News

By Tim McGlynn

“You probably think I’m beautiful, but I’m not.”

Super model Tina Cassidy (Kathryn Witt) visits Hollywood plastic surgeon Larry Roberts with a specific list of tiny imperfections that need to be corrected at the request of Reston Industries, a producer of glossy television commercials. Dr. Roberts becomes curious when he realizes that several of his recent patients have had the same type of list.

What follows is a science fiction/police procedural that involves the murder of these same models. The police become suspicious when it is discovered that all the victims were patients of Dr. Roberts

Director/Writer Michael Crichton once again makes predictions based on emerging technologies. His first feature film, Westworld (1973), pioneered the use of digitized imagery to present the point of view of Yul Brynner’s android gunslinger.

In Looker, we have actors being converted to computerized images that may be manipulated through animation.

It’s always fun to peruse the impressive career of writer-director Michael Crichton, whose brilliant, commercially savvy ideas so often hit the mark. He even invented a plausibly credible dinosaur movie. This 1981 thriller may be his least coherent show, with too many screwy ideas and a supporting cast that needed better direction. Yet it has the winning combination of Albert Finney and Susan Dey, and some very original thriller elements.

Looker

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1981 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date September 18, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Albert Finney, Susan Dey, James Coburn, Leigh Taylor-Young, Dorian Harewood, Tim Rossovich, Darryl Hickman, Kathryn Witt, Terri Welles.

Cinematography: Paul Lohmann

Film Editor: Carl Kress

Production Designer Dean Edward Mitzner

Original Music: Barry DeVorzon

Produced by Howard Jeffrey

Written and Directed by Michael Crichton

Best-selling writer Michael Crichton got into directing early, and by the time of Coma and The Great Train Robbery...

Hey Fiends! Happy Monday! Got another list of flicks on the format of your choice.

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Triple Feature (Attack of the Crab Monsters / War of the Satellites / Not of This Earth)

Format: DVD

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Three Films Produced And Directed By Honorary Academy Award Recipient And King Of B-Movies, Roger Corman: With All New Film Transfers From The Negative!

In Attack Of The Crab Monsters, a group of scientists become marooned on an island while investigating the disappearance of researchers who were looking into atomic activity in the Pacific. They quickly fall prey to giant, mutant crustaceans that have the ability to absorb the minds of their prey. Starring Russell Johnson (Gilligans Island), Richard Garland and Mel Welles (Little Shop Of Horrors).

An alien comes to Earth, masquerading as a human, to scout our planet for a new blood source in Not Of This Earth. He needs...

While Roger Corman, as either a director or producer, can deliver entertaining movies on a stunningly low budget, the law of averages demands that he comes out with a few clunkers. Even the best directors in Hollywood make a stinker now and then, so why shouldn't we expect the same from the King of the B's? And if you're wondering about the number of turkeys Corman has under his belt, think about his massive film catalog (close to 400 producing credits alone). And the budget from most of those films wouldn't cover the weekly catering cost on a major studio production.

Besides, even a Corman turkey can have moments of fun. Up from the Depths and Demon in Paradise, the latest double feature in the Corman Cult Classic series, aren't near as good as some of the earlier Shout! Factory releases, but you won't clawing your eyes out, either.

Both films...

Roger Corman’S Cult Classics: Up From The Depths/ Demon Of Paradise Double-feature Collector’S Edition DVD - January 18, 2011

In Up From The Depths, staff and vacationers at a first-class resort on the island of Maui are beginning to mysteriously disappear. A biologist believes that an underwater earthquake has caused a giant, and very hungry dormant prehistoric fish to be released from his slumber. Voraciously, the fish helps himself to a tourist buffet. Now it’s open season for the local fishermen to find the creature and kill it! Starring Sam Bottoms (Apocalypse Now, The Outlaw Josey Wales), Virgil Frye (The Hot Spot) and Kedric Wolfe (Mr. Boogedy); written by Anne Dyer; produced by Cirio Santiago; directed by Charles Griffith.

The hunters become the prey when illegal dynamite-fishing prematurely ends the hibernation of a mythological carnivorous lizard-man in Demon Of Paradise. The owner of the local resort, whose patrons have...

In 2010 Shout! Factory delivered us stellar editions of some truly classic Roger Corman films. The best part? They have no signs of slowing down in 2011! That's right, kids, five more flicks are on the way on January 18th that are bound to bring a smile to your horror-loving face!

From the Press Release

Roger Corman’S Cult Classics: Sci-fi Classics Triple-feature Collector’S Edition 2-dvd Set

In Attack Of The Crab Monsters, a group of scientists become marooned on an island while investigating the disappearance of researchers who were looking into atomic activity in the Pacific. They quickly fall prey to giant, mutant crustaceans that have the ability to absorb the minds of their prey. Starring Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island), Richard Garland and Mel Welles (Little Shop Of Horrors). Attack Of The Crab Monsters is a Roger Corman Production. Produced and directed by Roger Corman; screenplay by Charles B. Griffith.