Trying to put together a definitive box set of Roger Corman films would be a fool’s errand. Between the number of different studios he’s worked for over the years and the sheer volume of the man’s work as a director and producer, there’s just no way you could ever put together anything that could truly be called a definitive representation of his career. Still, give MGM credit for taking a shot at it with The Roger Corman Collection; at best, it’s still only a mixture of good, great, and utter dreck…but, then, that’s Roger Corman in a nutshell, anyway.

For the purposes of our Scare of the Day feature, we’ll look at two of the eight films within the set today, then hit up one more tomorrow. Today, however, has been officially declared Ray Milland Day at Premium Hollywood, which means that we’ll be tackling 1962’s “Premature Burial” and 1963’s “X - The Man with X-Ray Eyes.”

“Premature Burial” is based on a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, an author whose works were regularly plundered by Corman for his films. I say “plundered,” but I’m really only kidding; in truth, modern audiences would probably be way less familiar with Poe’s work if it hadn’t been for Corman’s adaptations of “House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Raven,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Tomb of Ligeia.” For that alone, he deserves praise, even if he hasn’t always been 100% on the mark when transitioning the stories into films.

In the case of “Premature Burial,” unfortunately, I can’t make a comparison between the two, having never read the original short story, but I will say that Corman succeeds in putting together a creepy tale of Guy Carrell, a man who’s convinced that he suffers from catalepsy. If you’re not familiar with that particular malady, here’s the scoop: it’s a condition characterized by muscular rigidity, fixity of posture and decreased sensitivity to pain…and in the days before medical technology really took off, it wasn’t too hard for someone in the midst of a cataleptic seizure to be declared dead.

Carrell is in the midst of a full-on obsession with his possible catalepsy, to the point where he even breaks off a relationship with Emily Gault (Hazel Court) because he feels he can’t give it his all. She convinces him to give her a chance, however, and they end up married…if not necessarily happily. Carrell is sure that his father was buried alive while in the midst of a seizure, and to avoid any possibility of such a thing happening to him, he designs a crypt for himself that’s equal parts Rube Goldberg and Dr. Frink from “The Simpsons.” It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Eventually, Emily convinces her husband to have his father’s remains exhumed, so he can see once and for all that it was a legitimate, peaceful death…and not to spoil it for you, but, um, that screen shot is of Carrell’s dad, and I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t look like a smile on his face. “Premature Burial” is an enjoyable Gothic horror flick, and while it’s gotten some rather unfair complaints over the years because Milland took the lead rather than Corman’s usual Poe go-to man, Vincent Price, there’s no question than our man Ray plays the role with all the intensity it requires.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whereas 1.2 was a series of safe, almost pleasant excursions for Dan, 1.3 is just the opposite.

He’s transported to 1989 – on the day of San Fran’s big quake. He meets a gambling lawyer who might be his mission, but before he knows for sure he’s back in his own timeline. Katie, his wife, is at this point proving to be quite the trooper, as she’s handling the fallout from Dan’s “trips” with as much efficiency as is necessary to keep them both afloat.

For the first time Dan finds himself constantly returning to the same day, and since he knows it’s the day of the quake, he’s also in constant danger. Instead of fixating on lawyer Alan Pratt (Peter Billingsley), he realizes his boss Hugh’s (Brian Howe) sister was killed in the quake and he makes it his mission to save her…which doesn’t work out.

This is also an eye-opening installment for both Livia and Katie – each finds out about the other’s place in Dan’s life; it’s like the ultimate time-travel cock block.

“Game Three” is another great episode for this series and much of what happens is very personal as the thrust of the goings-on is mostly around the series regulars (the mission almost feels like an afterthought). If the show keeps this up, it’s going to quickly turn into a “for fans only” type of thing and it’s going to find it difficult to build a following. Indeed, if the series intends to keep up this sort of momentum it will either be a classic or canceled. Man, I hope it’s the former.

For you irregular readers, on last week’s blog, I wrote:

So that leads us to the box – what’s in it? It’s a perfect size for a head, bringing the final scene of “Se7en” to mind, and the fact that the bad guys have two hostages makes one of them expendable, but a decapitated head of a main (and good) character seems to be a little much for “Prison Break.”

Well, so much for that theory. Apparently, Sara’s dead, and according to some reports around the web, FOX forced Sarah Wayne Callies out. I really thought that the Michael/Sara love story would be the constant, driving force throughout the series run, but I guess that’s not the case. It’s a shame, because there was something really sweet about it, and it offset some of the more grisly parts of the series. Anyway, R.I.P. Dr. Tancredi. You’ll be missed. (One thing’s for sure: the Company better watch out when Michael gets the news. Then the shit is really going to hit the fan.)

Was anyone surprised when Sucre showed up as the new gravedigger? C’mon, really? You didn’t think his move-to-Columbia-and-pick-coffee-beans plan was really going to happen, did you? I don’t know how strong the Columbian Peso is against the US Dollar, but I doubt that would make much of a dent in Maricruz’ bills. Then again, the dollar is pretty weak right now.

Two weeks ago, Michael played MacGyver by fixing the water flow in the prison and this week he used his engineering skill to sabotage the power so that he could gain access to the power lines running alongside the exterior walls. I’m not sure where all of this is headed, but it’s clear by the final shot that he intends to go through the fence after Sucre weakens it.

In other news, Whistler and his girl have decided to check up on the brothers, Mahone is receiving visits from Haywire, Bellick gets burned after trying to rat out Michael and T-Bag has decided to promote himself within Luchero’s organization.

The chess pieces are moving around. How long will it take before they’re all in place?