Little Shoppe of Horrors Hits the Big 50!

New Criterion Blu-Rays

Normally I don’t announce too many Blu-ray releases, namely because there are so many, but these two that Criterion just announced really are must buys for fans, especially for those that have never seen before.

Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), based on the book by Richard Matheson, is usually mentioned in the sci-fi genre, but is one that I will definitely argue that is really a horror film, but is really much more than that. As our hero Scott Carey slowly starts to shrink in size, he battles all sorts of obstacles, from real terrors like a cat or a spider that has now become huge to him, or the psychological impact as he tries to realize exactly what is happening to him.

Kaneto Shino’s 1964 film Onibaba is such an underrated classic that I couldn’t recommend it enough. It is a simple tale of two women struggling to survive in war-torn medieval Japan, having to kill wandering samurai and sell their belongings just to stay alive. An older woman awaits with her daughter-in-law for her son to return from the war, but really starts having doubts when his friend returns alone. Trying to keep her one companion from running off, she puts on a demonic looking mask to scare her and seals her fate.

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Movie Review: The Legend of Hell House (1973)

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Directed by John Hough
Starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowell, Clive Revill, and Gale Hunnicutt, and Michael Gough

Strange that I have never reviewed this on here since it is one of my favorite haunted house movies of all time. This has been a constant battle with me, between this one and Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963) for the top spot, but Hell House usually comes in second. This was also the very first VHS tapes I rented after buying my first VCR. I don’t remember when exactly was the first time I saw this, probably around the same time I saw The Haunting for the first time, thanks to my future wife, Dawn, and her mother. But I know I immediately fell in love with it. Continue reading