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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
STAGE FRIGHT (1987)
A rather important example of 1980s Italosploitation cinema
SHOGUN ASSASSIN
The first two episodes of the LONE WOLF AND series, combined in one unforgettable film.
THE NORTHMAN
This 2022 epic, the third film directed by Robert Eggers (following THE WITCH andf THE LIGHTHOUSE), is a spirited throwback to the Viking epics of old
THE BED SITTING ROOM
In which the UK’s new wave science fiction scene came (briefly) to Hollywood, courtesy of director Richard Lester
F/X 2
Not without interest, as indicated by the fact that future Hollywood heavyweight Bill Condon was the screenwriter, and the Australian thriller specialist Richard Franklin the director
SIEGE
This novel, a best seller in its day, is a must-read for fans of old school black uprising scenarios of the type written by scribes like Sam Greenlee and Leroi Jones
AFRO-6
Fans of “Kill Whitey” fiction of the 1960s and 70s will note that the premise of this 1969 novel is nearly identical to that of SIEGE by Edwin Corley
MINDBLOWER
This counterculture-infused oddity is far and away the rarest, though definitely not the best, Essex House book
THIRD INSTAR
Another dreamy fantasy from Eibonvale Press, a tantalizing glimpse of a city located quite literally at the edge of the world
TOMORROW, WHEN I WAS YOUNG
A most peculiar fantasy about a woman who finds herself in a world that corresponds to our own but for the fact that life, death, past, present and future all co-exist
GODS IN POLYESTER
One of the greatest (and most difficult to locate) film books of the ‘00s was this massive collection of first-person recollections by participants in the horror-exploitation movie scene of the 1970s
THE GHASTLY ONE
This book, one of the more fascinating and unorthodox moviemaker bios I’ve read, has already garnered praise from seemingly every media outlet in the universe. I’ll be adding to that praise.
UNUTTERABLE HORROR
This two-volume study has already attained iconic status, and may well go on to become the premiere resource for devotees of supernatural fiction
ULTRAVIOLENT MOVIES
The subject of ultraviolet cinema is a compelling one, especially for horror fans, and this 1996 publication profiles many of the ultraviolent movies that have been released since the late 1960s. Yet the book ultimately falls far short for a variety of reasons
ULTIMATE PORNO: THE MAKING OF SEX COLOSSAL
In the field of movie making-of books, ULTIMATE PORNO is one of the most obscure there is, yet also one of the few worth reading
The Good and the Bad of WILD PALMS
A 1993 miniseries that was never as weird or revolutionary as the “psychedelic dossier filled with borrowed moonlight from a floating world” it purported to be
Thoughts on TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN
By now TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, the Showtime shepherded follow-up to 1990-91’s TWIN PEAKS, has been analyzed from every conceivable standpoint
TOBE HOOPER: 1943-2017
Here we bid farewell to the brilliant, and frustratingly erratic, Tobe Hooper
TV Flashback: THE NECESSARY MINUTE OF MONSIEUR CYCLOPEDE
Here we have what may well be the oddest TV show of all time: THE NECESSARY MINUTE OF MONSIEUR CYCLOPEDE
A “Monster Memory” of THE BLACK HOLE
I remember very little of the 70s or its movies, but for one isolated example: THE BLACK HOLE, a pivotal film in my life