Closing in on nearly fifty years after the event, the dark enigma of Charles Manson (1934 – 2017) and the horror that was the Tate-LaBianca murders continue to fascinate and haunt us in a way that very few crimes before ...
Read More »Jack Webb: The Lost Visionary and the Birth of the Television Police Drama with ‘Dragnet’
Jack Webb is as important to television drama as anyone who has ever lived. Working mostly in the period we might refer to as “classic television,” or the Golden Age, he should be held in as high regard as Rod ...
Read More »Orders from Another World: The Poliziotteschi of Fernando Di Leo, Part Two
I began this three-part Fernando Di Leo series a few weeks ago with a look at two of the first films in his poliziotteschi trilogy, the Milieu Trilogy: Milano calibro 9 (Caliber 9, 1972) and La mala ordina (The Italian ...
Read More »You’ve Got the Whole World by the Asshole: The Candy Tangerine Man and Lady Cocoa
The wonderful Vinegar Syndrome has really been on a tear this year expanding their catalogue beyond erotica to include cult, horror, and even blaxploitation. Over the last few months, they’ve released a number of restored, Blu-ray editions of films starring ...
Read More »A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (French Blu-ray review)
By and large, Lucio Fulci is one of horror cinema’s most notable and beloved directors. However, that love is often applied loosely to his catalog. Sure, everyone knows his gory, zombie films, but these are only a small fraction of the ...
Read More »Artsploitation Films Highlight the Dark Side of Belgian Cinema with Two New Blu-rays
Artsploitation Films jumped on the scene for North American distribution in a big way in the last few years, filling a much needed gap in the allocation/distribution of a certain kind of film for NA distribution. Self-described as ”not strictly ...
Read More »Gangs of Wasseypur is the Modern, Epic Masterpiece You Must See
As the camera fades up, the first image audiences are met with is a woman dressed in traditional garb, gesturing for the camera. It plays out like a parody of a bad sitcom, complete with cutesy gestures and goofy interactions complete ...
Read More »Milano Calibro 9 (UK Blu-ray release)
While many have reduced it to a response to vigilante-style thrillers produced in America, such as Dirty Harry and Death Wish, the Eurocrime subgenre nonetheless thrived in Italy for years and produced nearly as many classics as the more renowned, ...
Read More »Vengeance is Mine (US Blu-ray review)
Japanese director Shohei Imamura has an interesting career trajectory. Beginning as an assistant to the, now, legendary director Yasujiro Ozu, Imamura soon grew tired of Ozu’s depiction of Japanese life. Despite the praise for Ozu’s authentic Japanese cinematic style, Imamura ...
Read More »House Across the Lake aka Heat Wave (1954) (DVD review)
For many film fans, the moniker Hammer Film Productions instantly summons the association with classic British horror. The studio, established in 1934, became the reigning monarchs of British horror from the late 50’s to the mid-seventies—making icons out of the ...
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