More Halloween fun, this time an ad for Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers from the Toronto Star, June 1972. The film starred the sultry Ingrid Pitt, and I’ve put up an interview I did with her at the virtual haunt for my old zine 32 Elvis Movies. Continue reading The Vampire Lovers at the Yonge Theatre
When you compare Toronto’s modern-day film landscape to what existed in the ’70s, you know what’s missing? Well, yeah, porn. There was plenty of that. Lots of it. But the one thing you were guaranteed to find on every marquee, whether at a Yonge St. grindhouse or the Teepee Drive-In, was a healthy serving of Tough Guy Movies *. Thanks to the Star and the Sun’s gritty movie listings, the ads jumped out at you like a bare-knuckle punch. Michael Ritchie’s Prime Cut, which opened at the Yonge (now the Elgin) in July of 1972, is about as tough as … Continue reading Tough guys at the Yonge Theatre
In today’s Toronto Star, your humble editor writes about the dearly departed, sleazy dens of cinematic iniquity which lined Yonge St in the 1970s. The strip from Gerrard to Queen marked the city’s Red Light District. Amidst the drugs, strip clubs like Starvin Marvin’s and over 75 body-rub parlours were the bright lights of the Biltmore, Downtown, Cinema 2000, Coronet, Rio, Imperial Six, Yonge/Elgin, among many others. Compared to the seediness of the era, which culminated in the grisly death of 12-year old shoeshine boy Emmanuel Jaques, it’s all pretty sanitized now; and there’s certainly no trash cinema to be … Continue reading Oh to be Shocked and Awed on Yonge Street
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