SCIFIHISTORY.NET
  • MAINPAGE
  • About
  • Reviews
  • December
  • November
  • October
  • September
  • August
  • July
  • June
  • May
  • April
  • March
  • February
  • January

Stardate 01.09.2022.A: 1987's 'The Kindred' Turns 35 Years Young today!

1/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Like so many who write about film at my ripe old age, I’ve probably forgotten more titles than I care to remember.
 
I discovered my love of film in high school where growing up in a small town pretty much meant that Friday and Saturday nights were spent under the glow of the silver screen.  I didn’t drink (didn’t smoke, either), I didn’t do sports or many extracurricular activities, so the bulk of that free time was spent watching just about anything that came through our little city.  Sure, it meant that I saw many of the films of my youth more than once – movies were cheap entertainment back in the day – and I like I do now I tried to find something worthy in damn near anything I watched.
 
I continued following film very closely in college and after graduating.  For a time, I thought I could make a career for myself as a movie critic or perhaps some kind of film historian; but it wasn’t meant to be.  I did get accepted to a fairly exclusive graduate school program that would’ve set me on a potential path to working in writing about film; however that opportunity never quite developed due to circumstances way beyond my control, and I instead found myself gainfully employed in the world of work.
 
I bring this up largely because I’ve done a bit of research into The Kindred, a 1987 Science Fiction and Horror release from Kindred Limited Partnership that’s celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary on this day in filmdom.  From what I’ve seen online, a handful of the pictures look familiar … but, for the life of me, I can’t seem to recollect if this is a flick I saw at the time or have stumbled across in my research or have tidbits tucked away somewhere in my vast reserve of films I’ve yet to explore in greater depth on SciFiHistory.Net.
 
In any event, it looks as though The Kindred was first released exclusively in New York City on this day in 1987 (Source: IMDB.com).  Neither IMDB.com nor Wikipedia.org cite any full U.S. theatrical release, but Box Office Mojo does show a combined U.S. and Canada gross just under $2.5 million.  It appears that the film benefitted from a directing team of Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow (who also scripted the feature with collaboration from John Penney).  The film starred Rod Steiger, Amanda Pays, Kim Hunter, and David Allen Brooks in key roles.  Lastly, it looks like there may have been multiple cuts – R-rated and the controversial ‘unrated’ – though I don’t see any indication that the film is currently available on DVD … a shame that’ll hopefully get corrected someday.
 
Here’s one of the plot summaries that’s listed for The Kindred on IMDB.com:
“Amanda’s deathbed request to her son, John, was for him to destroy all the lab notes etc. from her last experiment.  She also blurts out he had a brother.  At the funeral, John meets Melissa, who claims to be his mother’s biggest fan. Together with some of John’s friends, they go to Amanda’s house, but none are prepared for what they find there.”
​
I have read some indications that The Kindred very well might appear on home video again via Synapse Films (I've been privileged to receive some complimentary releases of theirs from time-to-time); so I'll keep my eyes peeled.  This definitely looks like something in my wheelhouse, though I don't recall (as I said above) if I've seen it previously.

Whatever the truth may be ... Happy birthday, The Kindred!  You're 35 years young today!

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

​-- EZ
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Reviews
    ​Archive
    ​

    Reviews

    birthdays
    Archive
    ​

    January
    February
    March
    April
    May
    June
    July
    August
    September
    October
    November
    December

    mainpage
    ​ posts

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly