Scenes That I Love: The Opening of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday

Posted on July 31, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since today is the birthday of the great Mario Bava, today’s scene that I love comes from one of Bava’s best films. Here is the wonderfully atmospheric and ominous opening of 1960’s Black Sunday:

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Mario Bava Edition

Posted on July 31, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

112 years ago today, the most important Italian filmmaker of all time was born. Today is Mario Bava’s birthday! And, as we often do here at the Shattered Lens, it’s time to celebrate with…

4 Shots From 4 Mario Bava Films

Black Sunday (1960, dir by Mario Bava)

Kill, Baby, Kill (1966, dir by Mario Bava)

Lisa and the Devil (1972, dir by Mario Bava)

Shock (1977, dir by Mario Bava)

Retro Television Review: Alexander The Great (dir by Phil Karlson)

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! This Thursdays, I will be reviewing Alexander The Great, which was filmed in 1963 but didn’t air on CBS until 1968. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, we take a look at William Shatner and Adam West in Alexander The Great, a pilot that never became a series.

Episode 1.1 “Alexander The Great”

(Dir by Phil Karlson, originally aired on January 26th, 1968)

Greek leader Alexander the Great (a very blonde William Shatner) is determined to defeat the forces of King Darius and conquer all of Persia. But, before he can fight his latest battle, he has to rescue his kidnapped best friend Cleander (Adam West), calm the nerves of his mentor Antigonus (Joseph Cotten), and deal with two insubordinate generals (John Cassavetes and Simon Oakland). Only then will Alexander be ready to defeat the fearsome, beheading-obsessed Persian general, Memmon (Cliff Osmond, wearing a truly horrifying wig and fake beard).

This hour-long episode features a lot of talking, a lot of scheming, and one good battle scene. Unfortunately, that good battle scenes becomes a lot less impressive once you discover that it was lifted from the 1959 film, The Giant of Marathon. As for the scheming, it’s not really a surprise when the generals plays by Cassavetes and Oakland reveal that they’re planning on assassinating Alexander during the battle. Both characters are so obviously villainous that their very presence amongst the ranks will lead most viewers to doubt whether Alexander is truly the tactical genius that everyone seems to think he is.

For most viewers, the main appeal of Alexander the Great will be the chance to see William Shatner and Adam West playing best friends. This pilot was made before Shatner was cast as Captain Kirk and West as Batman. While West gives a relatively sober performance as Cleander, Shatner shows that he had all of his famous acting tics long before he boarded the Enterprise. Shatner delivers every line as if he’s expecting to be handed an Emmy at any moment. The halting cadence is present. The overly dramatic punctuation is present. The habit of telegraphing every line and emotion by moving his head is present. This is the type of performance that feels more like William Shatner imitating himself than actually trying to play a character. Today, we’re all used to William Shatner poking fun at his reputation so it’s always a bit jarring to watch something like Alexander the Great and see just how seriously Shatner used to take himself.

Alexander the Great ends with Alexander achieving victory over both Memmon and his own duplicitous generals. He buries Antigonous, who was earlier murdered by the mutineers. And then, with a big smile on his face, Alexander hopes on his horse and rides off with Cleander and his surviving generals. Watching Shatner riding his horse, it becomes obvious that, had this pilot become a show, it would have been a western that just happened to take place in ancient Greece and which featured togas and mini-skirts instead of chaps and hats.

This pilot was shot in 1963 but it was rejected by the network and shelved. In 1968, when West was Batman and Shatner was Kirk, the pilot was taken out of storage and aired as an episode of an anthology show. Needless to say, it didn’t lead to a series. Adam West later poked fun at the pilot in his autobiography, saying that it was the greatest waste of an hour ever made. I think West was a bit too hard on the pilot. It’s not terrible as much as it’s just bland. No production featuring not only Shatner and West but also Joseph Cotten, Simon Oakland, and John Cassavetes has a right to be this mild.

One does wonder how, if the pilot had become a series, it would have deal with Alexander eventually drinking himself to death. Imagine what Shatner and West could have done with that!

Brad’s “Hero of the Day” – Chief Martin Brody (JAWS)

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Bradley Crain

When I think of my favorite movie heroes, it seems that I’ll often lean towards men who may not appear that heroic on the surface but always seem to find the courage to do what needs to be done. Now don’t get me wrong, I love larger-than-life characters like John McClane, John Rambo, and Indiana Jones, but my ideal hero isn’t like those guys. My favorite heroes are normal guys, that is, until fate forces them to be more. A perfect example is Chief Martin Brody from JAWS.

Brody isn’t fearless. In fact, one of the first things we learn about him is that he’s afraid of the water. He’s a former New York City police officer who moved his family to the quiet island of Amity, only to find himself facing an absolute nightmare. While so many movie heroes run toward danger because they know they can handle it, Brody runs toward danger despite believing he can’t.

What makes him heroic isn’t supersized strength or expert fighting ability. It’s his sense of responsibility. Brody is always trying to do the right thing. He wants to close the beaches, but politics and the tourist money get in the way. Even after he’s pressured into backing down, he doesn’t stop trying to protect the people on the beach. And when the time comes, he gets on board the Orca with Quint and Hooper to go hunt a great white shark, even though that’s the last place on Earth he wants to be. His courage isn’t the absence of fear. Rather, it’s choosing to take action even though he is afraid.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Brody is played by one of my all-time favorite actors, Roy Scheider, a man who has his own section in my massive physical media collection. Scheider deserves a tremendous amount of credit for making Brody feel so real. He doesn’t play Brody as tough. His facial expressions, body language, and nervous energy portray a man who is terrified. In other words, he represents how we might feel if we were in that position. Scheider’s performance reminds us that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary courage when others are counting on them.

That’s why Martin Brody is one of my favorite movie heroes. He doesn’t have superpowers, military training, or funny catch phrases, even if his “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” has become one of the most famous quotes in cinematic history. And he doesn’t stop being afraid, either. He’s just a decent man who keeps doing the right thing, even when he’s scared. That’s the kind of hero I can relate to.

Hero of the Day

Join #TubiThursday For Best Of The Best!

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone! Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party! Join us for Best Of The Best, starring Eric Roberts!

You can find the movie on Tubi and you can join us on Mastodon at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) We will be using #TubiThursday hashtag! See you then!

Scenes That I Love: Richard Linklater’s Monologue from Slacker

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the greatest director come out of Texas, Richard Linklater!

Today’s scene that I love comes from Linklater’s 1991 film, Slacker. Filmed in Austin, this film not only established Linklater as one of the best indie film directors but it also inspired a countless number of other aspiring filmmakers. How many other director have attempted to make a Slacker? None have done it as well as Linklater. Indeed, the film not only helped to define the modern independent film aesthetic but it also continues to shape the way that people view Texas’s idiosyncratic capital city.

In this opening scene, Linklater himself gets the film started, delivering a monologue as he’s driven around Austin.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Richard Linklater Edition

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy 66th birthday to Texas’s greatest filmmaker, Richard Linklater!

That means that it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Films

Slacker (1991, dir by Richard Linklater)

Dazed and Confused (1993, dir by Richard Linklater)

Before Sunset (2004, dir by Richard Linklater)

Boyhood (2014, dir by Richard Linklater)

Shark Week Review: Avalanche Sharks (dir by Scott D. Wheeler)

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2012’s Avalanche Sharks takes place during Spring Break.

Woo hoo! SPRIIIIIIIIING BREAAAAAAAK! If there’s anything that I truly miss about college, it’s Spring Break! What do you think about when you think about Spring Break? You think about the sun, You think about the days and the nights spent lazily lounging in a bikini. You think about the binge-drinking and the drug-taking and one night stands that you regret the next morning and the realization that you’re only young once.

Avalanche Sharks has all of that. It also has a lot of snow and also sharks.

SHARK BREAK! Woo hoo!

These aren’t any old sharks. These are ghost sharks that swim around in the snow and which pop out to eat the employees and guests of a ski resort. You may be asking yourself how a shark can swim in the snow and I’m not totally sure myself. It probably helps that they’re ghost sharks and not living sharks. Still, it seems like even a ghost shark would prefer the ocean. The film suggests that the sharks are the result of an ancient curse. It also suggests that the sharks are the result of global warming. I’m going to guess that it’s a combination. The ancient curse was reactivated by global warming. Either that or the ghost sharks escaped from a lab and there’s been a massive cover-up to try to keep people from discovering the truth. But, seriously, when has that ever happened?

The movie features the usual collection of characters whose names you will struggle to remember after the movie ends. (I struggled to remember them even before the movie ended.) It’s Spring Break, after all! Why go to the beach when you can just go to a ski resort and apparently spend several days sitting in a jacuzzi? The jacuzzi is a major location in this film and it’s also the film’s excuse to feature bikinis. Myself, I couldn’t help but notice that the characters who got in the jacuzzi apparently never got out, even to sleep. 72 hours in a jacuzzi is something you might do to win a car but it’s not necessarily a good idea when there are ghost sharks around.

“You are the sexiest Marine biologist I know,” one guy says at one point and that’s pretty much sets the standard for the film’s dialogue. The movie is quickly divided between those who know about the avalanche sharks and those who don’t but, to the film’s credit, knowledge does not equal safety. Just about anyone can and will get eaten by the sharks. Some of the gore is a bit icky. The start of the film features a skier suffering a rather serious injury and I briefly had to hide my eyes. That said, it also appears that the gore budget was used up early because the later effects aren’t quite as impressive. What is impressive is the performance of James Ouimet as crazy old Duffy. Duffy is the one who tells everyone that they’re doomed. He seeks revenge after losing his dog to the sharks. “LUNA!” he yells and you totally buy it.

As my friend Jim put it, this is a film the defies a traditional rating. Yes, it would be easy to dismiss it as being another shark movie but, at the same time, it’s so stupidly entertaining that you can’t help but watch. Someone somewhere once said, “Give them snow sharks!” and this film delivered. And for that, I say thank you.

Brad reviews FALL (2022)!

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Bradley Crain

I’ve never been that afraid of heights, but you’ll never catch me climbing up the side of a mountain or jumping out of a plane. I don’t have that daredevil gene that makes me want to do stuff like that. Back in 2023, our family visited Yellowstone, so we took a ride on the Beartooth Highway that runs through the Rocky Mountains in parts of Wyoming and Montana. As I was driving that gorgeous roadway, I will admit that I became quite “weak in the knees” a few times as I drove near some very steep edges. The more I think about it, I don’t really like heights that much, but I’m willing to deal with them as long as the payoff is awesome and the risk isn’t too crazy.

FALL is one of those movies that takes whatever fear of heights may be lurking beneath our surfaces and forces us to deal with them from the comforts of our own living rooms! I kept looking at my wife because it was hard for me to look at the screen, and my wife kept telling me her palms were sweating. This lady spent a decade as a flight medic, but she was still struggling.

The premise is about as simple as it gets. A year after a devastating mountain climbing tragedy, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) reluctantly agrees to climb an abandoned 2,000-foot television tower with her thrill-seeking, social-media obsessed best friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner). Once they reach the top, the ladder collapses, leaving them stranded 200 stories above the desert with almost no supplies, no way to call for help, and only some vultures for company. This all happens in the first 30 minutes. For the remainder of the film’s 107-minute running time, the ladies will have to do whatever they can to survive.

The film succeeds because it understands exactly what it wants to be. This isn’t some deep character study about a person’s quest for the rediscovery of peace and happiness after unimaginable pain and suffering. No, this is all about creating tension, and sometimes nauseating tension at that. Every rusty rung and loose screw on the way up foreshadows the characters’ fate. Once they’re stuck at the tiny platform at the top, the camera constantly looks over the edge, forcing us to experience the mind-blowing heights and the growing desperation right alongside the characters. These are the scenes where I had to keep looking away to maintain my own sanity!

As you might imagine, this isn’t the most realistic movie in the world. It’s one of those movies that keeps setting you up to think something good is just about to happen only for things to continue to get worse. Then again, as an audience we know when watching these types of movies that things have to keep going wrong or the movie would be over way too soon. FALL definitely works best if you just go along for the tense ride, without thinking too much about some of the finer points. From that standpoint, I was able to really enjoy the film, even when some of the twists and turns along the way threatened to go too far.

I wasn’t really familiar with their prior work, but Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner do fine jobs in the lead roles. As the grief-stricken Becky, Currey does the heavy lifting as we see her go from being completely broken, to almost giving up hope, before finally finding the courage and resilience to battle for survival. As the free-spirited, certifiably insane Hunter, Gardner has plenty of enthusiasm and charisma. Once they’re stuck at the top, she also shows a lot of bravery as well. The movie spends almost its entire runtime with these two actresses, so their chemistry has to work, and it does. I’ve always liked Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and it was nice seeing him as Becky’s dad, even though it’s a small role.

One of the best things about movies is that they have the ability to take us places we would never go on our own. Not in a million years would I ever climb the rock cliff of a mountain or a 2000-foot TV tower. But FALL took me up that tower and made me feel something. It made me uncomfortable, it made me a little sick, and it made my hands sweat… and I liked it. And all from the comfort of my own living room.