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Crafting an homage from the recombined DNA of fifties monster movies requires a deft touch, particularly when its set in the genre's peak period of the late fifties. There’s also those dangerous pitfalls where filmmakers can either get lazy and rely on visual artifice...

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is an affectionate spoof of films such as Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), as well as even dumber derivations such as The Astounding She Monster (1957), nailing the flat, hard compositions of those films (camera...

Nestled between Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) and Small Soldiers (1998) is Matinee, director Joe Dante’s surprisingly reverent tribute to B-movie showmanship, and that other master of suspense, director William Castle...

Created by Chris Downey (The Core, Catwoman) and John Rogers (The King of Queens) for the TNT network, and produced by Dean Devlin (Godzilla), Leverage is a giddy and engaging amalgam of several caper/con ideas, with major seams smoothened...

RKO was the first Hollywood studio to shoot a fictional film in postwar Germany, and while ostensibly a spy/whodunit set on a train with a lengthy stopover in Frankfurt to open up the drama, it’s also an intriguing piece of Allied propaganda meant to provoke support...

After years as an experienced writer-producer at Twentieth Century-Fox, screenwriter Nunally Johnson made his first film as director with this virginal Cold War espionage thriller set in postwar Berlin, and while Jed Harris and Tom Reed’s story was critically...

Ray Milland starred in and directed this fairly atypical post-apocalyptic tale of a family isolating themselves from civilization after Los Angeles has been nuked into oblivion, and it’s every man for himself. Although AIP probably mandated the exclamation at the...

Set in 19th century Wales with sumptuous production design and a rich visual atmosphere, Universal’s latest poke at a hallowed franchise goes back to a stately classicism reminiscent of its original monster franchise, even though the original film and its sequels were set...

Call it a blend of jazz and Detroit funk, plus a lot of wit, but the music to TNT’s Leverage is the most refreshing music for a TV series in years, and its success lies in a small combo of instruments, and a...

Produced in the wake of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Nate and Hayes gave composer Trevor Jones another broad canvas to use a large orchestra, and there are some similarities to...

Alongside The Graduate (1967), Caddyshack was a comedy whose success was partly tied to a collection of songs that perfectly suited the characters, story, and idiosyncrasies of the...

La-la Land Records’ second Les Baxter release (after The Dunwich Horror) is a jazzy post-apocalyptic score based around a straight jazz source cue that opens and closes the film. The...

Because God is pissed off at Mankind, the music has to have epic sonic scope, and Frizzell generally stays away from using a traditional orchestral makeup. “Michael Descends,” for example, has long...

Richard Marvin’s background and long experience with electronics really enhance this fluidly constructed score that balances emotional weight and action without undue...

Part of Rolphe Kent’s style includes unlikely instrumental combinationsLa-La Land’s ongoing series of Jerry Goldsmith soundtracks continues with this radical expansion of the composer’s 1987 sci-fi comedy, and a novel film that reteamed him again with... and flipping between and fusing idioms with a smoothness that hides any transition seams. There’s also his gift...

Perhaps the biggest issue for the producers of this CD is how to distill the 5-hour experience of John Woo’s Red Cliff / Chi bi into an album that runs just over 63 mins. (Those in North...