THE COFFEE TABLE
2024’s major shock-fest, containing all the things that make Spanish horror great
HAPPINESS
A 1998 film that in its pitiless depictions of loneliness, jealousy and boredom is more relevant to the iPhone age than the time in which it was made
MONSIEUR ROBERT HOUDIN
Those wanting a straight biographical portrait of the legendary French magician Robert Houdin should probably avoid this 1966 telefilm, whose treatment is far from orthodox
THE DOOR IN THE WALL
An H.G. Wells adaptation that offered up a new, and never again utilized, innovation: The Dynamic Frame, in which the aspect ratio is shifted to serve “the dramatic needs of the story”
THE ANIMAL (1968)
An especially intriguing trash-fest combining period-specific sexploitation with HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER-esque psycho-horror
TALES OF THE DUMPSTER KID
The most ambitious product of the New German Cinema was this bawdy three-and-a-half-hour epic
THE END OF THE WORLD (1916)
A 1916 Danish made depiction of Earth threatened by a rogue comet
THE SPIDER WILL KILL YOU
Writer-director David Schmoeller had an obsession with mannequins, showcased in this 30-minute University of Texas thesis film
FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN
One of the most memorable films made by the late Paul Morrissey, an altogether outrageous riff on you-know-what
BLOOD FOR DRACULA
The just-as-wild 1974 follow-up to FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN