Nightmare Alley (1947)

All I really knew about Nightmare Alley (1947) was that it was a classic film noir, it’s currently being remade by Guillermo Del Toro and it’s another film I’d not seen that was covered in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2. That, and it had something to do with carny life. This is definitely a case […]

Redbelt (2008)

I love Redbelt (2008) in spite of myself. Writer-director David Mamet has a way with words, but despite all his pretensions, he’s in love with macho bullshit as any other blockbuster action type. The movie is set in the world of Mixed Martial Arts competitions and has an eclectic cast that mixes Mamet regulars like […]

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

I used to watch the Bruce Willis-Damon Wayans action flick, The Last Boy Scout (1991) repeatedly as a 15 year old, positioning it as a ‘gritty’ R 18+ rated alternative to Die Hard even though I was often rewatching a TV edit that whittled away all the F-words and excessive blood-letting. Over the successive decades, […]

Buzzard (2014)

Heavy metal music blaring and a freak out over a busted Nintendo power glove, this is the first scene of dark indie comedy, Buzzard (2014), one of the several collaborations between Michigan based director Joel Potrykus and star Joshua Burge. I loved their last film together from 2018, the surreal Relaxer, and I was keen […]

Curse Of The Demon (1957)

“It’s in the trees! It’s coming!” A familiar sample from the start of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds Of Love’. Where it’s taken from is the British horror movie, Curse Of The Demon (1957) also known as Night Of The Demon, another entry in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2 that I’d never seen. I remember seeing the […]