It all began with the sound of thundering footsteps and a now-iconic roar before giving way to Akira Ifukube’s equally iconic music. Japanese cinema and monster movies worldwide would never be the same again. In the beginning, Godzilla represented the ultimate in fear and destruction. A creature so colossal, he could lay waste to entire cities just by lumbering through them and swinging his mighty tail before setting them ablaze with a burst of his atomic breath. Over the years he evolved from national terror to national treasure, becoming a protector and kind of mascot to the nation of Japan. He was transplanted and championed all over the world. Eventually he became a joke and a marketing tool used to sell everything from Fiats, to Snickers bars, to Nike shoes in a one-on-one pickup game with Charles Barkley. Within the past year, Godzilla has come full circle with the...
- 1/24/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
Svengoolie, a.k.a. Rich Koz, has been working as a horror host since 1979, and over the decades his show has grown from airing in select areas – Chicago, Milwaukee, and South Bend, for example – to being broadcast nationwide on the MeTV network. And in 2023, Svengoolie’s show is going to be growing in a different way. It’s going to be 30 minutes longer!
Fangoria broke the news that, staring in January, Svengoolie will now air from 8pm to 10:30 pm (Eastern) on Saturday nights. The show’s timeslot had previously been from 8 to 10. Here are the first batch of movies that will benefit from the show’s extended running time:
The Raven: Saturday, January 7 – 8pm-10:30pm Et
Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson (1963) – Horror
Inspired by the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem, a magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.
Fangoria broke the news that, staring in January, Svengoolie will now air from 8pm to 10:30 pm (Eastern) on Saturday nights. The show’s timeslot had previously been from 8 to 10. Here are the first batch of movies that will benefit from the show’s extended running time:
The Raven: Saturday, January 7 – 8pm-10:30pm Et
Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson (1963) – Horror
Inspired by the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem, a magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.
- 12/15/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
When looking at the landscape of Japanese cinema, it is hard to imagine it without the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Yasujiro Ozu, which, much due to their re-discovery and evaluation by European critics and film festivals, have gained a reputation of being part of the quintessential cinematic canon. However, when the boutique label Criterion announced their release of an edition of the first “Godzilla”-features, the event was met with both excitement from cinephiles, but also criticism, since many though there were many other titles more deserving of a treatment such as this. Among many other features, what this discussion highlighted was the narrow scope of many filmfans and so-called connoisseurs of the medium, but also the fact that Ishiro Honda, despite being highly regarded among his peers, most notable Kurosawa himself, never truly received the kind of acceptance his colleagues did. If there is any feature...
- 7/4/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
'The Beginning or the End' 1947 with Robert Walker and Tom Drake. Hiroshima bombing 70th anniversary: Six movies dealing with the A-bomb terror Seventy years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Ultimately, anywhere between 70,000 and 140,000 people died – in addition to dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and most other living beings in that part of the world. Three days later, America dropped a second atomic bomb, this time over Nagasaki. Human deaths in this other city totaled anywhere between 40,000-80,000. For obvious reasons, the evisceration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been a quasi-taboo in American films. After all, in the last 75 years Hollywood's World War II movies, from John Farrow's Wake Island (1942) and Mervyn LeRoy's Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor (2001), almost invariably have presented a clear-cut vision...
- 8/7/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Directed by Ishirô Honda, Japanese classic Gojira (1954) – or Godzilla – spawned 30-ish sequels, along with innumerable spin-offs and spoofs. You might have heard a tiny bit about one of them this week. Inspired by 1953's The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and the 1952 re-release of King Kong (1939), Gojira started a lengthy stream of Kaiju ("strange creature") films leading right up to Cloverfield (2008). And yet, I wonder how many of Big G's new fans have seen the original B&W version, and whether it can possibly stand up to scrutiny 60 years later? Armed with a free DVD from a newspaper that Loves demonising imaginary monsters, I set about acquainting myself.
The film begins with the mysterious sinking of not one, but two, model boats. This causes great consternation at the Maritime Safety Bureau, where hysterical families await news of their loved ones. Could it be an underwater volcano? Floating mines? "Send more ships!
The film begins with the mysterious sinking of not one, but two, model boats. This causes great consternation at the Maritime Safety Bureau, where hysterical families await news of their loved ones. Could it be an underwater volcano? Floating mines? "Send more ships!
- 5/17/2014
- Digital Spy
Sundance just ended, and we are already preparing for the next big film festival, South By Southwest. Not too long ago, the festival announced a few of the films premiering this year, but now they’ve announced the main slate. The midnight selections and some inevitable late-breaking additions are still to be announced, but this should be more than enough to get you excited. Along with many World Premieres, and Sundance favorites like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the line up also includes an anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and an extended Q&A screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel with Wes Anderson. SXSW 2014 runs March 7 through 15 in Austin, Texas. Check out the line up after the jump.
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
- 1/31/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The 2014 SXSW "Film Features Program" includes 115 titles, and along with the previously announced zombie culture documentary Doc of the Dead, there's a lot for the horror crowd...
...including special screenings of the original Godzilla and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early looks at upcoming TV shows "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series" and "Penny Dreadful," the U.S. premiere of Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality, and new films from the Spierig brothers, Nacho Vigalondo, and Jim Jarmusch.
The genre-heavy "Midnighter" lineup will be announced next week along with the list of short films, but in the meantime here are the horror highlights (or what we assume will be of interest given their descriptions) to be on the lookout for during the fest.
Note that new for 2014, they've introduced the "Episodic" category, created to highlight innovative new work hitting the small screen.
The 2014 SXSW Film Festival runs March 7-15 in awesome Austin,...
...including special screenings of the original Godzilla and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early looks at upcoming TV shows "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series" and "Penny Dreadful," the U.S. premiere of Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality, and new films from the Spierig brothers, Nacho Vigalondo, and Jim Jarmusch.
The genre-heavy "Midnighter" lineup will be announced next week along with the list of short films, but in the meantime here are the horror highlights (or what we assume will be of interest given their descriptions) to be on the lookout for during the fest.
Note that new for 2014, they've introduced the "Episodic" category, created to highlight innovative new work hitting the small screen.
The 2014 SXSW Film Festival runs March 7-15 in awesome Austin,...
- 1/31/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
Today the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced a diverse features lineup for this year’s Festival, the 21st edition and running March 7 – 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. The 2014 program expands on SXSW tradition of embracing a range of genres and span of budgets, featuring a wealth of vision from experienced and developing filmmakers alike.
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
- 1/31/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After announcing earlier this month that Jon Favreau’s Chef and the Veronica Mars movie will be making their world debuts at SXSW this year, the festival has revealed its full line-up, including further very promising world premieres, alongside appearances from some of the year’s most high-profile films.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
- 1/30/2014
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Not sure if there is a Short Term 12 equivalent in this year’s Narrative Feature Comp, but on paper SXSW programmers are serving up a mean (and the usual lean group of 8 out of a whopping 1,324 film entries) for the upcoming competitiuon of eight which includes notable entries (that we’ve been tracking for a good time now) such as Zachary Wigon’s The Heart Machine, John Magary’s The Mend, Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns and Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated docs of the year, on the non-fiction side we find Margaret Brown’s The Great Invisible. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the other sections (notable world preems in We’ll Never Have Paris and Faults (see Mary Elizabeth Winstead above), some Sundance items with Texan connections and other nuggets.
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
- 1/30/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Gojira (English title: Godzilla)
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Written by Ishirô Honda and Shigeru Kayama
Japan, 1954
Think of films such A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Frankenstein, Dracula, King Kong . Each is a horror film featuring a monster or a killer. Each was also made several decades ago. Despite this, people still watch, write about and discuss about all of them because of their respective artistic and in some cases historical merits. In essence, the importance of their age lessons when compared to the various impacts they left on film fans the world over. Yet another common thread linking them is that their individual successes spawned a long line of mostly flawed, disappointing remakes, sequels and prequels. The subsequent installments sometimes tarnish the legacy of the original to the point where common movie goers are not even aware of what made the first episode special in the first place. Godzilla,...
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Written by Ishirô Honda and Shigeru Kayama
Japan, 1954
Think of films such A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Frankenstein, Dracula, King Kong . Each is a horror film featuring a monster or a killer. Each was also made several decades ago. Despite this, people still watch, write about and discuss about all of them because of their respective artistic and in some cases historical merits. In essence, the importance of their age lessons when compared to the various impacts they left on film fans the world over. Yet another common thread linking them is that their individual successes spawned a long line of mostly flawed, disappointing remakes, sequels and prequels. The subsequent installments sometimes tarnish the legacy of the original to the point where common movie goers are not even aware of what made the first episode special in the first place. Godzilla,...
- 2/1/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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