Marsh wren in the fennel. Taken Sept. 2025 in #Petaluma, #California. #birds #birdphotography #sonomacounty #m43
In my fourth decade as a freelance writer. Currently focused on screenwriting and Psychotronic Review (https://psychotronicreview.com/)
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Marsh wren in the fennel. Taken Sept. 2025 in #Petaluma, #California. #birds #birdphotography #sonomacounty #m43
Imagine a book. The first page says only, "There is only one kind of real man." Then there were 200 pages of conflicting rubbish - some related to the issue. And then the last page said only, "Remember: only one kind of man!" You'd call it reactionary. This is why I call Zardoz (1974) reactionary.
Other Hal Ashby films of note: Shampoo Bound for Glory Coming Home His film "8 Million Ways to Die" is widely hated. I haven't seen it but must now.
I just learned that Graham Greene died. My favorite of his films is a little Canadian TV film called Medicine River (1993). Here is the whole film. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT17...
Hal Ashby and New Hollywood The director of "Harold and Maude," "The Last Detail," and "Being There" was born on this day in 1929. psychotronicreview.com/2025/09/02/h...
Here's my idea of a defense of Alfred Hitchcock. I'm a fan of his work. But I'm not a fan of critical opinion about him. The tendency to intellectualize what are generally good genre films disgusts me. Also: Vertigo ain't it. psychotronicreview.com/2020/05/22/v...
"Rear Window": Hitchcock Worth Watching It's hard to find a more overrated director than Hitchcock -- especially considering his later films. But "Rear Window," released this day in 1954, is quite good. psychotronicreview.com/2025/09/01/r...
Julie Brown Is Not a Blonde The comedian and songwriter is 67 years old today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/31/j...
Julie Brown's song "'Cause I'm a Blonde" is featured in "Earth Girls Are Easy." www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Wi...
In 1983, Julie Brown released the song "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun." It's a parody of 1950s teen tragedy songs. This was before the sharp rise in high school shootings in the late 90s. She hasn't performed it since Columbine. But it's great. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3y...
Julie Brown Is Not a Blonde The comedian and songwriter is 67 years old today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/31/j...
Frank Conniff for the Love of Psychotronic Film The icon of MST3K turns 69 today and we watch one of his favorite films, "The Night of the Hunter" (1955). psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/30/f...
Back in 2012, Frank Conniff wrote and produced "The Wonderful Pundits of Oz." It's wonderful. Listen for Emo Philips as a very evil Toto! podhouse90.libsyn.com/the-wonderfu...
Testing my new default featured image. This is pretty good for me. But I'll have an artist fix it soon! psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/
Capsule Review: The Godsend (1980) Weldon hated this film. I hate when he sounded like a regular film "critic." I think this film is really good -- very creepy! psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
This has received a fair amount of attention here (for me). I think it is simply that everyone loves TV's Frank!
I wrote this: forward.com/opinion/7656...
Frank Conniff for the Love of Psychotronic Film The icon of MST3K turns 69 today and we watch one of his favorite films, "The Night of the Hunter" (1955). psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/30/f...
For those of you who would rather watch Basket Case, here is a link to watch it without commercials for free: archive.org/details/bask...
Frank Henenlotter and Something Weird The director of Basket Case and Frankenhooker is 75 today! psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/29/f...
Capsule Review: The Blue Dahlia (1946) Feels a bit slow but quite an enjoyable noir with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Ding ding ding! Replace "repeating" with "creating" and you have The Bulwark, Lincoln Project, etc.
Capsule review of The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) The story falls apart in the last 15 minutes. But it is still worth watching just for Peter Lorre. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Capsule Review: Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) Not as good as I thought it was at 8. But still quite watchable. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Turbo Kid, RKSS & More Abuse Turbo Kid was released 10 years ago today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/28/t...
Here is the short film that the guys originally made that resulted in Turbo Kid, "T Is for Turbo." vimeo.com/29852932
Turbo Kid, RKSS & More Abuse Turbo Kid was released 10 years ago today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/28/t...
Paul Reubens: Brilliant Purveyor of Weird He would be 73 today. And I've found a great store of Pee-Wee's Playhouse episodes! psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/27/p...
This is not long before his amazing performance in Othello!
Some notable people involved with Pee-wee's Playhouse: * John Paragon (collaborator of Elvira/Cassandra Peterson) * Phil Hartman * Laurence Fishburne The last one is a great example of how acting training is mostly about losing your sense of embarrassment!
For those who don't want to read my article, here is the Archive page with great prints of 12 Pee-wee's Playhouse episodes and the Christmas special. It's amazing stuff -- even after all these years! archive.org/details/pee-...
Paul Reubens: Brilliant Purveyor of Weird He would be 73 today. And I've found a great store of Pee-Wee's Playhouse episodes! psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/27/p...
“Devil Doll”: Best Evil Ventriloquist Film? Released this day in 1964. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/26/d...
Capsule review of Rear Window (1954) The rare color Hitchcock film I enjoyed! psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
“Devil Doll”: Best Evil Ventriloquist Film? Released this day in 1964. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/26/d...
Newsletter: My 16,000 word opus - How To Argue With An AI Booster, a comprehensive guide to arguing with AI boosters, addressing both their bad faith debate style and their specific (and flimsy) arguments as to why generative AI is the future. www.wheresyoured.at/how-to-argue...
It's telling that 5 years ago, everything was "Blockchain-powered." I don't see it anymore. Now it's all "AI-powered." Every decade or so, we get some "new" technology that the business community and media claim is super important. Then it vanishes. (But I'm told AI is different!)
"Blacula" and Afrocentrism By the name, you might think it was campy but it's a serious and excellent film. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/25/b...
Capsule Review: Demonoid (1981) Don't listen to the haters. This is a great film! psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
I really liked Demonoid. It's a clever idea and it works well. The coda is terrible. Don't watch the coda! I don't understand why so many filmmakers can't just end their films. They don't need extra endings. They don't need the monster to come back a second time. This coda almost destroys the film.
I'm watching Demonoid (1981). Michael Weldon said it was "one of the worst horror films in years." But I think it's a hoot! www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwKU...
I really enjoyed this @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social pod about Covid & MAHA, but one thing it repeatedly revealed is a habit of liberals that drives me crazy. A short 🧵.
"Uninvited" and the Most Annoying Horror Trope I'm sure most college students are perfectly fine people. Why are they so horrible in horror films? psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/24/u...
Capsule Review: The Kindred (1987) Over-complicated plot and kind of slow for an hour but that last half hour... Wow! psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
The Evil Eye (1963) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Blood and Black Lace (1964) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Black Sunday (1960) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Other Mario Bava films worth watching: A Bay of Blood (1971) psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Black Sabbath — Mario Bava’s Great Anthology Film As far as I know, this was Bava's only anthology film. It's must viewing. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/23/b...
Capsule Review: The Hit (1984) One of the best crime dramas ever made. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Gunnar Hansen was the original Leatherface. He screwed for Part 2 where the producers gave him an insulting offer and then an even more insulting offer. The film would have done better with him in it - just for fan service.
As my friends know, I'm often very pedantic. So... The original film is "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Note that's "chain saw" and not "chainsaw." All the films after it used "chainsaw." This drives me crazy!
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Comedy Clarity Tobe Hooper was surprised viewers missed that the original was a comedy so he made it extra clear in the sequel. Note the poster is a parody of The Breakfast Club. I think a lot of people miss that too. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/22/t...
Capsule Review: The Boneyard (1991) I watched this thinking it was a comedy. It's not. But it could be with a different score. As is, the first hour is actually pretty great. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
The featured image above didn't come through as I wanted. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 poster was a parody of The Breakfast Club poster. Here they are together:
Capsule Review: Hold That Ghost (1941) I can't remember why I watched this. But it is impressive to what Abbott & Costello at the height of their powers. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Comedy Clarity Tobe Hooper was surprised viewers missed that the original was a comedy so he made it extra clear in the sequel. Note the poster is a parody of The Breakfast Club. I think a lot of people miss that too. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/22/t...
Bolton's Mug Shot:
Melvin Van Peebles and the Invention of Blaxploitation Even today, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is a challenging film but its importance cannot be understated. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/21/m...
I got my first flier about the upcoming redistricting measure. And of course it is against. I'm sure they will have unlimited money for this. I hope the California voters are smart enough to see through this. But I am not confident.
This shows the danger and opportunity of LLMs. LLMs are like PhotoShop. I can use PhotoShop but it doesn't make me an artist. Artists can use PhotoShop to do better work faster. The heavy lifting (the creativity) still needs to come from us. But I know many will say this is temporary.
I asked ChatGPT why it missed this. It answered that this episode wasn't discussed as much as the other information it provided. But I asked what TV Melvin directed Mario in. The information it provided was correct but not an answer to my question.
Melvin Van Peebles once directed Mario as an adult. It was the "Bodies of Evidence" episode of The Outer Limits. (Both the Google AI and ChatGPT missed this fact.) It's pretty good. Here it is on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6rK...
Twice in the last 2 weeks of doing film-based anniversary posts, I've had to discuss child sexual assault. I'm used to filmmakers being horrible people. I get it: being an a**hole is helpful getting things done. But sexual assault? We aren't talking 17-year-olds here; ages 9-13. The world is broken.
If you want to know more about Melvin Van Peedbles, you should watch Baadasssss (2003). It was co-written, directed, and starring Melvin's son, Mario. The film is embedded in the article.
Melvin Van Peebles and the Invention of Blaxploitation Even today, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is a challenging film but its importance cannot be understated. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/21/m...
Capsule review: Sabotage (1936) A solid film during Hitchcock's best period. Starring Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, and John Loder. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
I've entirely changed my opinion of Leslie Halliwell. He's really quite the hack. But I love his rating system. I wish more people would use it.
Ray Wise: Varied Character Actor The murderer of Laura Palmer turns 78 today! psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/20/r...
In this article, I highlight a Ray Wise film you probably haven't seen, Dead End (2003). It's really good! And I have an embed of the film for all to watch. I'd like more people to see it!
Without watching the video, I can't tell if he's talking about Trump or Putin. These people really are part of a cult.
Ray Wise: Varied Character Actor The murderer of Laura Palmer turns 78 today! psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/20/r...
Angus Scrimm and The Tall Man This very unique actor would be 99 today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/19/a...
According to Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm was happy when told he would play a priest in "John Dies at the End" -- a normal part for a change. Not so much! NSFW www.dailymotion.com/video/xwp19n
Fun fact you may not know about Angus Scrimm: He was a writer for Capitol Records and its labels. As such, he was nominated for 5 Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes. He won once in 1975 for the classical album Korngold: The Classic Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Angus Scrimm and The Tall Man This very unique actor would be 99 today. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/19/a...
Roman Polanski and the Evil Artist psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/18/r...
It's not just Roman Polanski's personal behavior. I like his work and I like his interest in horror. But like most directors people claim are great, I just don't see him being categorically different from most professional directors.
Roman Polanski and the Evil Artist psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/18/r...
Capsule Review: Dr Terror’s Gallery of Horrors (1967) Pretty dreadful film with some good ideas that deserve way better. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
I watched "Dr Terror's Gallery of Horrors" (Not "Dr Terror's House of Horrors") earlier today. I am generally not one to mock films. And there *are* things to like here (some of the story ideas are good). But I wouldn't blame anyone for going full-MST3K on this one! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiLm...
"The Exorcist III" Is the Best of the Trilogy The first film is great but I never watch it anymore. The second film is a glorious mess. But the third film? It never disappoints. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/17/e...
"The Exorcist III" features a great cast led by George C Scott. This includes Jason Miller (from the first film) and Brad Dourif playing the same character. Ed Flanders and Nicol Williamson both play priests. Nancy Fish plays a nurse.
William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay for The Exorcist (1973) based on his novel. He went on to write and direct two films: The Ninth Configuration and The Exorcist III. Both are excellent films (links to both in the article above). It's sad he didn't direct more!
"The Exorcist III" Is the Best of the Trilogy The first film is great but I never watch it anymore. The second film is a glorious mess. But the third film? It never disappoints. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/17/e...
James Cameron and the Decline of Fun He made a lot of fun films during the first part of his career. His recent films are super popular but (I think) boring. But happy birthday, anyway. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/16/j...
Capsule Review: Uninvited (1987) This is the film where the monster is an evil cat living inside a nice, long-haired orange house cat. It's tons of fun is you don't mind how low-budget and ridiculous it all is. psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/...
Note that James Cameron appears to be a horrible person. I wrote about this 7+ years ago, "James Cameron: No Actor’s Director." psychotronicreview.com/2018/05/07/j...
James Cameron and the Decline of Fun He made a lot of fun films during the first part of his career. His recent films are super popular but (I think) boring. But happy birthday, anyway. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/16/j...
I will totally pretend to be an expert on this matter and tell you that pinball machines are an excellent investment! A pinball machine purchased in 1969 is just as awesome today as it was then!
I wrote about the original film last month. It is way better than you probably remember! psychotronicreview.com/2025/07/16/f...
"The Fly" (1986) and Pregnancy as Disease There's an interesting contrast between the unnatural and natural changes taking place with the two principals in this exceptional remake. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/15/f...
"The Fly" (1986) and Pregnancy as Disease There's an interesting contrast between the unnatural and natural changes taking place with the two principals in this exceptional remake. psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/15/f...
"Santa Jaws" and the Sumer Christmas Film Why did Syfy release this sweet Christmas horror film in August? No idea... psychotronicreview.com/2025/08/14/s...
Santa Jaws was directed by Misty Talley. She is resident editor and director at Fable House. She directed 3 other shark films for Syfy: Zombie Sharks, Ozark Sharks, and Mississippi River Sharks. But she works primarily (and a lot) as an editor. www.mistytalley.com