Columns

“Cinema is the mightiest weapon” was the statement of intent behind Mussolini’s inauguration of the Cinecittà studio complex in 1937. And a mighty weapon it did indeed become for Italy, although thankfully not in the service of Il Duce’s fascistic ...

“An artist is forced by others to paint out his own free will.”  —Willem de Kooning “Censorship=Artistic Death” —Skinny Puppy The art of fear is both a potent weapon and a mighty revealer when placed in the right hands and minds. ...

Since their formation in 1992, Carpathian Forest have established themselves as one of the more unique black metal bands to emerge from Norway. Lead by hedonistic frontman Roger “Nattefrost” Rasmussen, the group has been unapologetic with the themes they’ve incorporated ...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or not paying too much attention to the internet recently (if that’s the case, I admire you), then you’re probably aware that Disney parted ways with Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn ...

In Disney’s Pinocchio, an absolute masterpiece of animation and storytelling, one of the most profound central themes that sits as the thematic crux is the complicated notion of “doing the right thing” and always letting your conscience be your guide. ...

Vice and virtue are two concepts that are at the heart of many works by The Marquis de Sade. The two things are not diametrically opposed, although the moralism of vice recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous might want you to ...

“I have six fingers see? And two heads! I’m a freak!” Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine)   Based on Lillian Hellman’s controversial play about a child’s lie destroying the lives of “decent people”, William Wyler’s The Children’s Hour (1961)  is quite ...

For my money, director Jess Franco is the best and most prolific adapter of what I would call Sadeian cinema; he did borrow directly from the Marquis de Sade’s texts from time to time, but even when his loose plots ...

This is the first entry in Diabolique’s “In Conversation” column, where two or more writers informally—and often personally—discuss cinema, art, and current contentious issues.  Samm Deighan: Recently I was having a conversation with a friend and the subject of Cronenberg’s ...

Secretly Scary is a celebration of movies that were not marketed as horror films, but read as horror films and are as harrowing, terrifying and unsettling as the most confronting horror movies ever made.   “The love every parent fears” In ...