Drunken Master II (1994)

Over the closing credits of Drunken Master II (1994; aka The Legend Of Drunken Master), as tradition with a lot of Jackie Chan movies, we see out-takes of the stunts and action sequences. And it helpfully confirms that Jackie Chan did indeed throw himself onto an actual bed of fiery coals in the factory climax, […]

The Blood On Satan’s Claw (1971)

When it comes to the genre of folk-horror, there are three titles often referred to as key canonical texts: Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man (original) and The Blood On Satan’s Claw (1971). The latter was also used as the main promotional imagery for the recent documentary about folk horror, Woodlands Dark And Bewitched directed by […]

Army Of Shadows (1969)

Programming the VCR recorder to tape Le Samourai off daytime SBS was my introduction to director Jean-Pierre Meville, mainly because I’d read about him in old classic cinema books as well as knowing that film was an influence on John Woo’s The Killer (as well as Ronin, Ghost Dog, etc). I’ve only slowly caught up […]

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Crossing another title off the list of movies covered in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2 that I had not seen: My Darling Clementine (1946). An iconic western directed by John Ford about Wyatt Earp (here, played by a young Henry Fonda, laconic and measured in his performance) and Doc Holiday (Victor Mature, stolid yet tortured), […]

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

A very influential book for me about movies growing up was Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2, which I found a graffitied copy of in the school library. In it, Peary writes about fifty cult movies, the images of which I couldn’t forget from the book and led me to seeking out absolute favourites (The American […]