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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
HOPE
I’m not entirely sure what director Na Hong-jin was trying to do with this alien invasion-themed action-horror fest, but he doesn’t appear to have succeeded
ROBOCOP
Quite possibly the apotheosis of the 1980s action movie boom, and a major entry in the decade’s cyberpunk triumvirate (begun with BLADE RUNNER and THE TERMINATOR)
TWO OF A KIND
A could-have-been-good attempt at reviving the heavenly comedy mold of old, with John Tavolta and Olivia Newton-John
MODERN PROBLEMS
A creepy and off-putting 1981 “comedy” that’s most interesting for the fact that the narrative, about a deeply unhappy man descending into a vortex of sex, drugs and miscellaneous bad behavior, closely mirrored the offscreen existence of its star Chevy Chase
KUNSTKAMERA
The final feature directed by Jan Svankmajer, who provides a documentary tour of his art-packed home
THE LODGER
A 1913 suspensor whose enjoyment is contingent on the ability to cast one’s mind back and view the text through the eyes of an Edwardian
CROSS COUNTRY
An X-rated thriller whose 1975 copyright date (a time when mainstream fiction was much wilder than it is now) is fully evident
PETER SCHLEMIEL: THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SHADOW
An admirably succinct fantasy classic that recalls Franz Kafka and the magic realists
BETTY BLUE
A sprightly account of a tragic love affair that was made into an enormously popular 1986 film. The book’s better.
APE RAPE/WANTON WITCH
A Jim Harmon two-book compendium, one a routine potboiler and the other a gross, irresponsible, morally indefensible piece of unalloyed filth that (needless to add) I greatly enjoyed
JACKSPLOITATION! THE FILMS OF JACK HILL
An attractively designed anthology devoted to the films of Jack Hill, one of the foremost cinematic exploiteurs of the 1960s and 70s
DARK DREAMS: AN OBSESSIVE LOOK AT ROMANO SCAVOLINI’S NIGHTMARE
A book that is indeed quite obsessive in its probe of this 1981 anti-classic
HORRORS!
A strong, if quirky and outdated, horror media overview from the 1960s
IN DEEP WATER
A most compelling true-life account involving a shipwreck, sharks and near death on the open seas
SURREAL LIVES
A most welcome history of the Surrealists, marked by richly detailed, narratively informed prose
Jeremy Thomas: 1949-2026
There was nobody else quite like producer Jeremy Thomas, and there will assuredly never be another.
Tim Curry: 1946-2026
All about one of modern filmdom’s finest, and most underrated, performers
Clive Barker on Kickstarter: A Good Idea?
Clive Barker’s upcoming anthology, currently being hawked on Kickstarter: legit or not?
Smut, Paris and Ed Wood
Two not-quite-classic Paris-set smut novels, one written by Ed Wood
ANDRIESH vs. ASHIK KERIB
About the first, and last, film made by the late Sergei Parajanov