To me, when it comes to movies or music, it’s all about the connections. How an utterance or a name drop of an artist or film that pertained to something you are fanatically waxing over at the current time, sends ...
Read More »This is Not the End: ‘The Zodiac Killer’ (1971) [Film Review]
“This motion picture you are about to see was conceived in June 1970. Its goal is not to win commercial awards but to create an “awareness of a present danger.” Zodiac is based on known facts. If some of the ...
Read More »Karma’s a Bitch: King Hu’s Legend of the Mountain (1979)
“In the olden days, there were a lot of Chinese legends. Some about spirits and monks, while others about ghosts and fairies. These legends were popular with all audiences. One of the legends … is set in the Song dynasty, ...
Read More »An Error of Comedy: ‘Four Candles for Garringo’ (1971) [Film Review]
I really hate to say this, but Four Candles for Garringo (1971) is not very good. Let me say this though before that sinks in too deeply: it is a hugely enjoyable, very watchable, albeit bizarre film. And I am ...
Read More »Capitalism (it fails us now): ‘Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky’ (1991)
Where does one even begin when writing about this film? On the one hand, it’s an anti-capitalistic tract on the pitfalls of the abuse of power and where an unbridled capitalistic approach to governing can lead. On the other hand, ...
Read More »How Low Can You Go: ‘Turkey Shoot’ (1982)
Watching some of the archival and recently filmed interviews for this fantastic release from Severin, almost everyone connected to this film was apologetic and/or upset about the final product. The cast and crew recount the money issues the film ran ...
Read More »Craig Muckler: From the Microwave into the Taboo
I have a long history with the film Microwave Massacre (1983). I originally rented it from my local video store in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in the mid-1980s. At that time, I was quite honestly still in an idyllic time in ...
Read More »The Gold and its Consequences: Dead Men Ride (1971)
Dead Men Ride (Anda muchacho, spara!) premiered in Italy on August 8, 1971 and would return less than stellar box office revenue in Italy. 1971, of course, was the year that changed the Italian western genre forever: the highest grossing ...
Read More »A Love that Lasts Forever: A Ghost in the Well (1957)
Toei Studios’ film output in the 1950s was a vast departure from its well-known Pinky Violence line of the 1970s. Usual Toei fare in the ’50s amounted to the most part crime and samurai pictures with occasional forays outside those ...
Read More »Quick-Draw Okatsu: “You’ll have to finish this fight in hell!”
Quick-Draw Okatsu (1969) is the second film in Toei’s Legend of the Poisonous Seductress trilogy. The first film, Female Demon: Ohyaku (1968), was directed by Yoshihiro Ishikawa, who is best known as the director of two superb Kaidan films; The Ghost ...
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