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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
SOLARIS (1972)
The third feature by Andrei Tarkovsky and his first foray into science fiction, SOLARIS is the most famous such film to emerge from Russia
NARCO SATANICO
Mexi-madness containing all the things one might expect from a south-of-the-border trash fest, starting with the Big Three: sex, nudity and gore
POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN
This profoundly bizarre 12 minute short was made back in 1983, yet has become quite popular online (with good reason!)
VIOLATED ANGELS
A ground-breakingly gruesome example of avant-garde “pinku” (adults only) cinema
MADNESS (1969)
The concept of an insane asylum as a metaphor for modern civilization didn’t originate with this Estonian import, but the film did provide this particular movie model with a quintessentially Eastern European highlight
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
TRUCKER FAGS IN DENIAL
A one-shot comic book, scripted by the late JIm Goad, that’s sure to offend absolutely everyone
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A strong, if quirky and outdated, horror media overview from the 1960s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
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
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
Spider-Man Pondered (and Found Wanting)
All about Spider-Man’s appeal, his latest film outing, Sam Raimi and Roger Corman