Giallogy: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

A rare Spanish entry in the giallo genre, Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973) begins with a drifter ex-con finding work at the remote mountain estate of three very different, yet equally eccentric sisters. Then the dead bodies start piling up around town. Beautiful, blue-eyed village women are being murdered, their eyeballs carved out … Continue reading Giallogy: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll →

Lost and Found: Slashdance

Based on the rad poster and VHS art for Slashdance (1989), you’d expect a deliciously raunchy slasher, right? The poster promises underboob that the movie never delivers! Dammit! Well, you’d be sorely disappointed. I was. The actual movie itself is an amateurish snooze, with barely any slashing or actual dancing. Sure, we spend most of … Continue reading Lost and Found: Slashdance →

Giallogy: Amuck!

Beautiful blonde Barbara Bouchet runs Amuck! in a novelist’s Venetian din of inequity, while trying to solve her lesbian lover’s disappearance! If that doesn’t sound like a rip-roaring good time aboard the giallo express, I don’t know what does. “An explosion of sexual frenzy” sums it up beautifully! Trust me, Amuck! is most definitely a … Continue reading Giallogy: Amuck! →

Lost and Found: Pets

Well, now. Boy howdy, what a movie! Okay, so I recently watched Pets (1973) for the first time and, wow, it’s bizarre. Probably because it feels like three increasingly disturbing vignettes strung together to form a strange, road-trip-style movie. This disarming oddness is part of what makes it a memorably strange cult film. However, the … Continue reading Lost and Found: Pets →

Giallogy: The Psychic

I love giallo movies. I tend to watch them in bunches, like when I recently plowed through The Psychic, aka Seven Notes in Black (1977), Puzzle, aka The Man Without a Memory (1974), and Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971). Gialli offer an intoxicating blend of glamorous women, gorgeous Italian (or other gorgeous European) locales, … Continue reading Giallogy: The Psychic →

Lost and Found: Don’t Open till Christmas

I love Christmas horror. Every December I revisit several favorites. If I don’t, the holiday season just doesn’t feel quite as jolly! Bob Clark’s classic Black Christmas (1974) is not only my favorite Yuletide horror movie, but also quite possibly my favorite horror movie of all time. I like to discover new films, or new, … Continue reading Lost and Found: Don’t Open till Christmas →

Hot Shots of the Week: Wolfing Around with Michelle

I adore Mike Nichols’ Wolf (1994), but every time I watch it—and I try to watch it every October—I’m utterly gobsmacked that he got Michelle Pfeiffer to film that completely bonkers final showdown. As good guy Wolfman Jack (Nicholson) looks on from inside a cage, bad guy Wolfman James Spader uses his hairy paws to … Continue reading Hot Shots of the Week: Wolfing Around with Michelle →