Knightriders (1981)

A travelling group of people who dress up in Medieval gear and live by Arthurian values in modern day Pennsylvania while jousting on motorcycles for the entertainment of small town hicks. A goofy idea for a movie, let alone a two and a half hour epic, but in George A. Romero’s underrated adventure drama Knightriders […]

The Magician (1958)

I was inspired to watch Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician (1958; Ansiktet) by Tracy Letts and Carrie Coon including it in an article for The AV Club where they planned a 24 hour film festival line up. When I read about Bergman, this film doesn’t come up as much as a title and it feels like […]

Orpheus (1950)

I knew little of Jean Cocteau (what a cultural barbarian I am!), mainly that he was a poet and an artist, and I’d always heard about his version of Beauty And The Beast with Jean Marais. When Mubi had Cocteau’s Orpheus (1950; aka Orphee) in their library as part of their French Cinema spotlight, also […]

Conquest (1983)

After listening to the recent Pure Cinema Podcast episode on Fantasy movies, I was keen to submerge myself into some 1980s era sword-and-sorcery flicks. One title they talked highly of, and that I’d heard good word for some time, was Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci’s entry into the post-Conan genre, Conquest (1983), an Italian-Spanish-Mexican co-production, […]

The Velvet Vampire (1971)

I think I’d only come across The Velvet Vampire (1971) with some critics citing it as a reference point to Anna Biller’s The Love Witch (though I don’t think it was an actual influence on Biller’s film; it exists in the same milleu and vibe that The Love Witch is creating). That, and as one […]