Bloodsucking Cinema (TV)

Premiering on Starz! on October 26th, and hosted by Richard Roeper, is Bloodsucking Cinema—a fascinating look at the vampire movie in history. It begins, of course, with Nosferatu and continues into the 21st century with box office hits like Van Helsing and Underworld.

Interspersed between the movie clips are interviews with the filmmakers, actors, and critics. Viewers get an insiders’ perspective from directors John Carpenter (Vampires), Len Wiseman (Underworld, Underworld: Evolution), John Landis (Innocent Blood) and Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys), actors Kristanna Loken (BloodRayne), Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned), and critics Leonard Maltin and Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News).

I was lucky enough to view a screener of this documentary, and as someone who already knows a lot about the vampire genre and having been a lifelong fan, I found Bloodsucking Cinema to be thoroughly engaging and entertaining.

Girl 27 (DVD)

The title of this documentary refers to MGM’s call list for starlets back in the ’30s–Patricia Douglas was one of those actress/chorus girls. After she claimed she was used as bait by MGM and set up to be raped at a stag party for its visiting salesmen, she filed a lawsuit. The then-underage girl was quickly hushed up by the studio heads and lawyers, and went into hiding for the next several decades.

Only when author David Stenn stumbled onto the story did the depth of the deception begin to come to light. Stenn’s years-long search for the truth leads him to Patricia Douglas herself, nearly 90 and still in hiding.

It’s a fascinating stud–not only of the Girl 27 case, but of Hollywood scandals and cover-ups (the illegitimate daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable is interviewed for the film, along with many historians and insiders).

The vintage movie clips alone, many of which were banned by the Hays Office, are worth the price of a rental, but it’s also nice to see some cleverness in the editing process (a scene intercutting ’30s chorus girls with a J-Lo rock video is particularly effective).

The Hoax (DVD)

When I first reviewed The Hoax for Buzzine, I was duly impressed. Seeing it again on DVD only confirms that opinion, and with the excellent extras on the disc, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Synopsis: From acclaimed director Lasse Hallstrom comes the unbelievable true story of Clifford Irving, the writer who faked the authorized autobiography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes and came close to pulling off the media scam of the 20th century. Irving’s elaborate attempts to substantiate his claims–forgery, plagiarism, and falsifying legal documents–spark a media frenzy and take Irving down a neurotic spiral, as he begins to suspect a vast conspiracy including the U.S. government and corporate empires are plotting against him.

On the disc: The additional release material not only includes a truly compelling yak track from Hallstrom and writer William Wheeler, but also 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, who interviewed Irving on several occasions. There are also extended and deleted scenes.

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