Faceless fiend sucks out your brain!

Of all the sci-fi and horror movies I’ve seen over the years, there’s an unlikely one that stands out among the most significant – the 1958 British B-movie, Fiend Without A Face. Advertisements Continue reading →

Female action heroes and the spirit of Emma Peel

Female action heroes are now the norm, it has been suggested (by none other than Felicity Jones of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Maybe or maybe not, but they’re certainly not new. Those of a certain age won’t forget the ass-kicking Emma Peel of The Avengers, and there have been many following in her … Continue reading →

How drama classes turned shy Kate into a kick-ass screen star

It’s hard to imagine actress Kate Marie Davies ever being shy or being bullied. On screen she exudes a hard-edged confidence as Nicole in the superb Bristol-set scifi web series, Horizon, and doesn’t appear the type to be messed with in the forthcoming Escape From Cannibal Farm [as I write this in November 2016, I’ve … Continue reading →

Rising star Antonia Tootill talks stage, screen – and robots in tin foil

A young actress from the Channel Islands, now based in London, with British, Canadian, and Portuguese heritage, Antonia Tootill‘s experience is as varied as her background. Although still very early in her career, she has already completed an extensive spread of acting work on stage, in independent film, and in commercials. Continue reading →

Daleks, werewolves, voodoo and rebellion – Roy Castle’s big screen legacy

Roy Castle was one of the UK’s biggest TV stars of the 1960s and ’70s. An accomplished jazz musician, dancer and actor, a generation of Brits grew up with him as the presenter of the hugely popular Record Breakers. Surprisingly, perhaps, he made only four feature films over 10 years, but each one of them … Continue reading →

In search of Mongo, the Alaskan ice monster

Juneau, the beautiful capital city of Alaska, is home to a monster (and I’m not talking about any former governors). At least, it is home to a monster in a forthcoming “sort of” documentary, Mongo: The Ice Monster of Juneau. Or, more accurately, it isn’t. Continue reading →

Talking Pictures sends me on the trail of Brandon Fleming(s)

One of my favourite TV channels these days is Talking Pictures TV – a place that gives new life to old movies, many of them obscure, but most an absolute joy in one way or other. Recently [I write this in June 2016] I watched back-to-back a couple of low-budget films I’d recorded from the … Continue reading →