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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
FRANKENSTEIN (2025)
A lovingly mounted, highly reverential take on Mary Shelley’s immortal 1818 novel, this FRANKENSTEIN (2025) was directed by Guillermo del Toro, who has apparently been wanting to make it for decades
TRON
A rare example of Disney, the most risk-averse studio in Hollywood, taking a chance on material that’s defiantly unique (borderline experimental, even) in both conception and execution
SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS
Very likely the magnum opus of the London-based animators The Brothers Quay
TREMORS
One of the stand-out horror fests of the nineties
MS. 45
Quite simply, one of the greatest films to emerge from the Grindhouse era.
THE NIHILESTHETE
An altogether unique novel that fascinates and annoys in equal measure
BETWEEN NINE AND NINE
Austria’s late, great Leo Perutz demonstrated incalculable range in BETWEEN NINE AND NINE, his comedic and fantastic second novel
THE CASE OF THE TWO STRANGE LADIES
A full blast of dementia from Harry Stephen Keeler involving a shocking double murder, multi-racial family ties and transposed heads
GENTLEMAN JUNKIE AND OTHER TALES OF THE HUNG-UP GENERATION
A 1961 Harlan Ellison short story collection that was, Ellison claimed, the book of his he loved the most
MANEATER
An example of the type of sci fi-tinged literary erotica that was pioneered by the late Essex House
FEVER YEAR: THE KILLER FLU OF 1918
A powerful graphic novel depiction of the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918-19
HANNS HEINZ EWERS: THE STORY OF HIS DEVELOPMENT
Here Joe E. Bandel, who specializes in translating early 20th century European literature, turned his attention to a little-known German language biography of Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871-1943)
WITH LOVE, MOMMIE DEAREST: THE MAKING OF AN UNINTENTIONAL CAMP CLASSIC
All about the making of MOMMIE DEAREST (1981)
KUBRICK: AN ODYSSEY
This book has been proclaimed the definitive biography of the great Stanley Kubrick, and for once the hype is correct
SALUTING THE BLOOD OF HEROES: BEHIND THE APOCALYPTIC FILM
The Second book by author Danny Stewart, who’s quickly establishing himself as one of the preeminent chroniclers of underappreciated science fiction cinema from the eighties and nineties
Confessions of A Recovering Oscar Viewer
Here’s an embarrassing admission: until recently I was an Oscar nerd
George Armitage: 1942-2025
On February 15, 2025, one of America’s most individual, and least known, filmmakers left us
On SLEAZOID EXPRESS
Of the “Big Three” horror/exploitation film review zines, which included PSYCHOTRONIC and GORE GAZETTE, SLEAZOID EXPRESS tends to be the most acclaimed, and apparently boasted “The largest circulation of anything of its particular type.”
Werner Herzog, Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Nobuhiko Obayashi and MOMENTOUS EVENTS
It certainly seemed like a good idea: a Russian American co-production in which six world class directors partook in “the gigantic cinematic canvas of historical change in Russia,”
2024: Bedlam in Print
Another year, another underwhelming showing from the mainstream publishing industry