Graphic Novel • Lists • Fails • 70’s Cinema • K-Horror • Arthouse • Canadian Horror • Film Noir • Grindhouse • NC-17 • J-Horror • Exploitation • Sci-Fi • Pulp • Evangelical Horror • Favorites • Cult • Fantastique • Surreal • Animation • So-Bad-It’s-Good
Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
A movie that didn’t seem like much when it premiered in 1992, and which I was hoping might have improved in the ensuing decades. Quite simply: it hasn’t
WITHIN THE WOODS
The genesis of THE EVIL DEAD was contained in this 8mm short from 1979, made by a young Sam Raimi and his friends Bruce Campbell, Scott Spiegel and Ted Raimi
BEHIND THE DOOR
A hard-hitting example of silent horror, hailing from 1919, that was “lost” for nearly a century
CARRIE (1976)
The first and best screen adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel
RAW DEAL: A QUESTION OF CONSENT
An absolutely astonishing 2001 doco that, in light of the Cornell University scandal, is deserving of renewed attention
SATAN’S SAINT
This novelized biography of the Marquis de Sade has been widely neglected, but I say SATAN’S SAINT demands a rediscovery
THE NIGHT BOAT
It’s far from the best of Robert R. McCammon’s early horror novels, but THE NIGHT BOAT has, at the very least, an irresistible premise involving a sunken Nazi submarine harboring flesh eating zombies
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
A quintessential example of Quiet Horror: elegant, old-fashioned, and subdued, not to mention very English in its setting and outlook
ZISKA: THE PROBLEM OF A WICKED SOUL
Reincarnation themed horror from the Victorian era
CHTHON
One of the foremost “dangerous visions” of the late 1960s was this once-shocking interplanetary reverie, the first novel by the prolific fantasist Piers Anthony
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
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
THE ODYSSEY…and Everything Else
My feelings about Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY? I say it’s a blast, although I have some reservations…