Nightfall (1956)

For a classic film noir, I settled upon Nightfall (1956) on a whim and the opening moments of Aldo Ray browsing a newspaper stand in the evening, and flinching when the streetlights came on overhead, that hooked me in. The city lights turn on and the title card appears with the woozy theme song. There’s something poetic and […]

Yokohama BJ Blues (1982)

Only after I finished watching Yokohama BJ Blues (1982) did I realise that the lead actor, Yusaku Matsuda, played the role of Sato the villain in the Michael Douglas action flick, Black Rain. I knew Matsuda was a Japanese movie star and was known for action films himself in the 1970s, and yet I just didn’t connect him […]

Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988)

The poster of Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988) makes me think of seeing it in video store magazines, or seeing it in VHS tape sales in the centre of a strip mall. Being a kid, scared of horror movies but kind of curious, and trying to understand the lore of “Michael Myers […]

Burial Ground (1981)

As an Italian zombie flick, Burial Ground (1981) spends a lot of time with decaying zombie faces in close-up, crud-strewn make-up with maggots wriggling around. I couldn’t help but wonder… did the make-up artist apply the maggots carefully with a tweezer, or did they just dump a bucket upside down the zombie’s head and see […]

Pale Blood (1990)

Somewhere between TV shows like Silk Stalkings and Forever Knight, there’s the direct-to-video horror thriller, Pale Blood (1990). A hang over of Miami Vice aesthetics employed in the service of arty genre trash. And yet, there’s a certain elegance here, thanks to the stoic presence of George Chakiris (from the original West Side Story) as […]