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Friends, welcome to this collection of reviews. I've been working on these pages since the year 2000, and it's finally starting to look like the collection of writing I want to it be in my mind's eye. I hope you're enjoying it.
'Cult' film of one sort or another has always been with me. One of my earliest film experiences was James Whale's classic "Frankenstein", with it's gorgeous sets, black and white photography and sublime acting by Boris Karloff. Watching it was a transformative experience. Since then, I couldn't get enough of Universal horror classics, the Hammer pantheon, and every other horror and science fiction gem imaginable, from any country willing to make them. Drawing and writing horror and science-fiction stories were also passions indulged.
In my teens, I was given Danny Peary's "Cult Movies" book, which opened up my mind to what could be considered "must-see". Every sort of genre you could conceive of, was covered in the series of three books that followed. From obvious classics to adult film, to biker epics, blaxploitation gems and z-grade, bottom-of-the-bill programmers. Yet, they all had superior entertainment value about them, and demanded to be viewed! I was hooked on 'cult cinema' in general.
Now that I'm in my forties (yikes!), I've long since read books like "Immoral Tales" by Pete Tombs, which clued me in on films that had been made in Europe in a bygone era. The sex, horror and sleaze pouring forth from Europe in the sixties and seventies, from the likes of Jesus Franco and Jean Rollin, also joined the ever-growing must-view list. What wonders did I behold, when finally viewing these treasures! Alongside these revelations were the joys of the Japanese and Hong Kong cinema of the bizarre. The concept of cult cinema in my mind no longer had geographic borders, and every country's offerings could be explored.
Then, as the nineties progressed, the internet really took hold. And what better medium to write for than a dedicated website, where the instant you finish your little essay, you can enable the whole online community to read it? Strangely, there aren't that many of the classics of my youth in these pages, as I relentlessly track down new, oddball cinematic experiences to write about. There isn't a single Hammer Horror in Girls, Guns and Ghouls! Still, as it's a life-long endeavour, no doubt Messrs Cushing and Lee will find themselves in there at some point.
In my "real" life, I'm a Librarian in Melbourne, Australia, living a happy existence with my loved ones. I've made some great friends through this website, and I'm lucky enough that no one in my home life is bothered by any of the stuff I watch, or this site would indeed have trouble growing or developing. I hope you're getting something out of the new review that pops up here every few weeks or so, and always welcome mail from anyone who'd like to share their interests.
© Boris Lugosi, 2016.