MOVING VIOLATIONS
The “institutional comedy” model, established in 1984 by POLICE ACADEMY, was given a fair-to-middling workout in this science fiction-tinged comedy
View ArticleKris Kristofferson: 1936-2024
Looking over an eccentric yet highly distinguished acting career
View ArticleTRAPPED
I maintain that the Edmund Plante authored 1987 horror-fest TRANSFORMATION is a rotgut classic. TRAPPED, Plante’s similarly oriented 1989 follow-up, is not.
View ArticleSILVER BULLET
This 1985 release can lay claim to being among the absolute dumbest Stephen King movies
View ArticleCHOICE CUTS
Initially published back in 1965, CHOICE CUTS is, despite some affecting passages, strictly a product of its time
View ArticleJOKER: FOLIE À DEUX
A film that plays like it was made by the Joker himself and, I say, a worthwhile effort
View ArticleHANNS HEINZ EWERS: THE STORY OF HIS DEVELOPMENT
Here Joe E. Bandel, who specializes in translating early 20th century European literature, turned his attention to a little-known German language biography of Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871-1943)
View ArticleGHOSTS IN THE SWAMP
A long-forgotten German horror-science fiction-fantasy epic, translated by indefatigable Joe E. Bandel
View ArticleSICK
A promising but not entirely successful horror novel that debuted at the wrong time
View ArticleNECROMANIA
This XXX-rated “Tale of Weird Love” was one of the final films directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.
View ArticleCOYOTE
COYOTE may be an extended hallucination or an eccentric first-person crime saga; either way, it’s a deeply chilly and upsetting book
View ArticleA DOG’S HEAD
A sui generis example of big-hearted fantasy spiced with unsentimental magic realism
View ArticleCREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
Not too many movies can be said to have attained success based solely on the quality of a monster suit, but in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON that is indeed the case
View ArticleVAMPIRES: STORIES OF THE SUPERNATURAL
This anthology contains four tales of the supernatural, written by Leo Tolstoy's cousin Alexis
View ArticleSWEETHEART, SWEETHEART
Not a bad novel by any means, but SWEETHEART, SWEETHEART is overlong and not entirely satisfying
View ArticleHANSEL AND GRETEL (1983)
A “surprisingly scary twist” on “Hansel and Gretel,” designed and directed by a 25-year-old wunderkind named Tim Burton
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