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Stars: Natasha Linton, Rosanne Priest, Bryony Harvey, Sean Botha, Helene Udy | Written by Kemal Yildirim, Mike Hallett | Directed by Kemal Yildirim

Appropriately enough for a ghost story, The Haunting of the Lady-Jane begins at a funeral. As Lily O Cleirigh’s father, her mother, and sister confront her accusing her of causing her father’s death with her sins and keeping his soul away from God.

Six months later while Lily is on a book tour, her sister Kayleigh calls her from the same church and asks her to come home telling her “we miss you”. Lily for some reason is not interested. She’s planning a trip with Zara an aspiring influencer whom she met via her blog, and who also seems to have some family issues.

The offer of a free barge trip brings them into contact with Willard Monk a large man with his own issues. It...

Scream Factory sent Mike and myself a bunch of B-Movie horror and science fiction titles and we're covering them all here under the moniker of B-Movie Christmas. Forgotten body horror Brain Dead starring Bill Pulman and Bill Paxton, anyone? Surprisingly compelling early 70s apocalyptic sci-fi Colossus the Forbin Project? Nearly lost William Castle thriller The Night Walker? Early 90s vampire movie Rockula featuring an undead teen desperate to woo and rock alongside his mom, played by Toni Basil of "Mickey" fame, and Thomas Dolby as the film's villain? Other films here include the fantastic Amicus 70s horror anthology The House That Dripped Blood, the Joseph Stefano penned Eye of the Cat, the Curtis Harrington shocker Games starring Simone Signoret, The Four...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

William Castle is a name synonymous with hucksterism and showmanship, more so than the quality of the films he directed. Which isn’t really fair, it’s just that his gimmicky pieces like The House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler (both 1959), with skeletons flying through the audience and buzzers placed under theatre seats respectively, overshadowed an unsubtle but solid directorial style when unburdened by showbiz trappings. Such is the case with The Night Walker (1964), a Robert Bloch (Psycho) scripted thriller that delves into the dream world in effective ways.

Released in late December by Universal, The Night Walker received some good notices but left audiences sleepy. Perhaps the perceived combination of shock master Bloch and schlock meister Castle didn’t match what made it to the screen; indeed it’s a different tale told in a different manner than either was used to telling, yet has a sometimes eerie...

This short article is in the spirit of the crowded ad-mat advertising blurbs that, once upon a time, would show up in the newspaper for horror related features. The particular composite above is a fantasy, but since all films back then were for General Audiences, a stack like it is entirely credible. Here, it’s an excuse for a trio of personal Savant anecdotes, vividly remembered from fifty-odd years ago.

Not Bad! Charlie Largent assembled this convincing triple bill ad paste-up,

customized for San Bernardino in 1964.

Don’t listen to Gen X’ers or Millennials, kids: the Real era to be an adolescent moviegoer was in the 1950s and 1960s, when downtown movie palaces had regular Saturday kiddie matinees, just as seen in the nostalgic Joe Dante movie. Theaters in most towns functioned as ad hoc babysitters, with kids dropped off in clumps. In many cases the oldest squab in...

"The Night Walker" also recycles that thriller’s template, switching out Joan Crawford for Stanwyck in the faded Hollywood star department and bringing back Robert Bloch to fashion yet another macabre storyline. This was Stanwyck’s last film and she shares the bill with ex-husband Robert Taylor, together on film for the first time since 1937’s "This Is My Affair."...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a 40th anniversary screening of “Young Frankenstein” with special guests Mel Brooks, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr and executive producer Michael Gruskoff on Tuesday, September 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Film historian Leonard Maltin will introduce the comedy classic and host a live onstage discussion with Brooks, Leachman, Garr and Gruskoff.

“Young Frankenstein,” Brooks’s 1974 homage to the Golden Age of monster movies, features a large ensemble cast including Leachman, Garr, Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars and Gene Hackman. It earned Oscar® nominations for Adapted Screenplay (Wilder, Brooks) and Sound (Richard Portman, Gene Cantamessa).

Additional Academy events coming up in September at the Bing Theater in Los Angeles are listed below, with details at www.oscars.org/events:

“Let There Be Fright: William Castle Scare Classics”

The...

Above: Image from Maurice Binder's title sequence for Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Sleep Little Lush

This follow-up to the previous soundtrack mix, Hyper Sleep, is very much the same animal: a chance gathering of mesmerizing music tracks, carefully arranged to focus on the interstitial character of film music—its ability to distill into hallucinatory moments, the most sensual or emotional qualities of a film’s nature, and amplify these sensations to increase their temporal impact. With this idea of music as intoxicant in mind, the passing this year of John Barry was a loss of one of the great “perfumers” of film composing (for more on music as perfume, see Daniel Kasman’s “Herrmann’s Perfume”). The beautiful themes that Barry scored for the world of 007 that open this collection set the spell for a kaleidoscopic (largely) 60s and 70s sample of some of the best film music written by Ennio Morricone,...

If someone were to ask us to name our top ten directors of all time, the name William Castle would sit firmly somewhere within the top five. The man was not only a true showman but also an absolute genius. If we have one regret in our tenure here at Dread Central, it is that we weren't around during Castle's heyday of insane gimmicks. The man was without question the godfather of viral marketing, and it's taken the rest of the industry decades to catch up. If you live somewhere within the Tri-State Region, we have the info on an event that you do Not want to miss!

From the Press Release

The Return Of William Castle, a 15-film festival of horror and exploitation classics by the director and master showman, complete with their original gimmicks (Emergo!, Percepto!, Illusion-o!, and others – including one created exclusively for Film Forum), will run...

Composer Vic Mizzy wrote the classic theme songs for the 1960s television comedy series The Addams Family and Green Acres. His best known work commenced with a “buh-buh-buh-bump” – two finger snaps – another “buh-buh-buh-bump”, and the opening verse “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky – the Addams family.” Mizzy sang, overdubbing his voice three times, and played the harpsichord himself for the theme. He also directed the title sequence where the actors who played the Addams clan where instructed to snap their fingers in a bored fashion. He also retained the publishing rights to the theme, which remained profitable throughout his life.

Mizzy was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 9, 1916, and began playing musical instruments as a child. He began writing songs after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Mizzy began working in television in the late 1950s, scoring...

The William Castle Film Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $80.95) includes eight pictures produced and directed by master showman Castle. In Part One of this lengthy DVD review, I dissected four of them—13 Ghosts, Homicidal and the two best, The Tingler and Mr. Sardonicus. Believe you me, it was a ghastly business! As Sardonicus would say, “I have known a ghoul—a disgusting creature that opens graves and feeds on corpses.” Like a DVD reviewer. See here.

In this epic conclusion, I am fitted out with a Strait-jacket (about time!) and also chronicle Zotz!, 13 Frightened Girls and The Old Dark House, the three Castle entries new to DVD (which lack the short, individual “making of” documentaries accompanying the other five). Only two of these eight flicks were shot in color (Girls, House); theatrical trailers are included with all of the movies. And that’s all you need to know as we continue—in amazing Screamarama,...

Various outlets are reporting the loss of film and television composer Vic Mizzy. He was 93. The Brooklyn born Mizzy was responsible for the theme to The Addams Family as well as Green Acres . He also delivered a bouncy soundtrack to the Don Knotts supernatural comedy The Ghost and Mr. Chicken . In '64 he did the score to William Castle's The Night Walker . The two reunited three years later for The Busy Body . He is survived by a daughter, a brother and two grandchildren. For a full look at his work, follow this link !

William Castle is a hero around the Dread Central offices. The man was a true showman in every sense of the word and knew how to deliver laughs, chills, and lunacy like no other! Come this October fans will be getting a box set to scream about courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment -- The William Castle Film Collection!

From the Press Release

The master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks will be remembered on October 20 when the William Castle Film Collection debuts from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The set features eight of the legendary producer/director’s most notable films, including The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Homicidal (1961), Mr. Sardonicus (1961), and Strait-Jacket (1964). Also included in the collection are Zotz! (1962), The Old Dark House (1963), and 13 Frightened Girls (1963), each making their DVD debuts. The extensive bonus materials include original theatrical openings, alternate sequences, vintage footage,...