Science Fiction | Cagey Films

Horrors old and new

Posted on April 30, 2025April 24, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Kronos (Horst Janson) uses his modified sword to deflect the vampire's hypnotic gaze in Brian Clemens' Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)

Horror is a flexible genre, capable of using science fiction, history, adventure, action and terrible real-life events to touch on existential questions as well as provide escape with a frisson of pleasurable fear. Three recent releases span a broad range of the possibilities – Roger Corman’s X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), arguably his best film; Brian Clemens’ Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), one of the best late films from Hammer Films; and Nick Kozakis’s Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (2023), a bleak examination of the dangers of fundamentalist religious beliefs based on a tragic case which occurred in Australia in 1993.

Late winter/early spring Arrow viewing, part two

Posted on April 23, 2025April 22, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Dr. Ellis (Richard Dysart) inserts electrodes into Harry Benson (George Segal)'s brain in Mike Hodges' The Terminal Man (1974)

Some recent Arrow releases provide an opportunity to revisit a few familiar movies and – perhaps – reevaluate them. Each of them presents some problems, but Tarsem Singh’s The Cell (2000), Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995) and Mike Hodges’ The Terminal Man (1974) were all worth another look.

Late winter/early spring Arrow viewing, part one

Posted on April 9, 2025April 7, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Gunsfighter J.B. Books, dying of cancer, is played by John Wayne, who was dying of cancer, in Don Siegel's The Shootist (1976)

Recent Arrow disks offer an alien invasion (Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Invasion [2007]), stylish horror (Rampo Noir [2005]), a classic western (Don Siegel’s The Shootist [1976]) and a note-perfect homage to ’70s low-budget exploitation (Francis Galluppi’s The Last Stop in Yuma County [2023]).

Dipping another toe into the online stream, part two

Posted on March 19, 2025March 19, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Nicholas Cage goes full Nic Cage in Longlegs (2024)

My recent streaming seems to lean heavily into horror, with a few animated movies to lighten the tone.

Dipping another toe into the online stream, part one

Posted on March 15, 2025March 10, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Bud Spencer and Terence Hill as mismatched brothers in Enzo Barboni's They Call Me Trinity (1970)

My plunge into streaming has been more rewarding than not, catching up with a slew of recent action movies as well as a variety of older movies I missed decades ago, or remember from television screenings back in the ’70s.

Dipping a toe into the online stream

Posted on March 12, 2025March 12, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

The Terror and the Erebus sail into danger seeking the Northwest Passage in the Ridley Scott-produced adaptation of Dan Simmons' novel The Terror (2018)

Until fairly recently I’ve avoided streaming – I like nothing better than handling physical media, taking small shiny disks out of their case and putting them back on the shelf as part of my collection after watching their contents. But various factors have been pushing me towards rethinking my collector mentality and in the past few months I’ve found myself mixing and increasing amount of streaming into my viewing. This has included a number of (limited) series as well as quite a few older and newer movies. And I’ve become aware that I haven’t been writing about these shows because – that collector mentality again – I have kind of ghettoized them: somehow I haven’t taken a streamed movie as seriously as the ones I own. So perhaps it’s time to consider them here…

More folk horror, old and new

Posted on February 12, 2025February 11, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

Maura O’Donnell (Mary Ryan) can see beyond the material world in Robert Wynne-Simmons' The Outcasts (1982)

Three recent releases from England explore the survival into the modern world of ancient mystical forces, illustrating different aspects of folk horror. In Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre (2023) a pagan entity brings tragedy to a family; in Robert Wynne-Simmons’ The Outcasts (1982), villagers in 19th Century Ireland believe a farm girl is a witch: and in Peter Sasdy’s The Stone Tape (1972), scripted by Nigel Kneale, a research team believe they’ve found the mechanism behind hauntings.

New limited editions from Second Sight, part two

Posted on January 29, 2025January 29, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

The arrogance of European invaders isn't enough to protect against the natural fury of the invaded land in Grant Harvey's Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)

Four new limited edition releases from Second Sight gave me a reason to revisit and to some degree re-evaluate movies I was quite familiar with. While my opinions may not have changed radically, each set did give me a new appreciation for the filmmakers’ work, most particularly in the case of Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s influential The Blair Witch Project (1999). The care and attention the company lavish on genre films – here, in addition to Blair Witch, the Ginger Snaps Trilogy (2000-04), Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor (2020) and Ti West’s The Sacrament (2013) – is exemplary.

Year End 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025December 30, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

An enigmatic gunman (Jean-Louis Trintignant) seeks revenge in Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968)

It’s that time of year again – have to look back and think about whether the time I’ve spent watching movies has been worthwhile. Here, I glance back at eleven disk releases which stood out for me.

Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part five

Posted on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

John Carradine can't believe what he's gotten himself into in Oliver Drake's The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969)

Yet more notes on recent viewing, featuring horror – both high and low end – some documentaries and action movies, gritty realism and slick fantasy … eclectic and somewhat random.

Tag: Science Fiction