This is the second part of an extensive two-part review of Arrow Video’s new boxset, The Nico Mastorakis Collection, which you should check that out for context (this part is a continuation after all), and to get a proper sense of the man, the myth… the Mastorakis. READ PART ONE […]
Movies & Documentaries
Hollywood 90028 (Fantasia 2024) (Review)
Whereas many will undoubtedly be raving about the wonderful selection of new premieres at the 2024 edition of Fantasia Fest for weeks to come – and for good reason, as its lineup is tremendous – I’d certainly advise genre film fanatics to not ignore the restored and resurrected titles on […]
The Nico Mastorakis Collection (1984-1992) (Review – Part One)
For those of you who don’t know who Nico Mastorakis is allow me to fill you in with a bit of context. Mastorakis is an 83-year-old Greek filmmaker, radio DJ, and journalist, who was responsible for a slew of cult genre titles like The Zero Boys (1986), Hired to Kill […]
Message From Space (1978) Japan’s Contribution to the Star Wars Craze (Review)
There has been a long tradition of Tokusatsu (特撮 – “Special Photography”) in Japanese cinema. With greats like Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya unleashing on an unsuspecting world the most they Gojira/Godzilla in 1954, Science Fiction would never be the same again in Japan. Eiji Tsuburaya in particular created many […]
Love Hotel (1985) – Comfort found within neon-lit heartbreak (Review)
The latest addition to Third Window Films directors company series, Love Hotel, opens in a neon-lit room at a salacious hotel, where Tetsuro Muraki (Minori Terada) lays on the bed as he waits for somebody to arrive. What may seem like a casual hook-up is instead a moment of despair, […]
The Beast Within (Fantasia 2024) Familial and Familiar Take on Werewolf Legend (Review)
There’s no attempt to hide what the titular Beast Within is in Alexander J. Farrell’s first horror feature (co-written with Greer Taylor Ellison), which opens with the quote “There are two wolves inside all of us … they’re always at war”, followed by the classic “lone person killed by monster” […]
A Bittersweet Life (2005) One of the Many Guiding Lights of the Korean Golden Age (Review)
The South Korean New Wave of the late 1990s to mid 2000s shone a light onto a country whose films were reserved for the arthouse cinemas and festival circuits, with directors such as Im Kwan Taek and Lee Chang-dong telling beautiful stories of Korean people and the loss of their […]
Dark Match (Fantasia 2024) – A Wrestling Picture for the Old-School Fans (Review)
The inherent contradiction of the most successful movies about wrestling (The Iron Claw and The Wrestler to name just two examples), is that they tend to be high-level productions that set their sights on major awards contention, which puts them somewhat at odds with the real-life sports entertainment industry they […]
The Landlord (1970) Raising Laughs and Awareness not Rent (Review)
Released by Radiance this week is The Landlord, Hal Ashby’s 1970 directorial debut. As a movie, The Landlord may have some of the rough edges of a first effort, but it also has the distinctive offbeat talent and approach that the inimitable Ashby would bring to his successive ventures. Specifically […]
Blow Out 4K (1981): A Taut, Tense and Involving Thriller (Review)
The poster for Blow Out – a stark picture of John Travolta’s face screaming from within a void of blackness – has been staring at me ever since I first noticed it in my dad’s movie collection as a little kid. I never knew what it was about, who was […]