Chillichap's World

Hello! As a child, I grew up in the 70's, and let’s face it, there wasn’t a lot of choice. We had three channels — BBC1, BBC2 & ITV. That was it! Colour television was new (if you were lucky enough to have a colour TV) and there were still plenty of black-and-white shows which were repeats. One repeat I really didn’t mind was Laurel and Hardy. As a kid, I didn’t know that my parents had probably watched this comedy duo as children too and their parents had probably seen it at the cinema as it was released in 1937. I found myself laughing a lot at what I consider the greatest comedy duo ever seen, who managed to transition from silent films to ‘talkies’. Not only were they hilarious, but their timing was impeccable- they could sing, and dance, and both seemed damn-near indestructible, no matter what hit or fell on them (which was usually on poor Oliver Hardy). I was hooked. The action starts in a very busy Mickey Finn’s Saloon where Lola Marcel is billboarding. Beer is sliding d...

Hello! Welcome to my review of this film. Spoiler alert!  When I review films I tend to appraise the whole film but never reveal the ending. Well, YouTube has done it again. It recognised that I liked films with Sid James in and has thrown this one up for me to watch. What made Sid James such a great actor? I suppose his charisma and the way he seemed to be himself in each role-a loveable rogue with no pretensions and nothing to hide. The intro to the film has a picture of two pillows and the song 'Double Bunk performed by Sid James and Liz Frazer! We start at a rental property where some of the tenants seem to be struggling to pay their rent. Jack Goddard (Ian Carmichael) dashes across the hallway to Peggy (Janette Scott) with a newspaper that has an advertisement for a cheap home. The couple have been engaged for three months. Peggy realises it's a houseboat. Jack is frustrated because he and Peggy have yet to consummate their relationship.  The couple decides to go and visi...

Hello! Well, I thought I'd pay homage to perhaps one of the greatest film franchises ever seen in the UK-The Carry On Films (it has the largest number of films of any franchise). I grew up watching these films and still watch them now. Some were before my time, but repeated of course on British TV. These days, Carry On films will probably be regarded as politically incorrect by the Wokerati-social justice activists who are determined to find offense with anything and everything. To me, the Carry On films represent a light-hearted era where people just had fun. Directed by Gerald Thomas, written by R F Delderfield and screenplay by Norman Hudis, Carry On Sergeant is the first ever Carry On film. Most of the actors in this film went on to become household names (some were already famous). Spoiler Alert - When I review films, I usually talk about the whole film, but never reveal the ending. I hope you enjoy my review. The film starts with the wedding of Charlie and Mary Sage (Bob Monk...

Hello! Guess what, I'm at it again-diving headfirst into the rabbit hole of YouTube's movie recommendations. I seem to be on a bit of a roll with comedy horrors which kinda slap you in the face before they apply a nice soothing balm afterwards. How do I feel about zombies? They're scary and seem relentless in their pursuit of us humans. Their hunger doesn't ever seem to be satisfied (a bit like me on a midnight fridge raid). This said I penned a collection of poems titled 'Zombie Apocalypse Poems Book I'. It chronicles the hilariously macabre events of a chap (it could be me) who retains his conscience when he becomes a zombie:- The film starts off with three guys-Munch (Rowe David McClelland) a milkman, Ed (George McClusky) a postman, and Boris (Michael Gamarano Singleton) a parking warden who are hiding from a group of zombies led by The Zombie King (Edward Furlong) who is riding a motorcycle. A young zombie girl finds them and the milkman throws a milk bottle...

Hello! When I logged onto YouTube today, a vampire-related movie caught my attention. I decided to give it a try since I love anything vamp-related. In 1987, The Lost Boys became one of my favorite vampire films. Up until that point, most vampire films were serious and followed the classic dusty Hammer style, with an eternal battle between the Prince of Darkness and his arch-nemesis Van Helsing. The Lost Boys introduced elements of humor and brought a new focus to the horror genre. Since then, vampire films have never been the same. The film begins with a Star Wars-type scrolling narrative that explains how vampires have had to evolve. Their savior, the powerful and righteous Count Mardulak, (I can't see any anagrams there...) has led the vampires out West. By using sunblock, UV-A glasses, and feeding on synthesized blood, they can learn to live in harmony with humans. We then meet the Harrisons, an American family with two young daughters. One of the girls has an unhealthy fascina...

Hello! Well, do you know what-I said I don't like horror, but YouTube keep throwing them up there for me to watch. To my surprise, I'm starting to like some of them! I don't like being scared senseless, but add a good story line and it turns out I can do horror (so far). Some of the films I've watched are a bit old and it may help that the special effects aren't always wonderful. Anyway, for those who don't know what a Gorgon is, it's from Greek mythology-three sisters-Stheno, Euryale and Medusa with the power to turn anybody to stone. The first two were immortal, but not Medusa, who was slain by the hero Perseus (You can see this in the Movie Clash of the Titans 1981). Medusa had snakes for hair, so Indiana Jones would've been very very scared of her! Oh dear, I've just noticed it's a Hammer film-they're pretty scary. As with a lot of these films, we start in a dark castle, where a monster is said to reside. In the nearby village the artist ...

 Hello! I was mooching around looking for a film to watch and I came across this film. It's directed by multi award-winning Director Mauro Borelli (Star Wars Episode VIII-The Last Jedi). I don't really do horror that much, so hoped it wasn't too scary. Well, I can tell you it was a bit scary. As well as vampires and werewolves, I'm quite partial to a bit of witchcraft too and witches seem to me to be the most powerful of the lot-as seen with Willow in the Buffy series (I'm a full-grown bloke, I can watch what I like!). It starts off in 1945 with an American plane flying over Germany. Something flies into the engines and downs the plane - it looks like bats, but turns out to be crows. The US send a rescue party headed by Major Jonhson (played by Mickey Rourke). It turns out the plane was carrying sensitive material and the operation is designated as Top Secret. Johnson seems to have a history with the Sergeant of the group Sgt Brewer (played by Robert Knepper). One o...

Hello! Well I bet a lot of you haven't heard of this film. It just popped up on YouTube and I was intrigued. The plot starts 1 zillion BC (so before the Earth came into existence then). It's a hostile environment where the cavemen scavenge whatever they can find whilst trying very hard not to be gobbled up by the surrounding dinosaurs! To be honest, the dinosaurs seem smarter than the cavemen who have limited speech. When a beasty appears, the cavemen climb very small trees. A rather large undefined dinosaur (that looks like it could be on a Chewits advert-yes, I'm showing my age) attacks the cavemen and one of them, Lar (played by Dennis Quaid) bravely tries to fight it off, while the others all run away. He's injured and implores his friend Atouk (played by Ringo Starr) to help, but the chieftains tell Ringo to leave his friend and come back to the cave.  Atouk is sad about leaving his friend and is also in love with Lana the chief's woman which doesn't seem r...

Hello! This film popped up on YouTube this morning and I, being a bit of a fan of Sly Stallone, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Often if you've never heard of a film-there's usually a very good reason. Read on to find out why I think this film may have slipped under the radar... The film starts off quite poignantly with Angelo 'Snaps' Provolone a gangster played by Sly Stallone visiting his father played by Kirk Douglas on his deathbed. Although the legendary actor does indeed look close to death, in real life he actually goes on to live another 29 years! His father persuades Angelo known as 'Snaps' to go straight and Snaps promises to obey his father's dying wish.  Snaps' hired hands aren't sure about their boss going straight and pretty soon one of his competitors Aldo (played by Peter Reigert) hears about it. Nobody, including the police, believes Snaps has gone straight and end up spying on him. Meanwhile, Snaps sets about improving himself an...

Hello! YouTube really wanted me to watch this film, as it kept popping up. So I have and will furnish you with the benefits of my wisdom, wit, and acumen by reviewing it. Don't say I didn't warn you! What I love about this kind of film is it's tongue-in-cheek and suitably vague-it has no pretenses and begins with the caption 'Somewhere in Africa 1940'.  The film starts at a campsite where two Brits are awaiting the rerun of their colleague. The colleague arrives back in a beleaguered state, drops a massive diamond and utters the words 'I've found the lost city', and then croaks it. One of his colleagues then cops it with a poisoned dart and the remaining chap runs for his life. Sadly the diamond falls into the hands of the Germans. The diamond makes it back to Germany and we meet Hitler's deadly agent Lola Pagola (played by Maud Adams) along with her sidekick hard man Heinrich (played by none other than the well-known British comedian Jasper Carrot!)...

 Hello! Another film popped up on YouTube, this time an old black and white one starring the best British cads of all time Terry Thomas.  The Film starts with a passenger on a plane having one drink too many and becoming ill. Archibald Bannister (played by Terry Thomas) is the airport detective working for the World Health Organisation (which is where the title of the film comes from) who specializes in tracking down infectious diseases and their origins. Kennedy (played by Alex Nicol), a partner of the ill man is waiting for Cooper. Alex is a shrewd American who won't take no for an answer as to what's going on. Two of my favourite actors appear quite early-Honor Blackman who plays Sister Bryan, the airport nurse, and Richard Briers (who receives an introducing credit), who plays Jamieson-Bannister's assistant.  There's a bit of a flap on when it's discovered the patient has smallpox. Bannister and Jamieson gatecrash a party to vaccinate the partygoers against smal...

Hello! While I'm not an out and out fan of horror, I do like supernatural-particularly anything to do with vampires or werewolves. I typed in 'Vampire Movie' into my YouTube search bar and this film came up. I watched and enjoyed the original Fright Night starring William Ragsdale & Roddy McDowall and for some reason managed to miss this film whilst on my teenage hedonistic rampage (I'd just started going out with my wife-to-be). It starts off with one of the main heroes of the first Fright Night film Charley Brewster (played by William Ragsdale) having just completed three years of therapy. He's tells his therapist that vampires don't exist and he was just part of a weird mass hypnotic event involving the actor Peter Vincent (played by Roddy McDowal). Charlie visits Peter Vincent with his girlfriend Alex (played by Traci Lind). Whilst alone at the studio, Charlie notices the arrival of four dodgy looking characters who turn out to be vampires and their fami...

Hello! I've just finished watching this film on YouTube. The film has been digitally restored and is in colour. Heads up-whenever there is music playing, the sound is broken up and this can be a little annoying. I would urge anyone who watches this film to try and get past this annoyance, as I feel it's worth it.. There are quite a lot of ads too. This is the price we can pay these days for the opportunity to see some of these hidden/nearly lost gems. It begins with the main character of  Dr. Erasmus Craven a Magician of the dark arts played by Vincent Price. Living in his dark mansion with his beautiful daughter Estelle (Olive Sturgess) Dr Craven is lamenting over his lost love Lenore ala the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem. Erasmus draws a raven and a raven appears knocking at his window. To the doctor's surprise, the raven can talk and is none other than  Dr. Adolphus Bedlo (Peter Lorre) turned into a raven by arch-enemy  Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff). Dr Craven removes the...

Hello! This film popped up on YouTube and I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm not a massive horror fan and although this film would've been grizzly and ghastly at the time, by today's standards, it's not that scary. Look, I've watched all episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and hardly hid behind a cushion once (er thrice), so I can be quite brave. The film is written by Robert E Kent & James B Gordon and Directed by Fred F Sears. The plot is that the would-be werewolf played by Steven Ritch is involved in a car crash and is unfortunately treated by two mad doctors who give him a serum that transforms him into a werewolf. He then kills people who attack him and the two mad doctors re-appear to try and kill him. The town's sheriff is played by Don Megowan and he easily steals the show for acting ability. Interestingly, the werewolf doesn't conform to known werewolf lore. For starters, he doesn't require a full moon to transform (something to do wit...

 Hello! I've just watched this film free on YouTube-it just appeared randomly on my selections list and I thought I'd take a chance. It only received an audience score of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. Low scores like this don't put me off these days, as I content myself by finding little nuggets of gold. As a writer, I'm just happy to have new experiences or ways of looking at things good or bad that only a great actor with a half-decent script can deliver. The film is a comedy-drama written by Milton Wexter and Blake Edwards and is directed by the latter who happens to be one of my favourite directors. It starts off on the operating table where Julie Andrews' character Gillian, is having a biopsy. Although unwell, she keeps her own health issue under wraps while stoically continuing with life in the face of her hypochondriac husband Harvey, played by Jack Lemon. Harvey is a successful architect who seems to be going through a midlife crisis and believes he's falling ...