Original Cinemaniac

Movie Reviews by Dennis Dermody

Queer

            “I’m not queer- I’m disembodied,” says Eugene (Drew Starkey) to William Lee (Daniel Craig) as they are hallucinating like crazy in the jungle under the influence a native drug called “yage.” Luca Guadagnino’s transcendent film adaptation is from a William…
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Hollywood Thanksgiving

            When I think “Thanksgiving,” I think “pancreas.” It was on that celebratory November day back in the early 70s when, after partaking of a memorably delicious Thanksgiving with friends, my pancreas literally exploded and I was rushed to a hospital…
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The Houses of Doom

            During the 1980s, the Italian film industry began to wind down. But TV reached out to three directors- Lamberto Bava (Demons) (who eventually had to bow out), Lucio Fulci (The Beyond) and Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferrox) to create made-for-TV horror…
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RIP Paul Morrissey

            I can’t tell you how hard it was to hear about the death of underrated director Paul Morrissey at 86. His films had such a profound effect on my life. Morrissey transformed Andy Warhol’s filmed “art” films into somewhat plotted…
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High Tide

            Out in theaters now is an absolute gem of a film- director Marco Calvani’s High Tide. It stars Marco Pigossi as Lourenço, a gay Brazilian on a work permit in the country, living in Provincetown in the guest house of…
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