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Hammer Films has announced a new Limited Collector’s Edition release of Blood Orange on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray arriving on 11 August 2025. First issued in 1953, this sharp-edged crime thriller predates Hammer’s more familiar horror fare and marks one of director Terence Fisher’s earliest forays into suspenseful storytelling. The film has been meticulously restored from the original negatives and presented in vivid 4K for the first time.

The release is housed in a beautifully designed slipcase featuring brand-new artwork and includes both a 4K Ultra HD disc and a Blu-ray. Among the extensive bonus materials is an exclusive interview with filmmaker Alice Lowe, whose credits include Prevenge and Timestalker. Cinema enthusiasts will also find two fresh audio commentaries: one pairing cult film critic Kim Newman with Barry Forshaw, author of Brit Noir and The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, and another with film historian Lucy Bolton and critic Phuong Le.

Today, the classic movie monsters of the 1930s and '40s are widely identified as social outcasts. Characters like Dracula and Frankenstein were ostracized for their otherness and unable to fulfill their romantic longings, which made them sympathetic antiheroes for many viewers. However, the Universal monsters are overwhelmingly male, and female horror fans will have to look elsewhere for relatable outsiders. One excellent option lies with the often-overlooked Cat People films.

1942's Cat People takes the typically masculine wolf man trope and twists it into a tale of female alienation, while 1944's The Curse of the Cat People weaves a dark fable about a strange little girl. Paul Schrader's 1982 Cat People remake adds layers of delirious sensuality, and an outrageous 1992 Stephen King film carries on the werecat tradition. The Universal monsters may get all the attention, but the Cat People films offer a distinctly feminine approach to their traditionally masculine territory.

Some great horror movies predate the burst of color filmmaking as the predominant form of cinema and are still scary watches even for modern audiences. The horror genre is one of the oldest kinds in film, an early source of chills and thrills on the big screen. In modern discussions though, people often only go back to the '70s and '80s when talking about classic horror movies. Despite this, there are some black and white horror films from the old golden era of the genre are still quite compelling.

It is a misconception that horror movies from that time aren't as technically strong as today's movies because of the technological advancements in modern filmmaking. If anything, the unique and imaginative techniques employed by the pioneers of the genre to create terrifying atmospheres and visuals add to the charm of black-and-white vintage horror cinema. Modern remakes of such classic...

Disney has created hundreds of cinematic masterpieces with over a century of classics. However, even the best of these incredible stories have some glaring plot holes. And once fans find out about these story mistakes, it's difficult to forget.

While most are understandable as its in service of a more fun and lighthearted story, these plot holes are still big enough for fans to never look at their favorite films the same way again.

Cruella Should Have Been an Original Character

Disney's Cruella was a fun, wild ride, but not everything added up enough to connect to the original to make it a great film.

How Do Anita And Roger Take Care Of 101 Dalmations? One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians probably has one of the most adorably ridiculous movie premises of all time. In the film, married couple, Roger and Anita, start with their two dogs,...

The horror films produced by Val Lewton for Rko Studios throughout the 1940s all share DNA, though the third and fourth films in the cycle, Jacques Tournier’s I Walked with a Zombie and Mark Robson’s The Seventh Victim, seem to be especially connected. Both were released in 1943 and concern protagonists who enter hidden worlds beyond their understanding, worlds that allude to rot existing in conventional society should one care to acknowledge it. The protagonists’ growing awareness parallels our own, though in each case the viewer is left with little hope for reform or closure. They have glimpsed nightmare realms and are humbled by what they discover about their societies as well as themselves.

Notions of reform are particularly relevant to I Walked with a Zombie, which offers an unusually nuanced portrait of the legacy of colonialism. Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), a nurse from snowy Ottawa, is hired to...

There are few better ways to spend a half hour than with an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Funny, scary, mysterious, cynical, sinister, and sometimes even sexy, the anthology series created and presented (and sometimes directed) by the Master of Suspense is the complete package. The show was indelible when it first aired in the 1950s, and it remains so today, with storylines that feel surprisingly modern, twists designed to leave you gasping, and an unrelenting fixation on the darkest corners of the human heart.

To choose the best episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" is a bit of a fool's errand, the kind of task Hitch himself would probably scoff at in one of his campy, sarcastic episode introductions. This is, after all, a show that multiple generations watched solely via linear TV, catching stray episodes in syndication rather than binge-watching it in its entirety. It's also a series with...

Shirley Jackson once wrote in her journal: “who wants to write about anxiety from a place of safety? although, i suppose i would never be entirely safe since i cannot completely reconstruct my mind.” That verb “reconstruct” is an apt one for Jackson, whose most famous novel The Haunting Of Hill House...

One of the unique aspects of the horror films produced by Val Lewton at Rko in the 1940s is the seriousness with which they discuss matters of mental illness. Even today, mental health issues are often tiptoed around, but in the forties, they were practically taboo. As discussed in previous entries in this column, Cat People (1942) is largely about repression and The Body Snatcher (1945) deals with guilt, paranoia, and psychopathy. The Seventh Victim (1943), one of the lesser-seen entries in the Lewton cycle, is about loneliness, the depression that stems from it, and suicidal ideation. It externalizes the inner struggles between the light and darkness that use the mind as a battlefield and demand a choice between life and death. Because of the unflinching way The Seventh Victim approaches the subject of suicide, this should be a considered a content warning for the discussion to come later. But first, some background on the film itself.

Frances Dee movies: From 'An American Tragedy' to 'Four Faces West' Frances Dee began her film career at the dawn of the sound era, going from extra to leading lady within a matter of months. Her rapid ascencion came about thanks to Maurice Chevalier, who got her as his romantic interested in Ludwig Berger's 1930 romantic comedy Playboy of Paris. Despite her dark(-haired) good looks and pleasant personality, Dee's Hollywood career never quite progressed to major – or even moderate – stardom. But she was to remain a busy leading lady for about 15 years. Tonight, Turner Classic Movies is showing seven Frances Dee films, ranging from heavy dramas to Westerns. Unfortunately missing is one of Dee's most curious efforts, the raunchy pre-Coder Blood Money, which possibly features her most unusual – and most effective – performance. Having said that, William A. Wellman's Love Is a Racket is a worthwhile subsitute, though the...

What a Way to Go!

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis

Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs

Directed by: J. Lee Thompson

Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!

This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.

Val Lewton’s third horror film, The Leopard Man (1943) initially seemed promising. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel Black Alibi, it had more pedigree than Lewton’s previous movies. He reunited his previous team: director Jacques Tourneur, writer Ardel Wray, even Dynamite, the black leopard from Cat People. Forced again to film on the Rko lot, he sent Wray to photograph Santa Fe, New Mexico and crafted meticulous sets around her snapshots. Despite this attention to detail, The Leopard Man is one of Lewton’s weakest efforts.

The plot is simple enough. Nightclub entertainers James (Dennis O’Keefe) and Kiki (Jean Brooks) arrive in Santa Fe with a leopard in tow; Kiki’s rival Clo-Clo (Margo) scares the cat, which escapes into the city. The leopard kills a Mexican girl, sending the city into a panic. Several other women die, but James grows convinced that the leopard isn’t behind them.

Val Lewton, Russian émigré turned horror master, was a reporter, pulp novelist and MGM publicity writer before moving into film. He spent the 1930s as David O. Selznick’s story editor, directing second unit work on A Tale of Two Cities (1935) and script doctoring Gone With the Wind (1939), warning Selznick it would be “the mistake of his life.” While not Hollywood’s most prescient man, Lewton’s professionalism earned Selznick’s respect, and their collaboration led to Rko offering Lewton a producing job in 1942.

Rko was reeling from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, an expensive flop forcing a refocus on low budget films. Charles Koerner headed the studio’s B Unit, envisioning a horror series inspired by Universal Studio’s successful franchises. Where Universal culled from established literature (Dracula, Frankenstein), Rko worked from Koerner’s whim: he created a title and left the filmmakers to handle trivia like plot and characters.

Ready for more Anthony Mann? This light comedy thriller / borderline noir leans on amnesia for a plot hook and to motivate an all-night prowl on the streets of Los Angeles the Rko back lot. Tom Conway and Ann Rutherford star, but the real thrill is in the secondary female leads -- Jean Brooks from the Val Lewton movies and dreamy Jane Greer in her billed feature debut. Two O'Clock Courage DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 66 min. / Street Date June 16, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 18.49 Starring Tom Conway, Ann Rutherford, Jean Brooks, Bettejane Greer, Richard Lane, Lester Matthews, Roland Drew, Emory Parnell. Cinematography Jack Mackenzie Original Music Roy Webb Written by Robert E. Kent, Gordon Kahn from a story by Gelett Burgess Produced by Ben Stoloff Directed by Anthony Mann  

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This disc will get immediate attention from fans of director Anthony Mann. Another...

Teresa Wright ca. 1945. Teresa Wright movies on TCM: 'The Little Foxes,' 'The Pride of the Yankees' Pretty, talented Teresa Wright made a relatively small number of movies: 28 in all, over the course of more than half a century. Most of her films have already been shown on Turner Classic Movies, so it's more than a little disappointing that TCM will not be presenting Teresa Wright rarities such as The Imperfect Lady and The Trouble with Women – two 1947 releases co-starring Ray Milland – on Aug. 4, '15, a "Summer Under the Stars" day dedicated to the only performer to date to have been shortlisted for Academy Awards for their first three film roles. TCM's Teresa Wright day would also have benefited from a presentation of The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956), an unusual entry – parapsychology, reincarnation – in the Wright movie canon and/or Roseland (1977), a little-remembered entry in James Ivory's canon.

'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...

Top 100 horror movies of all time: Chicago Film Critics' choices (photo: Sigourney Weaver and Alien creature show us that life is less horrific if you don't hold grudges) See previous post: A look at the Chicago Film Critics Association's Scariest Movies Ever Made. Below is the list of the Chicago Film Critics's Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time, including their directors and key cast members. Note: this list was first published in October 2006. (See also: Fay Wray, Lee Patrick, and Mary Philbin among the "Top Ten Scream Queens.") 1. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock; with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam. 2. The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin; with Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow (and the voice of Mercedes McCambridge). 3. Halloween (1978) John Carpenter; with Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Tony Moran. 4. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott; with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt. 5. Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero; with Marilyn Eastman,...

Scariest movies ever made: The top 100 horror films according to the Chicago Film Critics (photo: Janet Leigh, John Gavin and Vera Miles in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho') I tend to ignore lists featuring the Top 100 Movies (or Top 10 Movies or Top 20 Movies, etc.), no matter the category or criteria, because these lists are almost invariably compiled by people who know little about films beyond mainstream Hollywood stuff released in the last decade or two. But the Chicago Film Critics Association's list of the 100 Scariest Movies Ever Made, which came out in October 2006, does include several oldies — e.g., James Whale's Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein — in addition to, gasp, a handful of non-American horror films such as Dario Argento's Suspiria, Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre, and F.W. Murnau's brilliant Dracula rip-off Nosferatu. (Check out the full list of the Chicago Film Critics' top 100 horror movies of all time.

Audrey Long, actress in B film noirs and Westerns, and widow of author Leslie Charteris, dead at 92 (photo: Audrey Long publicity shot ca. late '40s) Actress Audrey Long, a leading lady in mostly B crime dramas and Westerns of the '40s and early '50s, and the widow of The Saint creator Leslie Charteris, died "after a long illness" on September 19, 2014, in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. Long was 92. Her death was first reported by Ian Dickerson on the website LeslieCharteris.com. Born on April 14 (some sources claim April 12), 1922, in Orlando, Florida, Audrey Long was the daughter of an English-born Episcopal minister, who later became a U.S. Navy Chaplain. Her early years were spent moving about North America, in addition to some time in Honolulu. According to Dickerson's Audrey Long tribute on the Leslie Charteris site, following acting lessons with coach Dorothea Johnson, whose pupils had also included...

On this day in 1904 horror actor Tom Conway was born. The son of English expatriates the Conways returned to Britain after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Known for his leading roles in Rko productions Conways legacy amongst genre fans is due to his memorable performances in Val Lewtons psychological horror films of the early 1940s. He starred as Doctor Louis Judd in the Cat People (1942) and the same character in the lesser known The Seventh Victim (1943). Yet he also played the lead alongside James Ellison and Frances Dee in I Walked With a Zombie (1943).

On Tuesday (February 5), The Walt Disney Studios celebrates the 60th Anniversary release of Walt Disney’s classic, “Peter Pan,” as it soars to all-new heights – with a new digital restoration and high definition picture and sound – for the first time on Blu-ray™. The classic tale that taught us all “to believe” and first introduced us to the Darling children – Wendy, John and Michael – as they flew with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell past the second star to the right and straight on ‘till morning to the enchanted world of Never Land. Rediscover the magical adventure and relive childhood memories of this great bedtime story. In anticipation of the upcoming release of the 60th Anniversary Edition of Peter Pan, check out the slideshow featuring 1950s Live Action Reference photographs from Walt Disney Studio’s Vault!

The “Peter Pan” Diamond Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy & Storybook App) is a...

The Warner Archive Collection is a manufacture-on-demand (Mod) DVD series that specializes in putting previously unreleased films on DVD for the first time. Recently they dug deep into their vast history of classic horror and selected some winners to resurrect.

The Warner Archive Collection can make a wide array of films available because they don't actually create the DVD until it is ordered by a customer. This way, they are not taking a chance of getting stuck with a large amount of inventory if a selected title doesn't sell. You'll certainly recognize some of the horror films the Warner Archive Collection has added to its library, but there are a couple of really obscure ones in there as well. Take a look at the list of what's been made available and plan your shopping list now.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

Although the recent remake featuring the suddenly single...

Gone With The Wind Actress Ann Rutherford Dies. [Photo: Ann Rutherford as Carreen O'Hara, Evelyn Keyes as Suellen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.]

Ann Rutherford‘s most notable screen roles were in films made away from both MGM and Wallace Beery. She was a young woman who falls for trumpeter George Montgomery in Archie Mayo’s 20th Century Fox musical Orchestra Wives (1942), and became enmeshed with (possibly) amnesiac Tom Conway in Anthony Mann’s Rko thriller Two O’Clock Courage (1945).

Following a couple of minor supporting roles — in the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) at Goldwyn and the Errol Flynn costumer The Adventures of Don Juan (1948) at Warner Bros. — and the female lead in the independently made cattle drama Operation Haylift (1950), opposite Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford retired from the screen. (Rutherford would later say that her Operation Haylift experience was anything but pleasant.)

She then turned to television, making regular television appearances in the ’50s (The Donna Reed Show, Playhouse 90,...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Released: 16th April

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Blowgoat hail from the lovely city of Newport in South Wales. That is, lovely if you’re there anytime before 6 o’clock– after that it gets a bit like Gotham Citywith all the ghouls, maniacs and drug-thirsty youth prowling the kerbs. Not to mention, of course, the drunks who think they’re Batman, saving young women from the greedy clutches of rapists (who are actually the boyfriends/one-night-stand of the women in question) and therefore, making the world a better place. Yeah, right. Before you think I’m some judgemental, up-his-own-arse guy who’s just bad-mouthing Newport on the basis of one night out there, think again. I live about twenty minutes away from Newport and the place is just like any other city you’ll go to – shit. The bad-points are so much better to write about than the good...

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will again be offering its popular Scary Movies Film Series. And it’s not just any scary movies they’ll be showing. They’ve got classics, and they’ve got New York City premieres. They’ve even got Stuart Gordon’s live theater presentation of Nevermore starring Jeffrey Combs accompanying the screening of The Black Cat.

All right New Yorkers, check this out ... from October 27 to 31 Lincoln Center will present an ass-load of horror. Unfortunately, brevity is not one of their strong points so I’m going to sign off here and turn it over to the good folks of Lincoln Center to give you all the film titles and schedule. With NYC premieres of Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Ti West’s The Innkeepers, along with a ton of other great titles, this is the film festival you don’t want to miss.

Reader and contributor Gemma St. Clair returns this weekend with a new list of horror trivia:

1. The Phantom of the Opera: There are multiple versions of this film, including the original silent 1925 release (107 minutes long) and the 1929 re-release (98 minutes long). There was a third version with talking scenes, but it is now considered lost.

2. Cat’s Eye: Stephen King wrote the part for Drew Barrymore in Cat’s Eye because he was so impressed with her in Firestarter.

3. Freaks: This film was banned in the UK for nearly 30 years after its release.

4. Willard (2003): A picture of Willard’s Father in the film is actually Bruce Davidson who played Willard in the 1971 original.

5. House of the Dead: The Sega logo can be seen in the background of the rave.

6. Alone in the Dark (1982): The house that was used for Dr. Potter’s home actually belonged to a psychiatrist.

Every week, Film School Rejects presents a movie that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents: I Walked With a Zombie (1943) I realize it's been a few weeks since Oam has been in hiding, waiting around the corner to pounce on its latest victim, so I figured it was a great idea to come back from the break by taking a look at a fantastic example of 40s era suspense while Halloween 2: The Second 2 and The Final Destination are in theaters. If anything, it should give you a solid alternative. In 1942, the team of producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur released the horror film Cat People - one of the most famous horror films to date. The next year they would deliver I Walked with a Zombie, a gripping tale told in the similar trademark suspenseful style which used light and...

Rko has found a director for its upcoming remake of the 1943 horror classic, “I Walk with a Zombie”. His name is Adam Marcus, and he last directed the Val Kilmer starrer “Conspiracy” (you’ve probably never heard of it, cause mostly it sucked), and before that, “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday”, which as it turns out, wasn’t really the final Friday. Variety has more on the remake: The film focuses on a private tutor who discovers a terrifying family secret while working at the ancient estate of a New Orleans businessman. The original was a forerunner of the corps of walking corpse films that followed. Hartley called the film one of the most valuable in the Rko library. The 1943 original was directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starred Edith Barrett, James Bell, and Tom Conway. Marcus will adapt the remake with his writing partner Debra Sullivan, while Ted Hartley,...