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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE
A feature length documentary overview of exploitation filmmaking, and a strong one
ANGEL DUST
A very quirky, stylized serial killer drama from Japan’s Sogo Ishii
AUTONOMOUS
Something new: a digitally lensed “Micro Horror” series about an evil self-driving car
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR
One of the standout roles of the late Diane Keaton was in this dark 1977 drama, which Stephen King called one of the scariest films of all time
MY SCIENCE PROJECT
A 1985 Disney product that partook, clumsily, of the year’s popular teens-and-SF movie model
JOYRIDE
The word for this splatterific book is fun—dumb fun, yes, but fun, nonetheless
SUPERGIRL
This is about what you would expect quality-wise from a novelization of what was (until the 1987 release of SUPERMAN 4: THE QUEST FOR PEACE) the worst of the SUPERMAN movies
SEVEN COFFINS FOR THE KILLER
The final novel by the late James Williamson, writing as James Havoc, who offers up a full blast of splatterific nastiness in a wild west milieu
DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND
The legendary early-1900s comic strip by Windsor McCay, which I found authentically dreamlike
THE SOULSUCKER
A long out-of-print paperback, involving blood drinking alien spiders, that really isn’t very good at all
SURREAL LIVES
A most welcome history of the Surrealists, marked by richly detailed, narratively informed prose
CANNIBAL WORLDS
A knowledgeable and wide-ranging tome that more than delivers on its promise of being the most comprehensive tome on Italian cannibal cinema of the 1970s and 80s
HOLLYWOOD ANIMAL
This 700-plus page memoir by a Hollywood insider was to the aughts what Julia Phillips’ notorious YOU’LL NEVER EAT LUNCH IN THIS TOWN AGAIN (1991) was to the previous decade
WAR IS HELL: MAKING HELLRAISER III HELL ON EARTH
Another book by the irrepressible Danny Stewart, who specializes in boosting underappreciated films
HOW IT HAPPENED HERE
An incredibly entertaining book that offers aspiring filmmakers a potent object lesson in what not to do
James Williamson: 1959-2026
This week we bid farewell to one of the most mercurial, enigmatic, and questionable author-publishers in recent history
Obfuscation and Misunderstanding in the Film Adaptations of Philip K. Dick
About the film adaptations of Philip K. Dick, arguably the least understood SF writer of our time
The Disconcertingly Familiar Horrors of PENPAL
All about what is arguably the most impacting work of fiction to emerge from Reddit.com
Harlan Ellison: The Redemption Arc
About how, in defiance of my expectations, the late Harlan Ellison is becoming a posthumous success story
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