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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
IL CASO VALDEMAR
The world’s first gore film
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
…and ended!
TROLLHUNTER
This 2010 Norwegian import offers an impressive example of budget-lite ingenuity, and boasts some jaw-dropping special effects
TEEN WOLF
Lackluster eighties comedy stuff, patterned on I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF
ONE MAGIC CHRISTMAS
Quite simply: it’s not very magical
CODE BLUE: A LOVE STORY
An unabashedly depraved, darkly comedic short story from a longtime So Cal legend
MINE-HAHA, OR ON THE CORPORAL EDUCATION OF YOUNG GIRLS
This isn’t the first English translation of Frank Wedekind’s 1903 novella MINE-HAHA, but it is the most widely accessible
TENDER IS THE FLESH
A must-read due to its concept: a future world in which human flesh is harvested for food
THE SURVIVOR
A novel that directly foreshadows both the FINAL DESTINATION franchise and THE SIXTH SENSE
LAST CASE AT A BAGGAGE AUCTION
This is the third major work I’ve read by Eric J. Guignard, following the collection THAT WHICH GROWS WILD and the novel DOORWAYS TO THE DEADEYE, and it exhibits all the attributes I’ve come to expect
BATMAN: THE COMPLETE HISTORY
This 1999 publication is obviously a bit out of date, but is otherwise an admirably exhaustive recounting of the exploits of the Caped Crusader, a.k.a. Batman
STANLEY KUBRICK AND ME
For Stanley Kubrick buffs this memoir, written by Kubrick’s longtime personal assistant, can be classified as one of the few truly essential print resources on the great man
IRON MAN–THE CINEMA OF SHINYA TSUKAMOTO
Japan’s Shinya Tsukamoto is one of the world’s most vital living filmmakers, and this exhaustive study of his life and films is an essential reference, ideal both for Tsukamoto fanatics like myself and those new to the filmmaker’s work
THE INNER MAN
In which England’s incomparable literary genius J.G. Ballard, the esteemed “Dark Prophet of the 20th Century,” gets the John Baxter treatment, meaning a less-than-flattering biographical portrait
THE INDIANA TORTURE SLAYING
This study of the notorious torture-murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens initially appeared within a year of the crime, having been compiled from articles written about the case by an Indianapolis Star reporter
On HIGH SCHOOL FROM HELL
Why should you care about HIGH SCHOOL FROM HELL, a semi-autobiographical novel by an ex-high school English teacher?
FOREIGN NOVELS IN TRANSLATION: MY TWELVE MOST WANTED
I’ve been called a snob about translated novels, but in fact my preference for such books is quite basic and, I believe, well-reasoned
TV Flashback: THE REZ
Here’s a program that will probably not be of interest to much of my readership, yet it is one of my favorites
Four Films Called ADAM
ADAM: a good title, I’d say, and one in which, needless to add, I have a more-than-passing interest
DEMON SEED–Novel, Movie and Rewrite
DEMON SEED began life as a 1973 paperback original, written by a young Dean Koontz, that was adapted into a 1977 movie and heavily revised in ’97