Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: The Doctor ( Ncuti Gatwa ) and Ruby Sunday ( Millie Gibson ) land the TARDIS on a war-torn planet. Hearing a scream, the Doctor rushes toward the sound to lend his assistance, only to step on a landmine. Unable to move out of fear of setting the mine off, the Doctor's only hope is to convince a war-weary soldier she and the others are being tricked into fighting a war against a non-existent enemy and surrender. To make matters worse, Ruby is fatally wounded. Review: I wasn't in the mood to watch the president's speech before Congress last night (nothing political, I just didn't want to sit through a 90-minute speech after being at work all day). So, since our other favorite shows were being pre-empted, I brought up Disney Plus and watched the Doctor Who episode Boom . I didn't regret that decision. This was a well-written, suspenseful episode. While the Doctor has been known to pull off miraculous things, including stopping wars, doing so while unable t...

Synopsis: Antonio Sordi is a talented artist whose morbid paintings of deceased women are in demand. Sordi has a secret, however. He believes he is the reincarnated form of a 15th-century ancestor who was burned at the stake for being a vampire and stealing souls. This results in him stalking female victims to kill and then boil after using them as models for his paintings. The movie is also known under the title Track of a Vampire . Who's in it? The movie stars William Campbell , Marissa Mathes , Lori Saunders , Sandra Knight and Karl Schanzer . Review: I overslept by a few minutes this morning and, with my routine thrown off a bit as a result, picked the first movie that popped up in my library, Blood Bath . It was short enough for me to finish watching it before starting my day but other than that, I was left a bit undecided about whether it was a good choice or not. This is a very strange horror movie, to the point I was beginning to wonder if the writers were on some sort o...

Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are asked to investigate the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, who was found dead in the moor surrounding his estate, in a manor that suggested a connection to an old family legend involving a Hell hound sent to curse the family. Holmes is skeptical but sends Watson to accompany Henry Baskerville, the last heir, back to the estate. It doesn't take long to realize Henry Baskerville's life is also in danger. Who's in it? The movie stars Peter Cushing , Christopher Lee ,  André Morell , Marla Landi and Francis De Wolff. Review: I selected The Hound of the Baskervilles this morning because it was one of the movies on ScreenPix's list of movies to watch before you die. I have seen more than one version of this film, which is based on one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes books. I think, after watching it, I can claim it is my favorite. The mystery itself is an intriguing one. While the Hell hound theory seems farfetched from the start...

Synopsis: While Perry Mason and Della Street are out for lunch, Adelle Hastings came into the office seeking an appointment but left after a few minutes and didn't return. Soon after, her purse is found in the outer office and inside is a gun that has been fired. A phone call from an opposing attorney alerts Mason to the fact Hastings was looking for someone to represent her in a divorce settlement. However, when he and Della travel to Vegas in search of their client, she claims she wasn't the woman who came to visit them. As Mason correctly suspects, Hastings' soon-to-be-ex-husband is later found murdered, and all evidence points to her. Review: The Case of the Daring Divorcee wasn't available at my library when I was reading the Perry Mason series in order, so I wound up skipping it. Once the other books were read, however, I decided to try to locate it, and my library was finally able to acquire a copy from another library. I finished reading it and it was worth th...

Synopsis: As a child, Ellen made a pledge to a mysterious creature in exchange for ending her loneliness, leaving her broken and "soiled" until she falls in love with and marries Thomas Hutter. Soon after their wedding, Thomas is given the task of traveling to Transylvania to complete a real estate transaction with Count Orlok. He accepts despite Ellen's pleas not to and soon discovers Orlok is both a vampire and the creature Ellen made her pledge to years earlier, a pledge Orlok does not intend to let Ellen break. Who's in it? The movie stars Lily-Rose Depp ,  Bill Skarsgård , Nicholas Hoult , Willem Dafoe and Emma Corrin .  Review: While I'm a big fan of the original silent film version of Nosferatu , I had some doubts about this remake when it came out in December. As a result, I decided not to see it in the theater and instead waited until I could watch it at home. My wife and I did that last night, and it turns out I enjoyed the movie a lot more than expec...

Synopsis: The Doctor ( Ncuti Gatwa ) and Ruby ( Millie Gibson ) travel to 1960s London to watch the Beatles record together for the first time. However, they instead discover a world that has lost its taste for music and one of the Toymaker's minions, Maestro ( Jinkx Monsoon ) is behind it.  If Maestro isn't stopped, humans will destroy themselves in nuclear war but the Doctor, still traumatized from the events of The Giggle , doesn't believe he can stop Maestro. Review: My wife spent most of yesterday evening working on an outfit she designed/is sewing so instead of watching a movie, we ended up watching another Doctor Who episode, The Devil's Chord. Overall, I think can say I liked this one. Maestro is an intriguing character though, much like some others from the newer episodes, they did remind me a bit of a character from a movie (my first thought was the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland ). The fact Maestro was one of Toymaker's minions and had similar god-l...