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In classic film circles, “Bringing Up Baby” is just one of those movies that everybody knows about. It’s Cary Grant. It’s Katharine Hepburn. It’s Howard Hawks. All “Old Hollywood For Dummies” buzz words. But the movie — a notorious flop upon release — is a historical curiosity not because it is a cute, zany screwball comedy of a bygone era — though it is. “Bringing Up Baby” just happens to have what is likely first usage in film of the word “gay” to mean something other than happy. At least we think it does.

“My understanding is that by the time ‘Bringing Up Baby’ came out, the word ‘gay’ was known in some circles to mean homosexual,” TCM host Dave Karger said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “And the story goes that Cary Grant ad libbed that line. So, I would like to think that he that Cary Grant...

Stoner comedy meets undead apocalypse on Christmas in Zombie Strain, blazing onto Digital from Dark Sky Films on January 23.

On the same day, the indie film will open theatrically in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale with cast and crew in attendance.

Michael Seabolt makes his feature directorial debut from a script by Gregory M. Schroeder.

Cameron Vitosh, Chandni Shah, William Mann, India Jasiri, Emily Ashby, Alexander D. Vogt, Jim Belden, and Nicole Buch star.

“During the zombie apocalypse, survivors trapped in a sound stage make an astonishing discovery about a potent strain of marijuana. As they struggle to survive, tensions rise and mistakes occur. They begin to question who is more dangerous: the relentless undead outside or the growing mistrust among themselves. In their fight for survival, the true threat may lie within.”

Get high on the trailer below.

The post Get High on Horror-Comedy ‘Zombie Strain’ on Digital This...

In the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., I spoke with Hollywood historian William Mann about the profound impact the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic had on the film business. In the interview, he pointed some major mistakes made in handling the Spanish flu pandemic that today’s authorities should learn from, including reopening too soon. At a time when masks were still in short supply and not required for non-essential workers, he talked about the issue of wearing masks in 1918 and why top film actors refused to put one on in public back then.

Three months later, face coverings are mandatory in most states though President Donald Trump, some of his close associates and Republican lawmakers still refuse to wear them in public. Several states would not impose a face mask requirement, and there has been resistance in complying with or enforcing such orders in states that have them in place.