The Blu Spot

The Film: More than 50 years after William Friedkin's masterpiece "The Exorcist" had people fainting in theaters, it's incredible to see how popular films about exorcisms remain, with many imitators hoping to scare up the same kind of results with projects like "The Last Exorcism," "Deliver Us from Evil," "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," and, of course, additional entries in the "Exorcist" series. Another recent addition to the group was Julius Avery's "The Pope's Exorcist" from

The Film: Writer/Director Frank Hennenlotter has given us some wild rides over the course of his 50-year career, including 1988's "Brain Damage" and a trilogy of "Basket Case" films, the latter of which is probably his most well-known material. However, he also delivered another odd little outing in 1990 called "Frankenhooker," which was another relatively small horror flick that hardly made a splash when it was in theaters, but which became a smash hit on home video thanks t

The Film: Back in 1960, beloved campy director Roger Corman released a little horror comedy called "The Little Shop of Horrors" that didn't make too much of a splash at the time, though it did eventually turn a little profit, and even became a rather well-liked cult classic. One thing's for sure though, it certainly didn't seem like the kind of material that anyone could base a musical off of... except that's exactly what writer Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken did in 1

The Film: It's nearly impossible to believe that a show about a bunch of guys doing really stupid things could ever become such a phenomenon, but somehow that's exactly what happened with Johnny Knoxville & his friends when they launched "Jackass" on MTV back in 2000. The show, which lasted a relatively brief 25 episodes over three seasons, had the gang attempting to pull off ridiculous stunts that would generally result in pain, severe injury, and sometimes just plain disgus

The Film: Even if you've never heard the name of famed master choreographer/director Yuen Woo-ping, there's little doubt that you've seen a great multitude of his astounding projects. Having worked on such films as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Matrix," "Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2," "Kung Fu Hustle," "Drunken Master," and many, many more, his incredible talent has been dazzling audiences for over 50 years, delivering exciting & breathtaking action sequences that leave

The Film: In the 1950s, the science-fiction genre was still considered something of a lower class category that typically featured flying saucers and little green men, on top of pretty cheesy special effects (Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" being a prime example). In fact, sci-fi films wouldn't really start getting the major respect they deserve until 1968, when Stanley Kubrick delivered his masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey," which showed just how deep & impactful films

The Film: When Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece "Pulp Fiction" came out in 1994, it revolutionized the industry by playing with story structure in a rather unconventional way, or at least in a way that was unconventional at the time. Through his use of sharp dialogue, fascinating characters, and intertwining storylines that were laid out in a non-linear fashion, he delivered a groundbreaking film that left an indelible mark on cinema, and also brought with it a slew of filmmak

The Film: Just three years ago, the "Evil Dead" film franchise finally felt like it was getting back on track with Lee Cronin's "Evil Dead Rise." It wasn't without issues, but it was a major improvement over the dreadful 2013 remake that had completely missed the point, merely attempting to see how much blood they could get on the screen instead of trying to tell a compelling story. With Cronin making the unfortunate decision to go off and direct his disappointing "Mummy" fil

The Film: When Anne Rice published her debut novel "Interview with the Vampire" in 1976, it seems doubtful that anyone could have predicted it eventually becoming such a massive commercial success, let alone that it would be just the start of a series of novels that would go on to include a multitude of sequels such as "The Vampire Lestat" and "The Queen of the Damned." Despite a mixed reception from critics, the paperback edition would eventually garner about $1 million in s

The Film: When Edward Everett Tanner III's 1955 novel "Auntie Mame" was adapted for the stage by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee in 1956 it became a major critical and commercial success, so much so that it was hardly a surprise that a film adaptation followed quite swiftly, arriving in theaters just two years later. Not only was it also a massive success both critically and commercially, but it was also the highest-grossing film of 1958, going on to receive six Oscar no