This one's fun. It is also a reminder of a time when filmmakers could not adapt King properties fast enough. The Night Shift anthology was ransacked and squeezed for stories in all kinds of unexpected ways. Some made sense, like Sometimes They Come Back and Children of the Corn, which, regardless of the…

"Top Billing" was probably my favorite episode, with its clever premise and a great performance by John Astin (Sean's father, actually) as the director of that Hamlet production for which Jon Lovtiz auditions. I even remember very vividly a moment when he tries to get a background actor to commit to even such small…

I do enjoy the Bloch-scripted Amicus films, the ones mentioned here and also The Skull. They are not sweaty-palm-scary, yet I thought they were fun. I much prefer the films Bloch wrote for William Castle: Strait-Jacket and especially The Night Walker. Those don't have the colder, stagy feel of the Amicus…

I want to put in a special mention for both Somos lo que hay and its remake, We Are What We Are. They are both strikingly beautiful, transgressive, and rich in their themes. Somos lo que hay in particular should be a touchstone in Mexican cinema, since its portrayal of characters that are marginalized in…

I liked both Berberian Sound Studio and It Follows. Both have elements that unsettled and startled if not downright terrified me at a gut, visceral level. But they both succeeded for me because I thought they also offered so much more than scares. BSS is such a deliciously tactile film it was almost pleasurable…

Great talk! I look forward to finally watching Steve Jobs and The Assassin when they make their way to a theater near me.

Yes, watch both of them.

A word about the title of the original film, Somos lo que hay: it doesn't entirely translate to its English title. In fact, the Spanish title gives you a clue to what the film's revelation about the central family will be - something that is completely lost in the English translation. That, however might work to its…

The Det. HP Lovecraft films are interesting, even though as has been pointed out, the character is not the writer from Providence. I came across them because I was trying at the time to watch everything Paul Schrader had been involved in, and he directed Witch Hunt, which led me then to the first film with the…

Which short in Fear(s) of the Dark did Clowes make? The version I saw had shorts by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti and Richard McGuire. Is there another version with more shorts? I know that the people who spearheaded the project had more submissions from animators than…

That would be great. Have you seen Byzantium ? I liked it much more than I expected. I thought Jordan showed he still has a great ability to summon the feel and atmosphere of a fantasy world through a low-budget, intimate story. Still not as good as Company of Wolves, but not bad.

That's right. I remember reading Neil Jordan was going to direct it. I'd watch that movie as well! But I agree, it could work great as a series. Apparently, del Toro was originally attached but as has been the case with a great deal of his filmography, he left the project for something else (since the script is dated…

The hard-boiled detective/sword-and-sorcery fantasy combo puts me in mind of what appears to be (at least right now per IMDb) an Amazon series project, Carnival Row, once a feature film screenplay by Travis Beacham called A Killing on Carnival Row about a gumshoe investigating the murder of a fairy in a world…

I too liked Beneath. It continues Fessenden's focus in the relationships between his characters rather than his monsters in a way I found very fun. And the documentary about the making of the film is absolutely great. It contains excellent tidbits from Fessenden himself, who is more articulate than many other,…

I enjoyed this, as usual. I'll just say one thing: the point about how the Kaminski collaboration added a new sense of texture to Spielberg's films was great: insightful, illuminating, and to my mind not terribly complicated or difficult to understand. Why would that need to be called "academic," as if in apology? I…

You pose a great question. When and why did split-screens fall out of general favor? Were they even popular to begin with? And do they have a bad rap now? I can see it as something filmmakers feel they can not abuse, because it might be seen as too obvious a device and one that is easy to mock. It's interesting,…

Criminally underrated is right. I keep saying that it could even show GDT a thing or two.

This reply is hilarious for so many reasons.

I did like it. I felt everything made sense geographically despite the size of the action, the weight and scale of almost everything came through, so that the physics of the battles didn't seem entirely implausible, and I found individual images often beautiful. That might also have a lot to do with the lighting and…

Goodnight Mommy is still popping up in places. It arrived in my town just last week and it's great.