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
DEDICATED TO THE AEGEAN SEA
The one and only Japanese made, Italian financed, Greece set erotic drama
TWISTED ISSUES
The debut feature of SOV auteur Charles Pinion was this self-proclaimed “Psycho-Punk Splatter Comedy”
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Arguably the most interesting of William Friedkin’s pre-FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) films
BORDELLO OF BLOOD
The second, and last, TALES FROM THE CRYPT big screen spinoff
THE BUTCHER BOY
The brief acting career of the late Sinéad O’Connor reached its apex in this rancid little film from Ireland’s Neil Jordan
THE SPECIALIST
Here we have the fictional equivalent of those Nazi-sploitation movies prevalent in the 1970s
THE LIONESS
A threefer: a historical drama, a bodice ripper and a supernatural thriller
TYLER’S THIRD ACT
A corrosive and (mostly) dead-on satire of the entertainment world by a man who knows it all too well
OUT OF TIME
This uber-rarity is, as of 2021, the sole English language collection by George Langelaan (1908-1972)
WORMS
An example of the “nasties” model popular in the seventies, fused with the age-old psychological horror trope
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
THE STRANGE GENIUS OF DAVID LINDSAY
This slim three author compilation was the first-ever study of the English fantasist David Lindsay, author of the immortal VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS, THE HAUNTED WOMAN and several other eccentric novels
STAY OUT OF THE SHOWER
Those wanting an overview of the “shocker” movies that followed Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO could certainly do worse than read this book
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