It’s been a while since I reviewed a Shaw Brothers film – so it’s time to take a look at one of King Hu’s films with the studio – Come Drink With Me.
Read moreCome Drink With Me: Film (Video) Review
Massacre Gun: Film Review
Massacre Gun is the other kind of conventional Yakuza film – if Blind Woman’s Curse is all about the honor of the Yakuza Code triumphing over other dishonorable gangsters, Massacre Gun is about keeping to the code even, and especially if it means your death.
Read moreBlind Woman’s Curse: Film Review
When I was reviewing Yakuza films earlier on my show, after reviewing the Yakuza Papers series, and Outrage, I’d realized that I’d basically covered a bunch of deconstructions, without getting into what they were deconstructing.
Read morePhase IV: Video Review
Since we’re spending so much time cooped up indoors, I give my thoughts on a Base Under Siege horror movie.
Read moreLegends of the Force Part 38: Rise of Skywalker
We have a new Star Wars movie, which means it’s time for me to give my thoughts on the film and what it incorporates from the old Legends continuity.
Read moreFutureworld: Film Review
Godzilla: King of the Monsters – Film Review
The latest installment of the Legendary MonsterVerse has come out – how does Godzilla’s latest film fare?
Read moreJohn Wick Chapter 3: Movie Review
This week, the grace period is over, as John Wick Chapter 3 has hit theaters.
Please refrain from spoilers in the comments until July 2019.
Read moreDetective Pikachu: Film Review
We get the first of the slated live-action films featured cute fuzzy video game mascots who can snark. Let’s see how this one fares.
Read moreMovie Review: The Island of Lost Souls
I haven’t necessarily seen a lot of pre-Hays Code films. A few of the classic Universal horror films pre-dated the code, like Dracula. However, the 1932 film Island of Lost Souls, is one that I’d been meaning to watch but I’d never gotten around to, until now.
Read moreFilm Review: The Sentinel (1977)
I learned about The Sentinel first through the book Paperbacks from Hell, where it was described as a book made in the wake of the success of The
Film Review: Captain Marvel
This week I have a vlog review of the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Captain Marvel. Being that the film is still in theaters as of when this is going up, please refrain from posting spoilers until August 2019.
Read moreAnime Review: Gundam NT
When I heard about the upcoming release of Gundam NT (or Gundam Narrative) the thought I had coming in was that the film was going to be the kickoff point for the next chapter of the saga of the Universal Century. That, after the conclusion of Gundam Unicorn set up something of a new status quo, this would start a series of films that would basically lay the groundwork for eventually reaching F91, Crossbone Gundam, and Victory Gundam.
Read moreFilm Review: Haxan (1922)
When it comes to horror and documentaries, in the sense of horror films that are deliberately planned to be documentaries, you have two main stripes represented by two big names. On one hand, you have Legend of Boggy Creek, a historical reenactment heavy documentary about a Texarkana cryptid that effectively recounts a variety of local myths and legends in an uncritical manner. On the other hand, there’s Haxan, the film I’m covering today, which is not only a very early work in the documentary genre, it’s also a work that is also very critical of historical accounts of witchcraft.
Film Review: Humanoids From The Deep
Roger Corman is widely recognized as a producer who launched the careers of numerous writers, actors, and future directors. He’s also widely recognized as a producer who churned out numerous exploitation films of a wide variety of stripes almost like clockwork, on the cheap, and without much concern about the craft.
This leads to the problems with Humanoids from the Deep. Part of this film is a very well done horror creature feature, with incredibly suspensefully shot sequences, and is a film that is willing to straight up kill off a kid and several dogs very early in the film. It’s also a film where Roger Corman decided to fire the film’s original director, Barbara Peeters, because he wanted the film’s rape scenes to be more explicit – so he handed those sequences off to the second unit director, and the film is lesser because of this. Read more
Film Review: Electric Dragon 80,000V
It’s been a while since I watched what I’d call a “Weird Japan” movie – a Japanese film with a degree of creativity and un-reality that is uncommon in Western cinema – and indeed is generally rejected outright in Western independent cinema (see Dogme ’95 and Ethan Hawke’s comments about superhero films). Instead, these films openly embrace science fiction, fantasy, and horror concepts in a way that Western independent cinema (outside of horror) fails to do.
Film Review: Lair of the White Worm
I’ve been on something of an unplanned Ken Russell kick, after going for years after not having seen any of his films – indeed, having never even heard of him until I saw Kyle Kallgren’s review of The Devils. Read more
Film Review: The Visitor (1979)
The Visitor is a very different animal where Italian horror films are concerned. It’s not a giallo or an offshoot of giallo like The Black Cat or Argento’s Three Mothers series. It’s not a zombie film at the least. I’d describe it as fitting closer to Italian Satanic horror films – films inspired by or seeking to mimic Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Omen, and other similar films. These films rely less on plot cohesion and more on mood and tone. It doesn’t quite matter if the motivations of the characters are clearly spelled out or the narrative beats are coherent so long as the emotional beats are. Read more
Film Review: Bad Times at the El Royale
I’m a fan of film noir, and I’m definitely coming to enjoy modern neo-noir. When I saw the trailers for Bad Times at the El Royale come up on my YouTube subscriptions, my interest was piqued.
Film Review: Mother of Tears (2007)
Almost 20 years after Dario Argento released the middle installment of his “Three Mothers Trilogy” he made the final installment of the series – Mother of Tears. As with most series that take this long between installments, there is a sense that what you’ll get with the final installment can never live up to what expectations you’ve set for it. However, even then, Mother of Tears is particularly disappointing. Read more
Film (Video) Review: Doctor Terror’s House of Horrors
The macabre house hunting expedition continues with an Amicus Anthology film featuring Donald Sutherland, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee. Read more
Film Review: Don’t Breathe
One of the issues with modern horror films, particularly those with a human antagonist, is the filmmakers feel the need to give a grounding to their villain’s methods that they feel believable, and they have the same need to make the protagonists just unlikeable enough that when bad things happen to them, things don’t feel overly cruel. The problem is that when this goes wrong it comes across to a degree like victim-blaming – and leads to a toxic message like the one put forward in your standard ’80s slasher film. Don’t Breathe manages to avoid that – barely. This review will contain a few spoilers. Read more
Film Review: House of Usher
I start off my October House of Horrors with a look at Roger Corman’s adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic “The Fall of the House of Usher” Read more
Movie Review: Night of the Lepus
The movie Night of the Lepus is a something of a joke in horror movie circles. While that is somewhat deserved, those reasons strictly lie with the film’s budget and some of the film’s effects. The rest of the film is put together incredibly well. Read more