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
2000: The Year in Bedlam
The following marks the inaugural entry in a new and ambitious project: an overview of my favorite films from each year, starting with 2000 and working my way backward
BLAZE OF EMBERS
This collection of seven erotic-surreal stories, initially published back in 1959 (in French), was apparently quite the shocker in its day
CLOUDS
Filipino horror trash that was apparently marketed as a porno flick in its native land—a designation that isn’t entirely off the mark given the copious sex scenes and trashy overall vibe
Books You Should Be Reading
Many will disagree, but I say it’s a fact that my book reviews have in many cases helped inspire cults
NIGHT OF TEARS
NIGHT OF TEARS is actually a tepid and uneventful potboiler that attempts to blend three distinct subgenres–gothic romance, alien invasion and crime thriller–into a not-very-satisfying whole.
MOJU: THE BLIND BEAST (Novel)
I was predisposed to like this short novel, and like it I did—a lot.
MADAM SEX THIEF
Reading this delirious relic from the glory days of erotic fiction, it occurred to me that there exist very few fictional treatments of the horrors of castration. The only serious contenders I can think of are Jim Thompson’s THE NOTHING MAN and EAT THEM ALIVE by Pierce Nace, and MADAM SEX THIEF outdoes both in grossness and outrage.
LOVE SONG
LOVE SONG is part of the pornographic cycle penned by the famous sci-fi author Philip Jose Farmer, and easily the best of the bunch.
LITTLE ORPHAN VAMPIRES
What this perilously slim 82-page trifle lacks is the poetic charge and dark eroticism of Rollin’s best films.