At the Flicks

At the Flicks · 109: Horror Sequels - Do we need them?

Velcome to the second part of our Dracula show.

In part one we looked at the tortious route from book to screen.  Now we examine the films that resulted from all that work. .

The English language Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. Here we talk about:

- Lugosi’s performance.

- The odd journey to the UK (and why it looks speeded up)

- Dwight Frye’s performance as Renfield

- The censorship cuts 

- The director controversy

- And much more 

Then to the Spanish language version which is 30 minutes longer.  But is it better? We discuss in detail.

Finally, we talk about the 1970’s revival of the original play and how that led to the Frank Langella version in 1979.

So, if you are a fan of Dracula or indeed vampires, then this show is for you.  

Enjoy and have a very happy Halloween.

The At The Flicks team proudly present for your Halloween entertainment, a show six years in the making.  In fact, it’s so big we have split the story over two podcasts.

We are talking Dracula. Not just any story about Dracula, the story behind the famous Universal release in 1931.

Here in part one we investigate what happened between the book’s publication in 1897 and the film going into production just over 30 years later.  In part two, coming tomorrow we look at the making of the film – both the English and Spanish language versions.  This will of course Jeff’s unique review of both movies (as strange and unusual as you have come to expect).

Getting into the weeds of this story took a lot of time to verify the facts – especially the events leading up to the film going into production. That’s why it took 6 years to script and record (also being old we occasionally forgot what we were making, and there was sleep, much of it). 

As a tease, in this part, we will reveal to you:

- The famous event that over shadowed Bram Stoker’s death

- When Universal studios were first lobbied to make a big budget version of Dracula 

- How the makers of Nosferatu revealed a detail they shouldn’t have at the German premiere (and as a result were successfully sued by Stoker’s widow Florence)

- The facts behind the creation of the stage play (which went on to be more inspirational on the film version than the novel)

- Who first played Dracula on stage 

- How the Universal film actually saved Nosferatu for future generations 

- Who was originally considered to be the best actor to bring the character of Dracula to life (clue – it wasn’t Bela Lugosi)

And much, much more….

This was a great deal of fun to put together – the research proved to be very revealing.

To all those who helped with the facts, both directly and indirectly, thank you very much.

We hope you enjoy this labour of love from the At The Flicks team and look forward to your thoughts on both this episode and part two which follows tomorrow.

Bye for now.

Hello and welcome to our spooky season.  This year we have four shows for you.

First up we have a short Carry On Streaming Halloween special.  Short because we have one major TV streaming recommendation for you.  It is It: Welcome To Derry.  Yes, Pennywise is back! 

For the 8 part series we travel back in time to 1962 where Pennywise (once again played by the excellent Bill Skarsgard) is up to his old tricks of terrorising the town of Derry.  This TV show, the first of three planned series, also includes the character of Dick Halloran who later became the chef in that other classic King tale The Shining.  Don’t worry this isn’t a case of cramming in as many Stephen King references as they can into one show, Dick Halloran was actually in the original IT novel, in a very scary flashback story.

Dec has high hopes for this one, and Jeff cannot wait to see it in all it’s horror glory.  As for Graham, well, I’m afraid his horror leanings stop at something called Kpop Demon Hunters.  No idea what that is, but I suspect it’s not going to be a sort of modern day Exorcist reboot.

For those that want more horror for their Halloween, we do discuss some old favourites like Midnight Mass and some up to the minute movies like Clown In A Cornfield and Black Phone 2.

Something for everyone there (even Graham). 

Enjoy this seasonal special and we will see you tomorrow for the next in our Halloween offering.

Bye for now.

Welcome into another of our series of cinema memories.  Up to now we have concentrated on contributors and guests based in the UK – which considering is where we broadcast from, is understandable.  However, for this episode we venture across the pond.

Yes, Graham travels to America to interview American relative Nick, who has a very interesting story to tell. Hopefully Graham did not put this trip on his At The Flicks expense account.  Anyway, Nick tells us about his early cinema experiences in Michigan, his time in the Navy and how he now watches films with a young family.

Along the way Nick tells us about:

·        The importance of video stores to his generation

·        The experience of watching the Star Wars prequels while in the services (an amazing story)

·        Watching movies on an aircraft carrier

·        The worst film of all time (in Nick’s opinion)

And much more…

So here it is, our first venture outside of the UK for cinema memories.  If you have a story you want to tell about your cinema life, wherever you live, please get in contact with us, we would love to hear it.

Until then, we look forward to seeing you At The Flicks.

Bye for now.

Our Autumn Carry On Streaming show has finally arrived, or you may know it as Fall if you live in America! Not just a show, more life counselling guidance.  Host Declan is back, giving you something to be entertained by as the nights draw in and the constant rain dampens everyone’s mood. 

To make this selection, Dec spent his Summer wading through hours of TV to make sure we only recommend the very best.  From shows you may have missed we discuss:

Dept Q 

Shardlake 

The Studio 

The Last Of Us Season 2

And then there are the upcoming shows – the ones not to be missed this season like 

Alien Earth 

Peacemaker Season 2

Mr Scorsese 

Welcome To Derry

The Hack

That’s something for everyone there and that’s just a taster of what we discuss.  

And if all this isn’t enough,  Dec’s Halloween streaming selection is coming very shortly.

Bye for now.

And that’s a wrap – of the Summer.

Which means the big blockbuster season, lasting seemingly for ever, is over for another year.  However, we couldn’t let this moment pass without having our say on some of the key movies of the hot months.  For this discussion we have unleashed Graham, Jeff and Phil to do the honours.  Phil of course watches just about everything with the other two rather in his wake.  We made sure that for the main four films included in this review, all three lads have cast their critical gaze over them.

Only four films I hear you say? Look, at our combined ages getting to see even four was pushing it! But seriously, we wanted to focus on four of the hits and try to remain positive.  In fact, it’s all so positive Jeff and Phil hardly disagree on this show! 

So what are the four films:

F1: The Movie – Apple finally have a monster hit on their hands, but in amidst all the sports cliches and the stunning IMAX visuals, is it any good? 

Jurassic World: Rebirth – Forget the end of the last movie, a new dinosaur age is about to dawn.  Are we all dinosaured out or does this movie bring fresh thrills to old fossils? 

Superman – The Man Of Steel is back, this time under the auspices of James Gunn and new Superman star David Corenswet.  Just how does it compare to the Zack Synder films and Rochard Donner’s 70’s classic? 

Fantastic Four: First Steps – Speaking of Superheroes returning with new actors and a new premise.  Marvel promises that this one is different – is it? 

And as an added bonus, Phil and Jeff discuss (spoiler free) **Weapons**.  Needless to say Graham won’t watch it unless someone pays for his dry cleaning! 

Was it a great Summer? Box office takings may have been down and there may have been too many sequels or reboots, but was the all-important quality good? We will give you our answer in the show. 

As always please tell us what you think.

For now, we are getting our notebooks out for the Fall (Autumn) season.  Watch out for us scribbling At The Flicks.

Bye for now.

That fooled you! 

Yes, yesterday’s show only covered Jo’s choices from 10 to 5.  Here is the second half, where Jo tells us her favourite musical films of all time.

Enjoy, and remember to check out Jo’s excellent podcast Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe.

Cheers

For this episode we are joined by Jo Durrant, creator of the amazing podcast Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe (and I am not just saying that because we are frequent guests on it).  

Jo’s podcast deals mainly with all things science.  However, those of you that listen to Jo know also she is a keen musical watcher.  We thought it would be great to have Jo as a guest and talk about her favourite top ten musicals. Jo agreed, and now we have our Summer special – a fun show that’s a little different for us.  It even got Graham singing along! 

If you know what Jo’s fantastic musical selections are, you’ll have to give the podcast a listen.  To help, here are a few advance clues as to some of the films included

·        A film Jeff really hates (and one that has been discussed on Jo’s podcast, so has some science attached to it).

·        One that has never gone out of fashion or favour since its release in the 1970’s

·        A remake that proves a musical can raise important social points 

·        Includes a film which again Jeff didn’t like (does he like any) but conceded he might be wrong and agreed to rewatch (check out the skies for the second coming).

Do you agree with Jo’s choices? Please let us know.

Enjoy and see you At The Flicks

Throughout 2025 we have been bringing you shows where people share their memories of picture palaces.  We have a few more of these planned for the year, however for this show in that unofficial series we have something a little different for you.

Lyn Williams is a life long film fan, and film music aficionado, who also happened to be, for many years, a cinema manager.  In this podcast Lyn shares with us his love of films, some of his earliest memories in wonderful cinemas now sadly long gone, and some incredible stories of his time managing cinemas.

You will be entertained by Lyn’s tales about:

- Working late in a haunted cinema

- How to stop a fight between rowdy patrons on a cinema stage

- How he avoided serious injury when part of a building collapsed

- How not to bring a generator into a cinema.

- And much, much more! 

You may also detect another voice in the background.  That is Lyn’s wife Merril, who gives some lovely pointers to make sure we stay on message.  Indeed, meeting people face to face is something we don’t do that often in these days of computer teams linking.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet them and thank you very much for feeding us. 

And as if that is not enough, Lyn, who still goes to the cinema a couple of times a week, gives us his views on some of the 2025 releases.

So, if you are a listener in South Wales and you are a regular cinema goer, you well see Lyn At The Flicks.

Until next time….