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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
BOY MAKES GIRL
Autism and robotics: an irresistible combo!
NAME ABOVE TITLE
A Portuguese made “Giallo Serial Killer Fever Dream”
HEART OF A DOG
A lavish two-part dramatization of Mikhail Bulgakov’s long-banned 1925 satire
DIABOLIQUE
The most iconic film made by France’s Henri-Georges Clouzot, DIABOLIQUE was the reason he was branded the “Gallic Hitchcock.”
DR. RENAULT’S SECRET
Forgotten, but worthwhile, horrors from 1942
THE DICE MAN
This novel, about a man who makes decisions according to a roll of the dice, is said to have inspired many people around the world to live in just that manner
PHILLY
A “modern tale of the macabre” that worked better in its movie adaptation: the 1981 teen comedy PRIVATE LESSONS
THE SLAVE TREE
A novel that’s interesting enough to make me wonder why it was published solely in limited edition hardcover format
AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL
In the category of fiction written by famous singers AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL, the first novel by Australia’s Nick Cave, ranks with classics of the form
ALEISTER CROWLEY: WANDERING THE WASTE
A graphic novel that attempts to encompass the entirety of Aleister Crowley’s life into a 108-page whole–and very nearly succeeds
YOU DON’T KNOW ME, BUT YOU LOVE ME
The first-ever biography of actor/American treasure Dick Miller, and so a vital resource for all film buffs
THE HOWLING: STUDIES IN THE HORROR FILM
Another in Centipede Press’s irresistible “Studies in the Horror Film” series, this one devoted to Joe Dante’s THE HOWLING
THE WORLD IS EVER CHANGING
There’s simply no way to sugar-coat the fact that this book is a huge disappointment
THE BIG PICTURE
This collection of movie-related essays was one of two nonfiction books put out by the late William Goldman in 2000
WILLIAM GOLDMAN: THE RELUCTANT STORYTELLER
As of late 2018 this is the only book-length study that exists of the life and work of the late William Goldman
1982: The Year in Bedlam
What follows are the type of little-known films that tend to comprise my “Look Back in Bedlam” listings, of which this is the 1982 entry
TV Flashback: MAX HEADROOM
If ever a show shouldn’t have worked it was this one, yet somehow MAX HEADROOM emerged as one of the great American TV programs of the decade
On CITY ZERO and VERNANDA
Here we’re going back to a very particular time and place: the Soviet Union, circa 1988
Joe Kane: 1947-2020
In an age filled with self-anointed “B-movie historians” the now-deceased Joe Kane remains one of the very few writers who can truly be said to have earned that designation
On THE WHITE HOTEL
THE WHITE HOTEL is one of the few examples of literary fiction that can truly be said to have just about everything