Juneau, the beautiful capital city of Alaska, is home to a monster (and I’m not talking about any former governors). At least, it is home to a monster in a forthcoming “sort of” documentary, Mongo: The Ice Monster of Juneau. Or, more accurately, it isn’t. Continue reading
One of my favourite TV channels these days is Talking Pictures TV – a place that gives new life to old movies, many of them obscure, but most an absolute joy in one way or other. Recently [I write this in June 2016] I watched back-to-back a couple of low-budget films I’d recorded from the … Continue reading
Francesa Louise White is one of those emerging talents who seems to be busy on one project after another – or more accurately, several at a time. So, I was especially pleased when she agreed to an interview for Piece of Pink Pie. Continue reading
A group of would-be ghost hunters, seeking internet fame, breaks into an abandoned asylum in search of evidence of the supernatural. But instead of creaking floorboards and flickering lights, they find a lot more than they bargained for. There are apparitions that can only be seen through a camera, not with the naked eye, and … Continue reading
A low-budget independent film series which pitches werewolves, vampires and zombies against a specialist police team is always likely to be a winner in my book. And so Cops and Monsters has turned out to be. Yet the nature of filming on a shoestring means things can change quickly off-screen as well as on, so … Continue reading
There have been plenty of Frankenstein ‘reimaginings’ (as we call them these days) over the years, but one excellent recent example didn’t even feature a Frankenstein at all. Continue reading
Remember Torchwood? A Doctor Who TV spin-off for grown-ups – dark, but often fun, and containing those post-9pm ‘adult themes’. Torchwood was a specialist government unit of attractive people, led by a Scot with an American accent (or is John Barrowman an American with a Scottish accent?), dealing with various alien creatures on the streets … Continue reading
Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus, creator of the ‘monster’, and inspiration for all those mad scientists, has been portrayed in countless movies since the original 1910 adaptation of the Mary Shelley story. Usually he’s Dr Victor Frankenstein (as in the book), but sometimes Henry, or Baron von Frankenstein, or one of his many descendants (check this … Continue reading
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho has, no doubt, fuelled many nightmares since its release 50-plus years ago, but the only Psycho-related nightmare I have is that one day someone might turn it into a musical. I find musicals disturbing at the best of times (except Singin’ in the Rain, of course), but imagine a musical about Norman’s … Continue reading
The Monster carries his victim into a spooky cave, and a fake bat on a string flaps in front of him, just as real bats flit more convincingly in front the screen. Special effects? Nature can provide something much more special, when films are shown in unusual locations. In this case, it was the 1935 … Continue reading
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