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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
THE PASSIONS OF CAROL
The one and only XXX take-off of A CHRISTMAS CAROL
THE OLD HOUSE, PASSING
Experimental mood-based horror from underground film legend Larry Jordan
THE BIG DOLL HOUSE
Among women in prison movies THE BIG DOLL HOUSE is one of the biggies
A DAY IN THE CITY
Dadist subversion in the form of a satirical quasi-documentary portrait of Stockholm, circa 1956
LITTLE SISTERS
Much weirder-than-average pornographic lunacy from the 1970s
THE THIRD STORY
An ambitious horror novel by a prominent Canadian author that suffers, in a not-uncommon issue, from seriously trashy packaging
THE BAT WOMAN
“Prepare for Shlock and Awe”…? That first adjective is accurate, but the second not at all.
SHELTER
A paperback original that can be viewed as the trashy down-market inverse of ON THE BEACH
MAD SHADOWS
A much-lauded novel that offers a potent reminder that a great deal of renowned Canadian fiction tends toward the macabre
RED SPIDER, WHITE WEB
Here we have what is undoubtedly the most widely discussed yet least read book of the cyberpunk cycle
DREAM SPECTRES: EXTREME UKIYO-E
A lively, user-friendly study of ukiyo-e (“images from the floating world”) woodblock printed art from 18th and 19th Century Japan
THE DOYLE DIARY
Here’s a truly amazing artifact for the ages, a sumptuous reproduction of a sketchbook kept by Charles Altamont Doyle, father of Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle
DONALD CAMMELL: A LIFE ON THE WILD SIDE
The first and likely only biography we’ll ever see of the late Donald Cammell
DISPATCHES FROM ARMAGEDDON: MAKING THE MOVIE MEGIDDO
A “Devilish Diary” by the British actor Michael York about his experience playing the Devil in the Christian feature MEGIDDO: THE OMEGA CODE 2
THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
This eminently readable slice of history alternates the accounts of Daniel Burnham, the director of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Herman Mudgett, a.k.a. H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who haunted the event
Sid Haig: 1939-2019
Oftentimes it can be difficult to grasp just how much a skilled supporting player adds to the movies s/he graces—until, that is, the player in question is no longer with us
TV Flashback: AN AMERICAN FAMILY
AN AMERICAN FAMILY, a 12 episode docu-series that aired on PBS in 1973, is very likely the most famous yet least seen TV program in history
TV Flashback: MANIAC (2015)
In the category of insane asylum set TV programs the ten episode Norwegian miniseries MANIAC (not to be confused with the 1980 William Lustig slasher classic, nor the 2012 remake) is a definite standout
TV Flashback: HOT SEAT WITH WALLY GEORGE
Here we have the grand-daddy of so-called combat television: the So Cal based HOT SEAT WITH WALLY GEORGE
1989: The Year in Bedlam
Here, in the latest edition of my Year in Bedlam film listings, we leave the nineties behind and enter the eighties, which many claim was the worst decade in cinema history