Movie Review: Tormented

April 21, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Movies and tagged Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, Bert I. Gordon, C. Courtney Joyner, Film Masters, Howard S. Berger, Joe Turkel, John Wooley, Juli Reding, Kevin Marr, Lugene Sanders, Mr. BIG, Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Tom Weaver, Tormented | Leave a comment

(1960)
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Starring Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding, Joe Turkel

Director Bert I. Gordon, or known to most fans as Mr. BIG, got that moniker because of the unusual sizes of the subjects of his films, from giant grasshoppers, dinosaurs, spiders, and angry men. So, it was a quite the change of pace when he came up with this simple story about a ghostly revenge on a seemingly innocent man. While there is nothing giant here, Gordon still was able to pull off some of his unusual and interesting camera tricks, including a talking head sitting on an end table.

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Joe Turkel – Rest in Peace

July 2, 2022 by Jon Kitley in Rest in Peace and tagged Bert I. Gordon, Blade Runner, Joe Turkel, Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, Tormented | Leave a comment

The real power of an actor can be one single role, one performance, even if it is for only a minute or two onscreen that will make movie-goers remember them forever. Joe Turkel, and actor who had over a 140 acting credits to his name, did that twice in his career. They were on the later part of his career, but they are still as an effective performance now and they were some 40 years ago today.

The first and probably best known, is that of Lloyd the bartender in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). His underplayed and subdued characterization sells the roles even more. But then two years later, he appeared in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, as Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the creator of the replicants that Harrison Ford’s character is out to capture. Again, not a huge role and not a lot of screen time, but Turkel made an impact with it.

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Horror History: Richard Carlson

February 1, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space, Richard Carlson, Tormented | Leave a comment

richardcarlson Richard Carlson
Born Apr. 29th, 1912 – Died Nov. 24th, 1977

You really can’t be a fan of classic sci-fi/horror films and not at least recognize the face of Richard Carlson. While he’s only really played in a handful of genre titles, two of them were pretty well known, and even more so because they were originally released in 3-D. Those two films are It Came from Outer Space (1953) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Usually playing the hero or good guy in the stories, Carlson always did an excellent job portraying the likable kind of character, who was always fighting the good fight for humanity. His portrayal of the characters in those two film were so real that we, the audience, believed everything he told us! Although, completely playing against that type, his performance in Bert I. Gordon’s Tormented (1960), he really shows how well he can play a real heel too!

After graduating from college with a Master’s Degree in English, he taught briefly before getting bitten by the acting bug and buying a theater to run his own company. He worked for many years, on the stage, in movies, and a lot of television work. The other genre titles in his career were The Magnetic Monsters (1953) and The Valley of Gwangi (1969). But he will always been known to most fans from his two 3-D movie appearances.