Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972)

Further exploring the giallo genre of Italian mystery thrillers, I watched Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972). What a title! This is set in a countryside mansion and follows the crumbling marriage of a drunk, cheating author (Luigi Pistilli) and his harried, abused wife (Anita Strindberg). As people […]

Doberman Cop (1977)

Aside from being referenced in True Romance and starring in Kill Bill Vol. 1, I’d not actually seen any Sonny Chiba films. So I took a chance on Doberman Cop (1977; Doberman Deka), which is based on a manga, and has Chiba playing a cop from Okinawa, trying to solve the murder of a young […]

Stalker (1979)

I finally watched my first Tarkovsky with Stalker (1979; Сталкер). It was on a Friday night when I’m tired from the week and more in the mood for trashier fare rather than a two-and-a-half-hour slow meditation life, but I pushed through. And it was great, as many people have said to me. With a sci-fi […]

Switchblade Sisters (1975)

Switchblade Sisters (1975) is directed by Jack Hill, and is a title that has come up a lot as an exploitation drive in classic (Tarantino re-released it on his Rolling Thunder label in the late 90s, I think). A teen gang of girls led by the intense Lace (Robbie Lee, delightfully gnashing at the scenery) […]

All That Jazz (1979)

I’d been keen to see Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical All That Jazz (1979) for awhile and I finally sat down with it over one weekend. Fascinating to watch such a reliable and straight-laced performer like Roy Schneider stretch himself, playing a version of Fosse that is glib, controlling, physical, exhausted and ultimately, a rueful asshole. Some […]