Cult Movies

Actress Carol Lynley in The Shape of Things to Come. The 1970s were a problematic decade for Hollywood film actresses; still, it’s hard to understand why Carol Lynley’s post-The Poseidon Adventure movies consisted almost invariably of low-to-micro-budget, largely ignored fare. Examples include the H.G. Wells-inspired…

Ann Sothern: Actress in Maisie movie series enjoyed two Hollywood career peaks. Ann Sothern, an actress in Hollywood and, somewhat briefly, on Broadway since the late 1920s, became a star in 1939, courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Edwin L. Marin-directed low-budget comedy Maisie. That led to the…

Hal Prince. Out of his record-setting 21 Tony Awards, eight were as Best Director of a Musical for the following: Cabaret (at the 1967 ceremony), Company (1971), Follies (1972, with Michael Bennett), Candide (1974), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Evita (1980),…

Boom! movie with Elizabeth Taylor: Critically panned box office disaster featuring memorable headwear and situations. ‘Boom!’ movie: Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton critical & box office bomb reappraised as ‘cult classic’ fare If you’ve never seen Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s 1968 vanity production Boom!,…

The Beast with a Million Eyes: Hardly truth in advertising as Roger Corman’s micro-budget sci-fi thriller is no “monster movie.” ‘The Beast with a Million Eyes’: Alien invasion movie predates Alfred Hitchcock classic Despite the confusing voice-over introduction, David Kramarsky’s[1] The Beast with a Million…

Coleen Gray: Actress and film noir good girl went from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Killing’ to ‘The Leech Woman.’ Coleen Gray: Actress in early Stanley Kubrick film noir, destroyer of men in cult horror ‘classic’ Actress Coleen Gray, best known as the leading lady in Stanley…

Jackie Collins’ sex novel The Bitch became a sex movie starring sexy sister Joan Collins. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film & TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives…

Dismaland Castle and Big Little Mermaid suffering from split-personality disorder. Dismaland: Banksy and more than 50 other artists create bemusement theme park Who gives a damn about the cheap thrills to be offered by the Star Wars-themed expansion of Disneyland when you can relish the…

Pretty Poison with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins: Noel Black-directed cult crime classic. Cult movie classic ‘Pretty Poison’ filmmaker Noel Black has died Noel Black, best remembered for the 1968 cult movie classic Pretty Poison, died in Santa Barbara, California, on July 5. Black (born…

Marilyn Burns. ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ actress Marilyn Burns dead at 64 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre actress Marilyn Burns, the one cast member who manages to survive Leatherface in Tobe Hooper’s low-budget 1974 horror cult classic, was found dead on Aug. 4 at…

Eddie Romero. Eddie Romero dies: Filipino filmmaker best known for his exploitation horror and action movies Eddie Romero, one of most best-known Filipino filmmakers, died of prostate cancer on Tuesday, May 28. Romero was 88. Named a National Artist of the Philippines in 2003, Romero…

Carlos Reichenbach: The Forbidden Paradise / O Paraíso Proibido. Carlos Reichenbach, a Brazilian filmmaker and cinematographer perhaps best known for his sex comedies and dramas of the 1970s and early 1980s, died on his birthday, June 14. He had turned 67. A heavy smoker, he had…

Lina Romay, a pretty brunette who starred in numerous risqué features for longtime companion Jesus Franco (a.k.a. Jess Franco), has died. According to online reports, Romay died of cancer on Feb. 15. She was 57. Born Rosa María Almirall Martínez in Barcelona on June 25,…

Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, The Devils Ken Russell, the director of Women in Love, The Boy Friend, and Altered States, died Sunday, Nov. 27, at the age of 84. Coincidentally, the British Film Institute, with much fanfare, announced several months ago that it would be…

Model and actress Cynthia Myers, a 1968 Playboy Playmate, died Nov. 4. She was 61. Hugh Hefner announced her death on Twitter: “I’m saddened by the news of the passing of beloved Playmate Cynthia Myers, Miss December 1968.” No details about the cause of death…

Monique van Vooren, Joe Dallesandro, Flesh for Frankenstein The first time I saw Flesh for Frankenstein was during its theatrical release in 1973, when it was titled, Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein. Warhol, of course, had little to do with the production besides lending his name to…