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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
CHERRY 2000
Above-average Maxploitation madness from 1986
THE RUNNING MAN (1987)
The original adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, hailing from 1987
FRANKENSTEIN (2025)
A lovingly mounted, highly reverential take on Mary Shelley’s immortal 1818 novel, this FRANKENSTEIN (2025) was directed by Guillermo del Toro, who has apparently been wanting to make it for decades
TRON
A rare example of Disney, the most risk-averse studio in Hollywood, taking a chance on material that’s defiantly unique (borderline experimental, even) in both conception and execution
SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS
Very likely the magnum opus of the London-based animators The Brothers Quay
THE HOUSE THAT GROANED
A graphic novel that’s plenty weird, with a narrative that leans rather heavily into the perverse and psychosexual
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE NIGHT
This 1945 novel is considered the masterpiece of the “French Kafka” Marcel Bealu (1908-1993)
LOCUS SOLUS
The materpiece of France’s Raymond Roussel, and one of the most astonishing displays of unfettered imagination I’ve ever experienced
IMPRESSIONS OF AFRICA (Book)
Raymond Roussel may well be the strangest writer of all time and this 1910 novel offers ample proof of that claim
THE MANITOU
The first and most famous novel by the ultra-prolific UK horrormeister Graham Masterton
I LOST IT AT THE VIDEO STORE
This short and sweet oral history of the VHS era is enjoyable enough, but far from the definitive book on the subject
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
John Carpenter, Halloween Maestro
The aesthetic qualities of John Carpenter’s films are certainly worth enumerating. My interest here is in how those films and their maker transformed Hollywood
BUBBA HO-TEP at 20
Here’s a film that hasn’t been getting too many retrospectives, but I say it’s deserving of at least one
Documenting Terry Gilliam
Two books and four docs about the one and only Terry Gilliam
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST at 35
On the most controversial film of our time
TV Flashback: DARK DREAMERS
I’m not sure how Stanley Wiater managed to convince a Canadian TV channel to broadcast a show comprised entirely of interviews with horror writers and filmmakers, but I’m glad he did