"The Ritual" premieres 2018

 

The Ritual, a British horror film released in October 2017, premiered on Netflix, February 9, 2018.  It stars Robert James-Collier from Downton Abby fame.  The movie follows four friends who travel to the Swedish countryside to perform a ritual, in memory of their friend, murdered during a store robbery.  When one of the group twists his ankle, they decide to take a short cut through a dark forest to their destination.  They soon realize they are being stalked by a supernatural being.

I really enjoyed this movie.  It has a creepy Blair Witch vibe to it when the friends try to find shelter at night in the dark forest during torrential rain.  I admit the film lost some of its horror when the monster is finally revealed, but it's still an exciting, scary movie.

https://youtu.be/Vfugwq2uoa0?si=vnD4VgQnWV7K1SEG

Celebrating Pride Month: Victim, first English-speaking movie to name homosexuality

Victim, released August 31, 1961 in the United Kingdom, is the first English-speaking film to explicitly name homosexuality and deal with it "sympathetically". It helped with changing attitudes towards LGBT persons in Great Britain.  

Dirk Bogarde stars as a successful barrister in London and is blackmailed for being gay. Upon its release, it was considered controversial to the British Board of Film Censors, and the American Motion Picture Production Code refused a seal of approval.  It received critical acclaim and is now considered a British classic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_(1961_film)#Critical_reception

Celebrating Pride Month: "South", first gay television drama 1959

ITV Play of the Week was a British anthology series which ran from 1955-1974, airing about 500 hundred 90-minute episodes.  The thirteenth episode of the fifth season, South, is considered to be the first gay drama on television.  It is the story of a Polish Army lieutenant Jan Wicziewsky, played by Peter Wyngarde, exiled to the deep South prior to the Civil War.  He meets and falls in love with a tall, handsome, blond officer Eric MacClure, played by Graydon Gould.

Of course, reviews were mixed, with one reviewer describing it as "the agonies and ecstasies of a pervert".  However, others were more objective in their criticism.  The Stage reported that the "dialogue was so full of compassion, understanding and tenderness that his subject didn't seem distasteful". 

The episode was based on a play by Julien Green, who is gay.  The play was set to be performed in London in 1955, but the Lord Chamberlain banned it because of its gay themes, but he had mellowed out by 1959, and Gerald Savory adapted it for television.

The Fixx releases "Shuttered Room" 1982

The Fixx, a new wave band from Great Britain, released their debut album Shuttered Room in August 1982.  It had previously been released in England in May of that year.

It generated two singles, the first of which, Stand or Fall reached #7 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts, but only #76 on Billboard's Hot 100.  The second single Red Skies reached #13 on the Mainstream Rock charts.

I'm a little surprised this album didn't do better, because I really like their sound, and they got a lot of airplay on MTV.  I actually heard them as the background music of a commercial I just saw.  Weird!

" Ice Station Zebra " released 1968

The Cold War-era movie, Ice Station Zebra, released October 23, 1968, was based on the Alistair MacLean novel of the same name.  It follows the events after a satellite ejects a capsule, containing images captured by an experimental camera from the British, using special film developed by the US, and stolen by the Soviets.  The pictures are those of American missile silos and Soviet missile sites, and the capsule lands near the British outpost Ice Station Zebra. 

Both the Americans and the Soviets are in a race to recover the capsule and the images before the other.  

The movie starred Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, and Ron Masak, who passed away just days ago.  

Although it opened to mixed reviews and a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, and Best Special Effects.

I enjoy this movie and have watched it twice.  It's one I don't find on television often but it's always great to watch.