Cinema Fearité

At the height of his bout with alcoholism, acclaimed director John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Ronin) turned from his usual suspense-thrillers to direct a pure horror film called Prophecy.  Written by David Seltzer (who also wrote The Omen), Prophecy kept with Frankenheimer’s theme of making socially and philosophically relevant movies.  In Prophecy, he just used […]

For a time in the late seventies, movie theaters were filled with science fiction films while television was packed with cop shows.  Every film studio wanted a Star Wars just like every broadcast network wanted a “The Streets of San Francisco.”  In 1979, prolific television writer Stanford Whitmore had the idea to marry the space […]

There are two ways that a filmmaker can approach a horror film.  The first is to make a truly frightening and realistic film that will scare the audience long after they’ve finished watching the film.  The second way is to make the film so over the top ridiculous that shocks and screams are mixed with […]

There is something inherently creepy about twins.  There’s something about not being able to tell the difference between two beings, especially if one is good and one is evil, that is frightening, and horror writers have picked up on this fact.  From the separated conjoined sisters in Brian Depalma’s Sisters to the woman-sharing brothers in […]

Director Bert I. Gordon (nicknamed Mr. B.I.G.) was at the helm of some of the most creative and innovative sci-fi and horror films of the last century.  Gordon wrote and directed such great B-movies as The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants and The Amazing Colossal Man.  In 1960, Gordon made Tormented, his […]