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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
SAVAGES (1972)
The very definition of a Cult Film: odd, esoteric and appreciated by only a select few
INVISIBLE ADVERSARIES
The debut feature by the Austrian performance artist Valie Export was this avant-garde take on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
NEMESIS
This 1992 sci-fier is often proclaimed the best film made by the late Albert Pyun, and that assessment may well be accurate
DARKMAN
Sam Raimi’s fourth feature as a director was this nutty superhero pastiche, released in August 1990
5-25-77
An overlong and uneven but heartfelt and reality-centered period piece that’s only partially about STAR WARS
PLAN B
A posthumously published novel by the late Chester Himes that like most posthumously published novels has a number of problems
HOW MANY TIMES?
This one seems daunting, I will admit: a collection of unabashedly experimental tales based on mathematical formulae
INSIDE BLACK HOLLYWOOD
The WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART of the Blaxploitation film cycle, a thinly fictionalized expose of the filming of THE MACK (1973)
THE AGE OF DECAYED FUTURITY
A collection that proclaims itself “the best of” horror story maestro Mark Samuels
EXPLORING DARK FICTION #5: A PRIMER TO HAN SONG
A particularly fine entry in the Eric J. Guignard edited EXPLORING DARK FICTION anthology series
THE FRIEDKIN CONNECTION
This isn’t the greatest memoir by a film director I’ve ever read, but it is essential
FREAK BABYLON
A heavily illustrated book in the mold of Fredrick Drimmer’s VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE and Daniel P. Mannix’s FREAKS: WE WHO ARE NOT AS OTHERS, though not as satisfying as either
NICE GUYS DON’T WORK IN HOLLYWOOD
This posthumously published memoir is a frank and fast moving book about which my only real complaint is that, at just 197 pages, it’s far too short
VISIONS FROM WITHIN THE MECHANISM: THE INDUSTRIAL SURREALISM OF JEFFREY SCOTT
Another weird art book, and another mind-tugging triumph
YOU’RE NOT DEAD UNTIL YOU’RE FORGOTTEN
For horror/exploitation aficionados this is one of the standout publications of 2014
William Goldman: 1931-2018
Yet another tragic celebrity death? I’m afraid so. The dear departed this time around is the great William Goldman, one of my longtime heroes
More Scary Kid Lit
A few years ago I wrote about children’s literature of an especially dark and aberrant nature. Here I’ll be revisiting this topic..
Funnybook Flashback: FROM BEYONDE, DOGHEAD and THE BIOLOGIC SHOW
It’s time for another trip back in time to the 1990s, when horror anthologies and David lynch-inspired weirdness were mainstays of the comic book universe—for a time, at least
The Taiwanese Inferno
Hell has always played well on screen. We’ve seen the inferno depicted in countless films over the years, from 1911’s Dante inspired L’INFERNO onwards
BLADE RUNNER: Novel, Treatment, and Movie(s)
Clarification: this article is not actually about BLADE RUNNER (1982). It refers, in fact, to a key line in its end credits sequence: “WITH THANKS TO WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND ALAN E. NOURSE FOR THE USE OF THE TITLE BLADE RUNNER.”