Any good slasher movie worth its salt gives us a villain WHO has some traumatic event that sets off their murderous frenzy – their trigger, if you will. Sometimes it’s horrifically tragic, sometimes it’s tragically […]
Category: Columns
HOME IS WHERE THE HORROR IS IN PETER TSCHERKASSKY’S OUTER SPACE
Experimental cinema is a strange beast. Often treated as something different to more conventional styles of film, it can feel like a sub-genre that’s drowned in the academic, made impenetrable or unable to be understood […]
MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRLS GONE WILD
Vera Chytilova graduated from the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1962, but when she entered the Academy, she stood in front of a board of resident […]
BAVA IN SPACE: PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES REMAINS A COLORFUL EXPLORATION
Blending science fiction and horror together on film often creates both excitement and dread among cinephiles. There is a feeling of excitement because of a universe of possibilities for clever filmmakers to create cosmic calamities […]
TRASH TALK: THE UNBELIEVABLY FASCINATING CHARACTER OF MORTON DOWNEY JR.
PUMP UP THE COLUMN EXPLORES THE MANY INTERPRETATIONS OF PUNK AESTHETIC USED IN CINEMA In my first “Pump Up The Column” piece I mentioned that the definition of punk varies. If you ask some maybe […]
WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES 12, EVIL RULES THE CITY IN THE UNEROTIC THRILLER, MIDNIGHT COP
BARGAIN BINNED DIGS DEEP INTO THE RANDOM AND FASCINATING TITLES FOUND IN THE CLEARANCE AISLE My DVD of Midnight Cop highlights actors Morgan Fairchild, Michael York, and Frank Stallone, while omitting the movie’s actual star, […]
TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE(S), AKA THAT DOG WILL PUNK
Tobe Hooper collected many accomplishments as a filmmaker: there was Salem’s Lot, the miniseries that made kids soil their bedsheets at the thought of a vampire floating outside their bedroom window asking to be let in. […]
WILLIAM CASTLE A ONE-TRICK PONY? NAH
As time goes on and his films become historic artifacts, the overall opinion on William Castle has warmed up. There was a time, however, when his trademark gimmicks were considered cheap and tacky. But doesn’t […]
DEAD MAN: JIM JARMUSCH’S TRANSGRESSIVE WESTERN TONE POEM
There is something romantic about a film genre set in unexplored territory in a bygone period, places untouched by Western civilization, where right and wrong are settled by the spin of a gun barrel, a […]
“READ MY LIPS – NOT X RATED!” 1995’S EVIL ED TACKLES CENSORSHIP, PUNK, AND POLITICS
PUMP UP THE COLUMN EXPLORES THE MANY INTERPRETATIONS OF PUNK AESTHETIC USED IN CINEMA Genre film – in particular, horror – and punk rock have enjoyed a long and comfortable kinship. For bands like The Misfits and The Cramps, […]
HAL NEEDHAM’S “BALLET WITH BMX BIKES” RESURFACING AT SXSW THIS YEAR
BARGAIN BINNED DIGS DEEP INTO THE RANDOM AND FASCINATING TITLES FOUND IN THE CLEARANCE AISLE Director Hal Needham knew stunts. He was a stuntman himself, having worked in innumerable Westerns during the ’60s begore turning […]
WHO DARES TO PROGRAM A PENILE IMPLANT DOUBLE FEATURE?
WEIRD BONERS IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE WEIRD WAYS FILMS AFFECT US SPIRITUALLY, INTELLECTUALLY, AND OF COURSE, PSYCHO-SEXUALLY Biopics are a strong contender for the worst sub-genre. They’re where bad filmmaking is not only allowed, […]
AMO KAJ ALIAJ DEMONOJ: THE CURSE OF INCUBUS ’66
Many English-speaking cinephiles will watch films from all over the world; only the most ethnocentric cinephile will sneer at foreign-language films, ignoring richly-told stories from around the world (subtitles are not your enemy!). But what […]
ROBERT WISE’S STAR TREK TREATMENT DESERVES MORE CREDIT THAN FANS GIVE IT
IN DEFENSE OF: STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE Fandom is a perplexing, frequently frustrating entity: it can be a supportive, passionate group of like-minded individuals who enjoy fictional characters on the page or on the […]
HOW A 1950 MOVIE HAD THE AUDACITY TO TELL HOLLYWOOD TO GO F**K ITSELF
PUMP UP THE COLUMN EXPLORES THE MANY INTERPRETATIONS OF PUNK AESTHETIC USED IN CINEMA The definition of punk varies: some see the Sex Pistols when they hear the word, while others consider them a boy […]