Original Cinemaniac

Movie Reviews by Dennis Dermody

Uzumaki

            The new Blu-ray release of Uzumaki (2000) by director Higuchinsky is a startling reminder of the surreal power of cinema.             Based on a Manga by Junji Ito, it’s about a small Japanese village cursed by spirals.              A father becomes obsessed…
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Lost Highway (4K Restoration)

            A thick cloud of menace hangs over David Lynch’s brilliant, nightmarish creep-fest. What begins as a story of a jazz musician (Bill Pullman) and his wife (Patricia Arquette) who receive mysterious videotapes showing static shots of the outside of their…
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The Gang’s All Here

            If ever there was a movie “as gay as a picnic basket” (as Sophia referred to Blanche’s brother on Golden Girls) it’s the bonkers 1943 Technicolor musical The Gang’s All Here.             This might have been just another wartime musical confection…
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Terrified

            Want to see a really scary movie? I can’t tell you how many times I have been disappointed by that recommendation. But the Argentinian film Terrified directed by Demian Rugna is the real McCoy. And then some.             The film is…
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Dr. Hambone & Mr. Hyde

            Robert Louis Stevenson knew plenty about doctors and medicine- he wrote most of his 1886 classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in bed, coughing up blood. After reading the book in seventh grade, I would retire to my…
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