News

Though streaming and cable comedies such as “Ted Lasso,” “Hacks,” “Barry” and “Only Murder in the Building” are poised to receive multiple Emmy nominations, ABC’s perceptive and smartly funny mockumentary “Abbott Elementary” may just teach them a lesson. The freshman series, a valentine to educators who overcome trials and tribulations to teach, is a leading Emmy nomination contender.

Set in a predominately Black, grossly underfunded grade school in Philadelphia, the series stars Quinta Brunson as an eager second-grade teacher who is one of the few educators who have made it to a second year at the school. Brunson also created the series which was inspired by her mother who was a teacher in Philly for 40 years. Reviews were glowing for the series. The L.A. Times critic Robert Lloyd wrote: “The series feels fresh even as it mines the familiar. As much as characters represent an agglomeration of types,...

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies who have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Jack Blessing (1951-2017) - Actor. Best known for TV series including Moonlighting, he also appears in the movies Talladega Nights, Thirteen Days and Heaven's Gate. Recently he worked in Adr, doing voice work for Hell or High Water and the two parts of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. He actually died of pancreatic cancer on November 14. (THR) Conrad Brooks (1931-2017) - Actor. One of Ed Wood's regular actors, he plays a policeman in Plan 9 from Outer Space and also appears...

Read More...

Conrad Brooks, the actor whose résumé of rotten movies includes Plan 9 From Outer Space and five other collaborations with cult writer-director Ed Wood, has died. He was 86.

Brooks died Wednesday after a series of health problems at Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, family spokesman Edward Hopf told The Hollywood Reporter.

A native of Baltimore, Brooks first met Wood in 1947 while on a trip to Hollywood with his brothers. He then played four characters in the cross-dressing/transsexual docudrama Glen or Glenda (1953), which marked Wood's directorial debut.

The pair went on to work together in...

It’s a sad day indeed for fans of Ed Wood and classic horror in general as word has come through various sources on social media that character actor Conrad Brooks has passed on. He was 86. Brooks had a long and prolific career which began in 1953 in an uncredited roll in William Beaudine’s Jalopy […]

The post Rest in Peace: Conrad Brooks appeared first on Dread Central.

The Mad Magician

3-D Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O’Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen, Conrad Brooks, Tom Powers, Lyle Talbot.

Cinematography: Bert Glennon

Editor: Grant Whytock

Original Music: Arthur Lange, Emil Newman

Written by: Crane Wilbur

Produced by: Bryan Foy

Directed by John Brahm

Twilight Time, bless ’em, hands us another treat to go with their 3-D discs of Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Harlock Space Pirate 3-D — and this time it’s a fun bit of 1950s horror — with a hot pair of short subject extras.

There have been plenty of theories as to why horror films became scarce after WW2; it’s as if the U.S. film industry took a ten-year break from the supernatural, and partly...

The recent box office success of The Boss firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with Trainwreck), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of Ghostbusters and those Bad Moms, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with… 10. Eve Arden The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in Rear Window). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in Stage Door and Dancing Lady.

The first artwork and a sneak peek of the remake of Ed Wood's all-time bad movie classic Plan 9 from Outer Space, entitled simply Plan 9, are here, and it appears to be a more serious take on the subject matter.

John Johnson directs, and Brian Krause ("Charmed"), Addy Miller ("The Walking Dead"), Conrad Brooks, Matthew Ewald, and horror personality Mr. Lobo star.

In 1959 a film was released that would live in the minds and hearts of science fiction and horror fans for years to come. That film was Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s, Plan 9 From Outer Space, a story about aliens re-animating the dead in order to kill Earth's population. Though widely regarded as one of the worst films ever made, genre audiences could not resist the exuberance and love for the art of filmmaking that showed in Wood's work. John Johnson of Darkstone Entertainment has remade the classic film.

"Plan 9 from Outer Space" from writer-director Ed Wood Jr. is considered one of the worst films ever made in cinema history!

Released in 1959, the film's plot is about aliens re-animating the dead in order to take over mankind! Now, this cherished cult classic is getting a remake makeover just in time for its 50th anniversary from director John Johnson and Darkstone Entertainment.

The remake is just going to be called "Plan 9" and this is going to be a serious take on the film. Johnson and company will pay homage to the spirit of Wood's film without resorting to camp or parody.

According to the "Plan 9's" official website:

The film will focus on the horror and science fiction aspects of the original, but will also be largely character-driven. Johnson's goal for "Plan 9" is to make a film that honors not only the original source material, but...

Yep. Even Plan 9 from Outer Space is getting the remake treatment. In fact it's getting two of them. Drunkenflesh Films has released its teaser trailer for their upcoming redux titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space, and the whole thing really just leaves me cold, despite its promises of "more this" or "more that".

Mind you this isn't the remake announced a while back from John Johnson and Darkstone Entertainment that is set to star, Conrad Brooks, Brinke Stevens, and Eric Lobo. Apparently one remake isn't good enough. This one will star, David "The Rock" Nelson, so, ummm ... yay?

Check it the trailer for Grave Robbers from Outer Space for yourselves. Thanks to Avery for the directions.

- Uncle Creepy

Check Out Dread Central’S New Poster Store!

Got news? Click here to submit it!

Rob graves in the Dread Central forums!

There's a frightening number of fall horror DVDs coming out the closer we get to Halloween. I've compiled a sampling in no particular order of just some of the many, many new releases coming soon to a DVD shelf near you in September and October.

Genius Entertainment will release Never Cry Werewolf (review) on September 16th. Originally premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel back in May, Nina Dobrev ("Degrassi: The Next Generation") stars as a young woman who requires the help of a slightly inept TV hunting show host Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules: The Legendary Journeys") in dealing with the werewolf who just moved in next door. To say that the film is derivative of Fright Night would be an understatement. Fortunately, it's actually not all that bad. You can find out more by reading my review, the one I accidentally submitted the uncorrected version of with all manner of typos and...