Twisted

There needs to be a temporary moratorium placed on the serial killer genre. Seven (1995) was the last breath of fresh air—everything since has been predictable and derivative. It has definitely played itself out as genre with nobody being able to think... 

The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler

Before there was The X-Files there was Carl Kolchak (McGavin), an investigative reporter who covered a distinctly different beat—a supernatural one. Kolchak was a short-lived TV series that ran from 1974 to 1975. Before that he was introduced to the... 

The Girl Next Door: Unrated Version

If the American Pie movies were a new Millennium reworking of the Porky’s films, then The Girl Next Door is Risky Business (1983) for the 21st Century. Whereas Risky Business was a reflection of the age of materialism that defined the 1980s, The Girl... 

Battle Royale – Two Disc Special Edition

A group of 40-or-so school kids are packed off, against their will, to a remote island with a heavy arsenal of weapons, with the only way off the island is to kill all their mates. You’d be forgiven in thinking that this was the pitch for the next... 

Bloody Territories

Like the old saying goes, those who live by the sword die by the sword; so do the gangsters who populate Yasuharu Hasebe’s Bloody Territories (1969). It is one of those colourful Japanese gangster (a.k.a. Yakuza) films where the plot revolves around... 

I Vitelloni

I Vitelloni (1953) is the story of five friends growing up in a small, seaside town in Italy. Director Federico Fellini introduces them via a voiceover narration and a fluid tracking shot that Martin Scorsese would later employ for similar effect in both... 

Transformers Season 3 & 4

In 1986, the Transformers went into their third season, making some bold marketing decisions, and they must have paid off because twenty years or so later here it is on DVD. Those who are not Transformers savvy will be completely and utterly confused... 

Shaolin Soccer

After three years of sitting on Shaolin Soccer (2001), Miramax has finally released the movie to a quick theatrical run before dumping it onto DVD. I guess we should be thankful that they’ve offered fans a subtitled version as well as a dubbed one.... 

Tom Dowd and the Language of Music

As with many art forms there are countless unsung heroes who work behind the scenes and help make things happen. Tom Dowd was such a person. He was a legendary music producer/recording engineer who pioneered all sorts of techniques and worked with such... 

The Lost Boys

At the time of its release, The Lost Boys (1987) was seen as an MTV-style take on the vampire film with a young, attractive cast and its music video look. It has been almost 20 years and the film has aged surprisingly well. Sure, there is some cringe-worthy... 

« Previous Page — Next Page »