Author Archives: chipkaufmann

…no, not the Marvel AVENGERS of today but the original British THE AVENGERS from the late 1960s. It’s no wonder that Christopher Lee didn’t want to do this this movie after the abomination that was DRACULA A.D. 1972 but fortunately he was persuaded and this final film in the Hammer Dracula series is a fittingContinue reading “DRACULA Meets THE AVENGERS…”

That was my assessment in 1972 when I was 20 years old and right in the middle of the target demographic for this film. What would my reaction be 40 years later? Pretty much the same and for the same reasons. I hated the music, I hated the “totally cool” dialogue which was outdated inContinue reading “DRACULA A .D. 1972 Is Almost Unwatchable”

Finally a decent DVD version of one of my favorite Euro-Horror films is cause for rejoicing. TORTURE CHAMBER (not the original title which is THE SNAKE PIT AND THE PENDULUM) is a German made film from 1967 by Krimi specialist Harald Reinl. It has outstanding camerawork and some outrageous set pieces. Think of Poe’s PITContinue reading “TORTURE CHAMBER (1967) / DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER (1973): Dynamic Euro-Horror Twinbill in Gorgeous Prints”

Although Christopher Lee appears in every film, this collection should really be called the Harry Alan Towers collection. Towers (who just died in July at the age of 88) was a prolific low budget English producer who was responsible for all of these films and, unlike Roger Corman, was rarely able to make a silkContinue reading “THE CHRISTOPHER LEE COLLECTION Should Be Retitled”

I was a big Mario Bava fan until he made BLOOD & BLACK LACE (1964) and swapped Gothic for Giallo. A few films like KILL BABY KILL (1966) and BARON BLOOD (1972) return to his Gothic roots but most of his later movies just aren’t my cup of tea. After years of seeing bad TVContinue reading “HERCULES Meets BLACK SUNDAY”

I first saw FACE BEHIND THE MASK on TV when I was 10 years old. That was back in 1963. The print wasn’t very good even for that time and it was billed as a horror movie which it wasn’t but still, even at that young age, I was moved by Peter Lorre’s acting andContinue reading “THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (1941) Is Finally Given A First Class Release”

What happened to MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is a textbook case of studio interference ruining a potential masterpiece. After preparing the original FRANKENSTEIN project only to have it handed to James Whale (who retained the idea of the stolen criminal brain), original director Robert Florey and star Bela Lugosi (who rejected the part ofContinue reading “MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932): Studio Tampering At Its Worst”

I first encountered this version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND back in the early 1960s when I was home from school recovering from a bad cold. In those days your local TV station would show morning movies before the game shows started. I only saw it that one time until many years later but I neverContinue reading “ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1933)”

Not your father’s AIW could easily have described this version when it first appeared in 1966 and it can still be used to describe it over 50 years later. There’s no two ways about it, people either love or hate this adaptation by Jonathan Miller (read some of the other reviews) and it’s easy toContinue reading “ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1966)”

When I was growing up in Greenville SC in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, I was somewhat familiar with what used to be known as “Country & Western” music as my family had a friend, a former pro football player, who worked as a DJ at one of the local radio stations thatContinue reading “SECOND FIDDLE TO A STEEL GUITAR: A Trip Down Memory Lane In More Ways Than One”