Although George Romero wasn’t as particular or gung ho with his filmmaking as Stanley Kubrick was, you can’t really sit through “Night of the Living Dead” without feeling like everything is so deliberate. Like what is the significance of Barbara looking through the music box? Why did Johnny approach Barbara with his gloves on? And why did Romero blatantly film one of the dead with its eyes moving? Was it was considerably faint attempt to humanize the monsters that we’d see be hit with fire and shot to death throughout the film? Or was it his reminder that through and through these were once people with human impulses and their urges for human flesh are still a part of some human impulse? “Night of the Living Dead” is so nightmarish and intricate that I love picking it apart every single time I’ve seen it and it leaves me stunned every single time.
November (2017)
In an Estonian village, people attempting to survive and love steal from all sources and give their souls away for protection. In a village where werewolves, magic, and disease are everywhere, love is hard to receive and creatures named kratts help and hinder them. What is a soul worth? Does one need a soul to live? To love?
An Interview with Christine Gatlin [Women in Horror Month 2018]
Christine Gatlin is a San Diego-based actress and filmmaker with an affinity for horror. Her production company has a few short films on the festival circuit currently.
An Interview with Jennifer Place [Women in Horror Month 2018]
Jennifer is a fantastic writer who released her first horror novel recently and has been a longtime fan of the horror genre.
Black Panther (2018)
The long overdue cinematic debut of Black Panther is a bold and unique new turn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a perfectly cast Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa. “Black Panther” not only focuses on mostly African cast of characters, but also doesn’t lean too heavily on the Marvel universe to register with audiences. Director Ryan Coogler and Marvel have enough confidence in the clout of Black Panther to allow the film to be its own entity. There are passing references to “Civil War,” and a big supporting role from Agent Ross (a returning Martin Freeman), but this is strictly the movie Black Panther should have had ten years ago.
The Housemaid (2018)
French Indonesia, 1953, a war orphan gets hired as a housemaid at a plantation house. As she falls in love with the Captain who owns it, he discovers a new interest in life. As things evolve something is clearly off with the people at the plantation and its past.
The Bootleg Files: Daughter of the Dragon
BOOTLEG FILES 626: “Daughter of the Dragon” (1931 thriller starring Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Politically incorrect content makes it difficult to sell in today’s too-touch environment.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe someday.
In 1913, English writer Sax Rohmer published the crime thriller “The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu,” focusing on the elaborate homicidal activities of the brilliant yet deranged white-hating Chinese criminal mastermind. At a time when Western attitudes to the Chinese ranged from suspicious to violently hostile, the outlandish Fu Manchu was politically incorrect long before that toxic phrase was coined.
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