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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
JERKBEAST
“The most insane 83 minutes ever put to film”?
THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD PLANET
The undoubted magnum opus of the late Roman Kachanov, and a highlight of child-based sci-fi animation from the Soviet Union
PHRA ROT-MERI
Another example of an Eastern made film that was a commercial blockbuster in its native land but to Western eyes seems downright Jorodowsky-esque
WINDOW TO PARIS
A wild, nutty and supremely engaging comedic fantasy from Russia
IVAN VASILIEVICH CHANGES HIS PROFESSION
This is, quite simply, THE Soviet time travel comedy
THE LUNAR TRILOGY
Another example of a publication that should have received far more attention than it did: the premiere English version of Jerzy Zulawski’s LUNAR TRILOGY (1901-11)
THE TWILIGHT WORLD
The first novel by filmmaker Werner Herzog (need I say more?)
THE VANISHING
The first and only English translation of Tim Krabbe’s 1984 Dutch language masterwork THE GOLDEN EGG, a.k.a. THE VANISHING
LUDA
The first novel by comics legend Grant Morrison, LUDA is everything I was hoping for: a challenging and phantasmagoric piece of work that follows no set perimeters of any sort
TIGER IN THE KITCHEN AND OTHER STRANGE STORIES
A collection that contains one rarely reprinted masterpiece, “Child’s Play,” that by itself nearly renders the book a must-buy
ROOM TO DREAM
Far and away the most comprehensive David Lynch biography to date
THE STRANGE VOYAGE OF DONALD CROWHURST
Ronald Crowhurst was a deeply obsessive man, so it’s appropriate that this book about his doomed 1969 voyage is an extremely eccentric and obsessive piece of work in its own right
SPACE ODYSSEY: STANLEY KUBRICK, ARTHUR C. CLARKE, AND THE MAKING OF A MASTERPIECE
Appearing just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, this book can lay claim to being the definitive resource on the making of that classic
SONG OF SPIDER-MAN
Here we get the inside story of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK, apparently the “Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History.”
MY LAST BREATH
This was the final testament of Luis Bunuel, one of the world’s great troublemakers
THE CELL at 20
On THE CELL (2000) and the effects, pro and con, of controversy
TV Flashback: ARABELA
Of the imposing achievements of Czech fantasy television, the 1979 miniseries ARABELA is at the forefront
Exotic Dancers and the Devil in the Swinging Sixties
Exotic Dancers and the devil: a curiously appropriate pairing, especially in Europe
Blood Letters and Trashy Movies in the South Sea
On December 19, 1978 the so-called “Blood Letter from Nanhai” made its bow in the Taiwanese Central Daily News
1983: The Year in Bedlam
If this year proves anything it’s that the rosy view of the eighties that has taken hold is complete bullcrap