Author Archives: chipkaufmann

By 1961 the low budget American science fiction film was beginning to realize that its days were numbered. Entrepreneurs led by producer-director Roger Corman had discovered that it was possible to purchase quality Soviet Bloc/Iron Curtain movies (which had excellent production values) for only a few thousand dollars. The films were then brought to America whereContinue reading “PHANTOM PLANET (1961): Low Budget Sci-Fi Offering Has Its Merits”

Very few celluloid ghost stories take the less is more approach. Notable early examples are a 1942 movie called THUNDER ROCK which dealt with an embittered lighthouse keeper who encounters the ghosts of those who drowned near his lighthouse. Then there was Hollywood’s 1944 offering, THE UNINVITED. Next year came the watershed anthology DEAD OF NIGHTContinue reading “THE AWAKENING (2011): A Derivative But Excellent Ghost Story That Should Be Better Known”

In 1929 Carl Laemmle, the founder and head of Universal Pictures, decided to make his son, 21 year old Carl Junior, the head of production at the studio. The fact that Junior had no previous production experience was no big deal. Carl Sr. was famous for his nepotism. When the family was forced to sell Universal in 1936,Continue reading “KING OF JAZZ (1930): Junior Lammle’s Folly Is A Fantastic Time Capsule”

1932 was a remarkable  year in film for Bela Lugosi. After his success in DRACULA the previous year, he made 5 movies for 5 different studios. After starting out with MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE for Universal, he made WHITE ZOMBIE for United Artists, CHANDU THE MAGICIAN for Fox, THE DEATH KISS for KBS Productions, and finallyContinue reading “THE DEATH KISS (1932) Is Not A Horror Film Despite Bela Lugosi”

With all the attention being paid to Robert Eggers new version of NOSFERATU, the time seems right to revisit Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake of the classic 1922 German silent version which Herzog called NOSFERATU: PHANTOM OF THE NIGHT. It is more of an homage as opposed to a rethinking of the material which, for those who may notContinue reading “Werner Herzog’s 1979 NOSFERATU Is A Meditation On Life, Death, & Immortality”

In 2023 Flicker Alley released LAUREL & HARDY – YEAR ONE which featured all the silent shorts that L&H made in 1927. Most of them did not feature them as a team. By the following year they were inseparable and the comedies they made together featured one gem after another. Most people don’t know that L&H began theirContinue reading “LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR TWO – THE 1928 SHORTS”

1932 was Bela Lugosi’s banner year in the movies. Coming off the success of DRACULA, he was a hot property although already viewed only as a horror movie actor like his Hollywood peer, Boris Karloff. Karloff was able to overcome this designation and went on to have a storied career on stage and TV asContinue reading “CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (1932) Is Fun To Watch But Not To Listen To (Except For Bela)”

It has been 40+ years since Robert Altman’s POPEYE first made its appearance to withering reviews but a healthy box office ($60 million on a $20 million budget) and it has been 10 years since Robin Williams left us after a brilliant career and a tragic end. With that in mind, I feel the time isContinue reading “Robert Altman’s & Robin Williams’ POPEYE 40+ Years Later”

When  the original version of THE HAUNTING came out in 1963, it received good critical reviews and did lukewarm box office business although most people who saw it thought it was the scariest movie they had ever seen.  That’s because it had been carefully crafted to have that effect on an audience. Director Robert Wise hadContinue reading “Val Lewton Inspired Haunted House Movie Still Packs A Punch”

Edward L. Cahn (1899-1963) was an extremely prolific B movie director who cranked out 128 films from 1931-1962 (that’s an average of 4 films a year). He began by making several OUR GANG / LITTLE RASCALS comedies for MGM before moving on to B movie features in the 1940s. He covered the basic B movie genres (Western,Continue reading “CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955): Sci-Fi Meets Film Noir”