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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
THE SERPENT’S EGG
A mislabelled horror film from Ingmar Bergman, his biggest folly and his greatest financial success.
THE PORTRAIT
A newly restored 22 minute version of a 1915 horror classic (far longer than the 8 minute cut with which we previously had to make do)
ALIEN ON STAGE
A 2020 documentary about a dramatic adaptation of ALIEN put on by a consortium of UK bus drivers
EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE
A film whose reception has then and now centered entirely on the nudity displayed by its star Alyssa Milano
TRIP TO MOON
In acknowledgment of the India’s moon landing, here’s a look back at a 1967 Indian made dramatization of just what the title promises
BOTTOMFEEDER
A stand-out graphic novel from Eibon Press and the team of scripter Stephen Romano and artist Pat Carbajal
LASERBLAST: The Comic
Fact: the no-budget Charles Band movie LASERBLAST (1978) sucks. This comic book adaptation, however, is somewhat interesting
THE MATILDA MURDER HUNTER
This was the tenth novel by Harry Stephen Keeler, and the second longest
GOING PLACES
It’s a rare novel that contains a perfect opening sentence, but this one, in the line “We’re real fuckheads,” does
THE SHADOW AND OTHER STRANGE TALES
A short single author anthology that appears to have been aimed at children
THE JAWS 2 LOG
This lively report about the making of JAWS 2 is far from the best book of its type, but it is a fascinating and instructive read
THE JAWS LOG
THE JAWS LOG is not, as the back cover wrongfully claims, the “only book” about the making of JAWS, but it is the best
JACK HILL: THE EXPLOITATION AND BLAXPLOITATION MASTER, FILM BY FILM
The first and thus far only book about Jack Hill, arguably the greatest exploitation movie director of the grindhouse era
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
1993: The Year in Bedlam
Looking back over 1993, I’ve found it was quite an auspicious year for movies
Ed Wood at the Carnival
Carnival life and Edward D. Wood, Jr. are two things that go together quite well
Remembering that which is Better Forgotten: NOT A LOVE STORY and THE MASCULINE MYSTIQUE
Here I’m going look at 1981’s NOT A LOVE STORY: A FILM ABOUT PORNOGRAPHY, one of the most infamous documentaries of its time, and 1984’s THE MASCULINE MYSTIQUE, which is considerably less well known
2018: Bedlam in Print
The books of 2018? There’s really not much to say, outside my usual observation that the really good stuff often lurks outside the mainstream
2018: A Look Back in Bedlam
Here it is, my latest Look Back in Bedlam overview of the previous year’s happenings that are of particular interest to this site