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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
BACKTRACK
A 1989 directorial effort by the late Dennis Hopper that isn’t bad
THE AUTHOR OF BELTRAFFIO
The directorial debut of the late Tony Scott, adapting a Henry James novella for 1970s TV.
VICE SQUAD
A 1982 film that remains a standout in the trashy thriller category
HOUSE OF WHIPCORD
British exploition maestro Peter Walker’s take on the women in prison genre, filtered through his favorite premise: young women menaced by elderly psychopaths in a secluded setting
BATTLE GIRL: THE LIVING DEAD IN TOKYO BAY
A solid example of Asian Trash Cinema that’s unusually heavy on the trash
RENE’S FLESH
A bizarre, Kafka-esque parable of a young man’s adverse relationship to his own flesh
BOMBYX
Ultra-paranoid psychological horror from Richard Christian—or R.C.—Matheson and Mick Garris
BLACK COCKTAIL
A typically odd and unpredictable contemporary fantasy by the inimitable Jonathan Carroll, a 76-page novella about all sorts of things
EPOCH: A POETIC PSY-PHI SAGA
This “Poetic Psy-Phi Saga” does the famed epic science fiction poem ANIARA one better, offering an even more epic example of SF poetry
THE INVERTED WORLD
One of the SF field’s most provocative and enduring concepts is contained in THE INVERTED WORLD by the late Christopher Priest
HOW IT HAPPENED HERE
An incredibly entertaining book that offers aspiring filmmakers a potent object lesson in what not to do
THE GREATEST GANGSTER MOVIE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN: ABEL FERRARA’S THE FUNERAL
A passionate exploration of Abel Ferrara’s THE FUNERAL (1996), which is indeed the finest gangster movie you’ve “never seen”
PERFORMANCE—THE MAKING OF A CLASSIC
In which the UK’s Jay Glennie once again works his magic in a gorgeously designed movie making-of book
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SEX IN SCIENCE FICTION
Supposedly a history of sex in science fiction, but actually a history of sex in science fiction art
THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
A deep dive into the creation of Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film
Remembering That Which Is Better Forgotten: THE REAL CANCUN
An inaugural entry in the reality film genre, which sought to do for feature filmmaking what reality TV did for television
FRANKENSTEIN INVERTED
Eight interesting FRANKENSTEIN films that I say are worth your time
Dan Simmons: 1948-2026
There was no more talented or dependable modern writer than the recently deceased Dan Simmons
On THE STATE OF THINGS, STRANGER THAN PARADISE and THE TERRITORY
In answer to the query “What do Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Roger Corman, Raul Ruiz, Jon Jost, the district of Sintra and the city of Lisbon have in common?”
2025: Bedlam in Print
The books of 2025, ranked by moi