News

Writer/director Robert Eggers just dominated at the box office with Nosferatu, earning over $136 million at the worldwide box office thus far. The movie's eerie Gothic wintry setting was perfect for the holiday season, and it showed a trend towards electrifying new life into old, black-and-white Universal monster movies. Eggers is in good company since director Leigh Whannell, who already had a hit with his remake of The Invisible Man in 2020, is set to explore another Universal monster with Wolf Man.

While these movies have been undeniably successful, there are still many Universal monster movies that have gone unexplored. Time has seemed to have forgotten all about these classic Universal monsters. Almost everyone is familiar with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon, but few know these underrated horror icons exist. It's time they got the respect and maybe even the reboot that they deserve.

Ellen Holly, whose long-running turn as Carla on ABC’s One Life to Live made her the first Black actress to gain stardom on a daytime soap opera, has died. She was 92.

Holly died in her sleep Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, publicist Cheryl L. Duncan announced.

A member of The Actors Studio who did Shakespeare for Joseph Papp and was mentored by the same woman who discovered Julie Harris and Kim Stanley, Holly appeared four times on Broadway, beginning with her acclaimed performance in 1956 as the female lead in Too Late the Phalarope.

She appeared in a handful of films as well, from Take a Giant Step (1959), starring Johnny Nash, Estelle Hemsley and Ruby Dee, to School Daze (1988), directed by Spike Lee.

Holly, however, did not work as often as her talents suggested she should have, because as a light-skinned African American, she had difficulty being hired...

Why do we like horror and monster movies that routinely get labeled as ‘bad?’ Because many of them have great story ideas and look at the world from odd, warped viewpoints. Back when ‘warped’ wasn’t a prerequisite for All filmed entertainment (my exaggeration) this murderous rejuvenation tale could be appreciated as something unusual, even quirky. Jeez, the characters are even nastier than the people I know! Lovely Coleen Gray takes a chance on a downmarket Universal programmer and proves how well she can carry a movie, even through several dubious horror make-ups.

The Leech Woman

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / Available from Scream Factory

Starring: Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, Phillip Terry, Gloria Talbott, John Van Dreelen, Estelle Hemsley, Kim Hamilton, Arthur Batanides, Murray Alper, Paul Thompson.

Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter

Film Editor: Milton Carruth

Original Music: Irving Gertz

Written by David Duncan, story by Ben Pivar,...