Go Memphis

When you call Fred “The Hammer” Williamson on his cell phone, if you’re lucky, he won’t answer. Because if he doesn’t answer, you’ll get to hear a phone message that is (a) kind of awe-inspiring, and (b) a reality check that reminds you of your status as a person who has not and never will be able to refer to himself, without irony, as “The Hammer.” “Yo, this is The Hammer,” Williamson growls, with an über-cool seismic bass rumble that is part B-movie intimidation, part Barry White seduction. Full story »

From a whisper to a scream: The most famous sequence in the 1932 version of “The Mummy” — resurrected in a two-disc “Special Edition” DVD this month, to coincide with Friday’s release of the big-budget adventure epic “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” — begins with almost inaudible mumbling and ends with a shriek of terror.
Barely moving his lips, a young archeologist (Bramwell Fletcher) in a camp in the Egyptian desert reads the words on the Scroll of Thoth that bring life to the 3,700-year-old thing in the sarcophagus behind him. Full story »

“It Came from the 50s” could be the headline over this article. Another might be “The Thing That Wouldn’t Die.”In other words, 3D cinema — the “stereoscopic” process that become something of a punchline after being associated with such 1950s B-films as “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “Cat Women of the Moon” — is back in a big way. But according to movie industry professionals, 3D cinema is no longer a joke, gimmick or annoyance (remember those funny red-and-green glasses?). Full story »