🎬 There have been only three times in my life when I can remember feeling a cold chill up my spine when finishing the last page of a novel, and all were in recent years. The first time was when I read the 1962 novel FAIL SAFE, written by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The second time was FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, the 1966 novel by Daniel Keyes.
MIKE'S MOVIE ROOM

FILM REVIEWS, COLLECTION UPDATES, COMMENTS ON CINEMATIC CULTURE
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Notes From the Movie Room April 27, 2025
Friday, March 28, 2025
THE EXPLOSIVE GENERATION (1961)
William Shatner, in his iconic role as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV show and the films which followed, did heroic battle with Klingons, Romulans, Kahn and all kinds of dangerous alien characters. But long before he took flight on the Starship Enterprise (He's still there, by the way.), the talented Canadian actor found himself caught up in an even more heated confrontation. In his first starring movie role, Shatner plays a high school teacher who finds himself trapped in the middle of an eternal, universal conflict: teenagers suffering from hormonal overload and the attempts by their frantic parents to make sure those hormones stay unloaded until the little darlings finish college and get married.
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William Shatner seems shocked to find himself beamed into a high school classroom. |
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Patty McCormack, the "Bad Seed" herself, all grown up and filled out. Lee Kinsolving is second from the right. |
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The morning after effect. Lee Kinsolving, Billy Gray, Patty McCormack and Suzi Carnell feeling guilty. |
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Concerned and well-dressed parents: Virginia Field and Arch Johnson |
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Mrs. Sommers finds it difficult to struggle through making a high-tech breakfast with Janet's raging hormones filling the kitchen. What IS a mother to do? |
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A generation explodes!! Actually, it's more like a pep rally than a protest. Things will heat up considerably in a few years when the Baby Boomers take over. |
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Beau Bridges and Patty McCormack |
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Lee Kinsolving and Billy Gray, obviously up to no good! |
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Billy Gray and Beau Bridges |
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Gorgeous Patty McCormack |
Monday, March 24, 2025
SOMETHING WILD (1961)
Recently, I've been rewatching films that have been in my collection for years, many of which I've only seen once. I especially wanted to see films that I remember loving and to find out if the "second watch" experience would change my feelings. This little project ended with more than a few DVDs being added to my "to give away" pile.
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Ralph Meeker and Carroll Baker |
Ralph Meeker found fame in the Broadway production of PICNIC in 1954. His best-known film role is KISS ME DEADLY (1955), in which he plays detective Mike Hammer. He was also in Stanley Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY (1957), THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), and played Tuesday Weld's father in I WALK THE LINE (1970). After suffering from several strokes, he died in 1988 at the age of 67.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
A TOUR OF MY MOVIE ROOM
THE TRUTH REVEALED!!
UNTOLD UNTIL NOW!!
SEE CLUTTER YOU WOULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT POSSIBLE!!
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OBSESSIVE COLLECTING TAKES OVER!!
OK, Mike...let's not get overdramatic. Just show the pictures.
I moved into this eccentric old house thirty-five years ago, and, like me, it has only gotten more eccentric as the years go on. A story and a half, three bedrooms, two up and one down. Hardwood floors that crreeaakkk more every year. Lots of windows, including a living room that gets light from three directions. A creepy basement and an even creepier crawlspace. The house is strange and weird and suits me perfectly. The spare bedroom upstairs has always been used as a sort of retreat area. When I first moved in, I furnished it with a loveseat, a 13-inch TV and some shelves to display my VHS collection and even had a cassette tape player so I could listen to music. Eventually, when I gave in reluctantly to the DVD phenomenon, the room started getting a little crowded. My original shelving system gave way to more efficient ways to store my growing DVD collection, and I began collecting poster art and pictures for the walls.
Following the death of my last VCR and the demise of my VHS collection, I made more changes, eventually getting my first flatscreen TV. That was ten years ago, and I still have that same Samsung 40-inch set. Works perfectly. The collection kept expanding, more shelves were needed and even the loveseat had to go because I needed the wall space. The collecting thing started getting serious around the same time I started finding other like-minded collectors on Youtube and checking out their impressive movie rooms. My room has never been that impressive and my collection isn't close to what so many other Youtubers have amassed, but I'm happy with what I have, and my room is very comfortable. As of now, my collection stands at a little more that 4,300 titles, mostly DVDs, but a growing number of Blu-rays. 4K has not yet entered into my radar. Maybe someday.
So, let's take a look around.
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Here's a nice overview of one side of the room. I rely on Dracula to keep watch over the collection for me. |
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Another overview. The DVD shelves came from Best Buy and the bookshelves came from Wal-Mart. |
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These shelves contain my miscellaneous DVDs and box sets. Most of the posters came from Creepy Classics. |
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My TV and a wall filled with Barbara Steele. The TV cabinet is actually a stereo cabinet that I turned over on its side. I don't have a sound system. |
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Another wall of Barbara Steele over my horror-sci-fi section. |
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And still more Steele! |
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Non-horror Kino-Lorber DVDs/Blu-rays, followed by the bulk of my non-horror and non-Film Noir Blu-ray collection. |
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Classic TV display. I like to change the display every once in a while. Route 66 (1960-64) is still my all-time favorite TV show. |
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More TV, with Film Noir to the left. |
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My DVDs from The Video Beat. Teen angst dramas, rock 'n roll shows & documentaries, cool 60s TV shows like Hullabaloo and Shindig. |
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Toy robots from Alpha Video and Space 1999. |
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My Arrow Video collection. |
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Doorway art. |
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My Dave Koenig wall: A Fiend On Film. He designed the top two posters. |
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This way to the Twilight Zone. |
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A Ray Dennis Steckler hat and Barbara's autograph. Dracula is enjoying the sun for a change. |
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
OSCAR WARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD IN GOLD, SWEAT AND TEARS by Michael Schulman
It was pure coincidence that I finished this excellent book right about the time when the Oscar nominations for 2024 were being announced. But what better time could there be? Oscar Buzz was in the air, and my head was buzzing with all the inside information about the origins of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927 and its evolution since then. Rest assured that Michael Schulman's book will tell you everything you ever wanted to know, and then some.
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
MIKE'S QUICK-STOP COMMENTARIES
FROM THE TERRACE (1960)
High-grade soap opera and enjoyable from start to finish. Paul Newman plays the son of Leon Ames, an unloving father and the owner of a steel plant that he expects Paul to work in and end up as miserable as his father. Myrna Loy plays Paul's unhappy alcoholic mother. Paul escapes all of this negativity through aggressive social climbing and marriage to high society doll Joanne Woodward, eventually becoming a big wheel in an investment firm in the Big Apple. But he soon finds out that all work and no home life result in an unhappy wife who starts sleeping around as a cure for her loneliness. Paul is beset by existential angst until he meets simple country girl Ina Balin, who just happens to be drop-dead gorgeous. Will Paul escape from his meaningless existence and find true love in the country with sweet, simple, drop-dead gorgeous Ina? What do you think? Top acting honors go to Miss Loy.
PICTURE MOMMY DEAD (1966)
Strange little movie about the most dysfunctional family imaginable. Adolescent Susan Gordon, having spent three years in a convent hospital following the mysterious death of her mother, Zsa Zsa Gabor, returns home to find herself surrounded by a group of despicable adults, all of whom are apparently out to get her. The film, directed by Miss Gordon's father, Bert I. Gordon, isn't terribly good, but it does have the advantage of a decent cast of actors and some very striking sets and art direction. Don Ameche plays the father, and Martha Hyer plays the evil, grasping stepmother. As Susan Gordon is in nearly every scene, the entire project rests on her, which is the biggest problem with the film. Her acting range is severely limited, and she spends most of the time with the same perplexed look on her face, no matter what's happening. Miss Gabor is an elegant, ghostly presence, a role that doesn't overtax her own acting abilities. Actually, I thought she was the best thing about the movie, which gives you an indication of what we're dealing with here. I managed to stay wide awake until the end, at which point I was rewarded with one of the most bizarre and truly distasteful plot twists I've experienced in quite a while, a twist I did not see coming. With Anna Lee, Wendell Corey and Signe Hasso.
THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN (1979)Wednesday, January 1, 2025
NOSFERATU (2024)
Providing indisputable proof that some crypts should remain sealed, and some coffins should be permanently nailed shut, we have yet another version of NOSFERATU currently keeping audiences enthralled in theaters. This remake has been given to us by director Robert Eggers, the undeniably talented, creative gentleman who directed THE WITCH (2015), THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019, and THE NORTHMEN (2022). I haven't seen the latter film, but I was greatly impressed by THE WITCH when I saw it during its big screen release. Eggers' slow-burn approach with THE WITCH is also present in this new film, although at 132 minutes, one might say that approach was overdone.
I already had mixed feelings about this film before going to see it. After reading several reviews and listening to commentaries on Youtube, my expectations were rather low. But I also wasn't that enthusiastic about seeing a remake of a classic silent film, F. W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece, which had already been brilliantly updated by Werner Herzog in1979. What did we need with this remake, which Eggers himself described as a "passion project"? How could this man, talented as he was, hope to improve on the two previous efforts?
Having survived all 132 minutes of the movie without missing a single scene (although my beleaguered body was crying out for a bathroom break), my overall impression is negative. There are some good sequences and some very good performances. But there is a pervading feeling of frenetic desperation about the production, as if Eggers was so determined to outdo his predecessors that he threw in as much action, gore and Gothic overkill as he possibly could.
There's no need to describe the plot, since anyone reading this blog post is already familiar with the saga of Count Orlock, who is based on Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The 2024 screenplay, written by Eggers, follows the original storyline, but with one major difference. Eggers chose to alter the character of Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), the wife of Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), the real estate agent who journeys to Count Orlock's castle, thereby setting all of the evil events into motion. Eggers' vision makes Ellen the central character, establishing a dark, spiritual connection between her and the Count, which is not, in my opinion, satisfactorily explained. Apparently, the very young Ellen, lonely and afraid, prays for a guardian angel to come and protect her. Because of some cosmic glitch in the human-to-angel communication lines, she got in touch with Count Orlock, the darkest angel of them all. (Let's meditate for a moment on the power of prayer.) So then, all of the evil that befalls Thomas, his family, and his village has been preordained. Got it. Sort of.
I have to hand it to Miss Depp, the second generation of the Johnny Depp cinematic dynasty. She works hard in this movie. Not only is she playing a traditional Gothic horror film heroine/victim, which consists of wandering through dark rooms looking frightened in a series of lush facial closeups, but she is also asked to perform all manner of bizarre physical stunts. You see, Ellen isn't just spiritually connected to Count Orlock; she's also possessed by him as one would be possessed by a demon. And when Ellen feels the demonic thing coming on, she suddenly starts performing an exhausting combination of cleverly choreographed contortions, fits of shaking, screaming, and some really ugly facial expressions, all of which are meant to show us her evil side and frighten us out of our wits. Personally, I didn't find these acrobatics all that scary, but I must give credit to Miss Depp for her obvious dedication to the character. By the way, I didn't stay for the end credits, but I strongly suspect that Linda Blair was listed as technical consultant for demonic demonstrations.
In my opinion, the changes made to the Ellen character added nothing to the story besides distractions and opportunities for the director to inject ugliness and morbidity into an already dark-themed story. They also add unnecessary screen time. I also have to wonder if Eggers was bowing to modern-day gender sensibilities by adding more aggression to Ellen, perhaps to satisfy those who prefer more of a dominant, girl-boss heroine. Perhaps Eggers felt that Ellen's act of self-sacrifice in offering her life to Orlock to save her village, as depicted in the two earlier films, was outdated.
The look of the film is exceedingly dark, as I suppose it should be. However, it's not clear if all of the darkness was intentional, or because someone simply neglected to pay the electric bill on several shooting days. There are some incredible visual sequences from cinematographer Jaron Blaschke, who worked on Eggers' previous films, as well as KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023). Many scenes, however, are framed in such a way that it was like watching a widescreen movie on my 27" Sony Trinitron, pan and scanned to fit the small screen. The combination of a roving camera, darkness and the overuse of soft focus was unpleasing to my eyes. I was reminded of a recent film, A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023), a film I detested, which was photographed in the same way. Compare the look of this film to the works of Mario Bava, who knew how to make practically every scene in a film look like a still picture. The same can be said of the horror films of Roger Corman and the best efforts from England's Hammer Studio.
I found the performances to be quite good, notwithstanding Miss Depp's orgiastic gymnastics. Nicholas Hoult is beautifully restrained as the ill-fated Thomas, making his portrayal a slow burn in itself, and his increasing fear and suffering is completely believable. Simon McBurney as Herr Knock, the slave of Count Orlock, plays crazy quite well, and is called upon to give a physical performance nearly as taxing as Miss Depp's. I will be happy to forget the scene where he bites the head off of a dove. Willem Dafoe is somewhat verbose and irritating much of the time as Professor Von Franz, the Van Helsing-inspired character. However, his final scene more than makes up for it.
Then there is Bill Skarsgard as Orlock/Nosferatu, the most troublesome characterization in the film. Granted, I can't help but compare this incarnation of Count Orlock to the truly unique and terrifying image of Max Schreck from the silent film. Klaus Kinski's effective portrayal in the Herzog film paid homage to the uncanny Schreck, and justifiably so. Eggers obviously decided some serious updating was necessary, again, no doubt, to impress modern audiences who have been spoiled by CGI monstrosities in the franchise universe. So, Orlock is remade into a sort of demonic sexual predator with superpowers, rather than a once-human creature filled with a desperate need for blood in order to survive until the next sundown. I will give Skarsgard credit for his commanding presence and use of movement. He wears all of that makeup well. I just don't think the character is the least bit mysterious or frightening. But hey, what do I know?
Eggers does get credit form me for showing some restraint and not making the film as graphically violent as it certainly could have been. I'm also quite surprised that he only spent $50,000,000 on the film. When I last checked, the box office returns have nearly reached that amount, so it looks as though the film will be a hit. And I hereby predict a few Oscar and Golden Globes nominations for the movie. You heard it here first, folks.
Perhaps after this most recent, and definitely most ambitious, cinematic resurrection, Count Orlock, or what's left of him, will be allowed to decay in eternal repose. Of course, the ending of the film is somewhat ambiguous regarding Ellen's fate. Is she really dead, or just the next Nosferatu in the making? Could a sequel happen? If so, then Miss Depp needs to keep up those Pilates classes.