It’s a minor — very minor — Terence Fisher Sci-Fi suspenser that reaches the bare genre minimum and nothing more. Love the title and love those great stills, but when it’s finished you’re going to be saying, ‘Now all I need is a good alien invasion movie!’ The Earth Dies Screaming Blu-ray KL Studio Classics…
High camp or just plain trash? A cultural-cinematic swamp in perfectly rotten taste, this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s supermarket ‘dirty book’ seeks out tawdry sleaze like no American movie had before. Junk beyond belief, and great entertainment if you’re in a sick frame of mind. Valley of the Dolls Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 835 1967 /…
Want a nine-hour dose of the truth of existence so harrowing that it will make you feel grateful no matter how humble your situation? Masaki Kobayshi’s epic of the real cost of war boggles the mind with its creeping revelations of cosmic bleakness. Yet all the way through you know you’re experiencing a truth far…
With a title like this you know it has to be good. Irvin Kershner got his start directing on this small-scale tale of kids and crime. Jonathan Haze and Abby Dalton are standouts in the cast while the uncredited executive producer who put up the cash is said to have been Roger Corman. It’s a…
Randolph Scott fights to let the railroad go through in this old-fashioned rip-snorting action adventure movie, the kind where shooting bad guys means never having to say you’re sorry. Jane Wyatt gets top billing but the big burner on this prairie is newcomer Nancy Olson, who puts more sex appeal into her homegrown heroine than…
David Lynch and Mark Frost’s 1990 TV series looks better than ever, while the 1992 feature prequel digs deeper in Laura Palmer’s unpleasant final days with fewer rewards. CBS’s 9-disc retrospective is a setup for the highly awaited series continuation — delayed by 25 years. Twin Peaks: The Original Series, Fire Walk with Me &…
Is this Rod Serling’s best teleplay ever? Van Heflin, Everett Sloane and Ed Begley are at the center of a business power squeeze. Is it all about staying competitive, or is it corporate murder? With terrific early performances from Elizabeth Wilson and Beatrice Straight. Patterns Blu-ray The Film Detective 1956 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen…
Writer/Director Gary Ross constructs a historical-film miracle: a meaningful true tale about the Civil War that doesn’t bog down in details. Rebel deserter Matthew McConaughey leads a wartime insurrection against both the South and the North. It’s hard to believe that it really happened. Free State of Jones Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Universal Studios…
Olive’s new branded line reissues the Nicholas Ray classic with a full set of authoritative extras — plus a never-before-seen widescreen transfer, in all of its Trucolor glory. Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden never looked better — we can all compare theories about la Crawford’s color-coded costumes. Just how masculine is Vienna supposed to be?…
The crime of the century became a media circus, with no angle hidden — yet behind what we saw on TV was even more conflict and consternation. This eight-hour miniseries is a beautifully constructed recreation with excellent casting, even though its O.J. doesn’t remind us much of the original. It’s highly absorbing stuff to anyone…
Neo-noir got a major boost with this splendid first outing for the Coen Brothers, who planned to produce something commercially viable but broke through with a new style in fashionable genre mayhem. A fantastic cast helps, including the auspicious debut of the great Frances McDormand. Blood Simple Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 834 1984 / Color…
James Cameron’s superb spacemen vs. monsters siege battle epic is back in a reissue with an extra collector goodie or two, still looking good on Blu-ray for its 30th Anniversary. And that heroine Ripley is still the most combat-worthy space cadet in the galaxy. Aliens 30th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Fox Home Entertainment 1986 / Color…
“The Most Beautiful Wife” The ‘double standard’ between men and women reveals its roots in paternalistic barbarism, as demonstrated by this quality Italo crime picture about a young woman claimed against her will by a Mafia thug. The gorgeous star Ornella Muti makes her debut; the sinister Mafia punk is Alessio Orano. It’s strong…
He’s back and more diabolically ruthless than ever! Berlin cowers under the influence of a gambler-mastermind, the secret architect of an ‘Empire of Crime.’ Restored to near its full length (4.5 hours!), Fritz Lang’s monumental pulp masterpiece is a Euro-classic lover’s delight. Dr. Mabuse The Gambler Blu-ray Kino Lorber Classics 1922 / B&W /…
“Death will take you as you sleep! A sleep as deep as Death!” Barbara Steele doesn’t realize that her husband is using her to recover a forbidden sexual thrill. Riccardo Freda’s film plays games with Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography, but it also generates a Euro-horror spell like no other. Outrageous in 1962, it was…
Randolph Scott’s final ‘Ranown’ western is a minimalist masterpiece, an unusually gentle story about a great westerner on a forlorn romantic quest. It’s also a showcase for the underrated Nancy Gates and Claude Akins, and a pleasure to watch in wide, wide CinemaScope. Comanche Station All-region Blu-ray Explosive Media / Alive 1960 / Color /…
Glurg garrgle gurgle raaaaw! It’s the razor-clawed reptile-man that scared the bejesus out of little kids, way back when. Jack Kevan’s basic monster mash drags its feet a bit, but technically it’s as slick as they come. Plus, the encoding is perfect. And did I mention the scary parts? This one inspired plenty of…
Modern spy movies have nothing on this Brit thriller produced just as war broke out — Rex Harrison, Margaret Lockwood and Paul Henried clash with Nazi agents, and risk a daring escape to Switzerland. The witty screenplay is by the writers of Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes and the director is Carol Reed, in…
Dramas don’t come more powerful than this one — a Maori family might escape their slum existence if it weren’t for the father, an emotionally volatile monster whose brutality knows no limits. The show took in awards everywhere — it’s a stunningly affecting tragedy not completely without hope. Once Were Warriors Blu-ray Film Movement Classics…
A Frankenstein, a Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and a mythological dame from Hell: three out of four of these classic titles appear in encodings well worth a Blu-ray upgrade. The star quotient is high too: two films each with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Hammer Films Double Features The Revenge of Frankenstein + The Curse of…
Clint Eastwood’s mint juleps ‘n’ murder epic is an easygoing pleasure. Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and a host of great performances guarantee interest, but maybe I have to go to the book to really understand what’s going on. A solid ‘A’ for this one, Clint. The Savannah tourism board must bless you in their nightly…
Do you like my choice of leading image? ‘We’re the Glory Guys! EEE-Yow!’ What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time’s extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant. The Glory Guys Blu-ray Twilight Time 1965 / Color / 2:35…
Richard Brooks’ exciting Humphrey Bogart picture is one of the best newspaper sagas ever. An editor deals with a gangster threat and a domestic crisis even as greedy heirs are selling his paper out from under him. Commentator Eddie Muller drives home the film’s essential civics lesson about what we’ve lost — a functioning free…
This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It’s Val Lewton’s debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray…
The conflicted Paul Schrader works out some hellacious personal issues, in a feverish tale of a Michigan Calvinist searching for his daughter in the porn jungle of L.A.. A disturbingly dark modern-day cross between The Searchers and Masque of the Red Death, it was meant to be even darker. Hardcore Blu-ray Twilight Time 1979 /…
Samuel Fuller’s first picture under his Fox contract is a fine Korean War ‘suicide squad’ tale, filmed on a sound stage but looking quite authentic. Richard Basehart leads a fine cast. Lots of cigars get chomped and Gene Evans is actually named Sgt. Rock. Plus an excellent commentary from Trailers from Hell’s new guru Michael…