Cinefantastique Online

Fond recollections of experiencing classic horror, fantasy, and science fiction during our mis-spent youth

The Green Hornet jumps to the 4-Color world of comic books and investigates other media.

Let’s see, how do I compare the first movie I ever saw as a five year old to how I see it 50 years later? I’ll begin by sharing that I believe in fate; coincidence is not coincidence. The anime ALAKAZAM THE GREAT (1960) is the first movie and “martial arts” film per se that I [...]

In the hot summer of 1960, one of the few places that had air conditioning in the small town where I lived was the local movie theater. That summer we went to the movies a lot. I can’t remember if it was during THE BELLBOY or THE ALAMO, but there was a preview for William [...]

A colorful Hollywood adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel.
I cannot recall when I first heard of George Pal’s 1960 production of THE TIME MACHINE, but it must have been in one of the many books about science fiction cinema that I read as a teenager in the 1970s. At a very tender age, I had [...]

Although many younger television and movie fans may think that the 1970s represent an archaic time in entertainment, there were certain advantages to growing up during this period. One was that television was all about local markets, and this made it necessary for local stations to find programming that would keep the viewer’s attention. One [...]

I didn’t see BLOOD AND ROSES when it was originally released; I first encountered it while reading early books on genre films, where it was  mentioned very favorably, and I was particularly haunted by the image of a man in a bat-mask with spread wings bending over a beautiful woman, which appeared in the book The [...]

ATOM AGE VAMPIRE was a film that haunted me as a youngster. It seemed a very modern nightmare, a science fiction variation on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A well-meaning doctor who willingly turned himself into a monster to both prove his theories and possess the woman of his obsessive desire. The dark, oppressive atmosphere, [...]

Has it really been nearly 30 years since Friday the 13th came out? If, in 1980, you had asked me to watch a film from 1950, I’d probably have wondered why you were forcing such an old movie on me. Maybe Friday doesn’t seem that old because I actually saw it in a theater during [...]

The director reminisces about his trip aboard the Nostromo.
Old monsters never die. They just become familiar friends. We’ve seen it happen with classic fiends from the early black-and-white era, like Frankenstein and Dracula, but what about more recent more recent movie monsters, like the titular creature haunting the spaceship Nostromo in ALIEN (1979). Does the [...]

SUSPIRIA was one of those films I missed the first time around. When it hit U.S. screens in 1977, I found the advertising campaign decidedly uninteresting; for some reason, it suggested a schlocky gore movie to me. Not that I was opposed to explicit horror: I had been sneaking into R-rated movies like THE EXORCIST [...]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a new series that will focus on first-hand recollections of seeing classic films during their original release. We begin with the colorful and enjoyable DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, the third Hammer horror film starring Christopher Lee as the Count.]
“Ah! The good old time – the good old time. Youth and [...]