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The Bootleg Files: Once Upon a Tour

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BOOTLEG FILES 824: “Once Upon a Tour” (1972 TV special designed to boost the career of Dora Hall).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: A brief VHS video release.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A music rights clearance issue coupled with an overwhelming degree of obscurity.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Utterly unlikely.

During the 1970s, a series of variety specials turned up on independent TV stations around the U.S. that revolved around a singing-dancing-joking septuagenarian named Dora Hall. If you born after the 1970s passed into the history books, there’s an excellent chance you never heard of Dora Hall. And if you were around during the Decade That Good Taste Forgot, there’s an equally excellent chance that Dora Hall’s name does not ring that proverbial bell.
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Stalled (2022) [CINEJOY 2023]

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I was really interested in watching Eric Rich’s “Stalled” during Slamdance 2023 but sadly didn’t have the chance. I’m glad I was able to catch up with it now, as it’s such a darkly demented and funny short film. “Stalled” watches like an episode of an anthology series where audiences will be glad they’re not the main character.

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99¢ Pizza (2022) [CINEJOY 2023]

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I don’t know if Director Lucas Ansel was attempting to mimic a dream, if so, he comes damn close to the general feeling of being in one. Created with some striking stop motion animation, “99¢ Pizza” is a bizarre short but sweet thriller that works as some really trippy animated fare.

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Hunt Her, Kill Her (2023)

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Directors Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson’s “Hunt Her, Kill Her” has a paper thin premise to work with and—well, not much is done with it, sadly. I love a good survival horror movie, but “Hunt Her, Kill Her” has a great opportunity that it sadly squanders. Despite original motivations for its central villains, Thiessen and Swinson’s film is a middle of the road woman in peril invasion thriller. It’s not a bad movie, but it never really re-invents the wheel when all is said and done. It’s not to say that a movie of this sub-genre can’t tread new ground (look at “You’re Next” and “Hush”), but the movie always seems to settle for the minimum. This keeps the movie from hitting highs.

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Children of the Corn (2020)

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So we’re two reboots and eleven movies in to the god awful “Children of the Corn” movie series, and the studios simply will not let it die. “Children of the Corn” 2023 stinks of the studio trying its best to retain the IP for the sake of more cheapo sequels down the road. It shows with what is a pointless and painfully dull reboot of the series that features none other than director Kurt “Gunkata” Wimmer slumming it, big time.

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The Pros and Cons of Remakes

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Remakes are the trickiest movies to create – especially when it is a classic that is getting a second telling. On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” actor/writer Kevin Dolan offers insight on some of the most successful and most painful remakes in movie history.

The episode can be heard here.