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Aroview: The influential first feature from a young Peter Bogdanovich, that effectively contrasts the story of a retiring horror actor (played by Boris Karloff in a barely-disguised version of himself) with the ‘true life’ horror story of an all-American youth who becomes a homicidal sniper.

Part film-buff homage, part cold crime story that resonates as an indictment of gun culture, the twin stories famously intersect in a violent finale in a drive-in theatre. Though not perfectly realised (Roger Corman financed the film on the cheap), one scene, in which the sniper shoots random motorists on a freeway, retains its deadly impact, and Karloff is a gentlemanly delight in his last starring role.

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