Mike Lester's Blog, page 9

Saturday Sinema #1 - The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave

Just for kicks, I thought I'd start off something new here for the very few who get my updates. Every Saturday I'll be posting one of my favorite movies in my blog, hopefully something most of you have never seen before. So if you're bored, sitting around the house with nothing to do or it's rainy outside and you don't feel like reading, come on by, pop a cool one, kick back and enjoy a movie....

This week I've got Emilio Miraglia's 1971 masterpiece, The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave. This is some of the grooviest shit on the planet (you gotta love the way Erika Blanc climbs out of the coffin during her nightclub act!). It's in Italian with English subtitles (but we're all readers here so that shouldn't be a problem, right?)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lultZ...

Full movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-Bd...

Fun drinking game (to be played with any Italian movie from the 60s and 70s): Every time a J&B Scotch bottle is shown, take a shot. You'll be fucked up within minutes.... Hopefully at least one person will enjoy this :D

Happy Halloween

My favorite holiday is almost here... Halloween is moving on in; time to buy my pumpkins and candy.... Here's something to get the rest of you in the spirit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB8D2...

Also, check out these fine books for the season:

R.I.P. Elmore Leonard

We've lost another great one, folks. Obit here: http://www.latimes.com/features/books...

R.I.P. Richard Matheson

Yes I know, this is a rather late acknowledgement of the passing of Richard Matheson.... Suffice it to say, he has been on my mind frequently these last few days. He was the man responsible for so many formative books and films during my childhood...the Corman Poe films, the novel I Am Legend (and by extension the film Night of the Living Dead and its many sequels, indeed the whole zombie apocalypse sub-genre in general...), Kolchak, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Stir of Echoes, Duel, Trilogy of Terror (that fucking Zuni warrior doll gave me nightmares for years), and sooo much more... As always, I'll leave it to others to write the official obituary: http://www.stephenking.com/news_archi...

An Aickman Renaissance?

One of my favorite writers, Robert Aickman, seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance lately. The wonderful Tartarus Press has amazing reissues of his various collections floating about, and people seem to be taking notice....finally. Here's an interesting article on the subject: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/22/1913752...

R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen

I should have posted this a while ago, but I could not let this pass unacknowledged. I'm mourning the loss of the second great Ray... On several occasions I was fortunate enough to sit next to Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen during performances of Bradbury's plays. It was a joy to hear them reminisce about their childhood together and their love of dinosaurs... With the passing of both Bradbury, and now Harryhausen, a great portion of the wonder of my childhood is officially dead. Again, I defer to Tim Lucas for this obituary...he always has the right words... http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com...

Apocalypse!

The world is ending, my friends. Tell your loved ones, gather your children, call that forgotten friend. Tell them you love them. Yes, the world is ending. Here's the proof: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywoo...

By The Balls!

In 1998, Jim Pascoe and Tom Fassbender, writing under the pseudonym Dashiell Loveless, published a crime novel called By The Balls. The book was a loving tribute to the old Dell "mapback" paperbacks and was an underground success with those in the know. They followed this up with another Loveless title, Five Shots and a Funeral. The success of these two books allowed them to form UglyTown, an independent publishing house specializing in crime/noir. Recently, Akashic Books has re-released both books in an omnibus edition. This is a heads up for those wishing to up their cool factor by ten. Buy this book. What Tarantino did for crime cinema, these guys did for crime books. They kicked the door open and allowed for the success of bigger companies like Hard Case Crime. UglyTown was the Joy Division to Hard Case's New Order, you dig? Check out these wonderful UglyTown books:

R.I.P. Jess Franco

I'll let this speak for itself. Lucas says it better than I could: http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com...

And: http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com...

Sad day for film lovers.... Also see this: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Do It For Ray

3/8/13 - There's a petition going around to get Ray Bradbury honored with a U.S. postage stamp. Here's the link. Do it for Ray.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/r...