Please Baby Please (2022)

Director-writer Amanda Kramer’s Please Baby Please (2022) reminded me of discovering Johnny Suede on SBS when I was young. The discovery of an arthouse American indie cinema morphing together the past and the present, a receptacle for a filmmaker’s fetishes. Empty alleys or street facades. Apartment interiors on a studio set. Creating a whole situation to let make-up, hair, […]

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 […]

Streets Of Fire (1984)

Screened at Luna Cinemas Leederville as part of the Trash Classics season programmed by VHS Tracking. My brother attended the Streets Of Fire (1984) screening because of its trailer: “If the movie is anything like that, it’ll be great!” After the movie, my brother said, “It was good, but it’s like these old movies always run out of […]

The Hidden (1987)

Somewhere between The Thing and The Terminator lies… The Hidden (1987). I have a strong memory of the VHS in my local video store being adorned with a “Recommended” sticker, which always jumped out at me, particularly for movies that I’d never heard of or felt had received a cinema release, and getting that extra […]

The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)

When I finally watched The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), I understood clearly why director Penelope Spheeris was hired for Wayne’s World, and to understand even the head-banging culture that Wayne’s World was parodying. This was a decade where pop music was defined by metal’s popularity, from glam rock to […]