Summer is sweeter with these diverse and fascinating new Blu-rays this month. From 4k restorations of the sublime (Le Samourai) and the stupid (Can’t Stop the Music). To a fabulously restored suspense tale (The Chase). To filmed versions of William…
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“250 Pounds of Maniacal Fury” screamed the ad for director Nick Millard’s Criminally Insane, about a woman released from an asylum who turns to homicide when anyone keeps her from her favorite cookies. “A Blood Marriage of Ghouls,” was the…
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If you’re gay, and love horror movies, there are many times when you find yourself exploring some of the gay subtext in certain fright films. Some are more obvious than others. Some are a bit of a stretch. Some are…
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Francois Ozon has always been a favorite director of mine. I remember being at a screening for a short film of his- See the Sea (1997), and was spellbound by the macabre premise and the meticulous, scalpel-sharp storytelling. His films…
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A terrific batch of Blu-rays this month- Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s wild last film; an exceptional Raoul Walsh Warner Brothers melodrama starring Ida Lupino; a fascinating new Woody Allen; a bonkers Lucio Fulci erotic thriller; a double-bill of hillbilly harlots; a crackpot…
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Years ago, I was reading in Michael J. Weldon’s exhaustive and exhilarating second installment to The Psychotronic Video Guide about a bizarre 1975 film, shot in Spain, directed by Silvio Narizzano (Georgy Girl) and reuniting actors Dennis Hopper and Carroll…
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Anyone who knows me well knows that the one thing you can’t say Is anything disparaging about actress Kim Novak. Critically maligned through the years, even Alfred Hitchcock dismissed her acting in his masterpiece Vertigo, to which Francois Truffaut, who…
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I used to love hitchhiking. I remember defiantly announcing to my father I wasn’t going to get a driver’s license and he angrily asked, “How the hell are you going to get around?” “I’ll hitchhike,” I sarcastically replied. And that’s…
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I always find it amusing when people tell me physical home media is dead. For film collectors, this is a golden age with boutique Blu-ray labels cranking out astounding rare titles each month, digitally restored from their negatives. I can’t…
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Fayard Nicholas (of the legendary Nicholas Brothers dancing duo) said about dancer Eleanor Powell (dubbed the “Queen of tap”), “Eleanor Powell was one of the greatest, period, bar none. Not only one of the greatest women- one of the greatest,…
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