are made to wear paper bags over their heads to dissolve differences, and an anonymous citizen sparks an accidental revolution. Tensions rise when the whispers of a mythical land without the bags start to float and a fresh council member sparks an accidental revolution.

Ishan’s debut feature is based on his award-winning short with the same name, ‘Schirkoa’ (2016) which played at 120 plus international film festivals and won 33 awards, including Best Animated Short award at the LA Shorts Festival and was longlisted for the Academy Awards.

The 103-minute film features principal voices of...

He may have cracked the prestigious Bits entrance but during his time there, what interested him more was writing plays and sketching. He soon realised, not Thermodynamics but looking inside people’s minds interested him. And that is when he decided to do an animation course in Singapore next.

Filmmaker Ishan Shukla, whose dystopian sci-fi animation film ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’, which will have its world premiere at the prestigious 53rd International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) smiles, “Well, it may sound all cool now, but believe me, I was really worried that time — what if I don’t get a job after the animation course? Of course, I don’t generally admit that,” he tells Ians.

While he did get a job in Singapore, in less than a year it started getting boring for him.

“In this sea of monotony, I started sketching in my diary and I...

Animated feature will premiere in January in the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Bright Future section

Warsaw-based sales outfit New Europe Film Sales has taken on international sales for the upcoming English-language dystopian animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust by Ishan Shukla, with Anonymous Content will co-repping for North America.

Ishan Shukla’s debut will world premiere in January in the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Bright Future section, aimed at up-and-coming filmmakers with innovative, original and daring work.

The animated feature is based on the short film Schirkoa, which was also repped by New Europe and played at more than 120 international film festivals and won 33 awards,...

The Bat

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.

Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price

Written by Crane Wilbur

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.

Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...

This installment of Phantom Limbs finds us digging up George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead: The Series, a proposed television show set within the world of the celebrated horror filmmaker’s signature Dead franchise. Though it exists now only as an unproduced twenty-seven page treatment, Notld: The Series nevertheless displays Romero’s patented blend of horror and black humor, bolstered by a large cast of characters and some promising Pittsburgh locations. While the project may have never made it to screens, it is nevertheless a fascinating peek into Romero’s potential return to zombie storytelling which might have predated his work on Resident Evil and the final three Dead films, which closed out his career.

In researching this article, your writer paid a visit to the George A. Romero Archival Collection at the University of Pittsburgh Library System, which houses numerous works from the late horror legend,...

Newness, a beauty creator-focused streaming startup founded by former Twitch employees, has closed a $3.5 million seed round.

The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Cowboy Ventures, Upside Partnership, Dream Machine, Index Ventures, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, former Twitch execs Jonathan Shipman and John Sutton, Eventbrite founders Kevin and Julia Hartz, and Incredible Health co-founder Iman Abuzeid, according to Techcrunch.

The one-year-old company was founded by CEO Jenny Qian, who most recently served as Twitch's senior director of business strategy, and Cto Youri Park. It counts 14 employees.

In addition to its beauty focus, Newness wants to foster a positive community, according to Techcrunch. For instance, both fans and content moderators are rewarded with ‘crystals’ for good behavior, such as engaging in a stream or sending chat messages. Once accrued, crystals can be redeemed for full-sized beauty products, which the company plans to source via brand deals.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

‘3rd Dimension!’ ‘Technicolor!’ Paramount underwent a difficult post-production learning curve getting this early entry in the 3-D craze out the door and into waiting theaters. Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl decorate the colonial-era costume drama, injecting some heat into their frisky wrestling match meet-cute love scene. Rip those bodices!

Sangaree

3-D Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / 34.95

Starring: Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan, Charles Korvin, Tom Drake, John Sutton, Willard Parker.

Cinematography: W. Wallace Kelley, Lionel Lindon

Film Editor: Howard A. Smith

3-D Blu-ray restoration: 3-D Film Archive

Original Music: Lucien Cailliet

Written by David Duncan, Frank L. Moss, from the novel by Frank Slaughter

Produced by William H. Pine, William C. Thomas

Directed by Edward Ludwig

Producers William H. Pine and William C. Thomas turned out profitable Paramount product for fifteen years, although few of their shows were accorded artistic accolades.

Streaming giant Twitch has onboarded Katrina Jones as its first-ever head of diversity and inclusion, and has also named a new chief financial officer and chief human resources officer.

Jones joins Twitch from Vimeo, where she was also led the drive for diversity and inclusion. At Vimeo, Jones created a diversity strategy and implemented initiatives to tackle bias in the workplace. Prior to that, she was the global inclusion and diversity lead at consulting firm Accenture, giving her 10 years of experience in diversity work.

Twitch’s new chief financial officer is Michelle Weaver, who joins the company from talent platform Hired, where she reportedly tripled the business’s recurring revenues. Weaver has previously worked for significant brands and companies including StitchFix, Axiom, Gap, and Electronic Arts. Weaver is taking over the position from current chief financial officer John Sutton, who held it for six years. Sutton is staying with the company,...

One of the best Hollywood historical epics takes Technicolor to Mexico for a Production Code version of La conquista: the Inquisition is still bad, but the Church is exonerated. Likewise with the invasion — Cesar Romero embodies a marvelous Hernán Cortés, substantially less murderous than the one we now know from accurate history books. Tyrone Power is the heartthrob hero and newcomer Jean Peters the lowborn girl who loves him. The magnificent scenery is matched by the music score of Alfred Newman.

Captain from Castile

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1947 / Color / 137 Academy / 141 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Lee J. Cobb, John Sutton, Antonio Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Alan Mowbray, Barbara Lawrence, George Zucco, Roy Roberts, Marc Lawrence, Reed Hadley, Robert Karnes, Estela Inda, Chris-Pin Martin, Jay Silverheels, Gilberto González.

Cinematography: Arthur Arling, Charles G. Clarke, Joseph Lashelle

Film Editor: Barbara McLean...

(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as silent era icon Rudolph Valentino, whose sexual orientation, despite countless gay rumors, seems to have been, according to the available evidence, heterosexual. (Valentino's supposed affair with fellow “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro has no basis in reality.) The female cast is also impressive: Veteran Leslie Caron (Lili, Gigi) as stage and screen star Alla Nazimova, ex-The Mamas & the Papas singer Michelle Phillips as Valentino wife and Nazimova protégée Natacha Rambova, Felicity Kendal as screenwriter/producer June Mathis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), and Carol Kane – lately of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fame. Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972) is notable as one of the greatest musicals ever made. As a 1930s Cabaret presenter – and the Spirit of Germany – Joel Grey was the year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner. Liza Minnelli...

'The Pink Panther' with Peter Sellers: Blake Edwards' 1963 comedy hit and its many sequels revolve around one of the most iconic film characters of the 20th century: clueless, thick-accented Inspector Clouseau – in some quarters surely deemed politically incorrect, or 'insensitive,' despite the lack of brown face make-up à la Sellers' clueless Indian guest in Edwards' 'The Party.' 'The Pink Panther' movies [1] There were a total of eight big-screen Pink Panther movies co-written and directed by Blake Edwards, most of them starring Peter Sellers – even after his death in 1980. Edwards was also one of the producers of every (direct) Pink Panther sequel, from A Shot in the Dark to Curse of the Pink Panther. Despite its iconic lead character, the last three movies in the Pink Panther franchise were box office bombs. Two of these, The Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther, were co-written by Edwards' son,...

How the hell do I introduce a legend like Vincent Price? This is a guy who has starred in scores of horror roles and carried the banner for the genre in an era when the public saw it as little more than a breeding ground for psychopaths and miscreants. There isn’t much that I can say about this man that hasn’t been said a dozen times over, but I do have this: Vincent Price looked very much like my grandma. Or I suppose my grandma looked very much like Vincent Price. Don’t get me wrong, she was a beautiful lady, but she had Price’s ability to raise an eyebrow in a way to convey pretty much any emotion (usually mild annoyance). So for me, sitting down for a Vincent Price flick is like sitting down with a family member. Sure, he’s typically evil to a mustache-twirling degree,...

The first Vincent Price collection from Scream Factory was a pure treasure. When October rolls around, almost nothing puts me in the Halloween mood like a constant stream of Vincent Price films on my TV. Never did I think that Scream could improve upon their original price collection, but when the films that would be included in this new set were announced, I was shocked. The first Vincent Price Collection has some really solid Price films, mostly of a Poe nature, and it was one of the most exciting releases of the year for fans of classic horror. The second set, drops the Poe theme(mostly), and includes some of Price’s most famous, well-regarded films, including a couple of my favorites. The list of films is impressive, and there are extras on most of the films. The packaging is consistent, and equally pleasing to the eyes. Scream Factory’s...

The first Vincent Price collection that was released by Scream Factory is a thing of beauty. It was announced recently that they would bringing us a second collection of Vincent Price films on Blu-ray, and I couldn’t be any more excited about it than I already am. Well, maybe I can be, because Scream Factory just released the full details of the set, and it’s going to be a good one. Check out the press release below, and please click here to pre-order your own copy of this collection, which streets on October 21. Man, October is really upon us, isn’t it?

The Vincent Price Collection II

Featuring The First-ever Blu-ray™ Presentation Of

The House On Haunted Hill (1959), The Return Of The Fly (1959),

The Comedy Of Terrors (1963), The Raven (1963),

The Last Man On Earth (1964), The Tomb Of Ligeia (1964),

And Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)

In Stores Everywhere On October...

If you've never seen The Bat before, then we can promise you're in for a treat. If you have seen the flick, we can also promise you've never seen it quite like this! Read on for details.

From the Press Release

Mystery, murder, and mayhem take flight in The Bat – restored and in HD for the first time ever – debuting on Turner Classic Movies October 24 and DVD November 12 from Film Chest Media Group. Featuring an all-star cast, this suspenseful cult favorite from 1959 will keep you on the edge of your seat!

In The Bat, mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead - TV’s "Bewitched"; Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Citizen Kane) resides in a town terrorized by a mysterious murderer known only as “The Bat,” said to be a man with no face who kills women at night by ripping out their throats with steel claws.

Breaking into Cornelia’s countryside home one night,...

Jeanne Crain: Lighthearted movies vs. real life tragedies (photo: Madeleine Carroll and Jeanne Crain in ‘The Fan’) (See also: "Jeanne Crain: From ‘Pinky’ Inanity to ‘Margie’ Magic.") Unlike her characters in Margie, Home in Indiana, State Fair, Centennial Summer, The Fan, and Cheaper by the Dozen (and its sequel, Belles on Their Toes), or even in the more complex A Letter to Three Wives and People Will Talk, Jeanne Crain didn’t find a romantic Happy Ending in real life. In the mid-’50s, Crain accused her husband, former minor actor Paul Brooks aka Paul Brinkman, of infidelity, of living off her earnings, and of brutally beating her. The couple reportedly were never divorced because of their Catholic faith. (And at least in the ’60s, unlike the humanistic, progressive-thinking Margie, Crain was a “conservative” Republican who supported Richard Nixon.) In the early ’90s, she lost two of her...

Bette Davis movies: TCM schedule on August 14 (photo: Bette Davis in ‘Dangerous,’ with Franchot Tone) See previous post: “Bette Davis Eyes: They’re Watching You Tonight.” 3:00 Am Parachute Jumper (1933). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Harold Huber, Leo Carrillo, Thomas E. Jackson, Lyle Talbot, Leon Ames, Stanley Blystone, Reginald Barlow, George Chandler, Walter Brennan, Pat O’Malley, Paul Panzer, Nat Pendleton, Dewey Robinson, Tom Wilson, Sheila Terry. Bw-72 mins. 4:30 Am The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Phillip Reed, Katharine Alexander, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bill Elliott, Edward McWade, André Cheron, Wedgwood Nowell, John Quillan, Mary Treen. Bw-69 mins. 6:00 Am Dangerous (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Dick Foran, Walter Walker, Richard Carle, George Irving, Pierre Watkin, Douglas Wood,...

Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...

Paul Henreid: Hollow Triumph aka The Scar tonight Turner Classic Movies’ Paul Henreid film series continues this Tuesday evening, July 16, 2013. Of tonight’s movies, the most interesting offering is Hollow Triumph / The Scar, a 1948 B thriller adapted by Daniel Fuchs (Panic in the Streets, Love Me or Leave Me) from Murray Forbes’ novel, and in which the gentlemanly Henreid was cast against type: a crook who, in an attempt to escape from other (and more dangerous) crooks, impersonates a psychiatrist with a scar on his chin. Joan Bennett, mostly wasted in a non-role, is Henreid’s leading lady. (See also: “One Paul Henreid, Two Cigarettes, Four Bette Davis-es.”) The thriller’s director is Hungarian import Steve Sekely, whose Hollywood career consisted chiefly of minor B fare. In fact, though hardly a great effort, Hollow Triumph was probably the apex of Sekely’s cinematic output in terms of prestige...

Claudette Colbert, Alla Nazimova, Marion Davies, Charles Boyer: Cinecon 2011 Thursday September 1 (photo: Alla Nazimova) 7:00 Hollywood Rhythm (1934) 7:10 Welcoming Remarks 7:15 Hollywood Story (1951) 77 min. Richard Conte, Julie Adams, Richard Egan. Dir: William Castle. 8:35 Q & A with Julie Adams 9:10 Blazing Days (1927) 60 min. Fred Humes. Dir: William Wyler. 10:20 In The Sweet Pie And Pie (1941) 18 min 10:40 She Had To Eat (1937) 75 min. Jack Haley, Rochelle Hudson, Eugene Pallette. Friday September 2 9:00 Signing Off (1936) 9:20 Moon Over Her Shoulder (1941) 68 min. Dan Dailey, Lynn Bari, John Sutton, Alan Mowbray. 10:40 The Active Life Of Dolly Of The Dailies (1914) 15 min. Mary Fuller. 10:55 Stronger Than Death (1920) 80 min. Alla Nazimova, Charles Bryant. Dir: Herbert Blaché, Charles Bryant, Robert Z. Leonard. 12:15 Lunch Break 1:45 Open Track (1916) 2:00 On The Night Stage (1915) 60 min. William S. Hart, Rhea Mitchell. Dir: Reginald Barker. 3:15 50 Miles From Broadway (1929) 23 min 3:45 Cinerama Adventure (2002). Dir: David Strohmaier. 5:18 Discussion...