Simone Barbes Or Virtue (1980)

I love movies set over one night. What wonders and surprises does the night hold? Or chaos and calamity? Then again, maybe a night is just like any other. Loneliness as the sun comes up. Within that uneventful time, there’s still lots to observe. Fleeting moments. Simone Barbes Or Virtue (1980) is a French arthouse […]

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)

While the first Slumber Party Massacre held a light satirical bent, with the phallic power drill wielded by the male serial killer, it also gave horror fans what they wanted: nudity and violence. With the sequel, Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), it feels like a parody with how everything is heightened, right down to the […]

Séance (2000)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa knows how to make a ghost an eerie presence within a frame. Simple and effective in design. A blur where a face should be. An identifying colour in their clothing. Something that registers the eye eventually as they emerge from a shadow or appear in the visual dimension. They don’t seem aggressive in […]

Vengeance Is Mine (1984)

Typing Vengeance Is Mine as a movie title produces a few results including the Shōhei Imamura movie from 1979 and a direct to video Steven Seagal action flick from 2010. For Michael Roemer’s film, Vengeance Is Mine (1984), which he wrote and directed, the title might give the wrong impression. It is not a revenge […]

Sunset Strip (1985)

Sunset Strip (1985) put me in mind of that transition period in video stores where DVDs were coming in, and old VHS stock was being sold off in $1 ex-rental bins. Uncovering and finding video boxes to films I’ve never heard with no recognisable actors, often only distinguished by an illustrated poster or a blown […]