VARIOLA VERA
From the former Yugoslavia, a fact-based dramatization of the 1972 smallpox epidemic that occurred in Kosovo and Belgrade
Stuart Gordon: 1947-2020
You may not know the name Stuart Gordon, but the chances are good that if you’re a fan of post-1980 horror cinema then you’re a Stuart Gordon fan
I’M SCREAMING AS FAST AS I CAN: MY LIFE IN B-MOVIES
A slim but reasonably satisfying mini-memoir by Linnea Quigley, the most prominent of the 1980s and ‘90s scream queens
RIDLEY SCOTT: A BIOGRAPHY
A book about the prolific British filmmaker Ridley Scott that isn’t what I’d call revelatory
BARRY SONNENFELD, CALL YOUR MOTHER: MEMOIRS OF A NEUROTIC FILMMAKER
Barry Sonnenfeld is a cinematographer-turned-director whose defining trait, it seems, is self-deprecation.
1986: The Year in Bedlam
Fact: anyone who says the eighties were a “golden age” for film is wrong, wrong, wrong, as the year 1986 proves quite amply
STRANGERS IN PARADISE
This ridiculous sci fi musical from the late R.W. Fassbinder acolyte Ulli Lommel wants very much to be a cult sensation a la REPO MAN or THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, but fails spectacularly
LOLA
A “lost” film in the filmography of Spain’s late Bigas Luna (1946–2013), LOLA is a 1986 erotic thriller that received very little attention and has largely vanished from sight
NIGHT ON THE TOWN
A twelve minute animated amazement from 1981 that remains shockingly little known
PURANA MANDIR
By Bollywood standards this 1984 film is quite good, packed with chills and boasting a tight storyline that nearly manages to sustain itself over a fast moving 145 minutes