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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
SURVIVING LIFE
A standout effort from the incomparable Jan Svankmajer
GANJA & HESS
Arthouse vampire thrills from the late Bill Gunn
STOP!
One of the most famous “lost” films of the late Twentieth Century was this never-released counterculture drama from the late Bill Gunn
DESERTERS
If you’re willing to put up with an abundance of low budget distraction you’ll find this to be one of the most interesting Canadian films of the 1980s
THE FALLS
An astonishing tapestry that’s comedic, alarming and poetic by turns, THE FALLS was the first feature by Peter Greenaway, who went for broke in a panoramic 194 minute epic
THE DIAMOND BOGO
Impossible to adequately categorize, this “African Idyll” tells the story of a hunt for a buffalo with a priceless diamond stuck to its head
DEMONS BY DAYLIGHT
This collection was the fabled second book by the great Ramsey Campbell and is widely considered a landmark in scare fiction
THE END OF ALICE
The fascination with deviance that suffused 1990s fiction gave us first person studies of serial killing (AMERICAN PSYCHO), homicidal foot fetishism (FOOTSUCKER) and, with THE END OF ALICE, pedophilia.
RAW MEAT
An ambitious exercise in science fiction themed smut fiction, and, I’m afraid, not a very successful one
UGLY MUG 5
An eye-popping volume that marks the return (after three decades) of UGLY MUG, an anthology series put out by the London based House of Harley
GHOSTLY TALES OF ROUTE 66: ARKANSAS TO ARIZONA
Here’s one for you history buffs: a collection of fact based ghost stories from various parts of the legendary Route 66
PSYCHEDELIC SEX VAMPIRES: JEAN ROLLIN CINEMA
In the absence of a comprehensive English language book (as of 2012, at least) on the French filmmaker Jean Rollin, this lavishly illustrated trifle will have to do
PHALLIC FRENZY: KEN RUSSELL AND HIS FILMS
This isn’t the first book about the English cinema’s premiere enfant terrible Ken Russell, but it is very likely the best
EXQUISITE CORPSE: SURREALISM AND THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER
The so-called Black Dahlia murder of 1947 continues to inspire all manner of speculation. EXQUISITE CORPSE, a profusely illustrated coffee table hardcover, is the latest in a long line of lengthy analyses on the still-unsolved crime
EDISON’S FRANKENSTEIN
This book has some irritants but I treasure it nonetheless, and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone with an interest in the origins and evolution of horror cinema
2019: A Look Back in Bedlam
Welcome to the latest edition of my Look Back in Bedlam overview of the previous year’s noteworthy happenings in the world of Bedlam Files-friendly media
Christmas TV Specials for the Irreparably Brain Damaged
Christmastime in America “means” several things, one in particular: a surfeit of TV specials
More on Hallmark Channel Movies
I’m sorry to keep beating this particular dead horse, as I promised in the last of my three articles about Hallmark Channel movies that I wouldn’t write about ‘em any more, but I’ve got a bit more to say
1987: The Year in Bedlam
In the 1980s movie-verse 1987 was something of an anomaly, being an authentically good year for film
Books about the Grand Guignol
The fabled Grand Guignol Theatre in Paris was and continues to be a source of endless fascination