What is the mysterious and undoubtedly quite shocking secret of Boyne Castle? Is it that its dark and creepy parapets are haunted by a vindictive banshee intent on screeching at visitors so they can’t get a good night’s sleep? Continue reading “The Secret of Boyne Castle (1969)”
Category: 1960s
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
Things get off to a promising start with Vincent Price‘s Verden Fell arguing with small-minded church types who are refusing to let him bury his dead witch of a wife, Ligeia, in one of the official cemeteries with their fancy consecrated land just because she supposedly said something before she died about how she would never die. I was thinking, “heck Verden, why don’t you just keep her almost-dead ass in a secret room in your fancy abbey and let her screw with your mind for the rest of your miserable life” and by golly if that’s what Verden went and did. Continue reading “The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)”
79 A.D. (1962)
A lot of folks ask me why they should care about ancient history in general and old Italian gladiator movies about ancient history in particular. Who cares whether some guy named Feces Maximus fought a guy named Flatulence the Elder over a beautiful girl named Chlamydia? What does that have to do with my life here in the futuristic present where people have normal names like Barack and Kanye? Continue reading “79 A.D. (1962)”
The Wild Angels (1966)
If you take away nothing else from this less-than-rousing biker flick, you would do well to remember that in the motorcycle gang, the woman that belongs to you is your “old lady” and the woman that belongs to the whole gang is a “mama.” Continue reading “The Wild Angels (1966)”
King of Kings (1961)
As soon as King of Kings began, I felt my heart race and my left arm go numb when the narrator (Orson Welles) intoned that the year is 63 B.C. Maybe I don’t know a whole lot about this religious stuff, but I was smart enough to notice that we were starting things way before Jesus was ever immaculately conceived, let alone bugging Romans. I wondered just how much pre-game hype I was going to have to sit through. After all, I was paying to see a film about Christ and his times, not about how crappy everyone had it until he showed up. Continue reading “King of Kings (1961)”
Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Uh, so where the magic beans? If I’m watching a movie called Jack the Giant Killer, then I have to believe that somewhere along the way, I’m going to see a dude named Jack get hoodwinked into trading grandma’s cow for some magic beans. Continue reading “Jack the Giant Killer (1962)”
Prehistoric Women (1967)
Prehistoric Women starts off promisingly enough. And by that I mean the suitably lurid poster art depicts a jungle queen perched on a saber-toothed tiger’s head while an evil tiki god looked on behind her. (Of course no saber-toothed tiger appeared in the film, but the jungle queen repeatedly shimmied for your amusement.) Continue reading “Prehistoric Women (1967)”