Graphic Novel • Lists • Fails • 70’s Cinema • K-Horror • Arthouse • Canadian Horror • Film Noir • Grindhouse • NC-17 • J-Horror • Exploitation • Sci-Fi • Pulp • Evangelical Horror • Favorites • Cult • Fantastique • Surreal • Animation • So-Bad-It’s-Good
Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
NO BLADE OF GRASS
Societal breakdown, depicted by matinee idol turned sometime director Cornel Wilde
THE LITTLE MERMAID (1976)
Arguably the finest-ever live action filming of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale.
THE CABLE GUY
Among the more interesting (as opposed to good) 1990s Hollywood comedies was this attempt at complexity from director Ben Stiller and star Jim Carrey
GOKE, BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL
Think FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS in an irresistible 1968 horror-fest from Japan’s Shochiku studios
THE GOAT AND HER THREE KIDS
A horror-tinged adaptation of an obscure (by English speaking standards) Romanian fairy tale
SHELLA
Any post-1990 work claiming to “revitalize the hard-boiled tradition” can be dismissed, as, quite simply, SHELLA is the state of the art in neo-noir
GHOST DOLL
The book isn’t much, but has a haunting resonance
OUR TWISTED HERO
An uncompromising account of bullying and conformity in a Korean school, a novel that favorably recalls LORD OF THE FLIES
THE OMEGA PROJECT
This paperback original is not one of the rapture fiction genre’s better entries
BLASTED
This 1995 play will be probably be viewed as beyond the pale nowadays, but the skill with which it was put together is undeniable
INSIDE THE WICKER MAN
For anyone with even a passing interest in the 1973 English horror classic THE WICKER MAN this book is a must, being an unusually erudite and well written account of the film’s making and reception
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DRACULA
Here’s a travel book I think we can all enjoy: a guidebook to the European locations specified in Bram Stoker’s immortal DRACULA
ROMAN
Roman Polanski is one of the world’s greatest and most notorious filmmakers. His stated intent in writing this autobiography was to clear his name, yet it left me with more questions than I had going in
THE MAKING OF HITCHCOCK’S THE BIRDS
This book is most certainly, as a cover blurb proclaims, “The Definitive Production History of THE BIRDS”
MAKING FRIDAY THE 13th
The first of two thick books on the FRIDAY THE 13th film series. I haven’t read the 2006 coffee table hardcover CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES, but can’t imagine it’s much better than David Grove’s MAKING FRIDAY THE 13th
Chris Hardwick and the Dark Side of Nerd Culture
I don’t much like Chris Hardwick
1997: The Year in Bedlam
Continuing with my time-reversed year-end film listings, we come to 1997
On THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
There has never been another film quite like THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
Paul Schrader’s Films, Ranked
In celebration of the release of FIRST REFORMED, here is my ranking of Paul Schrader’s feature films up to 2018
TV Flashback: ONE TO GROW ON
ONE TO GROW ON, a 1980s kiddie PSA show, opens with a cartoon montage so distinctive that I can recall its every beat