Spirits Of The Dead (1968)

Following Lewis Rice O’Donnell’s recommendation, I watched Spirits Of The Dead (1968; Italian: Tre passi nel delirio, French: Histoires extraordinaires), a omnibus film of three stories based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe by different directors. The first starring Jane Fonda and directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim is about a debauched countess who becomes obsessed […]

Stroszek (1977)

High on the list of movies I’d always felt guilty about not seeing was Werner Herzog’s Stroszek (1977). I’d heard so much about it, particularly from friends, and even had a DVD copy of it that sat unwatched for years and years. The first thing I was struck by was Bruno S’s performance as the […]

3 Women (1977)

My friend Lauren Cowdrey wrote a recommendation of Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977) for VHS Tracking Issue 2. I finally watched it recently and thought it was great. Lauren’s review from the zine says it better than I could: “The first time I saw it I was struck by its beauty, like a painting both […]

The Childhood Of A Leader (2015)

I’d never heard of The Childhood Of A Leader (2015) until one year when I asked people what their favourite scores/songs of the year were and someone recommended Scott Walker’s score from it. The thundering overture sets the strident tone for this drama which, per the title, looks at Prescott (Tom Sweet), a young boy […]

The Fourth Man (1983)

I realised I’d never seen any pre-Hollywood Paul Verhoeven Dutch movies so I sat down with The Fourth Man (1983), which is a pretty nutty erotic thriller in the post-Hitchcock mould. Better known to me as the go-to actor for European dodgy guys in American movies like No Mercy and The Fugitive, Jeroen Krabbé plays […]