4v291o

Only in an early 80's Shaw Bros horror film would you start off with a brutal sexual assault scene, then follow a gambling addiction subplot before plunging deep into a Poltergeist ripoff! Calamity vibrates off the screen!

It's inconsistent, of course, and I'd say it's more crazy than actually good, BUT, when it goes off the rails it does so in a manner that really hits that freaky spot. Let's see now, during WWII a woman, her husband and son are assaulted and murdered by Japanese soldiers while trying to hide in a rich family's mansion. The rich dad also gets in on the traumatic opening, stealing all their jewels after also taking part in the assault/murder. Fast-forward to 1984 and now a family is moving into the house with wacky hauntings popping up all leading to their son getting swallowed up in the ghost's dimension. Sound familiar?

Well if that doesn't ring a bell, a priest shows up at one point to perform an exorcism. This is all after a drawn-out sub-plot involving a gambling addict uncle that felt both out-of-place and yet strangely entertaining. I'm a sucker for those fancy mahjongg tiles! It's that bombastic tonal whiplash here that makes it even more magical, since there are heaps of sleaze and yet moments plucked straight out of Hausu with a cartoon ghost whipping the kid around the mansion like a boomerang. Cartoon spirits, zombified ghouls, and plenty more flying things and creepy moments ensue.

It's pretty damn great, if just a bit inconsistent. When it bangs, it bangs hard, so here I am declaring my love for it. Weird ending though.

New Episode Time and it's the return of the So-Cal Splatter King, Stephen Grischuk! Grischuk's back on to talk all about his most recent film, Battle Jacket, a surprisingly grief-heavy but very-wacky nightmare with plenty of gushing blood and crazy creatures. Inspired by his love for metal, we also talk shop about classic albums and bands, and touch on all of the other shenanigans that Box Creep Films has been up to! It's always a fun time with this chipper guy, check it out!

Watch Here

Listen Here

Back to the cabin for more deranged character-driven antics! In Creep 2, we get another victim for Aaron but what's unique about this sequel is that it tries to outdo the originality of the first one. I'm used to seeing more blood, guts, and mayhem, but I don't know if I've ever been bombarded by something more singular?

So Aaron's victim this time is in fact... dun dun dun... A WOMAN! Her name is Sara and she has a failing youtube show called Encounters where she meets different men off Craigslist that seem like pathetic or bizarre rejects of society. This leads her to Aaron, her next subject, but Aaron wants her to make a documentary on him because he is a serial killer. He just lays it all out for her. She's down. Let the games begin!

What I love about these films (and series) is how strong it is even without any sense of spectacle or violence. Most of the terror comes from these unsettling moments that are spun out of Aaron's particular charm and idiosyncratic dialogue. There are slivers of awkward interactions here that I swear I've come across in my own life. Unhinged people who have somehow figured out how to hack into their most controlled demeanour and use it to slowly cook you into their next meal. With this sequel, Aaron's game of catch is even more drawn out and convoluted because Sara is actually one step ahead of him. However, you're never really sure if Aaron knows this or not, and therefore you can't decide if you want Sara to win because she seems pretty damn badass, or Aaron to win because... well.. it is a horror movie after all.

Fantastic stuff, if maybe lacking a slight cathartic oomph during the climax. A worthy sequel to a really unique banger. Can't wait to finish the series!

Unfortunately, this isn't a story about paprika. Nope. This is an ultra-bleak & brutal British horror flick. Surprisingly did not reach my radar until Kelly Gredner of the Taboo Terrors podcast personally recommended it as one of the most affecting extreme horror films she'd ever seen.

And rightly so. This is hella upsetting. Follows a deaf/mute girl whose family is killed during the civil war in The Balkans, then she's taken away and forced to work as a caretaker in a brothel. She isters heroin to all the girls, who are then assaulted by visiting soldiers. Grim grim stuff. Fortunately it's got a third act that inches towards the climax of an action-packed exploitation flick. Well, sorta.

Much like most 2000's era extreme horror flicks, this is steeped in gloom with that oh-so meticulous art design that makes everything look like potato skin. I shouldn't laugh, as pastel wallpaper wouldn't have quite worked for this one. Punishing with its overwrought tone and sentimental strings, it really teeters on a razor's edge between devastation and cheese.

If you can stomach it though, and it works for you, then it's a pretty thorough experience. That final act is riveting, but good lord do you have to witness some truly awful acts before seeing the very harsh comeuppance. It's still not enough, mind you, but that's the nature of an extreme horror film (as opposed to an outright revenge flick, you following?).

Comparisons in other reviews to A Serbian Film are apt, but this isn't nearly as tasteless or bananas (or disturbing?). I'd say it's more in line with Cargo 200, but a thousand times more harrowing and dour. Fun!

Finally scratched Alan Clarke's sex-comedy off my list. It's a bizarre one, innit?

Based on a play written by Andrea Dunbar, who loosely based it off of her own experiences, we follow two teenage girls as they enter into a rambunctious three-way relationship with a married man. Rita & Sue are besties who babysit for Bob and his wife Michelle. When he drives them home, he then gives them a "jump" in the car, which they love. Calamity ensues. Of course. It's a movie after all, and a comedy at that.

Yet it's a bizarre one, especially in 2025. Obviously with them being teenage virgin girls with some of the poofiest and dorky mullets that ever screamed 80's, when womanizer Bob shags them, it feels a bit predatory and exploitative. However, you never get a sense that these two girls are being taken advantage of. They're just as forward and strong in their convictions for some in-and-out, even if they are.... 18?

The rest of the film follows suit with a plot that seems to mix grittier drama with more ridiculous moments. It's got a tone that is as singular as it is confounding. I truly didn't know what to think of this one. Thankfully it is an Alan Clarke t, so the performances all have a momentum and rhythm that propels the rawness of it all. The camera roams all over each scene, managing to pull off something both cinematic and akin to docu-realism.

The music mostly sucks, it's not quite as funny as I'd hoped, and that ending is a real noggin-scratcher in maybe not the best way. Still, it's a strong film and one that must have blown people's eyelids right off back when it debuted. Clarke is a fiery filmmaker and it's awesome he gave this one a go, even if I missed some of that electrified nihilism of his more angry work.

My first non-found-footage horror flick from Kôji Shiraishi and I'll be damned.. I dug the hell out of it! Ultra-grim but packed with a tricky tone, I can honestly say I had no idea where it was taking me. Eyes glued, chills ensued, gnarly vibes explored.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman is a bit of a legend in Japanese folklore and I believe this is one of many films made about her. Shiraishi takes this folkloric mythos and twists it into something deeply disturbing. Kids are disappearing and rumours are circulating about it being the cause of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, but it's only the kids that spread these rumours that actually believe this to be true and know more than the adults do. It's a bit like Candyman and It in that sense, except here we follow two teachers grappling with these disappearances as well as their own connections to child abuse.

Yes, child abuse is a huge element here and I can appreciate why many might turn this off because of that. The tone itself is really provocative, as we're inundated with this very real and very heavy subject matter, meanwhile a ghostly woman with a slit-mouth is wreaking havoc in a very fantastical manner. On one hand, I found it to be like some freakish banned episode of Goosebumps, but with it being J-Horror, the story progresses in far more unpredictable ways.
What really surprised me though was how much it got under my skin. The themes do a great job of dragging you down, so when the horrific violence and ultra-eerie piano score slide in right after, it's incredibly effective. Haven't felt this spooked in awhile.

It's a really unique and bizarre experience, not to mention a very mid-2000s horror flick as well, in all of its edgy and bleak glory - but it's also a Kôji Shiraishi flick and while it's far from perfect, I really really dug it.

Such a profound and impactful doc. We finally get to see the real Paul Reubens for who he was and enjoy the amazing journey he was on with every ambitious step. We also get to feel the pain of his later legal troubles though and how much they overshadowed his legacy.

Divided up into two parts, it almost feels like they should be titled "Inspiration" and "Devastation". Part one is the origin story of Pee Wee, as we watch Paul grow into an eccentric artist, the improv team that would help him develop Pee Wee, and also meet his first love.
Even though I loved the movies and Pee Wee's Playhouse as a kid, I for some reason had it mixed up in my head that the TV show predated the films. This is because the concept of Pee Wee wasn't entirely aimed at kids from its conception. Starting out as a subversive throwback theatre piece that was performed at midnight, it eventually spun off into Pee Wee as a travelling one-man-show and then came Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Part two is where we get to the actual TV show, aimed at children full stop and electrified by Pee Wee's pastel-punk subversiveness and an inclusivity that made every episode pop. It's amazing to see the show become the juggernaut it was, especially the Christmas Special, which was the spectacle to pull Pee Wee out of the ashes from Pee Wee's Big Top, his first major flop. The show eventually ends and that's when Paul Reubens has to slowly figure out how to pull himself apart from this alter-ego. That's when the indecent exposure charge pops up, then almost tens year later he's wrongfully accused of possessing (I don't think I can even write it!) C.P. all because of his friendship with Jeffrey Jones (fuck that guy though, for real).

It's a shame how much this final part of the documentary seems to overshadow all of the hard work and joy of Reuben's earlier career, but that perfectly matches the effect it had on his own life. Now that we can see the lengths that Reubens went to in order to hide his homosexuality, then to see how his engagement with very legal gay pornography led to two extremely distressing run-ins with the law, it's clear that this is an example of the insidious homophobia infecting the mainstream. The fact that he had to plead to an obscenity charge for owning gay porn in 2004? Yikes. I know there are still so many steps to go, but that feels like such an antiquated form of discrimination that I can't believe it was so recent. This man's life and legacy was almost ruined.... almost.

There's also the moral conundrum of knowing that Paul Reubens ed away before the completion of the doc, so he doesn't quite have the complete control he so desired. This is a running theme in both his life and the doc, a theme that is carefully represented in the many more candid moments between Reubens and the director, Matt Wolf. It's as if he's always playing some kind of game, as a way to show that he is the one in control. It took me awhile to get into the rhythm and purpose of these moments, but they illuminated how thorough of an examination this is. As if to say - if Reubens can't control this narrative, then let the narrative be as authentic as it can be.

It's too important of a story to keep hidden away from the world. Paul Reubens was an endlessly inspiring artist and this is the closest we'll ever get to him revealing who he truly was. Fantastic.

I've been falling down the Connor O'Malley rabbit hole. First came Slugs and I just couldn't stop watching it. Sent it to at least 10 different friends. Then came The Mask. Maybe not as funny but more ambitious, revealing the unique power of O'Malley as a filmmaker.

Now we enter Rap World. What might be the closest thing so far to a feature length film by O'Malley and his collaborators. A mumble-core mockumentary of sorts, following a trio of pathetic suburban middle-aged bros as they embark on making an epic rap album all in one night. It is hilarious but it is also at times grounded by this level of pathos and idiosyncrasy tied to the pathetic nature of these three dopes.
Gone is the flash and ADHD wizardry of the editing, leaving us in the chaos and muck of found-footage. Each character is fleshed out and on their own pitiful journey, leading us to some of the most cringe-inducing moments I've ever seen in comedy. These are three pathetic dudes living in a pathetic world though, where everyone around them is equally glued to their disappointing circumstances and poor choices.

It probably doesn't even sound that funny, and maybe that's what keeps this so grounded and engrossing for it's near one hour runtime. O'Malley's style of comedy is this addictive blend of absurdity and topical parody. Always dunking on incels, conspiracy theorists, and disenfranchised dudes, but doing it in a way that isn't just satirical imitations, adding these details and detours that feel otherworldly and electrifying. Like, you're never really sure where it's all going, even if you swear you've seen some form of these characters exist in the real world. Oh, and the rapping. Wow. Conviction 111%.

While I probably got a bit more enjoyment out of his shorter videos, I didn't feel as compelled to review those since they're all like top-tier level sketches you'd discover along the Tim & Eric and I Think You Should Leave highway. Rap World is another beast of its own breed, melding something painfully personal with O'Malley's now expert-level brand of absurdity. Loved it.

My first SamHel flick and I was pleasantly surprised. Supposedly this is a much tamer outing for this underground fetish-gore director. No fetish to be seen here, and instead a precise spattering of gore that hits oh so right. Instead of being blasted with the excess of extreme horror, this is much more in line with the tainted dread of Angst, Schramm, and Douglas Buck's Home.

With sparse voice-over guiding us through this monotone nightmare, we ride enger side to a bleak serial killer exercise. A morgue worker who likes to pick off random women. Right from the jump, he seems to be stuck in this depraved malaise and we watch as he offs a few innocent victims while getting tracked by a crass cop.

Despite the low budget, this was way more slick and effective than I anticipated. Perfect atmosphere, intriguing cinematography, a few really unsettling gore set-pieces (thanks to FX by James Bell), and I'll be damned... a voice-over that actually works!
Sure, it's got its blemishes, with the mixed bag of performances and the sense that SamHel couldn't quite find the right balance of disturbing and edgy as he tried to sculpt out this unrelenting hellscape.

Still, I'm pretty impressed. There's this woozy insular terror to it all, like you're stuck in a serial killer's bad dream. Might have to peep some of this guy's more extreme material, although truthfully this one does feel pretty grim so if it's on the tamer side I might need a blanky and a viewing of A Mighty Wind to follow it up with. Recommended!

The Brothers Philippou are back with an ittedly slick and sophisticated attempt at supernatural-infused misery-porn. Mining similar territory to Talk To Me with possessions and folklorish evil, they're now entering a more dismal playground for undead menace as these characters reckon with grief. Does it work?

Well, I think to put it as simply as possible: if you watched Talk To Me and thought "Hey, my favourite part is all the grief and trauma stuff!" then this is the movie for you. If you, like me, only really dug the high concept "possession-as-drug-experience" stuff in the first half, I'm sorry to tell you but this movie might not be for you.

And why is that? It's extremely depressing. A set-up involving a 17-year-old brother and his younger blind sister who discover their father dead in the shower sends these two sad protagonists on a journey of even more trauma when they get stuck with a foster mom who seems to be harbouring some evil plans. Grief is the #1 theme here, but we've also got a heavy dose of child abuse to wade through. Fortunately, there are demonic undead forces, cannibalism, and plenty of wince-inducing violence.

It's the set-pieces, strong performances, stylish camera-work, and gnarly gore that really make this worth a watch. The final act, once all the obvious reveals are out of the way, gets us into some effective continuous peril mode. Ultimately, it's a decent horror film and one I think will prove compelling to quite a few people.
Just not really me, unfortunately, as I think this whole trauma-based horror trend is getting tired and Talk To Me's main flaw was how it nose-dived from a genius gimmick into heavy-handed broad-strokes misery-porn. The story is kind of fun but hinges too much on the mystery of it all while the film begins to sink deeper and deeper into its unbearably bleak themes.

Why the Phillipou's came from Talk To Me thinking that's what they needed to double-down on is beyond me, but maybe this got it out of their system and they can throw a consistently gnarly and fun banger our way? Let the new trend be fun? Or hell, just write something more original and daring if you're gonna try and deliver a cathartic and soul-shaking trauma-based nightmare.

New episode is up and this time I'm ed by Brandon Lim! Brandon's a Toronto-based film programmer, writer, musician, and designer who basically has all of his creative streams aligned towards cult cinema. He's been programming the monthly Black Belt Cinema Club screenings at the Revue for the past few years, so we get a hefty origin story of how Brandon went from projecting bizarre kung fu obscurities on a parking lot wall during the early days of COVID to eventually hosting these bombastic screenings at one of the best rep cinemas in the city. We also cover a lot of Toronto rep theatre history here too, so I honestly can't recommend this enough if you are a fan of not just movies but going to the movies! Check it out!

Watch Here

Listen Here

My 2nd Jean-Pierre Mocky and this one was even more of a banger! After Litan thoroughly whizzed my braincells into oblivion, I ordered that Radiance boxed set of 3 of Mocky's films, which included this peculiar slasher-adjacent gem that sounded supremely up my alley!

With a spectacular set-up, we have a mob of football hooligans that are pretty much ready to lose their cool over just about anything arriving in a cramped bus to the big game. Then we're introduced to the suave ref and his beautiful journalist girlfriend, complete polar opposites from the soon-to-be antagonists. Well, our trusty ref calls out a foul and costs the yellow team the Euro Cup, so all the nasty hooligans in yellow are out for blood. A refreshing genre exercise ensues!

The back of the box compares this to After Hours and Green Room, which is a very "take my money now" comparison to make. At first a bit misleading, but as it went on I could see that it's got the bonkers one-crazy-night tone of After Hours and the increasingly tense siege plot of Green Room. Despite the very French attitude and the political underpinnings, this also wouldn't be too far off from the likes of Tenement and Siege. Supremely 80's exploitation bangers, albeit Mocky comes with a bit more fortitude and slickness behind the camera. (Also in front of the camera as the smug Inspector)

Ultimately, this is a very fun film. One that might have a bit too breezy and goofy of a vibe for the first hour or so. Brightly-lit night-time scenes and an upbeat synth score makes me feel like I'm chewing on a classic 80's slasher, a la Chopping Mall, but puffing away on a French cig, a la... uh... uh... a Jean-Pierre Mocky film? Haha. That's all to say this is far more accessible fare than art-house lunacy.
Third act turns up the stakes and the mean-spiritedness, embodying the nihilism of the concept a wee bit more (although nowhere near as harsh as The Firm). Loved the ending and continuous peril mode of it all. One of those excitingly singular and yet refreshingly familiar 80's thrillers that I look forward to working in my summer rotation.

Lucky McKee's classic character-driven downward-spiral horror-comedy? Brings back that 2002 gritty-yet-twee frequency that feels downright nostalgic. Good news is it also packs a helluva punch.

Angela Bettis stars as the titular manic pixie nightmare girl. Starting off with a Tim Burton-esque origin story and a glimpse of adolescent dissonance, we're off into May's awkward world as a vet tech who falls in love with horror nerd Jeremy Sisto. She's uncomfortable in her own skin, but her maladjusted naivete hides a darkness just like the veneer of blossoming romance hides a horror movie waiting to unleash itself.

I had only seen this once before, rented from Blockbuster when it was fresh on the shelf and half-expecting something far more gruesome but that's not quite what I got. Fast-forward to 2025 and an Amy Hensarling review that sounded like a spiritual awakening put it back on my radar.
I'm glad it did, as I can see where Lucky McKee's Donnie Darko-era psychological disintegration would lay the groundwork for me to eventually discover two of my favourite films: The Piano Teacher and Dead Ringers.
Haneke's take on a woman's depraved unravelling is easy to connect the dots with May, as both protagonists (?) feel like the villain's in a horror movie that only they can't see, feeling around the sharp edges of a world they don't understand until they get eaten up by their morbid drives.
Dead Ringers is a bit trickier to compare to, but for me it's all in the bizarre symbols and eerie motifs that feel borderline non-sequitur. They resonate deeper than they explain anything. Utterly haunting as they fortify a language of icons all their own, like a sparsely decorated tree with each trinket dripping into a puddle of blood on the floor.

I do wish this had more tonal finesse though. The second half of the film is really where you could feel the ideas click into place, making me realize that the first half is May awkwardly navigating a dramedy before she confidently strutting through a horror flick. If only the tone matched that fantastical switch-up a bit more consistently. The music wasn't nearly as bad as McKee's later flick, The Woman, but I'd still be wary of ever ing this guy the aux cord. Also - Anna Faris did a great job with the role, but had Lucky McKee ever met a lesbian before filming this?

I'd honestly rather praise than tear this one apart. It's unique and powerful when it matters most, surprising me almost 25 years after my sole viewing of it. Another reminder that the '00's weren't as bad of a decade for horror as we might think. Wish that Angela Bettis became more of a household name as she rightfully carries this film and sets in motion all of its most resonant qualities.

My third dunk into Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy and it's the grimmest so far. His washed-out sci-fi venturing further into the dystopian light, depicting an underground world that is in the throes of its final days and letting the bleak atmosphere become its own tale.

Soft, yes that's his name, is our beacon of despair. A man navigating this labyrinthine bunker where the leftovers of society remain after nuclear fallout pushed them all into this so-called "Dome". Good news: salvation is to arrive via The Ark. Bad news: The Dome is supposedly crumbling. It's now up to Soft to try and convince an engineer to fix the failing 'Dome', but that requires a level of faith in something he's never believed in. He just wants out. I don't blame him. What a Bummer.

What's even more of a bummer is just how cynical every moment is in this wilting piece of acidic satire. Dour metaphors present the only moments of catharsis, with Soft bartering hand-made coins for an onion, and the Bible found with all its pages ripped out. It's a bit on the nose, but in a film with this constant searing level of anguish, it can feel a bit like a jolting thorn. There's no relief here otherwise. Does the Ark exist? Is the Dome going to crumble? The concrete floors are littered with dead bodies either way. Does it even matter what you believe?

While I was missing the more fantastical and electrifying elements of War of the Worlds: Next Century and Ga-Ga: Glory to the Heroes, the slick execution and astonishing world-building did help fill that void of zaniness and energy. This is a heavy one though, a great film for sure, but more of a burden to carry and dissect than an experience to wash over you. It's miserable, even if it's kind of beautiful. Fortunately the ending is breathtaking.

Easily my favourite Masahiro Shinoda film so far. Elegant, fantastical and incredibly stirring, this fantasy/folk-horror transcends the limitations of celluloid and lands your gelatinous noggin' in a glistening dream. It also feels like the closest to Akira Kurosawa doing Spookies with a handful of lush sequences worthy of tattooing onto my forehead. I was enthralled.

A story involving two reunited friends and the mysterious woman who locked away one of their hearts starts us off firmly in tense dramatic territory. An evocative mysticism gives it an intoxicating momentum, at times feeling like a giallo is around the corner as the synths sparkled against the moon light (courtesy of THEE Isao Tomita!) and the slow zooms pull you in deeper. Then the creatures started showing up and it became hard to discern whether you're watching the most dialogue-heavy creature-feature or a kabuki extravaganza that can barely be contained by the screen.

The plot is very Japanese, leaning so hard into the folklore and rules of this supernatural world involving bells, sacrifices, and apocalyptic doom. On this viewing I just hooked my senses onto the aesthetic whirlwind of it all, knowing future viewings is where I'll squeeze more out of the narrative layers.
Speaking of which, the histrionic bromance and the casting of Tamasaburo Bando as the dragon princess added a potential queer element to the film that I'll also want to further investigate.

I was completely steamrolled by Demon Pond. I could see it as a huge influence on Bertrand Mandico or Jim Henson, epic world-building and creatures becoming more than just an object of fear. Shinoda's use of whimsy as a way to whisk you into deeper emotions unleashes an unrelenting level of magic. Like getting hypnotized by a beautiful dream.

Like Jean Rollin on fast-forward, Alaine Robbe-Grillet making an action/comedy, or The Wicker Man stuffed with slapstick gags, ambiguous electricity kills, and the narrative incoherency of an unsolvable Rubiks Cube.

My first Jean-Pierre Mocky and absolutely won't be my last. Please do not ask me what the plot is, I loved this experience but I'd like to leave it as such. Well-shot with a sturdy atmosphere, parodic Giallo-esque kills, a whimsical score, and the aforementioned electricity spirits doing their thing to remind you that this is one singular and disorientating genre experience. I honestly couldn't tell you if this is 'challenging' or just some stroke of magic from a director having a manic episode. Maybe it's way more sophisticated than that. Maybe it's not. I was riveted and confused. It is unrelenting. Loved it.

Would call it a 'banger' but I'm still trying to figure out what happened. Maybe next time I'll give it 4 stars but I'm gonna verse myself in the Mocky universe before I do such a thing.

Goddamn. This is one bombastic feast. Downright Spielberg-ian in its array of imaginative spectacles, but with a morbid nihilism that feels like snorting down on Pixie Stix full of sugar and granulated imagery from Rotten.com. What am I even saying? Am I still on the ride that is Final Destination: Bloodline?

Full disclosure: Prior to this gore-drenched fireworks display, I had only seen the first film of this long-running franchise. What can I say? It left me underwhelmed. Not a Devon Sawa fan and I like a tangible killer(s) (same reason I couldn't click with Cabin Fever). So I never really got acquainted with the sequels and maybe that's why this one blasted my senses so hard my hands got sticky. Or maybe it's just an absolutely entertaining banger?

The formula has been established: a group of characters dodge death and then have to continuously flee a now villainous world where even the most inane objects could lead to a spike right through their face. Final girl Stefani is haunted by nightmares of her grandmother Iris's vicious death, leading her to seek out answers from this estranged relative. This sparks a series of deaths that are all connected to her bloodline and now she and her family are in continuous peril mode, looking for a solution and trying to avoid all types of doors, magnets, and moving vehicles. Giddy up!

Okay, the plot here is kinda dumb BUT once it finds the right groove with every character believing the ridiculous lore, the film manages to dole out continuous entertainment in both its dramatic and depraved modes. Dark gags, high-stakes schlock, and fantastic gore sequences all line up like an adrenalized conveyor belt with sparks flying out of it. Also, was lovely seeing Tony Todd in his final role where every word about mortality fell extra heavy in a fan-service meta way that reminded me of why I love this genre so much.

Huge shout out goes to THEE Anthony Leroy who gave these sneak preview tickets to my wife and I as he couldn't make it to Toronto for the screening. Seeing it in a packed Imax theatre probably sanded off some of the blemishes here. When is a boisterous crowd cheering at murdered kids or clapping after faces are ripped off ever the sign of a bad time though? Hell yes. Might not be the best movie of the year, but it certainly will be up there as one of the best times I've had at the theatres in 2025.

New episode alert and this time I'm ed Jerry McGlothlin! Jerry's on to chat with me about a director I've recently become obsessed with - Shinji Sōmai - a Japanese master of meditative and transgressive coming-of-age films. Starting off with the recently rediscovered Typhoon Club, I needed more more more, and it was Jerry's review that pulled me into its orbit. We pick apart all of his themes and provocations, as he at times went very close to crossing the line, but always manages to create an evocative and challenging work of art. Check it out!

Watch Here

Listen Here

Read my article on Typhoon Club for Split Tooth media here

Ooh, joy. A Shudder Original that knocks it out of the park. We love to see it!

It being The Ugly Stepsister - a satirical retelling of Cinderella that subverts just about every plot-point for something much more mean-spirited and gruesome. Instead of following Cinderella around, or Agnes as she's referred to here, we get the nightmarish awakening of her ugly step-sister Elvira.
After Elvira's mother, Rebekka, weds Agnes's father, Otto, the step-father kicks the bucket and leaves them all in debt and desperate for money. Prins Julian is throwing a ball to invite all the virgins from the land so he can select his future wife, so it's now up to Elvira to try and win his affection. Too bad she's "ugly" (I say that with quotes because she really isn't). A punishing nose job, a tapeworm and an evil drive that will have her stop at nothing to be the lucky virgin send this tale into a zone of grim consequences and putrid spectacles. It's a horror movie after all. Hell yeah.

Super impressed with this one. At first I was ready to write this off as another synth-drenched red-lit homage, but eventually even those stereotypical elements were used in refreshing ways to enhance this vicious satire. Between the phenomenal committed performances, the stomach-churning practical FX, and the inspired arcs of the main characters, this was incredibly rewarding.
The Substance comparisons are apt. Yet again, we're met with an angry dissection of society's impossible beauty standards, tied to the unrelenting hold of the patriarchy. Every aspect of the critique gives this both its humour and its bite, leaving you to laugh and wince in equal measure, while also chewing away at its deeper core.

It's also got whiffs of Donkey Skin, The Love Witch, and Knife & Heart, with its costumes, dream sequences, set design, and tone. All good things, of course, and I think it still manages to wiggle away into its own skin while subtly dropping sneaky references along the way (La Bete in that barn-set sex-scene?). Wild movie, great time. I declare thee a BANGER.

So the execution of Them is pretty great. Co-directed by David Moreau (along with Xavier Palud), who would go on to do last year's MadS, this New French Extremity slasher has all the right motifs and elements to propel you right through its hard-edged terror. It's just a shame then that there's something missing to really solidify the whole experience.

Starting right off the bat with an opening scene that feels plucked from the Slasher Kingdom bible, a woman and her daughter crash their car during a rainstorm as they're driving through a rural part of Romania. The mother vanishes, the daughter is strangled after a scene taken straight out of Scream inside of the car. The vibe was set just right.
Then we get introduced to the couple that this film will actually be focusing on. A bit of character development, a daytime glimpse at the house they'll be running around in, and then they begin to unwind as night falls. Them ensues.

I'm sure you've heard the term "Meat and Potatoes", but this is more like a skinny cigarette. Once the hooded figures show up to start wreaking havoc, we're fully immersed in that midnight-tinted peril mode. It's a mode I relish my time in, but it also needs to come with some bread around it to feel like you're getting a real meal. (Why am I dropping so many food references?) There's verrrrrry little in the way of plotting here and while I can usually ride that out, instead it robs you of fully enjoying the legitimately terrifying moments towards the end. We do get a bit of a nice twist once the killers are revealed, but it has the effect of a short film reveal rather than a full feature conclusion that lands like an anvil on your skull.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to enjoy here, but it needed way more plot and a few more characters to get killed off to feel like anything more than a powerhouse demo for these directors. I can just imagine a studio watching this and saying "Goddamn, let's give these guys a banger script and see what they can really do!" because here they're making something exciting out of very little.

P.S. Also - this is a New French Extremity film? Hmmmm. There's honestly nothing disturbing about it, compared to the likes of Haute Tension, Martyrs, or any of the other vicious French horror flicks that came out around this time. If anything, the designation seems to come from how there is zero camp or humour to be found in the execution. Screams feel upsetting, violence is blunt, and there's a gritty bleakness to it all, but if you're expecting to be disturbed you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting a sharp 76 minute slasher exercise, then you'll be satiated.

Ohhhhhh Mannnnnnn! This one really did my head in. A neat heap of cerebral trash coated in the edgy pondering on man's deepest sins. I hate the world a little bit more now. Thanks, movie!

That movie is called Black Eyed Susan and it's not about a pretty yellow flower. Nope. This is like Her if it was released by Unearthed Films, a sleazy sinister ride through hell about an AI sex doll named Susan.
We ride it out with Derek, a recently separated and penniless man living in his car that needs to make money fast. After his friend Alan has died, their mutual friend Gil offers him Alan's old job. What's the position? Testing out an AI-enhanced sex doll that's designed specifically to take physical abuse. Derek is hesitant but Susan's manufactured charms take hold of him and they end up in a cottage in Upstate NY together. A provocative exploration-via-exploitation ensues.

The execution is a bit lacking here. Stiff cinematography. Very little atmosphere. A sentimental score plucked from a library (EDIT: Or made by Fabio Frizzi? WTF?). Spotty dialogue too, making it a challenge for the actors to do a lot of heavy lifting. What saves this film? It's actually extremely compelling. I felt properly glued to this one, trying to put my finger on whether it was offensive or poignant, realizing that I was watching something legitimately original (even if Ex Smackina popped in my head as a joke about 15 minutes in).

The twist though. Damn. What a brutal gut punch. I did not see it coming at all. I don't know how to feel about it, even if it got me keeling over and groaning from the sheer bleakness of it. I tipped my hat but also felt nauseous.
I think the film does struggle a bit with its own morality, even if it's also a provocative dissection of morality. It was never quite clear if Susan was designed for someone with a kink that allows them to enact violence towards their partner, or if it was meant for someone who can't control the way they physically abuse their partner. I'd like to think there's a big difference - one is controlled and consensual and stuck within parameters, the other is a massive problem that I don't believe can be erased by just allowing the ab a device that lets them exercise those urges of violence.

Still, interesting questions all the same. Interesting film. Maybe needed the expert touch of a Verhoeven or Cronenberg, but I am glad Scooter McCrae made this movie at all. Even if I'm still not sure how to rate it or process it, it's been lingering with me and making me want to talk about it. It's far more powerful than you'd think.

Quite possibly my first foray into V-Cinema - the Japanese equivalent of Direct-to-Video - this moody li'l thriller conjures up some unique thrills but I'd be lying if I said that it belonged on the big screen instead of a TV.

A fantastic set-up involves a woman who is arrested for embezzling money after her boyfriend tricks her into it at the bank she works at. Fast-forward a few years and she's now a cynical cab driver, smoking cigarettes, dodging leering men, and barely pulling enough fares to keep her boss happy. Next up on her disappointing block of life, she's being stalked by a psychopath in a Land Rover SUV. A moody li'l thriller ensues.

Loved some of the slasher-esque motifs here, with all the hammer attacks, menacing pranks, and that garish burn on the killer's hand. There are a handful of great action scenes, car chases, and the constant harassment and sexism creates quite the grimy vibe.
However, the film didn't sustain a satisfying enough momentum for me. There's a ton of dialogue-heavy filler-scenes that lacked a certain bite, which would've worked better with a heavier dose of atmosphere a la evocative score, stylized cinematography, etc. Definitely slick, but not quite the goosebump inducing slow-burn I was hoping for. I often found myself asking "why?", like what was with that little boy subplot? Added nothing, went nowhere. Or maybe I was missing something?

I definitely didn't hate it and think it's worth a viewing if you're interested, but I think something like Door nails the Japanese slow-burn atmosphere-heavy thriller category way harder.

The kinda damp and gloomy yet electrifying comedy I didn't know I needed in my life? And is the dampness from all that English rain, or from stepping in puddles of red wine?

Loosely based on his own life, Bruce Robinson's Withnail & I has a wicked sense of tone and tempo, letting Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann feel continuously full of life and on their last aching whim. These two broke and underworked actors fall prey to their alcoholism and paranoia then end up on an "accidental vacation" in the countryside, staying at Grant's gay uncle's place without a clue how they'll get on there. It would be too easy to say "Calamity Ensues" here, as the film has this unique ability to feel both like a twisted journey and as if the plane never quite left the runway.

The wheels spinning is part of the magic here, as phenomenal dialogue and performances make the whole despairing tale feel subtly whimsical and delirious. Sorta like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas but stuck in a leaky flat with only a few bottles of wine and a barely plucked chicken to cook for dinner. Do I detect an interesting queer subtext as well? Maybe a precursor to My Own Private Idaho, as these two men navigate why they're so spiritually clung together. However it's hard to put your finger on it with Richard Griffiths as the gay uncle showing up to creep on McGann like it's some antiquated pervy farce.

Hilarious, poignant, and will both repel you from drinking alcohol while also making you kinda crave a pint, a glass of sherry, and a tall shot of whiskey or two. Cool flick!

The bravery of Louis Theroux is off-the-charts. Putting himself in danger, staring down the IDF, and creating this very necessary documentary to showcase the illegal settlers who have come from all over the world to enforce an ethno-state in Palestine. However, when he's not talking to these settlers, he's also talking to the Palestinian people that live in fear of them.

We've all seen the countless images of devastated hospitals, babies pulled out of rubble, tents set on fire, and children running after trucks of drinking water. Here Louis shows what life is like even when the genocide is not literally destroying their lives. The security checkpoints, the constant harassment from soldiers, the laser sights directed right into their homes.
Louis at one point says, "Can we call the police?" To which the Palestinian activist says, "Who? It's all one regime."
It's been hell for these people and it's only gotten worse. Devastating, infuriating, and you're still only getting a glimpse.

It's shocking to see how the settlers talk about their supposed "Arab enemies", but it's seeing what the Palestinians have dealt with for decades now that really affected me. We're still only getting a glimpse.

Finally the Welsh maniac, Gareth Evans, who brought us The Raid movies has jumped back in the director's chair for another high octane action flick! That's reason enough to get excited and so long as there is plenty of that kinetic ultra-violence on fast-forward, I mean, that's at least 3 stars. Right?

Okay, well, it's not quite as coherent or engaging as those Indonesian classics, but what we do get is a gloomy melange of crime drama as Tom Hardy tries to navigate the kidnapping of Forest Whitaker's son, who was involved in a heist and is also being mistakenly tied to the murder of a triad. Now the triad's mother is after the son of Forest Whitaker, add in some police corruption, a perpetually dingy night-time atmosphere, oh and set it during Christmas for some holiday flair!

It's just convoluted enough to feel like you're not getting an overly simplistic story, but unfortunately between the script and a good chunk of the acting, it's a bit of a dud. Tom Hardy does the heavy lifting of the gods to get us through to the finish line but to be honest, after the 2nd or 3rd action set-piece... you kinda stop noticing the disappointing elements of the film.
So - while it's far from perfect and nowhere near as good as the aforementioned Raid films, it bangs just enough that I enjoyed it quite a bit and would watch again. Just adjust your expectations.

Finally scratched this one off the list. Sam Fuller's horror/drama about a racist dog. Kinda writes itself, no?

Well, okay, credit where credit is due. Fuller's story feels almost like an allegory, using horror's extremities and sinister absurdity to draw out one powerful metaphor. When a young actress accidentally hits a white German Shepherd in her car, she finds herself with a new pet... who just so happens to be a murderous racist. Once she discovers this, she finds a black trainer who is determined to fix this "white dog" - an attack dog trained to kill only black people. A surprisingly heavy experience ensues.

While on one hand, it feels a bit like a TV movie with its heavy-handed sentimentality and overly direct storytelling, once you fall into its fluff-free groove you can dig into more of its depth and harrowing sadness. At the point when the dog breaks free and manages to kill a black man inside a church, the film takes a tragic and earned turn, like the tone finally settled and you're finally realizing what is at stake here and why the trainer is so devoted to turning this 'white dog' into a safe loving creature.

It came up on my recent podcast episode with Anthony Leroy which pushed me to finally watch this. Not sure which I prefer: White Dog or White God. I'm impressed by Fuller's White Dog but not sure it's toppled over by the gnarly grandeur of White God (which if you haven't seen could best be described as Gaspar Noé doing a revenge-laced take on Homeward Bound - it rules). Probably should get around to watching more Sam Fuller - this was my first!

For those who have seen both White God and White Dog - which do you prefer?

New episode alert and this one has been a long time coming! My buddy ol' pal Anthony "Girth Brooks" Leroy has finally made his way onto the podcast for us to talk about his fantastic string of short films he's been poppin' out like a machine gun over the past few years. That's right, we're digging into the world of Tad Nightingale, as well as his most recent banger BUM and everything that came before it. Turns out homeslice is also cookin' up a zillion other projects, so we got to talking about all of that fine stuff too, like how do you direct a dog in a low budget SOV sci-fi/horror flick? Who knows, but I tell you what - don't get any ideas from Bingo!

Expect lots of laughs but lots of inspirational info because I truly feel like Sir Leroy is a massively talented filmmaker on his way up up up.

Watch Here

Listen Here

Not exactly Dark Crystal. Evan Marlowe's Abruptio is legitimately messed up. Feels like a real ion project, self-indulgent and singular in both good and bad ways. Puppetry used to unravel a mysterious horror/comedy/satire/neo-noir/mindfuck. Why not?

Les Hackel is the protagonist here, a sad-sack middle-aged struggling alcoholic who still lives with his parents. After a hangout with his buddy Dan, they both discover they've had a bomb implanted in their neck and they're now being sent text messages informing them to do very awful things or said bomb will go off. That's the set up, but it turns into quite the spiralling post-apocalyptic conundrum. Edgy, confusing, surreal, grim. A real dome-scratcher.

Fortunately, it's the execution that makes this one worthwhile checking out and recommending. It's not on par with Jim Henson level of magic, but the use of puppetry manages to give the whole story an otherworldly feel while also never coming off stilted or stalled from its limitations.
I was fully on board during the first half, as it managed to balance a nice level of menace and absurdity, like this intriguing nightmare. The tone continued to shift and contort though, somewhat losing steam once his perils evolved from gruesome violence to moments plucked out of a goofy neo-noir. It's the constant shifting of tone and of purpose (or lack thereof) that made the film a bit of a disappointing ride, as the upsetting violence and gore became more edgelord fare and the lack of logic behind anything tapped any stakes there was. Don't even get me started with that ending! Arg!

I guess that was the thing with Abruptio. It was fun in its spectacle and unpredictability, but the further it went on, the less it felt like there were any stakes or whether I cared who died.
It's unique though, puppetry and all. Didn't entirely work for me but I'd still recommend a viewing if you're down for something fantastically weird.

Finally dipped back into Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy with this last entry, another head-caving bleak sci-fi offering that feels like a slapstick adventure got pissed all over by a litre of gasoline. Ultra existential frown-off with plenty of gags. Just like real life? Huh.

Satire is the name of the game and in a very Kafka-esque set-up, we watch as a man (prisoner?) named Scope gets shipped off to a planet called Australia 458 where it's perpetually winter at night. Scope is now a "hero" on this planet and urged by everyone to indulge in the sex workers, eat hot dogs with fingers instead of sausages, and try to execute the most spectacular crime imaginable. It's all so they can eventually "punish" him by watching him become impaled by a giant pole on live TV. Are you following this?

Oof. What a bizarre and singular excursion of unhinged vibes. It sounds hella zany, but the pacing, tone, and lack of music gives it this restraint that might make it feel even more like a bad dream that leaves a rancid taste in your mouth (too much blood from the gums?). Everything here is crooked, broken, or bureaucratically fucked. You'd expect Scope to then match the audience's instincts, but he does not do that. Occasionally benevolent, but he spends most of the film trying to find this underaged prostitute named Once. It doesn't make for an easy allegory and I think that's entirely the point.

Szulkin is this peculiar world-builder and his idea of dystopia is completely run-down, grey-scale, frigid, and probably frighteningly accurate if all this were ever true. Maybe he's figured it all out because he's telegraphing his own frustrations into a stream of whimsical cynicism. His angst is palpable throughout Scope's bumbling nightmare and it's the absurd sci-fi aestheticism that grounds us to it all. Let's not forget, folks. This is entertainment. Getting the heebie-jeebies just realizing it.

Speaking of B.U.S.T.E.D. - I'm talking about my brain! That's right. This film is a certified brain-melter, it'll bust your little noids till they shrivel up like raisins. Or something. Man. What even is this?

Kasper Meltedhair's organic odyssey, feels like a DIY freegan session in a dumpster full of nightmare fuel. Like the blooper reel from Liquid Sky, reconstructed into a home-video that got so bunged up the tracking started forging its own narrative. Makes Trash Humpers look like My Dinner with Andre and feels like yet another disciple of the Ryan Trecartin Cinematic Universe (while Terry Chiu's Open Doom Crescendo is the yin to this yang, not quite two peas in a pod and definitely not a good idea to double bill with).

Meltedhair seems to be the 'protagonist' here, a polka-dotted gargoyle girl who steals babies and turns them into glass. Is this an adventure? Is this a hang-out movie? We seem to trip through various locations like a kaleidoscope falling down a staircase, with Meltedhair's fantastic herky-jerky noise score providing a cohesive atmosphere. Maybe that's what makes this so awe-inspiring, is how cohesive it is yet so incoherent and in such a fascinating way. I'm still processing what I watched and I absolutely adored it.

P.S. Was that a Joan Didion reference?

According to Google, the genre of this film is "Drama/Drama" and that feels incredibly misleading but also so intriguingly mysterious, as if whoever was in charge of that designation was just as lost as Udo Kier in the fog of sadomasochism.

There is certainly a cruel woman at the core of this film, and quite a lot of seduction, but that cruelty is hard to put your finger on. Wanda runs this ethereal House of Torture, the kind of place where each room holds a vignette of desperation and desire. It's not quite Hellraiser levels of depravity, as there's a coldness that keeps the viewer at a distance both emotionally and narratively.

Wanda has many slaves, many lovers, but the important ones are Gregor, the aforementioned Udo Kier, and Justine, a dedicated American. They both pine for Wanda and get glimpses of her affection and cruelty, but where disengagement turns to pleasure via restraint or if they're just plain sad and lonely becomes a whole other mind-fuck.

It's a layered and curious experience, one that's shot through crooked angels and takes places in sets that look like Stephen Sayadian forgot to take his anti-depressants. Gloomy but surreal, dream-like but boxed in, and full of these enchanting but obtuse sequences.
It's a bit demanding, with the lack of music and monotonous feel, but it's truly singular and bizarre, leaving my brain saddled with so many questions and uncomfortable visions.

It's kind of crazy to think this along the same lines of Spiceworld and A Hard Day's Night, but that's what makes this musical origin story even crazier when you ride out the wave of their politically charged antics. Striking a perfect grey-scale tone with the engaging in dangerous behaviour between pushing forth their revolutionary message, Kneecap is a wild ride, warts and all.

Charting the birth and slow rise of a Belfast-based hip hop trio, we meet the two juvenile MC's and their masked DJ as they overcome the odds and bash against the complex burdens living in Ireland. Majority of the film, the characters speak in Irish, as it comes to define a central stance of this oppressed generation: hanging on to their culture as Britain threatens to colonize it out of existence. It's relevant messaging now, as Kneecap were shown waving the Palestinian flag at Coachella just recently, and it's an agenda that I am totally in of so it pushes me to forgive the aforementioned "warts and all".

Which might be hypocritical of me to say, but the film is a wee bit too didactic for my tastes. It ends up feeling either corny or confusing, as the blunt political content struggles to maintain the manic electricity of everything else in the movie. There are a handful of plot points that needed a bit more finessing, where a bit of exposition is expected to do the heavy lifting and in turn lacks the gravitas needed for such a politically charged film.

Outside of the hiccups though, it is an often electrifying and gritty film. I'm a sucker for anything compared to Trainspotting, Human Traffic, Beats, or La Haine. It's even got a bit of that "rapper as underdog athlete" story, a la Patti Cakes, that makes for some satisfying entertainment for me. They do a good job of making the music sound better and better as the film goes (even if I'm in no rush to listen to the band). Still fantastic time and worth overlooking some of the flaws. Highly recommended.

Now THIS is a V.I.B.E. The type of flick that feels like it was found in the bottom of a dumpster full of toxic waste, with a reel that's disintegrating and changing colours at the same time. Total DIY excess strained through the limitations of trying to be another straight-up B-horror banger. This is far from standard, shivering each time it reveals its true identity.

Kinda like if Roberta Findlay remade Tetsuo: The Iron Man, this Eraserhead-indebted piece of sci-fi/body-horror is at its most potent when it's oscillating its most instinctual vision. Connie Sproutz is a sinister woman who checks into an even more sinister hotel for a permanent stay, integrating herself with the other weirdos and sex workers that are shacked up there. There's a Colonel Sanders-esque scientist searching for Connie, as she hides a protruding parasite on her face and might have consumed a body or two using her mysterious powers. The characters intertwine, the search continues, but most importantly - the world seeps further outwards into an enigmatic blob.

Takes a few minutes to lock into its groove, but once the synth presets move from corny horns to Lynch-ian ambient drones, the atmosphere becomes one of the leads in this vaporous nightmare. Whenever the plot tries to move forward, the film slightly trips over itself, teetering too far into self-aware territory, but its saving grace is the textural cloud that swallows you whole if you let it. Henenlotter-esque goop accumulates cosmic condensation as we move through hallucinogenic motifs. The FX, the set design, and the overall mystique are just so damn effective and infectious, like a parasite is laying eggs in the most nostalgic part of your psyche.

The low budget hiccups and campy theatrics might push some away from this one, but if you're down to absorb it all as part of its genre-heavy tapestry, then this is like an ethereal blanket that'll resonate deep into your neon bones.

Refreshingly unique but takes an act or two to settle into its groove, Little Murders is a bawdy approach to a rom-com that's slo-mo slingshot through hell, propelled by its nihilistic agenda.

Elliot Gould and Marcia Rodd are a new couple, practically running through each stage of their blossoming love. Meeting the family, eloping, and then adjusting to that marital bliss. It's the atmosphere that's unhinged though, with Gould as brutally apathetic and Rodd as anxiously eager for normalcy. The world around them is violent, chaotic, and constantly imploding on itself. Slapstick dystopia?

One man's "Surreal Satire" is another man's "Screwball Comedy without Music" is kinda how this plays out. At first. Lots of gags, lots of absurdity, and it's all edited in a snappy and comical way. That lack of music was really nagging at me though, rendering this all so dry that I was scratching my head more than chuckling. What is this movie?

Then it happened. A moment that revealed the theatrical play origins of this script, dropping a glistening tonal shift that led to one of the most pivotal moments you did not expect. A cinematic epiphany that delivers the purest spectacle through the most tragic context. Suddenly the entire execution of the film came into alignment, like all the times I was yawning earlier there was something sinister forging underneath the wooden veneer.

The third act followed suit, delivering a continuously satirical and menacing conclusion that tied the whole film together. One of those watches that delivers... eventually but one that is consistently singular, feeling like proto-Beau is Afraid, or something that David O. Russell would be huffing out of a paper bag in his early directing years. I also dug Elliott Gould for once. Cool movie.

Pain Is... a documentary about Pain by Stephen Dwoskin. A loose travelogue through various applications and experiences of pain. The chronic, the acute, the dominatrix, the physically ill, the weightlifter, the drummer, the doctor, etc, etc. Each brief snippet flies in without any context, except for the context of the entire documentary being about pain.

But is that enough? It's hard to say, as I struggled to hook onto the thesis or direction of this dry exploration. It tries to eschew the sensationalism of a mondo film, but occasionally goes almost as far in what it shows you: visceral acts of pain, old footage of dead bodies, imagery that is going to shock just about anyone. However, it often doesn't shock, as the very loud hum of just how dry this is somehow washes out the feeling you'd expect to occur. Is it tasteless? Is it aimless? There's an honesty in Dwoskin's narration, especially towards the end, as he faces down just how impossible it is to summarize what pain is. I think it's because he doesn't quite know what to ask.

So many of these interview subjects, reduced to only one or two brief vignettes, seem to have a story in them that would turn their painful anecdotes into far more fascinating glimpses into their reality. We're not given that, we're given only a highlight that exposes something else... but what is that? Does Dwoskin even know? Is it substantial enough to ask "What is pain?" and expect a compelling study to unfold?

I can't say I enjoyed this one too much, but good news is that I watched it in preparation for an episode I'm recording with two intelligent cinephiles that I'm sure will flip my impression. So, I'm looking forward to that. Until then, no rating.

Cory Yuen's No Retreat, No Surrender is a coming-of-age teen-romp disguised as an action movie, and ya know what? I kinda loved it.

After Jason's karate instructor dad gets roughed up by the mob, his family moves from LA to Seattle to start fresh but trouble seems to follow them wherever they go. Despite Jason making friends with RJ, the coolest breakdancer and best bud anyone could ask for, he's brutally bullied by the dickheads at the local dojo and his father forbids him from practicing karate in the garage. So off he goes to an abandoned house where he's taught by the ghost of Bruce Lee how to be a master martial artist. Not for revenge, Sensai Lee says, but I mean... we need a banger climax, so fighting does happen. What's that title again?

Pacifism is attempted in this film, but damn those spin-kicks are far more enthralling! Wow, what a ride. Love these distorted portrayals of Americana with their unreality sensibilities. Cory Yuen was aiming for Karate Kid wholesomeness but landed somwhere far more wacky and forced. I happily eat this up, as it scores some charming nostalgia points while also coming off certifiably unhinged. Not quite Miami Connection levels of WTF-am-I-watching, but maybe all the better for it?

Paced so perfectly with one too many montages. The script feels like it was written by 14 year old boys, but damn can they write! Ultimately it's the fantastic fight scenes that push this over the finish line. Don't go in expecting wall-to-wall fisticuffs and JCVD is really only in the book-ending portions of the film (totally fine by me!), but if you're down for a light-hearted-yet-bonkers teen comedy/drama with splashes of violence, hook it to your veins. Not a masterpiece but if this shows up on blu-ray I'll be reserving a copy for an achingly breezy Sunday afternoon.

New episode alert! This time I'm ed by Jeroen Bijil, the host of Horrible Reviews, a fascinating youtube channel that covers a wide array of genres but mainly sticks to disturbing films. Despite Jeroen gaining so many fans for covering the most vile and horrific films ever made, his tastes are far more varied and sophisticated. So, with that in mind, we had a fantastic discussion covering all sorts of topics but really dissecting what's under the hood of these disturbing movies. In preparation for this episode, he suggested I watch The Coffee Table, Melancholie Der Engel, and Larva Mental, and those 3 ended up being perfect specimens to put under a microscope and see the entire spectrum of disturbing movies.

I loved chatting with this guy, his enthusiasm and perspective is so refreshing. Check it out!

Watch Here

Listen Here

Kung Fu Rascals is a peculiar li'l oddity. A highly ambitious low budget debut by Steve Wang, who would go on to co-direct The Guyver films and has a penchant for fantastic practical effects. So what unfolds for these Rascals looks a helluva lot more fantastical than what you'd expect from a film that looks like it was shot with a potato.

Once you squint through the low-lit lo-fi haze of the 8mm footage, there's a bonkers slap-stick kung-fu spoof that feels equal parts Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, an episode of Power Rangers, and Bad Taste minus the gore. The three titular rascals steal a sacred map that will take them to gold (or was it magic power? All of the above?). Hot on their tail is the menacing sheriff and his goofball henchmen, as well as a frog looking dude following the orders of his Lord Zedd-esque master. Tons of fighting ensues, in between visual gags, one-liners and a few dazzling spectacles of creatures duking it out. 

This is a comedy first, and as a comedy, it's a banger. Lots of hilarious moments both intentional and not, as it seems like some of the jokes aged into a bizarre rare cheese that you can only buy in a catacomb in the south of . Yum. The action is also a lot of fun, as are those aforementioned effects. If you are allergic to fun, avoid this film at all costs.

It was a bizarre sight to see in the theatres, as it was easily the worst quality movie I've ever seen on the big screen. I saw the SOV gem, Boardinghouse, a couple months back and that felt like it was shimmering with clarity in comparison. I'm really curious as to why that is and it maybe would be the one reason why I can't imagine there's a lot of replay value with this one. 

Nah. What am I saying. I'm totally picking up the blu-ray. I started wearing glasses for a reason. And that is to watch Kung Fu Rascals.

I don't know what to tell you. My mother-in-law picked it. 🤷🏼‍♂️

This Indonesian ripper is a bonkers mix of fantasy, action, and horror, with each genre touched upon like a mystical smoke pooling around the high-wire spectacle. Just follow into that cave of pink fog and become entranced.

Based on very similar folklore to that of Lady Terminator, we have an evil queen who must be satisfied by her male lovers. She sends one of her ruthless henchmen to collect another man from a nearby village, but he's just been wed and the whole community will not let him be plucked away for this evil queen's lust. Fortunately, a warrior trained in the same martial arts as the henchman shows up to lend a hand and an adventure of pure calamity ensues.

Okay, first off, gotta love an old-school genre flick that has an Evil Queen exploiting men, not to mention the new bride going after her kidnapped husband and kicking so much ass along the way! Hell yeah! On top of that, it's Indonesian, so there's a ton of WTFery here, with people flying, body parts separating then reattaching themselves, crocodile people, a cyclops, and lots of sleazy antics with the Evil Queen and her many barely-clothed servants.

It's an almost banger though, and one I suspect a packed theatre or a couch full of buds and a brew in hand would've made me fall in love with that much more. The pacing does get sluggish at times, even if the ominous synth score helped to give it a sinister tone. There is a ton of action in this, but truthfully the fight scenes are a mixed bag. Sometimes full of gore and magic, other times as sluggish as the overall pacing and had me a bit zoned out. I couldn't help but wish for a bit more Shaw Bros-level execution. After recently discovering Holy Flame of the Martial World, everything in this bizarre niche subgenre pales in comparison.

Aside from those discrepancies though, this is 100% my bullshit. Would watch again and plan to do so with the aforementioned crowded/hyped vibes necessary to elevate this one.

My 3rd Koji Shiraishi and while it was nothing earth-shattering, it definitely scratched an itch for some supernatural-soaked found-footage mayhem!

3 actresses are hired for a new project that requires them to go to a haunted house and investigate what's been happening to a single mother and her daughter. Fortunately they have a "spiritual priest" who will perform an exorcism, but this particular spirit proves to be much more of a tricky beast. One exorcism turns into another exorcism and by the end of it, they need to enlist the help of a very eccentric psychic. A nightmare ensues. 

As I said before, this scratched an itch. There's quite a lot of terrible CGI and most of these J-horror tropes involving uncanny ghosts never did anything for me in the fear department BUT just because a horror film doesn't scare me, doesn't mean I'm having a bad time. I think we've established that, as that's one of the many beauties of the genre. So while the goosebumps remained low, the enjoyment stayed high, especially in the third act when a lot more of the comedy and idiosyncrasies were in the foreground. It almost started to feel like some adventure within a small house, as the plot grew more intricate and elaborate, revealing an evil that goes beyond just a simple haunting. 

I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume this is a mid-tier Shiraishi film, since I've only seen 2 prior to this. Noroi: The Curse, is of course, a banger and pretty damn terrifying, while A Record of Sweet Murder is much more original and mean-spirited than your usual found-footage horror flick. Cult feels lower in quality next to those two, but I still really enjoyed it. Perfectly paced, revealing something exciting on a consistent basis, with the aforementioned laughs also adding a unique touch. Would recommend if you're in the mood for a J-horror found-footage flick. 

My 2nd time watching what arguably might be Michael Mann's opus and I was fortunate enough to view it on the big screen with an original 35mm print. The print was so gritty and roughed-up, I felt transported back to a drive-in in the 90's, where it seemed like every film was both ancient and futuristic to my innocent eyes.

Heat is a decadent experience. A very long film that justifies its run time with an ensemble cast of intertwining characters and rollicking drama. Al Pacino and Robert Deniro operate on two different sides of the same coin. Relationships are secondary to their drives and this leads to the "thesis" of the film.

Is this Michael Mann's Barry Lyndon? Would it predict an influx of brooding and bloated hyper-masculine action-dramas to pounce forth in the late 00's? Even if I find myself picking at the odd moment here and there throughout (not to mention the glaring sexism), it ultimately lands like a sledge-hammer when it leans into its spectacles. The bank robberies hark back to the menace of a poliziotesschi, where criminals feel both chaotic and methodical. The pacing is phenomenal, never a moment to cut your gaze amidst the expansiveness of it all, and so much to chew on with repeat viewings.

I've heard the original 35 mm print is the best way to see this film, as all subsequent DVDs and Blu-rays have been tampered with by Mann to the point where they've lost a bit of that purity. Shame. I know I'll see this again, I just don't want to wait till another anniversary screening. Manhunter might be my fave, but this is still a masterpiece.

New episode alert! This time I've got Jonathan Doe back with his new filmmaking partner, Regan Fox. Doe & Fox are now tackling Putrid Productions together, and as the CEO & CFO respectively, they have some mighty ambitious plans in mind for world domination via extreme horror.
We talk about their film, Majestic Flesh Faucet of Projectile Bile, where I liken the rough cut I watched to a freakish take on Fear Factor. We also dive into their healthy schedule of podcasts as they've got something coming out every week for the foreseeable future with either Smutopia or True Crime Bedtime Stories.

Basically, these two are firing on all cylinders and I love to see a steady stream of wild art pouring out of them. Of course, we delve into some gnarly and disturbing subject matter, so heads up on that, but we also learn that Regan is obsessed with cotton candy flavoured water and Jonathan can't stand it! All this and so much more!

Watch Here

Listen Here

Holy macaroni! This is like if Bruno Mattei made a gloriously WTF rip of King Kong. So expect your stomach to hurt from laughing so dang much.

An Italo/Canadiana cluster-fuck of a genre film, we follow a group of scientists bringing a giant Yeti over to Toronto, eh! It turns out that corporate greed has been the prime motivation behind plucking the massive Onion-y looking man-creature. So, sure enough, Yeti breaks loose and calamity ensues!

Yes he looks like an onion. There just wasn't enough hair to cover this giant Yeti's body, but look at those expressive eyes. He tells a whole story with each evocative glance. His nipples even get hard at the slightest touch from that damsel in distress character.
So what is this exactly? A sunny side up egg of Italo magic, with the dubbing and bizarre attempts at Canadian culture clashing like a fireworks display of hilarity.

What really killed me though was the Yeti's Godzilla-esque scream. So high pitched and obscene, every time he launched a shriek I was on the floor in a fit of laughter. Then there's the inconsistent scale of the damn beast, one minute the size of a lamp pole, the next minute breaking through the roof of a warehouse.
With it being Italian, it's got that perfect mix of campy/goofy blunders and slickness that equals a very enjoyable execution. Even if you're laughing at all the WTFery, you're never bored or checking your watch. To sum it up - where has this been all my life? L.O.V.E.D. I.T.

It's interesting that I chose this as the last film of Abel Ferrara's to watch for an podcast recording since the whole concept of it is that it's the last day on Earth. Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh are two artist lovers spending their last day together having sex, painting, arguing, chatting with people over Skype, and ordering food in.

WAIT WHAT... *screeching brakes*

I guess there are some people who chose to work on their last day on Earth? Heck, every time Dafoe goes out onto the roof, there are so many taxis in the streets. So that leaves us to digest this as a messy and potentially real depiction of the world's end. A depiction that has heart-breaking moments, for sure, but that's also a very easy way to creep inside your heart. You can't NOT feel some level of anxiety or sadness if you at all tip-toe into what's going on here.

So with that, it may be one of the more compelling newer Ferrara films I've watched. Yet it still leaves me feeling bored, pushed away, rolling my eyes, and checking the time. I'm reminded of something like Last Night, Don McKellar's Canadian take on this same concept, a film I haven't seen since I was a kid when I stumbled on it on TV and was somewhat shifted from the lack of big drama but a handful of startling character studies. Maybe that one doesn't hold up almost 30 years later, but considering how much I ed of it, there must have been a tangible level of humanity to it. I can't really say the same thing for this one, another confusing and cold experience.

Michael Mann's lost horror film is a menacing fog seeping into your skull like a John Carpenter flick with atmosphere for daaaazzzzzzeeeeeee.

1941 Romania, a small troupe of nazis are sent to a keep that looks like a mystical pyramid cave. The caretaker warns them to not stay the night, so naturally a few are killed off (hooray!), but by what - you're not quite sure. Spoiler alert: even as you stare into the eyes of this creature, you're still never quite sure what it is.

And that's actually one of the films strongest points. Taking a very unique sci-fi/horror concept involving ancient spirits (?) and making them as fantastically 80's and ethereal as possible leads to The Keep's many fireworks moments. The Tangerine Dream score, coupled with the whimsical visual effects, brings for some supremely satisfying spectacles. Lazer-y elegance soothing the ol' psyche, a warm cup of nostalgic alchemy.

The plotting beyond that is a bit clunky, however. There's a sense that scenes are missing, and sadly that includes scenes of action and mayhem. We learn of many more nazis being killed than what is shown (boo!), most characters have American accents when everyone is either German or Romanian, and holy crap is Ian McKellen terrible. I think if this were finessed more, fleshed out with more kills, and even had some German and Romanian words thrown around for authenticity, this could've been an 80's horror masterpiece.

As is, it scratches a mighty itch. Reminding me of the "style as substance" of Tony Scott's The Hunger and something like Prince of Darkness, although those two films are superior. Definitely some bumps and scrapes to this one, but it's hella entertaining and I most certainly will be watching this again.

Alan Clarke's folk-horror TV movie must have been a startling revelation for anyone tuning into the BBC in 1974. Even now 50 years later, it feels like a poetic transmission of ethereal angst that's hard to believe it was made for the telly.

Stephen Franklin is a 17 year old boy living in a small rural town in England in 1955. He's devoted to Christianity and Classical music, with a Conservative demeanor that ostracizes him from his fellow classmates. He lives in his head in a world full of art and scripture and purity, but he's also got a nagging queerness that manifests in his dreams and his desires. So he wanders - in his head, in his town, and through his understanding of the world. Each step of change and growth brings supernatural occurrences both grim and fantastic.

This early entry into Alan Clarke's filmography is quite a unique one. I'm more accustomed to Clarke depicting linear character studies, where you occupy that "fly on the wall" space, almost nearing mockumentary in how fixed it is on a central character's chaotic trajectory. This is anything but. Thrillingly disted with abstractions and ambiguities represented in the visual language of the piece, yet the camera is still and presents beautiful moments like antiquated paintings.

David Rudnick's writing is phenomenal - BUT - it does at times feel a bit too academic and stuffy. While not exactly didactic, it's still rammed with obtuse phrasings that are intended to be beautiful but instead keep you at arms length. It makes sense then why Alan Clarke was tasked with directing this, as his raw electricity smooths out the high-brow moments while delivering a harder edge to all the abstractions. Again - seeing this on TV in 1974 must have been a royal mind-fuck of the highest order.

I'm extra glad I decided to put this one off and not watch it after immediately getting volume 1 of All Our Haunts Be Ours. As a Folk Horror film, it's rather restrained, but as a coming-of-age tale punctuated with folk-horror, it's astonishing, if occasionally a bit dry and slow. Context is King (Penda) - so without I'd probably have given this a 3.5, but since I know a thing or two now, it's a solid 4. Really unlike anything I've seen before, not to mention a unique rung in Clarke's filmography.

Abel Ferrara's pandemic thriller is another experiment of whatever squirming ideas he's got in his ol' noggin, but it's also another slog thanks to his unrelenting coolness.

Ethan Hawke plays twin brothers, one who is a soldier and one who is a revolutionary that may or may not be dead while being held captive. The soldier Hawke journeys through a night in Rome, encountering different scenarios and levels of danger, but it's that commitment to keeping things restrained and borderline toneless that also keeps me at arms length.

It's great that Ferrara has access to these amazing actors and Hawke does the best he can with this. Much like Sibera, on paper it seems like a surefire banger, but it's the pulse-less execution that lacks any kind of emotion and remains annoyingly vague that taps my energy. The dialogue avoids exposition, the voice-overs attempt conviction, and it all just creeps by with either an eerie drone or chugging bass line that seems to suggest... nothing? Something?

Good thing it's short though!

Anthony Leroy's out-fucking-done himself this time. Found footage? More like F.R.I.E.D. F.O.O.T.A.G.E. and not "fried" in some denigrating sense, like this is lo-fi barrel-scraping horror schlock. Not at all. This is creativity frying a circuit board so hard the sparks are sending endorphins through the fuckin' screen.

What starts it all off on the right path is the hard satirical edge the concept flies off of. With a faux political ment of a "Jim Lackey", you get a scathing tone right from the get go, like Verhoeven cleaning his teeth with Hobo With A Shotgun.
Then enters the news crew, led by Leroy himself as Girth Brooks, a denim-clad buffoon of the dankest order, like Danny McBride making a cameo on Trailer Park Boys. Brooks takes this ragtag crew to an under to film some homeless people and eventually a horror film explodes out of the screen.

This is such a perfect culmination of execution and concept, as the satirical nightmare revolving around the housing crisis and the abuse doled out to encampments casts an eerie glow and razor-sharp edge to an already maniacal story. How it slithers across its 40 minutes though is where the exhilaration happens, feeling downright Obayashian in its innovative nuggets and Tsukamoto-esque in its design. Maybe this is what Adam Wingard was attempting with his Blair Witch remake, but here, on what I'm guessing with such a small fraction of the budget, we get a far more textural rollercoaster of video terror. Hallucinogenic and kaleidoscopic but never veering entirely off the course of its aims with delivering a sinister, cynical, and mean-spirited final act straight out of a Romero epic or ultra-edgy slasher film.

Man. I cannot wait to show this to everyone I know. What an achievement. Holy shit.

I think I've lost count of what sequel this is but I'll keep coming back for more, all the same. It's honestly kind of hard to rate this one, as here it seems like the formula is entirely set in stone with this becoming even more of a continuous franchise.

I can't help but compare this to one of the many long-running slasher series, where by the 5th entry they try to add little splashes of deviation but ultimately you just want the same thing you've always wanted. And you always get that.
Instead of gruesome murders though, here it's Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing fucking hilarious impressions amidst their inane banter. That's the kills, that's the goods, that's what we keep going back for.

Yet another Trip film that blends comedy and drama into melancholic shapes. A unique tonal mix for sure, but by film 4 (5? 6?) it's become fairly standard, and here I am lapping it up because the two blokes made me laugh and probably always will.

A list I've had percolating in my mind for quite some time. All about that loss of innocence. In no particular order. Feel free to recommend more.

• Spetters
• The Notebook
• Navajeros
• I Start Counting
• Jeremy
• Christiane F.
• The Fan
• Smooth Talk
• Typhoon Club
• Come and See

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ah yes, the list that is closest to my heart. These are the films that are truly special and truly brain-shattering. Sure, we got some absolute bangers freshly served to us in the cinema this year, but there's still so many classics to be unearthed and gems to be scooped up and shoved into my eye sockets. Or something like that. Dig into all of these.

P.S. When I make these lists, I only allow myself one film per director to help me narrow it down. If that weren't the case, I'd have a hard time fitting in more films by Shinji Sōmai, Takashi Ishii, Alan Clarke, Shūji Terayama, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Kathryn Bigelow.

1. Typhoon Club
2. Gonin
3. Demons
4. Scum
5. Grass Labyrinth
6. Star of David: Beauty Hunting
7. Godzilla
8. Future Cops
9. Thrilling Bloody Sword
10. 12 Angry Men

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Kept it to just 15 of the films I gave 4 stars or more. Honestly a great year for a lot of newer voices to drop anvils at the cinema. Lots of disappointments too though. Par for the course. There's still a few more new films that I didn't get around to seeing, so maybe this will be updated if that happens sooooon.

1. She Is Conann
2. The Substance
3. Chime
4. I Saw the TV Glow
5. In a Violent Nature
6. Anora
7. The Apprentice
8. Terrifier 3
9. Rebel Ridge
10. Exhuma

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Prior to 2024, I had only seen two of these notorious kaiju flicks, so it was really this year when I finally sat down and started checking them off the list. Thanks to the Criterion Channel and an addiction to wanting to see those sweet sweet big monster battles, I got through way more than I had ever thought I would. Good luck ranking them though... am I right?

1. Godzilla
2. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
3. Godzilla Minus One
4. Destroy All Monsters
5. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
6. Godzilla vs. Biollante
7. Godzilla vs. Gigan
8. Mothra vs. Godzilla
9. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
10. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Really took my time exploring this director and I'm glad to have had that type of journey through his filmography. While certain themes and approaches popped up constantly within his work, he had a pretty profound knack for making each film its own unique vehicle of ideas. Often quite transgressive but sophisticated, stylish, and powerful in his own Ōshima type of way. Highly recommend diving into his work.

1. In the Realm of the Senses
2. Empire of ion
3. Death by Hanging
4. Violence at Noon
5. Cruel Story of Youth
6. The Ceremony
7. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
8. Taboo
9. Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
10. The Sun's Burial

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This has been a long time coming. After many friends and devoted listeners (often one in the same, thanks guys!) suggested I do this, I finally cracked down and made it happen. It's been brought to my attention that people want a good resource for what films are mentioned on the podcast. So here is a very thorough list of every single film that has come up at one time or another. Make of it what you will. Probably will forever be a WORK IN PROGRESS

• Dionne Copland's Inferno
• Cold Wind Blowing
• Computer Hearts
• Haxx Deadroom
• Depraved
• Wendigo
• Habit
• True Romance
• Something Wild
• Buffalo '66

...plus 543 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My personal ranking of this maniac Japanese director, one of the most singular and captivating filmmakers I’ve ever come across. Very much a work-in-progress as I'm going through his films for the first time. Been an extremely rewarding experience so far! What are your faves?

1. Tetsuo: The Iron Man
2. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
3. Tokyo Fist
4. A Snake of June
5. Bullet Ballet
6. Gemini
7. Hiruko the Goblin
8. Haze
9. Kotoko
10. The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All the VinSyn releases I own ranked in order as best as I could muster.

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
2. Spookies
3. Dial Code Santa Claus
4. Thriller: A Cruel Picture
5. Nightmare Weekend
6. Demon Wind
7. Don't Panic
8. Night Train to Terror
9. The ing
10. Beyond Dream's Door

...plus 92 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My top 10 personal favourites of the year.

1. Poor Things
2. Beau Is Afraid
3. Dream Scenario
4. The Holdovers
5. Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin
6. Thanksgiving
7. Master Gardener
8. When Evil Lurks
9. Therapy Dogs
10. Bottoms

This tends to be one of my favourite exercises every year that I'm on this dang site. Ranking the top 20 "new to me" films that aren't all that contemporary ends up revealing a lot about my tastes and how I'm essentially a maniac with a warped mind but with an impeccable palate for wild cinema. Yippee. I highly recommend everything here to everyone ever.

1. Dr. Caligari
2. Five Element Ninjas
3. Royal Warriors
4. Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx
5. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
6. Freaks
7. Magic Crystal
8. Invocation of My Demon Brother
9. Face/Off
10. Empire of ion

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

One of the more underrated boutique bluray labels going, they've really hooked me in the past year with their consistent output of obscure gems. Will be expanding my collection asap.

1. Dr. Caligari
2. The Laughing Woman
3. Lady Terminator
4. Our Lady of Hormones
5. The Fan
6. Apocalypse After
7. Queens of Evil
8. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
9. Howl of the Devil
10. Hunting Ground

...plus 36 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

How does one rank a collection of dreams? I'm sorry Jean, but it shall be done. There can only be... one... number one...

1. Lips of Blood
2. The Grapes of Death
3. The Living Dead Girl
4. The Iron Rose
5. The Nude Vampire
6. Lost in New York
7. Fascination
8. The Night of the Clocks
9. The Escapees
10. Requiem for a Vampire

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Genre of the G.I.A.L.L.O. ranked like you've never seen before! Very much a WIP, feel free to recommend some titles.

1. Tenebre
2. Deep Red
3. A Bay of Blood
4. Torso
5. Blood and Black Lace
6. Don't Torture a Duckling
7. The Crimes of the Black Cat
8. The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh
9. The House with Laughing Windows
10. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

...plus 56 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Whether starring Jacinto Molina or directed by AND starring this wily Spaniard, I've taken it upon myself to rank his specific brew of eurotrash spectacles (that I own and have seen so far). Steeped in sleaze, usually flying through at least 4 different genres, and generally a good time. Mileage may vary but I got pretty hooked on the guy. What can I say? Rank away!

1. The Beasts' Carnival
2. Howl of the Devil
3. The Traveller
4. Heartbeat
5. Horror Rises from the Tomb
6. The Beast and the Magic Sword
7. Night of the Werewolf
8. Vengeance of the Zombies
9. Night of the Executioner
10. The Frenchman's Garden

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by 8bit and Rizz's recent lists. these are the films that truly turned me into the weirdo I am today. I did my best to put these in chronological order of when I first saw them (or in the case of Troll 2 when I first saw it, like really saw it for what it was), not when they came out, which might provide a bit of shock as I didn't see The Thing until around 2010. Some of these picks I haven't seen in years, some of them aren't necessarily my 'favourites', and yet each one signifies a moment when a film rerouted the pathways of my mind and shaped whatever sopping mess is inside my skull. Beware.

Taking Rizz's cue to quote 8bit as well, here's the wonderful li'l paragraph he wrote that'll surely get you in the feels:

“It is tempting for us all to pad, blanket or ostentatiously dress our own narrative. But the distillation of ourself and the equation that is the events that brought upon our way of being is the only truth. Here in lies the movies that washed into me and stayed. The fungi from each film grew inside me and created an infochemical network. They live within permanently, forever effecting my perception of reality communicating to me and one another.”

• Jurassic Park
• It
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• Pulp Fiction
• Nightbreed
• The Shining
• Clueless
• Dazed and Confused
• Scream
• From Dusk Till Dawn

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Every year I do this and then I look back and realize I've become a total maniac. This year especially.
Not going to include anything that came out 2022/2021. Otherwise The Sadness would be very high up there. Also will pick only 1 film per director.

If this conjures up any titles you think I would be into, feel free to recommend in the comments. I also urge everyone else to do this, so if you make your own list please link me.

1. Woman in the Dunes
2. Lucifer Rising
3. The Wild Boys
4. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
5. Tokyo Gore Police
6. 964 Pinocchio
7. Halloween II
8. I Saw the Devil
9. In the Realm of the Senses
10. The Laughing Woman

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My top 10 of 2022.

1. The Sadness
2. Pearl
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once
4. X
5. Catcall: Omega Violence
6. Terrifier 2
7. Jackass Forever
8. Skinamarink
9. V/H/S/99
10. Vortex

Compiling a list of obscure horror films that need to be released on blu-ray. Will consider sending to Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome, Vestron, etc. Feel free to suggest some or correct me if I'm wrong (link to buy would be nice).

• Neon Maniacs
• Phantom of Death
• The Burning Moon
• A Gnome Named Gnorm
• Captives
• Sweet Home
• Rejuvenatrix
• The Kindred
• The Abomination
• Black Roses

...plus 35 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is the year I got really into this specific sub-genre of horror and sci-fi, so brazenly unique and bombastic that it explodes past the usual confines of both those genres and explodes onto the screen as a completely singular beast. The heights of depravity of extreme horror scraping against the blissful joy of the fantastique, all otherworldly creatures and morbid gore intermingling like a virus on a fried motherboard. Get some.

Recommendations are welcome, prefer to keep it Live Action & Asian. 👊🔥💀

1. Tetsuo: The Iron Man
2. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
3. 964 Pinocchio
4. Tokyo Gore Police
5. Rubber's Lover
6. Anatomia Extinction
7. Evil Dead Trap
8. Tokyo Fist
9. Splatter: Naked Blood
10. Meatball Machine

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Umberto Lenzi, that rapscallion of an Italian genre director, this is me ranking him. WIP - as always - because these Italian guys were BUSY!

1. Ghosthouse
2. Rome, Armed to the Teeth
3. Almost Human
4. Violent Naples
5. The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist
6. Nightmare Beach
7. The House of Lost Souls
8. The House of Witchcraft
9. Cannibal Ferox
10. Oasis of Fear

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by a conversation I had with Belial_Carboni last night. I am getting ready for some punches to be thrown my way but I don't care!
This was the first franchise I ever watched and quite possibly my favourite. I also watched them completely out of order (rented #5 first when I was 9 and just chose random ones from then on).

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
• A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
• New Nightmare

Ranking my favourite director. Not as hard as I thought it would be.

1. Suspiria
2. Inferno
3. Tenebre
4. Deep Red
5. Opera
6. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
7. Phenomena
8. Sleepless
9. The Stendhal Syndrome
10. The Mother of Tears

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Decided to hop on the bandwagon with all these fantastic lists. These are the films I've loved/given 4 or more stars to that seem to be hated by most.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• Deathgasm
• Blood Lake
• Warlock: The Armageddon
• The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• A Serbian Film
• Ghoulies
• Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
• Poltergeist III

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

So over the past few years my fiance and I have done a “movie wall” in our kitchen on our chalkboard wall.
Previous years we would fill it up with movies we hadn’t seen before then cross them off as we watch them, but in 2021 we decided to do the opposite. This past year we instead left it blank and filled it up with movies that we watched for the first time and both agreed were “wall worthy”. This was what made the wall, in chronological order of when we watched them.
(There’s a few overlapping entries from my Top 20 First Time Watches of 2021 list, but this still feels unique enough to share.)

We’re gonna go back to a wall of movies that we cross off as we go so feel free to recommend titles for 2022!

• Tampopo
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
• Gate of Flesh
• The Fury
• Jeremy
• Wanda
• Rolling Thunder
• Spetters
• Smooth Talk
• Race with the Devil

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The kind of blind spots that once scrubbed from the surface of your brain maintain that long-standing love for film. Hope it represents just how wildly erratic/eclectic my tastes are.

1. The Cremator
2. Mad Love
3. Lips of Blood
4. Rolling Thunder
5. Spetters
6. The Hunger
7. The Devils
8. Crash
9. The Cat
10. Funeral Parade of Roses

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Swedish master of darkness. What a maniac! My faves to my least faves.

1. Scenes from a Marriage
2. Cries and Whispers
3. The Virgin Spring
4. Persona
5. Shame
6. Autumn Sonata
7. Fanny and Alexander
8. Winter Light
9. Wild Strawberries
10. The Serpent's Egg

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Truth be told, I started this list in May. I could not wait. I am hoping to unleash all, or as much as possible, on my fiance and hope that she still wants to marry me when we can finally have our wedding without gasmasks and an impending sense of doom looming over us. Maybe Halloween 2022!

• House of 1000 Corpses
• The Devil's Rejects
• The Queen of Black Magic
• City of the Living Dead
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
• Carnival of Souls
• Blood Lake
• Hellbound: Hellraiser II
• Prom Night
• Pumpkinhead

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Yes, it's true. I figured I should try to rank the Fulcinator before tackling Dario. A constant work in progress, especially considering I can never make up my mind if I prefer House By The Cemetery or City of the Living Dead.

1. The House by the Cemetery
2. City of the Living Dead
3. Ænigma
4. Don't Torture a Duckling
5. The Beyond
6. The New York Ripper
7. Zombie Flesh Eaters 2
8. Zombie Flesh Eaters
9. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
10. Contraband

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The master of trash. Gross and sleazy but underrated. Now I'll rank them!

1. Cannibal Holocaust
2. Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
3. Body Count
4. Raiders of Atlantis
5. House on the Edge of the Park
6. Cut and Run
7. Phantom of Death
8. The Washing Machine
9. Dial: Help
10. Last Cannibal World

The OG master of Italian horror - RANKED... A Work in Progress.

1. A Bay of Blood
2. Rabid Dogs
3. Blood and Black Lace
4. Black Sabbath
5. Kill, Baby... Kill!
6. Baron Blood
7. Shock
8. Five Dolls for an August Moon
9. The Girl Who Knew Too Much
10. Hatchet for the Honeymoon

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Belial_Carboni and MRisnes recent lists, I wanted to create my own ZONE of Dome Scratching Bangers. How many have you seen?? If this list makes you think of any other flicks, please recommend.

• Ghosthouse
• Witchery
• Neon Maniacs
• Demon Wind
• Hellgate
• Warlock: The Armageddon
• 976-EVIL II
• Ænigma
• Night Train to Terror
• Rats: Night of Terror

...plus 34 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Love him or hate him, he is undeniably one of the most influential (and damn right entertaining) directors of the past few decades. Going to do my best and rank his films. Wish me luck or throw some hate in the comments. It's all good.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Jackie Brown
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
6. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
7. Reservoir Dogs
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Django Unchained
10. Death Proof

My fiancé and I have had a tradition over the past couple of years where we take the chalkboard wall in our kitchen and fill it with a list of movies we intend to watch over the year. Majority of titles are ones we've both never seen, outside of a few that either of one of us saw but the other hadn't.
We've never completed the list entirely, however this year we definitely packed in more than usual (I wonder why? haha). Here's what we watched ranked in order of best-to-worst.

What have I learned? I don't like Robert Altman's films.

1. House
2. The Night of the Hunter
3. All That Jazz
4. Cinema Paradiso
5. Polyester
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Let's Scare Jessica to Death
8. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
9. The Breach
10. The Great Silence

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by MRisnes's previous metal lists, here is a place to talk metal/hardcore, recommend bands and documentaries, and just shoot the shit about gnarly music!

• Death by Metal
• Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story
• American Hardcore
• Converge: The Long Road Home
• Until the Light Takes Us
• Lords of Chaos
• The Decline of Western Civilization
• The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
• Last Days Here
• Heavy Metal Parking Lot

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As this year made going to the movies impossible, diminishing the usual run of amazing new films to just a handful of streamable flicks, it's left me to really appreciate first time watches of some seriously pummelling classics. I saw way more than I can count, films that really saved me during this horrendous year, and I'm appreciative of each one for that.
This was a Top 10. Couldn't do it. This is my top 20. All films I watched for the very first time that left the biggest mark on me. It goes without saying but seriously... watch these immediately.

1. Come and See
2. House
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
4. The Night of the Hunter
5. Rabid Dogs
6. Evil Dead Trap
7. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
8. All That Jazz
9. Don't Panic
10. The ing

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking of the almighty Crystal Lake Saga!

1. Friday the 13th
2. Friday the 13th Part 2
3. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
4. Friday the 13th Part III
5. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
6. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
7. Friday the 13th
8. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
9. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
10. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Belial_Carboni's epic list of the top 50 favourite horror films. This was actually a lot harder to compile than I thought. I tried to keep in mind films that impacted me throughout my life even if they didn't age as well. Also there's a good chance I will come back to this and edit it here and there. Here we go.

Update 11/03/2020: Decided to scrap and redo the whole thing. Tried to not pick more than 1 film of a franchise and just go with my favourite entry, except Suspiria & Inferno and the two Fulci Gates of Hell flicks. Still up for future edits but I felt like it needed a major overhaul.

• The Shining
• Suspiria
• Inferno
• Tenebre
• The Thing
• Poltergeist
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• Hellraiser
• Deep Red

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Tears_in_Rain's list!

This was a lot of fun to put together, truthfully though: the 80's were so hard to narrow it down, while the 2000's I reaaalllllly struggled. So please, if there are some gems from say 2000-2014 that you think I need to see, recommend away!

• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
• Demons
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
• Stage Fright
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• Meet the Feebles
• Troll 2
• The People Under the Stairs
• Braindead
• Warlock: The Armageddon

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As every October rolls around, I unleash a list of essential flicks to drop on my partner. This year she's seen more horror than she ever has before so I must go even deeper, harder, and with more puppets.

• Next of Kin
• Paranormal Activity
• Phantasm
• City of the Living Dead
• Maniac
• Carnival of Souls
• The Church
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Return of the Living Dead III

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking the flicks I've seen by this genius of genre cinema! There's a few I still haven't seen yet, and a few I haven't seen since I was a little kid, so expect this to mutate over time.

1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. Big Trouble in Little China
4. In the Mouth of Madness
5. Assault on Precinct 13
6. The Fog
7. Prince of Darkness
8. Escape from New York
9. They Live
10. Escape from L.A.

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

From March 23rd to June 8th, here is a list of all the movies I watched for the first time before going back to work.
It's been one helluva ride! This is the order I watched them in, tempted to rank them but no clue how. I just know House would be #1.

• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
• Rosemary's Baby
• House
• The Breach
• The Suckling
• The Godfather Part II
• Skinner
• Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
• The Swimmer
• Dusty

...plus 45 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

What a great year for movies. Here’s hoping we keep this going into the next decade!

• Midsommar
• Climax
• Uncut Gems
• The Lighthouse
• Marriage Story
• Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
• Parasite
• In Fabric
• Honey Boy
• Dragged Across Concrete

When I first met my girlfriend at the tail end of 2008, she was not a fan of horror whatsoever and way too squeamish to handle a lot of my favourite scary movies.
It's been 10 years and she's now come around to digging a lot of it - she just finished reading Kier La Janisse's House of Psychotic Women! - but I still try to choose wisely: nothing too disturbing, nothing too sleazy, and everything absolutely amazing. The more fun the better really.

Last Halloween I showed her a handful of great stuff that went down well: Troll, Witchery, In the Mouth of Madness, Possession, Return of the Living Dead (although she was not a fan of how Linnea Quigley was left nude for most of the movie but we still went on to watch #2 and she had fun), to name a few.

Feel free to recommend some fun flicks and I'll be sure to report back on here what we get around to watching. All of this stuff she has not seen yet and if you see a sequel on here it's because I showed her the first and/or other entries of the series.

• Halloween
• The Evil Dead
• Videodrome
• Inferno
• Demons 2
• The Editor
• From Dusk Till Dawn
• The People Under the Stairs
• Ghosthouse
• Beyond Darkness

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I have seen a lot of his films but not all of them so I am ranking the ones I have seen. He is one of my all time favourite directors and most of his films seem to occupy a genre of their own - a pretentiously titled genre I like to call: "post-horror art-house drama".

1. The White Ribbon
2. The Piano Teacher
3. Amour
4. Funny Games
5. Funny Games
6. Time of the Wolf
7. The Seventh Continent
8. Caché
9. Benny's Video
10. Code Unknown

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.