POLANSKI UNAUTHORIZED

The life of Roman Polanski is great material for a horror film without question, but this cheesy 2009 biopic is far from a great movie

PATTY HEARST

The 1974 abduction and brainwashing of Patty Hearst reconfigured as a CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI-esque horror show

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

From one of the roughest, most uncompromising horror novels ever comes a profoundly graphic and disturbing film

THE LOST

THE LOST, the first film adapted from the work of novelist Jack Ketchum, is a skilled and intelligent but strictly not-for-the-squeamish viewing experience

2014: Bedlam in Print

2014 was an above-average year for books in my view. Quite a few terrific titles turned up from both established and debuting authors, with a few, I’m certain, that will go on to become classics

TRAIL OF BLOOD

I’ve long been curious about this film, a no-budget SOV dramatization of the crimes of the Green River Killer by the cult filmmaker Ari Roussimoff, which never received much of a release

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

I’ll say one thing for this half-baked historical saga: it had GREAT poster art picturing a hooded figure’s upper torso silhouetted over a small Southern town, a singularly haunting image that promises everything this tawdry film fails to deliver

TARGETS

One of the most stunning horror films of the 1960s, and one of the finest movies ever directed by Peter Bogdonovich