The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 16, 2019

About a week ago, the esteemed Joshua Kennedy (writer, producer, and director of HOUSE OF THE GORGON) asked me to compile a list of my favorite silent movies. I consider this to be a worthy request, and this list will mark my 700th(!) blog post. If you think being a...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 11, 2019

THE FACE OF TERROR (aka LA CARA DEL TERROR) is a 1962 Spanish-American co-production, filmed in Spain, that belongs to the "horribly disfigured woman who undergoes ground-breaking plastic surgery with tragic results" mini-genre. Other films in this grouping include EYES WITHOUT A FACE, ATOM AGE VAMP   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 6, 2019

In my tribute post to Julie Adams, I mentioned that instead of being known for just one classic monster movie, she should probably be remembered for the many Western films and TV episodes she appeared in. At the very beginning of her screen acting career, she starred in a series...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 4, 2019

The passing of Julie Adams is a truly sad event for many film buffs. As anyone who met her can attest, she was a gracious individual who went out of her way to treat anyone who approached her feel special. I met Julie Adams at the 2014 Summer Monster Bash...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 3, 2019

The great cult movie character actor Dick Miller passed away earlier this week. If you are reading this blog, I assume you know who he was. Starting with his association with producer-director Roger Corman in the 1950s, Miller appeared in all sorts of low-budget horror, science-fiction, and exploita   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on February 2, 2019

THE GORILLA, produced in 1939, is actually the third film made by 20th Century Fox with that title. All three versions were based on a stage play by Ralph Spence. The first two cinematic adaptations were made in 1927 and 1930, and they are now considered lost. The 1939 version...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 30, 2019

One of the home video highlights of 2018 was the official release of all the Hal Roach comedy shorts of Thelma Todd, Zasu Pitts, and Patsy Kelly....and now we have a book to go along with them. James L. Neibaur's THE HAL ROACH COMEDY SHORTS OF THELMA TODD, ZASU PITTS,...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 26, 2019

FIRST MAN is a film I wanted to see in the theaters, but it didn't last too long in my area and I never got around to seeing it. I finally caught up with it through Xfinity OnDemand. One of the reasons for the tepid box office of FIRST MAN...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 24, 2019

Shout Factory's latest Region A Hammer Blu-ray release is the very effective 1966 THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES. Sometime in the late 19th Century, Sir James Forbes (Andre Morell) travels to Cornwall with his young daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare) to visit his former student Dr. Peter Thompson (Brook Will   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 22, 2019

Kino continues its series of restored Mario Bava film releases on Blu-ray with the 1966 Viking tale KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (original Italian title I COLTELLI DEL VENDICATORE). As Bava expert Tim Lucas explains in his audio commentary, KNIVES OF THE AVENGER was originally a production directed by Leo   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 15, 2019

No writer is able to vividly bring to life the various personalities involved in the making of classic Hollywood horror films like Greg Mank--and he does it again in his latest book, "ONE MAN CRAZY!" THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLIN CLIVE. Mank has written extensively on Clive in his...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 9, 2019

My great friend, independent filmmaker Joshua Kennedy, recently asked me if I had ever seen a 1967 film called COUNTERPOINT. The movie stars Charlton Heston, a screen icon that has had a major influence upon Josh. I had never actually heard of the film, let alone seen it. I did...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 6, 2019

During the documentary FILMWORKER, it was mentioned that after his appearance in BARRY LYNDON, Leon Vitali portrayed Victor Frankenstein in a 1977 adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel entitled TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN. This bit of information intrigued me--I thought I had seen, or at least heard of, jus   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 3, 2019

FILMWORKER is an outstanding documentary on the life of Leon Vitali, and his long-time association with the brilliant film director Stanley Kubrick. Leon Vitali is best known for playing the pouty stepson of Ryan O'Neal in Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON. At the time Vitali already had an accomplished caree   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on January 1, 2019

SAD HILL UNEARTHED, a magnificent new documentary written & directed by Guillermo de Oliveria, examines how a small group of enthusiastic and determined fans of the movie THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY set out to restore one of the film's most iconic locations. The majestic climax of Sergio...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on December 29, 2018

It's the end of the year, and it's time once again for my top five DVD/Blu-rays list. As usual, I spent way too much money on home video--especially movies that I had already owned on other formats. (Three of the films on this list I already had versions of.) If...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on December 26, 2018

I got quite excited when I found out earlier this year that Shout Factory was planning on releasing a number of Hammer Films horror titles on Blu-ray. My enthusiasm was tempered a bit when it was announced that DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS was going to be the first in the...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on December 23, 2018

Lately Clint Eastwood has been on a run of films detailing real-life American heroes such as SULLY and AMERICAN SNIPER. His new movie THE MULE is also based off of a real-life American story, but this time the narrative is much more complicated. THE MULE is reminiscent of MYSTIC RIVER...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on December 19, 2018

The Region A Blu-ray debut of the most famous Hammer film of all time has already stirred up a fair amount of controversy--so much so that I've debated on whether I should even write this blog post at all. Instead of going into the history and/or the importance of the...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day Jr. on December 12, 2018

There are two ways to answer this question: "Who is your favorite mad scientist character?" and "Who is your favorite mad scientist actor?" When it comes to favorite mad scientist character, there's so, so many to choose from....just off the top of my head, there's Boris Karloff's Dr. Gustav Nieman   read more