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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
ATTACK THE BLOCK
The primary intent of this no-budgeter was evidently to jumpstart a Hollywood career for its debuting writer-director, yet the film can be enjoyed by viewers who aren’t studio executives or talent agents
ROLLERBALL (2002)
One of the most calamitous flops of the 2000s was ROLLERBALL (2002), which lost MGM/UA an enormous amount of money and destroyed the careers of its director and its leading man
TERROR ABOVE THE SUNSET STRIP
This 22-minute jaw-dropper can be termed the AI movie to end all AI movies
OLDBOY
After twenty years this film remains an astonishing sensory assault
SOME CALL IT LOVING
The altogether bizarre second feature directed by James B. Harris, Stanley Kubrick’s former producing partner
WALKERS (G Masterton)
WALKERS is vintage Graham Masterton, meaning it’s an eminently readable book with a unique premise and an unwieldy structure
WALKERS (G Brandner)
A Gary Brandner novel that matches up with most other Gary Brandner novels is passable
THE TORTURE GARDEN
I can sum up the essence of this fin-de-siecle classic in two words: Ecstatic Delirium
THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER
The first novel by Ramsey Campbell, and a mixed bag
THRILLING MURDER COMICS
An underground comic in which S. Clay Wilson, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch and others turned away from their standard choice of subject matter—sex and drugs—to focus on a new taboo: murder
THE CANNON FILM GUIDE Volume II (1985-1987)
Anyone who’s read my review of volume one of THE CANNON FILM GUIDE will know I’m quite partial to it. Now volume two is here, and I say it’s even better
CIMINO: THE DEER HUNTER, HEAVEN’S GATE AND THE PRICE OF A VISION
A frustrating and inconclusive book, although that’s an inevitability give its subject: the notoriously hermetic Michael Cimino
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
This publication deserves praise for being the first book devoted entirely to HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
THE LEATHER NUN AND OTHER INCREDIBLY STRANGE COMICS
Odd and obscure (though not quite “incredibly strange”) comics
LITTLE GIRL LOST
In the category of memoirs written by fourteen year olds LITTLE GIRL LOST is about average
Kenneth Anger: 1927-2023
No other filmmaker has become as synonymous with Underground Film as the recently deceased Kenneth Anger
John Morghen: 1954-2023
RIP John Morghen, the sultan of 1980s Italian sleaze
Video Store Memories
Video store nostalgia is all the rage right now, so here I’ll provide some more
Ten Eccentric Films for Easter
Note that the title says films for, and not about, Easter, as it isn’t an especially cinema-friendly holiday
THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS: Anatomy of a Non-Publication
Exploring one of the most famous non-publications of our time