Television always pulls out its inventory of scary movies on Halloween, and TCM has so many of them, it’s rolling them out early. So early, in fact, that one of the best of them shows up just after sunrise, when Tod Browning’s Freaks is shown at 6:45 a.m. ET. What a perfect way to start this particular day…

2019

Oct

ROSEMARY'S BABY By David Bianculli

In 1965, Roman Polanski directed Repulsion, a creepily claustrophobic film about a young woman (played beautifully by Catherine Deneuve) descending into madness. Three years later, he directed this adaptation of an Ira Levin novel, and this time cast young Mia Farrow as a woman who thinks she’s imagining things and being paranoid, and maybe even going insane. But, in this case, maybe she’s not…

2019

Oct

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN By David Bianculli

James Whale directed this superb sequel to his Frankenstein movie in 1935, allowing Boris Karloff to reprise his starring, mostly grunting role as Frankenstein’s Monster – but also allowing the sequel to be stolen by Elsa Lanchester, in the dual role of Mary Shelley (the actual author of the original Frankenstein novel) and, when brought back from the dead, as the punk-coiffed Monster’s Mate.

2019

Oct

THE GOOD PLACE By David Bianculli

The one-non-Halloweeny offering mentioned in tonight’s Best Bets is this new final-season episode of The Good Place, titled “A Chip Driver Mystery.” But perhaps, given the hellish twists and turns this Michael Schur sitcom has served up so far, maybe it fits the night’s theme, and mood, after all.

2019

Oct

THEATRE OF BLOOD By David Bianculli

This is my favorite ghoulish movie on TV today – and one of my favorite movies ever, because it’s sort of like a murder-spree cross between Shakespeare and A Fish Called Wanda. And it’s educational, too: This 1973 Vincent Price movie is where I first learned about Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s over-the-top bloodbath of a stage drama. The plot has Price, as a has-been Shakespearean actor, returning from seeming oblivion to wreak revenge on his hostile

2019

Oct

PIT AND THE PENDULUM By David Bianculli

And here’s Vincent Price again, to cap off the evening – and, maybe, lop off a head – in this 1961 movie version of the classic Edgar Allan Poe short story. Barbara Steele co-stars (Price certainly knew how to pick his leading ladies), and look who’s working behind the scenes: Roger Corman not only produces, but directs – and the screenplay is an adaptation by that wonderful writer, Richard Matheson, whose other screen credits, large and small, include The Incr

2019

Oct

A NEW LOOK AT THE NEWS By Tom Brinkmoeller

It has been a long time since I watched a television news program...

2019

Oct

REVISITING THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD WITH 'THE BRONX, USA' By David Hinckley

The Bronx might be the best-known borough in America, which is not the same as saying it's the most admired...

2019

Oct

2019 WORLD SERIES By David Bianculli

Wow. After last night’s intense Game 6, in which the Washington Nationals led, then were behind, then led again and emerged with a series-tying victory, the visiting team has won every game of this year’s World Series so far – six games in a row in which the home team has lost. In professional sports, that hasn’t happened since… well, it hasn’t happened before, ever. Period. So now it’s a World Series Game 7, which strategically and dramatica

2019

Oct

MODERN FAMILY By David Bianculli

This episode is called “The Last Halloween,” and it is, indeed, the end of an era. An itsy bitsy little era, but still: Over its long, lauded, impressive and entertaining run, Modern Family has made the most of its annual Halloween episodes, picking up the mantle left behind by sister ABC sitcom Roseanne. In this final season, Modern Family has one chance left to pull off the ultimate Halloween prank, and give Claire (Julie Bowen) the scare she craves. A

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