The View From The Mountain

I saw the original Alien film in the theaters when it first came out back in 1979, and I was instantly a fan of the film, as well as its director, Ridley Scott. I followed this film series as one movie after the other was released over the years, and found myself really enjoying them, even if some of the films weren’t that great. The last film in this series was 2017’s Alien Covenant , a Scott-directed sequel to a prequel (!!!) which did so badly that I figured the Alien film franchise was finally over and done with. But, forty five years after the release of the first Alien , we finally get another in the series: Alien Romulus . I was genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised to see this, with 20th Century Fox, the studio that made and distributed the Alien films, having been gobbled up by Disney. The behind the scenes story was that Alien Romulus was only going to be released on Hulu, but that Disney executives saw something in the rough cut that made them chang...

Osgood Perkins is the eldest son of actor Anthony Perkins, who was best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, Psycho . Osgood Perkins would make his acting debut as a twelve year old Norman within a flashback sequence in 1983’s Psycho II . After writing several screenplays, Osgood Perkins made his directorial debut (also writing the script) in 2015 with The Blackcoat’s Daughter , a mesmerizing horror film that wound up being an elegant, if horrifying, twist on The Exorcist . Original, imaginative, and deeply disturbing, The Blackcoat’s Daughter contains images that are truly chilling. It’s a hard film to talk about without giving away a major plot point, so I won’t, but it’s highly recommended. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a darkly brilliant horror film with some great performances by its entire cast: Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly, and James Remar. It’s also one of the most coldest films ever mad...

I was really looking forward to seeing Furiosa , despite these prequel-crazy times we’re living in where every movie, TV show, and book has to be a prequel that shows us exactly how Miles first met Becky, and how it almost always winds up an underwhelming exercise in frustration because it wasn‘t done very well. There are exceptions, like House of the Dragon (which is far superior to Game of Thrones ), Star Wars: Rogue One (a great movie that compliments the original Star Wars film), and--now having finally seen it--I can add the Mad Max prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to that esteemed list. The reason I had such high hopes for Furiosa was its director, George Miller, who brought his Mad Max saga back to rip-roaring life almost ten years ago with the incredible Mad Max: Fury Road . First starting out as a doctor in his native Australia, Miller has gone on to become an extremely talented film director over the course of his over forty year career. Furi...

“You’ll enjoy Mr. Barlow. And he’ll enjoy you.” --Richard Straker (James Mason) from ‘Salem’s Lot 1979 ‘Salem’s Lot is one of my favorite novels by Stephen King. ‘Salem’s Lot is the locals’ name for their town, known officially as Jerusalem’s Lot, in Maine. King’s book describes the insidious and terrifying invasion of ’Salem’s Lot by vampires, led by Richard Straker and Kurt Barlow, two outsiders who have come to the town to disingenuously open an antiques store. They also bought the Martsen House, a creepy old abandoned mansion that sits overlooking the town, to serve as their home. Writer Ben Mears, who suffered a traumatic event in the Marsten House as a boy, returns to ’Salem’s Lot for research for his latest novel, only to find himself--along with several others--battling for the very souls of its townspeople. With this masterful book, only his second after Carrie, Stephen King updated the vampire myth to the then-modern day. Instead of lurking ...

I had always been a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes movies, from the moment my father took me to see Beneath the Planet of the Apes at the theater when I was very young. Beneath was the sequel to the original, seminal POTA , and it was a horror show dealing with subterranean humans who peeled off their faces to better worship their “God,” which was a super thermonuclear bomb. Just a toddler at the time, I fondly remembered my father abruptly pulling me into a tight hug every so often in the theater, and loving it then. But I didn’t realize, until much later, that my dad was actually making sure that I wasn’t staring at the screen whenever some of the still-disturbing images in Beneath occurred. I was greatly impressed with the smartly done POTA remakes that were recently released, starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes , and so I looked forward to seeing the latest, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , and I wasn’t disappointed. Taking place s...

Halloween is coming. We’re still in the throes of summer right now, but not for long. It’s already getting cooler, and I’m seeing some slight color in the trees. I thought I’d give an early welcome to my favorite holiday by watching three new horror films that were released this year. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire -- I really enjoyed Ghostbusters: Afterlife for two reasons: the introduction of a new, younger cast to the franchise, and the fact that it takes place in the completely different setting of Oklahoma. Frozen Empire takes place back in New York City, eliminating the freshness of having the story be in a new place, and the new cast is basically reduced to being guest stars. There are just too many people, here. The old Ghostbusters are shoehorned into the story, along with new characters who have been introduced in Frozen Empire. This doesn’t give the new cast much room to shine. And the nostalgia factor is getting very annoying; we have to see Slim...