Tag Archives: movie binge

A Scary Movie Binge You Haven’t Thought Of Yet

Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee

For those looking for a list of scary movies to watch this Halloween season, why not try something new?  In my research this past month, a friend of mine brought up the late actor Christopher Lee.

Lee is well known to many as being Saruman from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.  Last year, on June 7, 2015, he died at the age of 93.

What many people do not know is that Lee’s career spans over 69 years.  In that career, he was well known as playing the villain, mainly in scary movies.  He’s played the creature from Frankenstein, Dracula (ten times), the mummy, Rasputin, Jekyll and Hyde, and many other characters of the occult.

If you are looking for a new scary movie binge, why not honor the late Christopher Lee by bingeing on his scary movies during the month of October?  If you are an Amazon Prime member, these movies are available on Amazon Video for free as part of your membership.  They are also available for rent on Amazon Video.


Here’s what I’ll be watching.  Note that many films may have changed names.

  1. Circus of Fear (or Psycho-Circus)
  2. Raw Meat
  3. Season of the Witch
  4. Theatre of Death (or Blood Fiend)
  5. Dracula AD 1972
  6. To the Devil…a Daughter
  7. Horror Express
  8. House of the Long Shadows
  9. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (or Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride)
  10. Taste the Blood of Dracula
  11. In Search of Dracula
  12. Count Dracula
  13. The Mummy
  14. Hercules in the Haunted World
  15. The Blood of Fu Manchu
  16. The House that Dripped Blood
  17. Nothing But the Night
  18. Crimson Cult (or Curse of the Crimson Altar)
  19. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors
  20. Dracula Prince of Darkness
  21. Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
  22. The City of the Dead (or Horror Hotel)
  23. Dark Shadows
  24. The Resident
  25. Sleepy Hollow
  26. Gremlins II: The New Batch
  27. The Wicker Tree
  28. Corpse Bride
  29. The Bloody Judge
  30. Horror of Dracula
  31. Scars of Dracula




The Ultimate Russell Crowe Binge

man-of-steel-russell-croweFor those who follow me on Twitter, I went through a bit of a Russell Crowe binge this past month.  While I still have a few movies left to find (the earlier stuff from his pre-Hollywood days), I thought I’d share the actual binge with you…just in case you were interested in doing your own binge.

Here is the list of Crowe movies in order that I watched them.


Movie Year Notes
1 The Water Diviner 2014 This is Crowe’s directorial debut and probably one of the most powerful stories he has brought to the screen.
2 3:10 to Yuma 2007 Something you will start to notice in the Russell Crowe binge is that there are repeat offenders in his work.  In this movie, Logan Lerman (“Noah”) and Kevin Durand (multiple films) are the repeat offenders.  Crowe also has a bit of a bromance with Durand.
3 Broken City 2013 In a SNL skit in May 2016, Russell Crowe referenced his co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones’s husband’s (Michael Douglas) tongue cancer (a type of cancer that is ususally caused by HPV, transmitted by cunnilingus).  Crowe ran with that in the skit.
4 A Beautiful Mind 2001 We start to see the beginning of the bond between repeat offenders Jennifer Connelly and her spouse, Paul Bettany, in Crowe’s films.  This is the film where the two lovebirds met.  Connelly won an Academy Award for best actress in a supporting role for this film.
5 A Good Year 2006 This is just one of a handful of collaborations Crowe will have with Ridley Scott. Also, later, Crowe’s connection with this wine film will lead to another good year for wine in the “Red Obsession” 8 years later.
6 Noah 2014 Repeat offenders Jennifer Connelly and Logan Lerman star with Crowe in this artistic rendition of the ancient tale of the Great Flood.
7 Gladiator 2000 The first collaboration between Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott.  This movie earned 5 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor.
8 Heaven’s Burning 1997 This Australian movie is a bit Tarantino-esque.  This was Crowe’s last Australian film before heading to Hollywood.  It would be another 17 years before he would make another Australian film (“The Water Diviner”), which he also directed.
9 Fathers & Daughters 2015 Amanda Seyfried is the repeat offender in this film.  She starred with Crowe in “Les Miserables.”
10 Proof of Life 2000 Of all the Crowe films, this film is the most difficult to stomach.  It is because of what happened off screen.  Meg Ryan, Hollywood’s darling, starred in this film post-Gladiator with Crowe.  They started an affair, which led to her divorce from Dennis Quaid.  She lost a lot of love from the public because of this.  This movie was the beginning of her demise.  She was rarely cast after this movie.  She recently came out with the film “Ithaca,” making her directorial debut.  Compared to Crowe, after this film, she has starred in only 10 films to Crowe’s 25 films in the same time period.
11 The Quick and the Dead 1995 This film was Crowe’s introduction into Hollywood.  Repeat Offenders: Keith David (“The Nice Guys”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Body of Lies”).
12 Cinderella Man 2005 “Cinderella Man” marks the second collaboration between Crowe and director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”).
13 The Insider 1999 This film displays Crowe’s acting talent at its finest.  Of all the films he has made, this is the one he should have won an Oscar for.  He was nominated for an Oscar for best actor, but that statue went to his “LA Confidential” co-star Kevin Spacey for “American Beauty.”  “The Insider” received multiple nominations, but “American Beauty” dominated that year, and rightly so.
14 Robin Hood 2010 The bromance in this film is real.  Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand (his “Mystery, Alaska” buddies) reunite in this film.  These guys appear in a lot of films together.  The bromance is real.  Ridley Scott also directed this film.  This is the most current of the collaborations between the two.
15 Winter’s Tale 2014 Continuing the “Robin Hood” bromance, both Kevin Durand and Scott Grimes make small appearances in this film.  Jennifer Connelly also appears.
16 The Man With the Iron Fists 2012 RZA is the repeat offender in this film.  RZA both directed, wrote and starred in this film.  RZA appeared in “The Next Three Days” with Crowe.
17 State of Play 2009
18 The Nice Guys 2016 Probably one of the craziest films Crowe has ever made.  He’s found a new bromance with Ryan Gosling.  Gosling had Crowe breaking character and laughing so much, the director told Gosling that if he made Crowe laugh again, he would charge him $5 every time he broke character.  Repeat Offenders: Kim Basinger and Keith David.
19 Les Miserables 2012 This is the first time the two Australian Hollywood powerhouses would star together in a film.  Hugh Jackman takes the lead alongside Crowe for the first time.  Many people did not know that Crowe is a singer.  He has traveled around the world with his band over the last 20+ years and has a few albums out.  This film would make Amanda Seyfried into a repeat offender.  Anne Hathaway won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
20 Body of Lies 2008 Repeat Offender: Leonardo DiCaprio.
21 Master and Commander 2003 Repeat Offender: Paul Bettany.  This bromance is one of the favorites among the public.
22 Man of Steel 2013 18 years prior to making this film, Crowe starred in “No Way Back” with the original Supergirl.  Crowe has pitched the idea around in the media that he would like to reprise his role of Jor-El in a prequel.
23 American Gangster 2007 Another Ridley Scott film.  The repeat offender is none other than Denzel Washington himself.
24 The Next Three Days 2010 RZA’s small role in this film with Crowe would lead to “The Man With the Iron Fists.”
25 The Republic of Doyle (3.1) 2012 The bromance reappears in this Canadian TV show.  Crowe, Grimes and Durand star together in this episode.  Stupidity ensues in the form of the Three Stooges.
26 Virtuousity 1995 Once upon a time, Crowe used to get naked in his movies.  This is one of those films.  This film also stars Denzel Washington.  12 years later, they would reunite in “American Gangster.”
27 Romper Stomper 1992 This is the movie that paved the way for Crowe into Hollywood and would explain why he was perfect for his role in “LA Confidential.”  This film is very difficult to watch, so be forewarned.  The neo-Nazi violence against Asians is tough to see.  [I had to take a break from the binge because of how disturbed I was from the violence.]
28 The Silver Brumby (Stallion) 1993 This is one of the most beautiful and scenic movies you’ll ever see of Australia.  Just breathtaking.
29 LA Confidential 1997 One of the most beloved and best movies ever made.  Crowe’s role and his character’s anger is reminiscent of his role in “Romper Stomper.”  You can see how perfect this role was for him.  Kim Basinger would appear 19 years later in “The Nice Guys” as a repeat offender.
30 Red Obsession 2014 “A Good Year” is a great prelude to this film which discusses the wine industry, more importantly the wine industry in China.  This film is not listed in Crowe’s IMDb.  He is the narrator of this film.
31 Bra Boys 2007 This film is not listed in Crowe’s IMDb.  He appears as the narrator in this documentary of the Bra Boys in Australia.
32 Tenderness 2009 This is one of the strangest films ever, especially for Crowe.  [At the end of this film, I literally sat there going…”I have no idea what just happened.”]
33 Proof 1991 Hugo Weaving stars in this film with Crowe about a friendship between a young man and a blind guy.  Crowe does get naked.
34 No Way Back 1995 As a foreshadowing of things to come, Helen Slater, the original “Supergirl,” stars in this film with Crowe.  Crowe would later play Jor-El in “Man of Steel.”
35 Brides of Christ (TV series) 1991 This TV mini-series stars a young Naomi Watts.  Crowe appears in a few episodes.  This series is mainly about Catholic nuns at a school and the ethical challenges they face in a modern society.
36 Breaking Up 1997 Stars the beautiful Salma Hayek.  This movie is basically about a couple that fights all of the time, but then have amazing makeup sex afterward.  That is the movie in a nutshell.
37 Mystery, Alaska 1999 This was the beginning of the bromance between Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand.  For the next 15+ years, these three would star in one movie after another after another.  They are the current day Larry, Moe and Curly…after you see Republic of Doyle, you’ll get that.  Crowe = Moe.  Grimes = Curly.  Durand = Larry.





Not all of Crowe’s movies were easy to find.  There were nine films I was not able to get my hands on and that may have more to do with the fact that it was made in Australia in the early 1990s.  Most of the films are still on VHS or not able to be used on USA machines.  Many of the films have not been transposed to DVD or digital.  While I have seen “The Crossing,” that was 15 years ago and it was on VHS.  I have not seen a digital or DVD version of that movie  made available.  The VHS tape alone fetches for over $80 because of its scarcity.

Movies Hard to Find
1 Prisoners of the Sun 1990 George Takei stars.
2 The Crossing 1990 This is the movie where Crowe met and fell in love with Danielle Spencer.  They would later marry and have two sons.  They are currently divorced.  This movie doesn’t appear to have been transferred to DVD or digital, so it will be difficult to find unless you have a VHS player.
3 The Efficiency Expert 1992 Stars Anthony Hopkins.
4 Hammers Over the Anvil 1993
5 Love in Limbo 1993
6 For the Moment 1993
7 The Sum of Us 1994
8 Rough Magic 1995 Stars Bridget Fonda and Jim Broadbent.
9 The Spell of the Yukon 1996 He is the narrator in this short.