It has now been a century since the release of the first real vampire movie, F.W. Murnau’s somewhat loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. In Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, the names of characters were changed, along with many plot details, and still there was a lawsuit brought by Stoker’s heirs, and a […]
Nosferatu (1922)

Film Title
NosferatuSynopsis
The first real vampire movie ever made is still terrifying
Director
F.W. MurnauCast
Max Schreck
Alexander Granach
Gustav von Wagenheim
Greta Schroder
George H. Schnell
The Fountainhead (1949)

Film Title
The FountainheadSynopsis
Gary Cooper stars in the Ayn Rand blockbuster novel
Director
King VidorCast
Gary Cooper
Patricia Neal
Raymond Massey
Robert Douglass
Kent Smith
Moroni Olsen
Lines and shadows, shadows and lines. The Fountainhead is all sharp angles defined by shadows defined by shadows so sharp they could cut through the self-servicing philosophy of the artless Rand on the airless moon. Only one director could have made sense of this!!! King Vidor of Galveston Texas. He cut through the angles when […]
Frenzy (1972)

Film Title
FrenzySynopsis
Necktie party has new meaning in this Hitchcock thriller
Director
Alfred HitchcockCast
Jon Finch
Barry Foster
Alec McCowen
Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Anna Massey
Billie Whitelaw
Bernard Cribbins
Hitch does tits! Well, there’s a bit more to this blackly comic, London-based thriller than bare breasts, but they’re the most obvious sign the legendary director had embraced the early seventies’ newfound freedoms. Frenzy is graphic at times, much more so than other serial killer efforts such as Shadow of a Doubt and Psycho, but […]
She (1965)

Film Title
SheSynopsis
An English archaeologist and two companions stumble upon a lost city in East Africa. She is there.
Cast
Ursula Andress
Bernard Cribbins
Peter Cushing
John Richardson
Christopher Lee
George Pastell
Do you have a favorite little movie that somehow doesn’t get the recognition it deserves? You know, a flick that’s pretty much always met with scorn, lukewarm reviews and general disdain. Year after year you keep expecting the love to materialize, especially as there are so many filmgoers out there gushing over what can only […]
C’mon, Billy
C’mon Billy, Come to me, You know I’m waiting, I love you endlessly, C’mon Billy, You’re the only one… These mania-infused lyrics are from a glorious PJ Harvey paean and it’s only when she goes on to reveal ‘having his son’ that I twig she isn’t singing about the late, great Billy Wilder. But even […]
Witchfinder General (1968)

Film Title
Witchfinder GeneralSynopsis
Men sometimes have strange motives for the things they do
Director
Michael ReevesCast
Vincent Price
Ian Ogilvy
Hilary Dwyer
Robert Russell
Rupert Davies
“Men sometimes have strange motives for the things they do.” So says Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General, and one of this brutal flick’s coarse joys is trying to work out his. Does he really believe he’s doing God’s work? Or is he merely an opportunist, a man happy to take advantage of the breakdown in law […]
That’ll Be The Day
In his entertaining and insightful piece, Stop this Sketch. It’s Silly, Dave Franklin states Ethan Edwards “drops the ball” at the end of The Searchers. “That’ll be the day.” The Searchers was directed by the great John Ford (a director not much admired by some here at Ruthless. If you have seen the footage of […]
Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Some things are undeniably wrong, such as serving peas and baked beans on the same plate, the South African accent, and Phil Collins singing about homelessness. I guess you could throw serial murder into the same mix, but I’d still argue Another Day in Paradise is a greater crime against humanity. Anyhow, we all like […]
Theater Of Blood (1973)

Film Title
Theater Of BloodSynopsis
Disgruntled actor, presumed dead, starts murdering his critics
Director
Douglas HickoxCast
Vincent Price
Ian Hendry
Diana Rigg
Milo O'Shea
Do you have a mantra that helps you get through life’s darker moments? You know, something that enables you to cope with the searing knowledge that dreams don’t come true and you’ll instead have to settle for second, third or fourth best as you crawl unfulfilled toward your grave. I cling to the insight of […]
Cool Hand Luke

Film Title
Cool Hand LukeSynopsis
What we’ve got here, Is failure to communicate
Director
Stuart RosenbergCast
Paul Newman
George Kennedy
Strother Martin
J.D. Cannon
Morgan Woodward
Dennis Hopper
Wayne Rodgers
Harry Dean Stanton
“A natural born world-shaker“ Paul Newman has always been in the top tier of the greatest actors of all time. He is certainly in the company of actors like Peter O’Toole, Daniel-Day Lewis, Jack Nicholson, Richard Burton and Sidney Portier. His accomplishments as a beer drinker, race car driver, blue-eyed sex symbol and actor are […]