Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’
The Barcelona School made avant-garde films nobody could understand, such as the pop art 1960s mash-up, Fata Morgana. But it sure looks good.
horror
Silent Film Restorations ‘The Craving’ and ‘Annie Laurie’ Radiate the Medium
Francis Ford was an important silent film actor and director, and not just for being John Ford’s brother. Star Lillian Gish had the clout to get what she wanted.
Ananda Lima’s Mystical and Metafictional Dance with the Devil
Poet and translator Ananda Lima’s debut fiction, Craft, is an absorbing mystical and metafictional dance with the Devil.
Teen Horror Film ‘Cuckoo’ Is a Deliriously Fun Mess
For his teen horror film Cuckoo, director Tilman Singer tries to tame his wild and creative imagination into something more commercially friendly, with mixed results.
‘Playing With Fire’ Will Burn the Uninitiated
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Playing With Fire marks a curious effort when considered in the scope of cancel culture today, yet it compels nonetheless
Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies
Sci-fi movies Unknown Terror, The Colossus of New York and Destination Inner Space inject monsters into personal melodrama for masculine redemption.
Feminine Discontents in ‘Back from the Dead’ and ‘The Other One’
Catherine Turney, a top-drawer writer of classic films about strong women, adapts her supernatural novel The Other One for Back from the Dead.
The Eerie Beauty in Horror Film ‘I Saw the TV Glow’
With horror film I Saw the TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun creates an eerie, emotional journey into the intersection of identity and popular culture.
Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024: The Good, the Unremarkable, and the Dead on Arrival
Axe murder, motor scooter theft, projectile breast milk and more from a week at the Music Box Theatre for the Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024.
Hell and Limbo Are Reimagined in Sci-Fi Horror ‘Desert Road’
The same lack of control and uncertainty that hounds Kafka’s Josef. K haunts the lost protagonist in Shannon Triplett’s sci-fi horror Desert Road.
Why Hollywood Filmmakers Turn to Poetry When Dialogue Fails
From comedies to horror, biographies to romance, there’s a reason why Hollywood filmmakers turn to poetry when dialogue fails.
Faulkner Bares His Fangs: Vampirism in ‘Sanctuary’
William Faulkner’s unproduced film script, ‘Dreadful Hollow’, was not his only foray into the fantastical, as 1931’s Sanctuary tells its twisted form of vampirism.