BODY DOUBLE
Perhaps the ultimate Brian De Palma film: gory, pervy and visually stunning, with a distinctly comedic, self-mocking angle
A BLADE IN THE DARK
Lamberto Bava appears to have been channeling his mentors Mario Bava and Dario Argento (both of whom he previously worked for as an assistant director) in this unremarkable 1983 giallo
BLACK WIDOW
A silly eighties thriller with occasional flashes of interest, courtesy of actress Theresa Russell—but flashes are all we get
THE BEGUILED (1970)
A macabre Civil War set study of repression and murder from the seventies, echoing the works of writers like Poe, Tennessee Williams and Ambrose Bierce, and starring…CLINT EASTWOOD?!?
EXECUTIVE KOALA
Japanese director Minoru Kawasaki’s follow-up to his cult hit THE CALAMARI WRESTLER was this goofy 2005 psycho thriller about a businessman koala bear who may or may not be a murderer
EVIL WORDS
Good mystery-horror from Quebec that mixes crime, detection, hallucination and the supernatural to satisfying effect
EL NOMINADO
Yet another take on the reality TV craze, EL NOMINADO is disturbing because it seems quite plausible in terms of its setting (an enclosed space deep underground) and outcome (a contestant goes violently insane). Too bad the film just isn’t very good
SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE
This isn’t a revenge movie per se, but a dark, brutal exploration of fate and consequence from one of the world’s most interesting filmmakers. That filmmaker is Korea’s Chanwook Park, who’s created a deeply odd, and deeply personal, cinematic universe unique unto itself
SWIMMING POOL
One of the signature films of France’s Francois Ozon, who’s turned in a sexy and absorbing psychological chiller
SUTURE
An interesting but overly affected psycho thriller from the nineties. SUTURE has a definite charm, though it’s all-but buried under a veritable avalanche of arty pretension