Ghoulish Grin Films

 Born on October 20th 1882, Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi started his career like many of his era with stage roles, eventually landing the role that would cement his place in history. In 1927 he was approached to play the immortal Bram Stoker vampire Dracula, and played him to great success. Despite that, he was on the bottom of the list of Carl Laemmle's potential choices to play The Count. However, destiny was fulfilled and the rest is history. There are many a great actor who have played Count Dracula. But Lugosi's image as Count Dracula has been imbedded into the culture and his place in horror history is as secure as an earthquake proof building. Sadly he was never able to get out of that casting (though he played some very interesting parts afterwards, including Ygor in "Son Of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff's final performance as the Frankenstein monster) and fell victim to bad habits before passing away on August 16th 1956 at 73. Like many typecast actors of the day...

 Born on October 8th, 1949 in New York City, Sigourney Weaver is a seven time Golden Globe nominee, a two time winner, and has a pair of Oscar nominations along with a Tony nomination. She was nominated for films like "Gorillas In The Mist" and "Working Girl" and has appeared in the box office juggernaut "Avatar." But for many of us that grew up in The '80's she is the star of the science fiction horror classic "Alien" (and the blockbuster sequels, including James Cameron's "Aliens") and the Ghostbusters franchise. As a kid, I was obsessed with Ghostbusters, and I knew her from those two films that starred the classic lineup of Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts. I saw the films, watched the cartoon show religiously, had the toys, and pretended to be a Ghostbuster with my friends. They have since tried to revive the franchise, and are still trying to do so. But those two films...

 In late February, I went to see 2020's Universal Studios remake of "The Invisible Man." I was aware of what was going on in China and there was a lot of uncertainty and conflicting information coming from our leaders. It was in the back of my mind when I went to the show, but I felt that we were okay (though I was very aware of when a movie patron would cough or sneeze and would naively cover my face briefly with my shirt). I never thought that it would be the last film I would see in a theater.  The entire country shut down and I was in lockdown for months until I had to go back to work. But here in my hometown the theaters are still closed. They may soon open, much like what's going on in the rest of the state of California, but the projection of us seeing the other side of this crisis is closer than it was then. So I'm not exactly sure if I even want to bother going. Most of the films I wanted to see anyways are either going straight to streaming or their rele...

 As an '80's kid, I would always tease my little brother about how my decade was better than his decade...The '90's. Which with hindsight was an absolutely stupid thing to say. Because The '90's was a great decade. Probably the last great decade. The decade that gave me childhood joy (I was a teenager after all). It had Michael Jordan's legendary basketball dynasty, grunge and hip hop making their marks, and the last strong era of VHS rental stores to name a few things. And there was "The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air."  Originally airing on September 10th, 1990, it created a star out of young rapper Will Smith. He was an absolute joy to behold every week and as the years went by you can see his rapid improvement as a top young actor. He would appear in hits like "Bad Boys," but it would be the science fiction genre that would put him over the top as the most bankable star in Hollywood. 1996's "Independence Day," a modern day ode ...

 I believe it was 1984 (I would've been 8 years old) when I took a glimpse of the film "Cujo," and I was understandably shaken. I'm surprised I even wanted to attempt to return to that story and read the book but years later I did and was greatly entertained. I've quite enjoyed his books and film adaptations ever since. Born on September 21st 1947 in Portland, Maine, King displayed an early interest in horror, as he read some of the great classic horror comics like "Tales From The Crypt" and would later pay homage to those comics in the anthology "Creepshow." Dubbed 'The King Of Horror,' Stephen King has written 60 novels, 200 short stories, and his books and film adaptations have enjoyed great success over the years. Classics like "Carrie," "Salem's Lot," "The Shining," "IT," and "Pet Sematary" are ingrained in pop culture, as are many of his non horror entries like the film adaptat...

Back when mainstream record stores were a thing, I purchased a cassette tape (look it up, kids) containing two Black Sabbath albums. One was 1970's PARANOID and the other was 1980's HEAVEN AND HELL, both classic albums from the great granddaddy of heavy metal, Black Sabbath.  I was so jazzed, leaving Sam Goody (again, kids...look it up) with a great deal. Two albums from one legendary band that paved the way for my ongoing adventure into the world of heavy metal. I had already heard a handful of songs from the album on classic rock radio (including their two most popular hits "Iron Man" and the title track) and since I loved those tracks I was almost certain I would love the entire thing. And you know what? Sitting through that album was one of the great moments for me as a music lover. With Ozzy's signature wail, Tony Iommi's legendary riffs, Bill Ward's furious drumming, and Geezer Butler's head spinning bass playing, the album not only lived up to m...

Born on September 12th 1957 in Frankfurt am Main West Germany, Hans Zimmer took a few weeks of piano lessons before he decided he was against the discipline of formal lessons. Mainly self taught thanks to computers, he has integrated classical music with electronic music and has created a sizable and otherworldly sound, thanks to his longtime partnership with the great modern director Christopher Nolan. His work from the '80's to today range from just about every genre in film. From dramas, comedy, animated, period pieces and genre film. He's created rousing pirate anthems for projects like The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise to soaring superhero epics like "Man Of Steel" and The Dark Knight Trilogy. His scores for Christopher Nolan's original features like "Inception" and "Interstellar" are as sublime as any great piece of movie music. For all of his amazing work for any and all genre of film, I would like to point out his underrat...