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Things are still pretty slow over here.....but here's the Midnight Eye Best of 2003 to keep you busy for a bit. Enjoy.


Oh, and while I'm at it--Happy 48th Birthday to Sharon Kane!

Sorry for the blog stasis. On vacation last week, and maybe this one as well, we'll have to see how things shake out. You can busy yourselves for now with the MHVF Best of 2003 polls--and be sure to read through the individual ballots.

The Saturn Awards have been announced", and I guess from all the horror films that I'd have to go with 28 Days Later. I think the woman from May (Angela Bettis) probably should have gotten a nom though.


Happy birthday to Kitten Natividad. You can visit her official site if you want to see the, um, real thing.


The Beeb discusses Hollywood's rush to scoop up pictures from South Korea.

The Straits Times celebrates Valentine Day with a lengthy article on Faye Wong and Leon Lai.


I guess I'd be remiss in not pointing out the Comcast bid to buy Disney. Who knows if this'll ever happen (though Comcast does have a successful history with this sort of hostile bid, having swiped AT & T's cable assets in a similar manner) but honestly, these kind of media mergers have a very mixed history. Personally I think the Disney brand is pretty tired, so if I was a shareholder I'd probably say "let's take the damned money". But I'm not.


In semi-related news, Fox News takes on the 2D vs 3D animation trope.


You know it's a banner week in web film reading when Bright Lights and Senses of Cinema both do updates. Wow. Those 2003 lists at Senses will have me busy for days and will likely cost me much money in imported DVD's. Stupid weak dollar.

Wow...there have been floating rumors that Ryuhei Kitamura was going to be directing a Godzilla movie, and according to this post, it may even be true! Also via the wonderful MHVF comes the news that Erica Gavin has some new photos up on her site.


Mondo Digital has a nifty new review of the great Henri Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau, which just came out on Criterion. Meanwhile, Creature Corner points to some Open Water teasers. And DVD Maniacs does a walkthrough of the UK Santa Sangre disk.


Don't miss Dennis Lim's Rotterdam report; I sure can't wait for that new Kiyoshi Kurosawa piece myself.

A true movie pioneer is gone.....Samuel M. Rubin, the movie popcorn pioneer, has passed away.


According to Masters of Cinema, MGM has recalled their Bergman box due to the poor transfers. Good for them, though y'know, maybe they should've watched them before pressing the disks. But at least they're correcting their mistake. Also cool there is the news that Eureka will be putting out a DVD of Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr Mabuse in March.


Get involved! Join the hordes requesting their favorite cult classics from MGM with this write-in campaign. We will not rest until The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant sees the light of day!

HK Digital reviews The Five Venoms, a great Shaw's classic that I just watched yesterday. But a note to Celestial" I love your releases, but knock it off with the twittering birds!!! In other good news, the Chang Cheh memoir seems to have been translated into English. Excellent.


Richard Corliss of Time Asia gives out awards top some of his favorite websites et cetera. Archivo de Famosas, eh?


The Annie Awards were Saturday, and to no one's surprise it was a Finding Nemo fest.


Feb 7 is John Waters Day in Baltimore. Or is it?

Now here's a spectacularly bad idea: Universal is going to remake Bride of Frankenstein. Yikes. And the Dark Castle House of Wax do-over will not be in 3D as originally reported. Lame.


MGM has really choked on their Ingmar Bergman box set....I don't know how stuff like this happens. The French and UK versions of the films they botched seem to be fine.


An article in the Straits Times describes Bollywood as poised to take off as a post production giant for films from Hollywood and the rest of the world. (The Times of Malta has more--not to mention a pic of Aishwarya Rai). It makes a lot of sense, given the level of technical skill already there combined with the cost advantages. Being a bit of a free marketeer, I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing overall--though workers in Tinseltown may feel differently. Hooray for Hollowood!

Did you know that Soledad Miranda had a singing career? I sure didn't, but here's the proof. Cool. (Special thanks to Henrik Hemlin for the tip).


A couple items from Pixar today: for one, they seem to have met with Marvel Enterprises, which is intriguing. How about a Pixar Dr Strange movie done in the style of Steve Ditko? In other news, Steve Jobs slings some parting shots at Disney on his way out. It's enough to make Roy Disney proud.

Time asks Harvey Weinstein 10 questions. I wish I could add in a query or two. Like "what the fuck have you done with Tears of a Black Tiger?".


Happy 42nd birthday to Golden Ager Jacqueline Lorians. What a career.


Some new stuff at DVD Drive-in: reviews of Girls Are For Loving, Karate: The Hand of Death/The Incredible Martial-Arts-Mayhem Kung-Fu Trailer Show and Dr Sex/Wanda the Sadistic Hypnotist.

Video piracy in Asia added up to some $718 million in 2003. Pretty hefty, but I'd actually have even thought it might be more. By some reports in China, any store that isn't state run is loaded with boots, and there's zero social stigma attached to buying 'em.


Fangoria has listed their top 13 horror DVD's from last year. Pretty good choices, for the most part.


There's some cheap pop psychology and the cultural imperialism trope gets trotted out as well, but this Alternet piece on horror is worth checking out.


Exciting news at Cartoon Research: soon they will have their own blog. Excellent.

Bad news today...Nick Alexander, famous dubbing editor for Italian movies, Has died.