A powerful movie about the horror of our times, people picking up a weapon and just plowing down human beings as if they were grain on a field. This movie was made in the 1960s, but it feels like it was produced today, and it’s more relevant now than it ever. Living in the Orlando area just a few miles from where the June 2016 massacre at a gay bar occurred, I know that this stuff is real. Yet this great movie doesn’t just plunge us in darkness as so many movies on the same topic do; instead, it balances out the evil with the brightness and even the humor represented by one of my favorite all-time actors, Boris Karloff. He plays an aged star whose period horror movies have become antiquated in an era of serial killers and random murderers, when our neighbors can be more horrifying than anything Frankenstein and Dracula could be. This movie is an even greater accomplishment when you consider that it was the first feature film by its director, Peter Bogdanovich. And the ending is one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever been through in a movie. It is so real and insane at the same time. This is what horror looks like, not so much in the movies but in real life. You may ask, why do I want to choose to go through a traumatic experience by watching this movie? Because this kind of thing touches all of our lives these days, and it may be coming to a theater, a mall, a bar or a church near you.

Not For Kids

Extras:

• The producer of the movie, Roger Corman, was a master low-budget producer/director who made a series of Edgar Allen Poe-based movies that became instant classics. Those films looked like they cost a lot more money to produce than they actually did.
• Corman had an eye for young, up-and-coming filmmakers and recognized Bogdanovich’s talent. The conversation must have gone something like this. Corman: “Hey, come make a movie for me!” Peter B: “Awesome, I sure will!” Corman: “It has to be ultra-low budget. All my movies are low budget, as you know. But it has to look good too.” Peter B: “Sure, I can do that!” Corman: “And you have to use Boris Karloff. He has a few weeks left on his contract.” Peter B: “Karloff? Ok, sure!” Corman: “And you’ve got to use clips from a movie Karloff did for me called ‘The Terror.’ That movie flopped. It wasn’t so good. But I want you to stick the clips into your movie anyway.” Peter B: “Uhhhh…” Corman: “Was that a hint of doubt in your voice?” Peter B: “Not at all, sir! I’ll do it!”
• Peter Bogdanovich actually plays Karloff’s director in the movie.