Brian Keiper – Page 3 – All Things Ick

The Fly-Eating Henchman: A Brief History of the ‘Renfield’ Character on the Big Screen

April 11, 2023 Brian Keiper Editorials, Movies, Renfield

With the exception of the Count himself, Renfield is the most dynamic character in the Dracula story. Originally conceived as a madman in Dr. Seward’s sanitarium with a mysterious connection to his vampire overlord, Renfield has evolved with the ever-extending mythos that has arisen around Stoker’s original creation. Since the earliest Dracula films, the character […]

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The Eighth Wonder: Why ‘Kong’ is Still King 90 Years Later

March 24, 2023 Brian Keiper Editorials, Gods and Monsters, King Kong, Movies

A strong argument could be made for King Kong being the most influential movie ever made. Kong’s progeny includes Mighty Joe Young, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, Ray Harryhausen films, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, many of the character-driven stop motion creations of the past ninety years, and dozens […]

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‘Mad Love’ – This 1930s Body Horror Classic Pushed the Hays Code to Its Limits

February 15, 2023 Brian Keiper Editorials, Gods and Monsters, Mad Love, Movies, Peter Lorre

No film of the Hays Code era revels in its own perversity quite like Mad Love (1935). Mad science, body horror, insanity, obsession, executions, gaslighting, sadomasochism—it’s all here and presented with unparalleled excellence of craft. Though it may seem tame compared to pre-Code fare like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks, and Island of […]

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When Fiction Becomes Reality: How ‘Videodrome’ Is More Relevant Than Ever at 40

February 9, 2023 Brian Keiper David Cronenberg, Editorials, Movies, Videodrome

For many, Videodrome (1983) remains David Cronenberg’s signature film. It is not his most successful or necessarily even his best, but it does most thoroughly define the descriptor “Cronenbergian.” It is a distillation of many of the themes and motifs he would explore throughout his filmography. Along with The Fly (1986), it is perhaps his […]

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Fay Wray: A Tribute to the Original Scream Queen

January 13, 2023 Brian Keiper Doctor X, Editorials, Fay Wray, King Kong, Movies, Mystery of the Wax Museum, The Vampire Bat

Fay Wray began her autobiography On the Other Hand with an open letter to her most famous co-star. In it she said, “for more than half a century, you have been the most dominant figure in my public life. To speak of me is to think of you. To speak to me is often a […]

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Fear of the Dark: ‘Cat People’ and the Horrors of Repression

January 10, 2023 Brian Keiper Cat People, Editorials, Gods and Monsters, Jacques Tourneur, Movies, Simone Simon, Val Lewton

Two films made in 1941 led directly to the making of Cat People the following year, The Wolf Man and Citizen Kane. Kane had become a fiasco for RKO when newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst condemned the film as a thinly veiled attack against him. Ultimately it led to the ousting of studio head George […]

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The Best Horror Movies to Make You Rethink Your New Year’s Resolution

December 31, 2022 Brian Keiper Editorials, Movies, New Years

Every year around this time, millions express their desire to start anew. They set lofty goals and steel themselves with an unbreakable resolve to lose those stubborn extra pounds, break that bad habit, or learn that new skill. The determination to better themselves is unshakable. And then after a few weeks, most give up. Well, […]

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Horror Takes a Holiday: The Birth of Christmas Horror in 1972

December 20, 2022 Brian Keiper christmas horror, Editorials, Movies, Tales From the Crypt, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

These days it seems like Christmas and horror go together like hot cocoa and candy canes sharpened to a deadly point, but in the long history of film, this is a relatively recent development. Of course there are a few exceptions, but before 1972, it was a rarity to enjoy a vicious Christmas at the […]

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Monsters Among Us: Why ‘The Mummy’ Endures 90 Years Later

November 30, 2022 Brian Keiper Boris Karloff, Editorials, Gods and Monsters, Movies, The Mummy

Following the release of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff, at nearly 45 years of age and having spent twenty years as a professional actor, became an overnight sensation. As the film was still raking in its rewards, Universal signed him to a star contract and immediately began searching for a property for him. As it turned out […]

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Gentleman Monster: Remembering Boris Karloff on His 135th Birthday

November 23, 2022 Brian Keiper Boris Karloff, Editorials

In his last great performance in Peter Bogdanovich’s debut film Targets (1968), Boris Karloff plays the aged and exasperated horror legend Byron Orlok. In a single line he sums up his entire career, at least as viewed by the public: “Marx Brothers make you laugh, Garbo makes you weep, Orlok makes you scream.” As with […]

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Oceans of Time: The Magic of ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ at 30

November 14, 2022 Brian Keiper Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula, Editorials, featured, Francis Ford Coppola, Movies, topnews, Winona Ryder

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a film that, much like its protagonist, crosses oceans of time. Director Francis Ford Coppola, one of the filmmakers at the leading edge of the “film school” generation of the seventies, tapped into the talents of the young up-and-coming stars, both in front of and behind the camera, to tell a […]

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The World, the Flesh, and the Devil: ‘Häxan-Witchcraft Through the Ages’ at 100 [Gods and Monsters]

October 26, 2022 Brian Keiper Editorials, Gods and Monsters, Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages, Movies

Two of the greatest horror films of all time are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. The first, and best known, is F.W. Murnau’s unparalleled vampire epic Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Not quite as well known but at least as influential is Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, also known as The Witch, a truly […]

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Spooky Fun for the Family: 15 Great Halloween Movies for Scaredy Cats

October 25, 2022 Brian Keiper Arsenic and Old Lace, Casper, Editorials, featured, Fun Size, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, Hubie Halloween, Kenny & Company, Lady in White, Monster House, Movies, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, The Halloween Tree, topnews

Many of us have people in our lives who just aren’t as into horror as we are. Come October, it is tempting to simply hide away, shunning them for a month as we indulge in our favorite genre, as we no doubt will do at least some of the time. But then, they may be […]

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Must Be the Season of the Witch: ‘Halloween III’ Turns 40

October 14, 2022 Brian Keiper Editorials, Halloween, Halloween III, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Movies

This is not another “Halloween III is good actually” article. After forty years, its reappraisal as a genre classic seems to be more or less complete. It is true that for years the absence of Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and Dr. Loomis led many fans of the Halloween movies to confusion, rejection, or outright rage […]

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Death in Living Color: Rediscovering Lost Classics ‘Doctor X’ and ‘Mystery of the Wax Museum’

September 21, 2022 Brian Keiper Doctor X, Editorials, Gods and Monsters, Michael Curtiz, Movies, Mystery of the Wax Museum

Two of the greatest and most successful horror films made in the wave that followed the successes of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1931 were virtually lost for much of the ninety years since their release. It is true that the black and white versions of Doctor X (1932) and Mystery […]

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