Actually, this is a good way to decompress after a day of driving. But, I'm still not promising to do it every day.

Louisville is a great little city. I'd consider living there if I couldn't live in the Northwest. The Ghostwalk wasn't any big deal - just four tourists of varying ages and one recently-graduated English major as a guide. But it was ( Read more... )

Way back in March, I announced a series of articles on "micro-genres." These are grouplets of films that have some common theme and characteristics, but can't be seen as a large enough to be a sub-genre of their own. I'm finally getting around the the second of these today. Warning: Spoilers ahead, for those who don't like to be told about the plot ( Read more... )

Frederick Loren, from “House on Haunted Hill” (1959): Frederick Loren is a man renowned for having a great deal of money and many wives. Each of his first three wives has died under mysterious circumstances; the first simply disappeared while the second two had heart attacks, although they were healthy young women in their twenties. On a fateful ( Read more... )

Jefferson “Jeff” Jackson, from “King of the Zombies” (1941): Jeff works for Bill Summers, or “Mr. Bill” as Jeff calls him, as a valet. In reality, there are times when one wonders who is working for who - as Jeff relies on Mr. Bill for protection and assistance in all kinds of situations. Mr. Bill is a government agent, working for Naval ( Read more... )

Emily, from “Shanty Tramp” (1967): Emily is a tramp, a pure white trash shanty tramp. She spends her evenings roaming from man to man, looking for good times. From the preacher at the revival to the leader of a motorcycle gang that blows through town, Emily is willing to make time with them all. She doesn't even stop short of Daniel, a nice black ( Read more... )

Countess Marya Zaleska, from “Dracula’s Daughter” (1936): Countess Zaleska is the daughter of the notorious Count Dracula, who became a vampire in the 16th century, and dominated his region of Transylvania with the tyranny of the Undead. Countess Zaleska was also made a vampire and forced to live a shadow existence, sleeping in a grave by day and ( Read more... )

Dr. Caligari, from “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919): Dr. Caligari was a possibly legendary hypnotist of the eighteenth century whose identity has been assumed by modern psychiatrists whose work with madness has brought them close to the brink (or possibly, as they themselves claim, to true sanity).

It is understood that the original Caligari ( Read more... )

Mr. Ballard, from “Mrs. Miniver” (1942): Mr. Ballard was the kind of old Englishman that made the British feel good about themselves in wartime. Humble, quiet, considerate, and dedicated to service, with a sense of humor and a surprising devotion to the Church, he worked his many years for the British railroad, taking tickets and maintaining the ( Read more... )

I wasn't sure whether to post anything about this year's HPLFF since I didn't tell anyone I was coming, and some of you would probably like to have seen me while I was in town. I knew that I was only likely to have time to see people who went to the Film Festival, so it seemed best to stay quiet ( Read more... )

So, I threatened to post occasional updates here on the character bios I've been creating for the imdb. It occurred to me since then that I could use the 
***John Putnam, from "It Came From Outer Space" (1953):
John Putnam is a man out of step with the world, who thinks for himself, and has more imagination than most people ever admit of. ( Read more... )