History is ultimately written by the winners. This adage is true politically, militarily and even in pop culture. The names and reputations of the Big 5 studios live on. However, so much more happened during this time. Much more happened than the daily goings on at: MGM, 20th […]
While Dario Argento’s films eased me into the fun of some weird-ass Italian horror, Mario Bava is the reason I’ve stayed. Bava is more fun-loving than Argento, and certainly delights in the macabre a bit more. Almost any of his films are worth watching – I’d recommend starting […]
Based upon an informal poll on my Twitter, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are enough people who have not seen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to make this one of my recommendations. Because not only is it an essential work of cinema, a historically significant film […]
In 1916, Universal’s most successful film was Where Are My Children?, a film about birth control and abortion made by Lois Weber, a female director who just happened be the first woman elected to the Motion Picture Directors Association, whose name was routinely mentioned alongside D.W. Griffith and […]
The atmospheric horror film tends to get shorter shrift from fans of horror than its more blood-thirsty brothers and sisters. It’s more understated, more psychological, more interested in establishing a sense of horror than in actually showing horrific things. Lenny Abramson’s adaptation of Sarah Waters’s Gothic novel The […]
One of the opening scenes of Issa Lopez’s magical realist fabula Tigers Are Not Afraid depicts a group of Mexican schoolchildren discussing with their teacher the elements of a fairy tale. After they go through the litany – princesses and princes, castles, magic, tigers, three wishes – the […]
The Vanished is a twisty South Korean psychological thriller, a clever amalgam of classical cinematic influences – especially Diabolique—filtered through a powerful narrative about the nature of perception and guilt. The film takes place over the course of a single night, as a police team arrive at the city […]
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