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Bram Stoker once envisioned his most successful novel, Dracula, as a stage play. The actor he wanted to play the title role, Sir Henry Irving, walked out of the table read, yawning and griping about wordiness. It was probably the most auspicious walkout in horror entertainment history. Had Irving starred in a bomb, Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella, Gary Oldman, and quite a few other actors wouldn’t have been able to don the cape.

Dracula wasn’t the first book about vampires, but it was the first time Vlad “the Impaler” Tepes was portrayed as one. Until then, people thought of him as a cruel tyrant who nailed hats onto the heads of monks, and dipped his bread in the blood of vanquished soldiers. That is if they thought of him at all, outside of Romania, which celebrates him with pride as a freedom fighter and national protector, the “son...

Nope, it’s not on disc but it’s getting written up here because so few people know it and it’s been difficult to see my entire adult life. The fourth Gardner/Levy United Artists horror/sci-fi picture of ’57-’58 is another trip into a jungle’s Heart of Darkness, where awaits a deadly satellite fallen from orbit. Have we missed something Spectacular? Fantastic? Incredible? This seventy minutes of cheap program filler is nobody’s favorite, but CineSavant embraces Sci-Fi orphans of every description. Stars Arthur Franz and Kathleen Crowley can’t have been pleased by the result.

The Flame Barrier

Blu-ray

Savant Revival Screening Review

1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 71 min. / Not On Home Video

Starring: Arthur Franz, Kathleen Crowley, Robert Brown, Vincent Padula, Rodd Redwing, Kaz Oran, Pilar Del Rey.

Cinematography: Jack MacKenzie

Film Editor: Jerry Young

Makeup: Dick Smith

Original Music: Gerald Fried

Written by Pat Fielder,...

‘Hey Blondie!’ Dagwood, Blondie, Mr. Dithers and a victimized postman return for a stab at a TV revival of the 1940s series from Chic Young’s never-ending comic strip. It’s not bad, with Arthur Lake clowning up a storm and Pamela Britton a charming new embodiment of a character who began as ‘Blondie Boopadoop.’ It’s the entire one-season series.

Blondie The Complete 1957 Television Series

DVD

ClassicFlix

1957 / B&W / 1:33 TV aperture / 26 x 30 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / 39.99

Starring: Arthur Lake, Pamela Britton, Stuffy Singer, Florenz Ames, Ann Barnes, Harold Peary, Hollis Irving, Elvia Allman, Lucien Littlefield.

Cinematography: Lothrop B. Wort

Original Music: Mahlon Merrick

Written by John L. Greene, George Beck, George Carleton Brown, Jo Conway, Frank Gill Jr., Gordon T. Hughes, Don Nelson, Jay Sommers, Warren Spector from characters created by Chic Young

Produced by William Harmon

Directed by Hal Yates, Paul Landres, Gerald Freedman

Chic Young’s...

CineSavant reaches back one year to pick up a notable low-key horror from the team of Levy-Gardner-Laven and good old United Artists. They have a respected actor, a workable concept and a horror screenplay from an unusual source for the 1950s . . . a (gasp) woman. More civilized monster movies just aren’t out there, although this one could have used a more creative title.

The Vampire

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1957 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / 27.99

Starring: John Beal, Coleen Gray, Kenneth Tobey, Lydia Reed, Dabbs Greer, Herb Vigran, Paul Brinegar, Ann Staunton, James Griffith.

Cinematography: Jack MacKenzie

Film Editor: John Faure

Original Music: Gerald Fried

Written and story by Pat Fielder

Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy

Directed by Paul Landres

I long ago gave up keeping track of all the aberrant vampire movies that were produced after horror became a direct-to-video staple and finally a streaming staple.

Expatriate Francis Lederer is a cultured menace in UA's revisit of the Dracula myth, made just before Hammer Films staked its claim on the horror genre. Avid Hitchcock fans may find the storyline very familiar, when European cousin Bellac strikes up a 'special' relationship with his American cousin Rachel. The Return of Dracula Blu-ray Olive Films 1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date October 18, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Francis Lederer, Norma Eberhardt, Ray Stricklyn, Virginia Vincent, John Wengraf. Cinematography Jack MacKenzie Film Editor Sherman A. Rose Original Music Gerald Fried Written by Pat Fielder Produced by Arthur Gardner, Jules V. Levy Directed by Paul Landres

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Levy-Gardner-Laven producing combo, minus Arnold Laven this time out, assemble what was probably their most successful drive-in cheapie for United Artists. Promoting their secretary Pat Fielder to screenwriter, they had already done okay with a contemporary, non-Gothic vampire story...

Horror in the ‘50s tended to lean towards the sci-fi end of the spectrum. And why wouldn’t it? This was the atomic age, and hiding under your school desk during a bomb drill (the safest place to be!) was scarier than any monster Hollywood could muster. So as a form of social moralizing (or an excuse to display giant, mutated lizards on screen), filmmakers merged the fear of nuclear annihilation with the need for entertainment. Most filmmakers, that is. Paul Landres’ The Vampire (1957) is a deliberate ride through the (mostly) human condition, small in scope but surprisingly big on emotion. Just don’t expect any vampires, radioactive, sparkly, or otherwise.

What you do get is a story much closer to Stevenson than Stoker, a simple riff on Jekyll and Hyde shot through a cautionary tale about America’s then growing concern with pill poppin’. The Vampire is more concerned...

Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...

Asaro, 78, is accused of helping to direct Lufthansa Airlines robbery, one of the largest cash thefts in American history

More than 30 years after hooded gunmen pulled a $6m airport heist dramatised in the hit Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas, an elderly reputed mobster was arrested at his New York City home on Thursday and charged over the robbery and a 1969 murder.

Vincent Asaro, 78, was named along with his son Jerome and three other defendants in a wide-ranging indictment alleging murder, robbery, extortion, arson and other crimes from the late 1960s up until last year.

The Asaros, both identified as captains in the Bonanno organised crime family, pleaded not guilty and were held without bail at a brief appearance in federal court in Brooklyn.

The elder Asaro's lawyer, Gerald McMahon, told reporters outside court that his client was framed by shady turncoat gangsters, including the former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, the highest-ranking...

(This article contains some minor spoilers for Django Unchained and be warned that most of the clips included are Nsfw)

Like many of Tarantino’s previous films Django Unchained is filled to the brim with film references. Below I’ve attempted to guide you through some of these references and links to other films.

I’ve only seen the film once at a screening and am sure that given the opportunity to sit down with the film on Blu-ray I will undoubtedly find even more, so the following is in no way definitive but hopefully provides some answers to for those wondering what Tarantino was referencing in Django Unchained. Also, most importantly, hopefully it will lead you to check out some of the films in question.

The most obvious film reference in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is right there in the title. Django was a 1966 ‘spaghetti western’ directed by...

Music experts working on the Twilight movies make a deliberate effort to include new bands in the soundtracks - because the vampire franchise can give upcoming artists their big break.

Music supervisors Paul Katz and Alexandra Patsavas have spoken out about their role in choosing songs to be featured in the successful films, which star Robert Pattinson, revealing they try to balance music from established names with lesser-known acts.

And Katz admits they aim to give new artists the chance to introduce their music to cinema-goers.

He tells NME.com, "It's about the best piece of music for the scene. But we do like the role of introducing new acts. We have Eastern Conference Champions (on the soundtrack to the third film), who we'll be introducing."

Patsavas adds, "We have forward-thinking directors and they have a progressive music taste. It's completely natural."

The soundtrack to the next film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, features bands including Muse, The Dead Weather and Vampire Weekend, as well as Fanfarlo and Eastern Conference Champions.

Muse, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Metric, Cee Lo Green, The Bravery, and more major acts will be featured on the soundtrack to 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.' Muse, which Twilight novelist Stephenie Meyer touts as her favorite band, contributes the single, "Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)," which will debut on Monday, May 17. The tracklisting to the soundtrack, due in stores and online on June 8th, was announced Thursday on MySpace Music. All of the recordings contributed by the artists are exclusive to the soundtrack. Alexandra Patsavas, the soundtrack album Producer/Music Supervisor, who worked closely on the soundtrack with 'Eclipse' director David Slade, said, "It has been such a privilege to work on 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' with such creative and innovative talent." The album's producer, Paul Katz, emphasized, "This soundtrack is our best example to date of our unique combination of major acts that are world renowned...

Kris Allen beating Adam Lambert as the new "American Idol" champ is out of prediction. This raises an argument whether Adam loses the "Idol" crown because of his sexuality since he recorded great performance during the season.

Adam, 27-year-old, never really proclaimed himself as a gay. He just stated, "I am who I am", when he was asked about the subject of his sexuality. However, pictures of him kissing another man has been spread through Internet during the season 8.

Some people think Adam's sexuality is a major factor determining his loss to Kris on "Idol", such as Annie Duke, recent "Celebrity Apprentice" runner-up, who said, "I seriously think Adam lost just because he is gay. Bummed. Bummed. Bummed." In opposite, Paul Katz from The Huffington Post believes that Adam would have not made until the top 2 if his gay rumor affected people's votes since his pictures kissing a guy has appeared weeks prior.