Dinner and a Movie with Moxie

 Heavy Metal (1981) I suppose a lot of folks fell in love with animated films through the classic Disney films, but for me though I appreciated some of the classics like Aristocats, I found a lot of the Disney films to be patronizing and to talk down to kids like they aren't capable of intelligent thought, and I felt insulted.   The films that made me fall in love with animated films were (probably in this order) Heavy Metal, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, and Wizards.  I remember when I was, I don't know maybe, 9 or 10 years old I watched Heavy Metal for the first time.  It had an amazing soundtrack featuring some bands that I loved at the time, the film was rude and crude, and had this dark grittiness, it didn't shy away from nudity, sex, violence, and graphic images, it had fantasy, science fiction, and great music!  How could I not love this film.  It's been around 30 years since I first discovered and fell in love with Heavy Metal, and I still lov...

  Black Friday (1940) In 1940 Karloff and Lugosi once again appear together on the screen, in a strange film, that is a hybrid of science-fiction/horror and gangster movie.  Lugosi and Karloff are both legendary film monsters, but in Black Friday from 1940, Karloff is playing the role of a doctor who's friend is seriously injured in an accident where he is accidently run down by a mobster's car, and both men are injured.  So Karloff swaps their brains, so that his friend will live and the mobster will die.   He then discovers that the mobster holds a secret to a huge fortune, so he tries to see if the mobster brain in his friend will hold the clues to the location of the money.  Of course we all know how these films work, the his friend develops a split personality, where he is himself at times and the mobster at other times.   Originally Karloff was cast to play the friend, and Lugosi the doctor, but Karloff didn't think that he was good enough a...

  The Invisible Ray (1936) 1936 found horror giants Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff again sharing the screen, originally the plan was to put the two in an adaptation of Bluebeard, though that was scrapped and instead they were put in a science-fiction horror film The Invisible Ray.  This would place Karloff as the obsessed scientist who loses everything and turns evil, and Lugosi as the more level head scientist who is an opportunist, and capitalizes on Karloff's characters discover.  Though Lugosi's character doesn't seem to do it as a malicious act, and credits Karloff's character for the discovers...but with his wife leaving him, and him feeling that another science was stealing his inventions, he seeks revenge.   This is a delicious bit of science-fiction horror, where a man obsessed becomes a monster. The Invisible Ray was directed by Lambert Hillyer, though originally Stuart Walker was set to direct, but he left because he was unhappy with the script and wan...

 The Raven (1935) The Raven released in 1935 was the last of the Universal trilogy based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe starring Bela Lugosi, this film was also an early example of a horror film being enforced by the Hays Code and was banned in several locations for its graphic violence and it was accused of being "horror for horror's sake" and not offering anything of a higher purpose.   To be fair this is a film about a Dr. who has gone mad and has recreated torture devices based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.   This film isn't really an adaption of Poe's poem, but it is inspired by the torture that is used in multiple Poe stories.  Bela Lugosi's character plays a doctor who is obsessed with Poe, and throughout the film he can be heard reciting the poem.  Let's be honest, to hear Bela Lugosi recite Poe's The Raven is reason enough for me, and then to see Boris Karloff as a supporting character, playing a hideous monstrous character, while Lugosi g...

  The Black Cat (1934) In the 1930s the biggest names in horror were Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and Universal was the top film company for quality horror films.  In 1934 Universal Pictures put their two biggest stars together for the first time, with Bela Lugosi who played Dracula, and Boris Karloff who played Frankenstein, this would be the first of eight films that the two would appear in together.  This film was one of the top grossing Universal films in 1934, and it was one of the first horror films to feature a musical track throughout the whole film, and also one of the first psychological horror films.   This was an amazing film that pushed boundaries, and might be one of the greatest films that the two horror legends would be in together.     The Black Cat was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, with a screenplay by Peter Ruric.  Though the film claims to be based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat, it bares no real resemblanc...

  Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932) After the release of Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931, Universal Pictures had built its place at the best studio for "talkie" era horror films, and stars like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff were the rising stars of the genre.  Lugosi's status as horror film monster playing Dracula resulted him to also be offered the part of Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein, which he turned down feeling the role of a grunting monster was below his acting ability (though years later he would ultimately end up playing the monster).   Edgar Allen Poe stories were ideal for being turned into horror films, and in 1930 director Robert Florey suggesting a film adaptation of Poe's Murders In The Rue Morgue, though Universal was busy with Dracula and Frankenstein, and wouldn't begin filming until 1931 with a 1932 release date.  Lugosi having turned down the part of Frankenstein's Monster accepted the part of the evil Doctor Mirakle in Murders ...

  The Crawlers aka Troll 3 aka Contamination .7 aka Creepers (1991/1993) What the hell is this movie?  Troll 3 which has nothing to do with Troll 2, which in turn had nothing to do with Troll 1, but it is also Contamination .7 though it has nothing at all in common with Contamination, and then it also received the names Creepers and The Crawlers...what the hell is this movie?   This is a bizarre film about a nuclear power plant in a hick small town somewhere in Western part of the USA is dumping nuclear waste in the forest, and it has created killer mutant roots that start killing people, and somehow the townspeople have to stop this? The Crawlers is an Italian film, which was shot in and around Porterville Utah, which was also the filming location for the notoriously bad film Troll 2.  The film was directed by Fabrizio Laurenti (under the pseudonym Martin Newlin), with addition scenes directed by Joe D'Amato.  If that name Joe D'Amato sounds familiar, he a...

 Catacombs (aka Curse IV) (1988) I am starting to really love Empire Pictures, a company that was sadly only in existence for a short time, their last film being Catacombs in 1988, though wasn't released until 1994 as Curse IV because the company was seized by a French bank called Credit Lyonnais for failure to repay their loans.  Catacombs was ultimately released as Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice, the great thing is that Curse IV has absolutely nothing to do with the previous two Curse movies.  This film comes across a lot less campy than some of their other films, and it plays out more like a religious-drama-horror film, and has quite serious plot.  The film is about a young woman who is a school teacher from American goes to a monastery to study, and while there an ancient evil is released from the catacombs. Catacombs was written and directed by David Schmoeller.  The film was originally distributed by Empire Pictures, before the bank seized the company, a...

  Cellar Dweller (1988) Do you ever watch a film and wonder, how this isn't a huge cult classic that everyone is talking about?  I mean there are some cult classics out there that I wonder why they are such a big deal, then there are films like Cellar Dweller, and I wonder why this isn't a film that is talked about a lot more.  I love low budget horror films, I love practical effects, and love a great creature feature, and if you can patch together a decent story as well, then thatis all the better.  Cellar Dweller tells the story of a comic book artist who's creation comes alive and starts to kill people, and it has an amazing practical effects created monster.  The film is simultaneously cheesy and actually terrifying, and definitely plays up the campiness of the low budget production, but also comes off as a legit horror film.  You can be terrified and laugh at the same time with Cellar Dweller.  Also I love the amazing poster art for the film, that...

 Dungeonmaster (1984) (aka Ragewar: The Challenges of Excalibrate or Digital Knights) I love when you watch a film for the first time, and it ends up being much better than you expected, that was the case last night when I settled in to watch 1984's Dungeonmaster.  This film has been on my shelf for a while, I bought it as part of a 4 film set put out by Scream Factory, with Contamination 7, Catacombs, and Cellar Dweller; it has been patiently waiting it's turn to be watched on my shelf.  I had heard of Dungeonmaster, the title intrigued me, as I am a fan Dungeons & Dragons, and love fantasy films.  That being said, I didn't have very high hopes that this would be a good film, and when I put it in last night, since it was really late, I didn't intend to watch it all the way through... This film surpassed any and all expectations that I had, and absolutely blew me away with how good it was!  This interesting film mixes fantasy with science fiction, and some g...

 Fettuccine with Lobster, Scallops, and Shrimp in a Mushroom Wine Sauce While at work on Saturday, I was thinking about what I wanted to do for supper after work, I was considering fish and chips, the Acadia Red Fish looked really good, and also the Chilean Sea Bass looked really nice, but in Maine right now Scallops are in season, and I started thinking about how a nice pasta would be nice, and the fresh picked lobster meat we sell looked really good, and shrimp is always nice, even if it isn't local.   I have also been experimenting with a mushroom and chardonnay sauce, and I felt that it would be the perfect way to do up the fresh seafood.   I was also thinking about what vegetable to include, so I walked around the supermarket fresh veggie section, and the red bell pepper looked good, and would give some nice colour to the dish. I work at a seafood market in Portland ME, and right now local Maine scallops are in season, they are caught on day boats right out...