‘Reviews’

  • Movie Review: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

    Movie Review: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

    June 9th, 2011 | Movie Reviews, Reviews | Leo Walsh | Comments Off

    More often than not, cinematic orphans like Guillermo del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark sputter toward their inevitable release, earning a token weekend, then off to DVD and Netflix, but in this case, the result is a ferocious, deliciously spooky chiller, destined for sleeper status and ready to shred its bloated summer competition.

    Read More

  • DVD Review: Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

    DVD Review: Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

    June 8th, 2011 | DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Jeff Bond reviews Automat Pictures’ DVD presentation of Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary on cinema’s master of exploitation and manipulation, William Castle — Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story.

    Read More

  • DVD Review: Gargoyles

    DVD Review: Gargoyles

    June 6th, 2011 | DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Any kid on a playground on November 22, 1972 was undoubtedly speaking in hushed tones about what they’d witnessed—even if only fleetingly—the night before: the premiere of the horror TV-movie Gargoyles. Jeff Bond reviews the DVD from Classic Media.

    Read More

  • Model Kit Review: Darkness from “Legend”

    Model Kit Review: Darkness from “Legend”

    May 11th, 2011 | Model Kit Reviews, Reviews | William Craft | Comments Off

    This long out-of-production resin kit is the quintessential figure showcasing the mammoth horned lord played in the film by Tim Curry. Sculpted to perfection by Mike Trcic (former Stan Winston Studio creator of the T-Rex from JURASSIC PARK), the proportions are expertly crafted from horns to hooves, exquisitely capturing his defiant pose and maniacal smirk.

    Read More

  • DVD/Blu-ray Review: Cronos

    DVD/Blu-ray Review: Cronos

    February 3rd, 2011 | DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Jeff Bond review’s Criterion Collection’s special feature-packed DVD/Blu-ray presentation of Guillermo del Toro’s 1993 horror thriller Cronos.

    Read More

  • Toy Review: Jason and the Argonauts Skeleton Warrior Revoltech figure

    Toy Review: Jason and the Argonauts Skeleton Warrior Revoltech figure

    February 3rd, 2011 | Reviews, Toy Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    The skeleton warriors from Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts have long confounded toy and action figure makers because of the difficulty of building articulation into the stripped down human chassis. Fortunately Kaiyodo’s patented “Revoltech” joint system is just about the perfect remedy to this dilemma, and in their Sci-Fi Revoltech Series 20 they’ve produced a killer reproduction of skeleton warrior that is probably the finest reproduction of the characters done yet—and they’re completely poseable.

    Read More

  • DVD Reviews: “The Green Slime, “Wild, Wild Planet”

    DVD Reviews: “The Green Slime, “Wild, Wild Planet”

    February 3rd, 2011 | DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Most ‘60s sci fi movies were schlock, relegated to matinee and drive-in fare, and quite often they weren’t even of American vintage. Warner Archives has just put out two nicely preserved perpetrators — The Green Slime and Wild, Wild Planet — that demonstrate how little the art form had advanced between the heyday of the genre in the mid-‘50s and the height of the space race ten and fifteen years later.

    Read More

  • Toy Review: Greedo Bounty Hunter 1/6 Scale Figure

    Toy Review: Greedo Bounty Hunter 1/6 Scale Figure

    January 25th, 2011 | Reviews, Toy Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Ah, Greedo—the galaxy’s most misunderstood bounty hunter. Was he a bumbling screw-up who let that shifty Han Solo get the drop on him, or a trigger-happy hothead who forced that nice guy Han Solo to shoot him in a clear act of self-defense?

    Jeff Bond examines Sideshow Toy’s 1/6 scale Greedo Bounty Hunter action figure from Star Wars.

    Read More

  • Book Review: The Art of Drew Struzan

    Book Review: The Art of Drew Struzan

    January 25th, 2011 | Book Reviews, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    Movie poster artist legend Drew Struzan appears to be getting his revenge on Hollywood in the early pages of this 160-page coffee table book, reaching back to the very first lowlife that screwed him over all the way forward to the studio “suits” that finally drove him to retirement out of sheer frustration in 2008.

    Read More

  • Book Review: Ray Harryhausen: Master of Majicks, Vol. 3

    Book Review: Ray Harryhausen: Master of Majicks, Vol. 3

    January 5th, 2011 | Book Reviews, Reviews | Jeff Bond | Comments Off

    In his massive 650-page tome on special effects artist Ray Harryhausen, author Mike Hankin views Harryhausen’s work with the eye of an experienced effects man and most importantly, leaves no magic stone unturned in terms of digging up sources for his story. Book review by Jeff Bond.

    Read More