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Donald Sutherland has never been afraid to sully his reputation by appearing in genre films; perhaps because he rarely turns in a bad performance no matter what the context. And 1988's Apprentice to Murder is certainly nothing for him to be ashamed of. Based on a true story, Sutherland plays a "Pow Wow" doctor - or faith healer - whose skills fascinate a local teen (Chad Lowe) to the point where fantasy and reality become a bit confused for both of them. Director R. L. Thomas never event hints at the supernatural until mid-way through the movie, and then cloaks it under some choppy artistic ambiguity. Set in 1920's Pennsylvania, but shot in Norway with a keen eye for landscapes by frequent Kubrick collaborator Kelvin Pike, the film is a well-produced psychological drama rather than a horror film. All the actors - including Mia Sara of Ferris Bueller fame - perform exceptionally well, although the dramatic stakes never rise particularly high. When Sutherlan...

Based on author V.C. Andrews twisted take on the gothic fairy tale, this 1987 film adaptation - produced by Roger Corman's New Word Pictures - is curiously flat considering the subject matter. Imprisoned in the attic of their grandparents' country estate, four children (the product of an incestuous marriage) are kept out of site while their mother reasserts her place in high society. Louise Fletcher and Victoria Tennant lay it on thick as the abusive adults while Kristy Swanson (looking incredibly girl-next-door-cute) gets top billing among the tortured teens and tots. It's more than a bit shocking that Andrews' novel became such a rite of passage for the young adult crowd. The sexual trespasses are intentionally disturbing (the book features highly in Grady Hendrix's essential compendium of the era, Paperbacks from Hell ) and the movie, though rated PG-13, can't sugercoat them all, thankfully. Director Jeffrey Bloom's bigger sin is shooting the s...

TWO EVIL EYES: The stories of Edgar Allen Poe seem to lend themselves to modernization and adaptation more so than other classic authors of the supernatural. Likely because Poe’s work largely describes internalized horrors; grief, paranoia and psychosis that stem from demons within rather than demons without. Director George Romero had already proven the anthology format was still viable with the success of Creepshow (1982) so his collaboration with Dario Argento (a reunion of sorts after co-producing Dawn of the Dead) made sense, turning loose two genre filmmakers in a playground of the macabre. It’s obvious Argento was the more enthusiastic of the two. His take on The Black Cat includes several references to other Poe stories and is executed with the sort of visual verve the director hadn’t shown in years. Despite fan disdain, Romero’s adaptation of The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar is a worthwhile attempt, turning the screws on a gold digging wife (Adrienne Barbeau) as she consp...

Mental illness, besides being a trendy topic, is also a pretty touchy one. So using an emergency psychological facility as the setting for a supernatural thriller could very well have gone horribly wrong. But writer / director Billy Senese's The Dead Center treats it characters, both patients and staff, with a surprising amount of sensitivity while creating a palpable sense of impending interdimensional doom. Shane Carruth plays a therapist on the edge of his own nervous breakdown whose latest patient, a catatonic John Doe, also happens to be a carrier for some sort of soul sucking demon. This "mouth of death" claims a few victims on the ward, while a curious medical examiner puts together the clues that lead towards a climax of apocalyptic proportions. Since The Dead Center is an obscure indie, the apocalypse is definitely on a budget. But everything else about the movie is spot-on, especially the acting, which elevates the material to something much more inter...

A bio-melodrama with an emphasis on family squabbles over professional accomplishments, Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) is a first-and-foremost a showcase for James Cagney who uses his entire bag of tricks portraying make-up artist and silent actor extraordinaire Lon Chaney. Co-starring Dorothy Malone as the disinterested mother of Chaney's only child, the film takes quite a while to get around to the highlights of his legendary career, with a few reenacted snippets of Miracle Man and The Hunchback of Notre Dame . But Cagney is so compelling throughout that the personal struggles splashed onscreen - although often inaccurate - make for one heck of a life story. Arrow's brand-new restoration on Blu-ray is nothing short of jaw-dropping and extras include a spot-on commentary track from Tim Lucas, video appreciation by Kim Newman, image gallery and fully illustrated booklet.

If you're reading this then you already know nunsploitation is an actual thing, not some phony film genre dreamed up by precocious cinephiles. And director Giulio Berruti's Killer Nun (1979) is one of the more palatable entries in the sadomasochistic sub-category. Starring former pin-up Anita Ekberg (with a bit more baggage under her eyes...and everywhere else) as a mentally unstable, drug addicted, hot-to-trot physicians assistant who leaves a trail of dead bodies after her rounds on the psychiatric ward, the film steers into giallo territory with admirable results. Of course, there's still a good bit of sloppy sexual escapades, scandalously sacrilegious imagery and Joe D’Alessandro as a greasy MD, but the murderous set-pieces are surprisingly well done, set to a superb score by Alessandro Alessandroni. Arrow Video's Blu-ray special edition makes for the film's second appearance on hi-def (Blue Underground's version debuted in 2012). The transfer he...

Although built around an elaborate literary mythology - and even more convoluted series of TV and movie adaptations - the Ringu collection peaked with director Hideo Nakata's 1998 feature film of the same title. Ingeniously commenting on modern urban legends while incorporating classic Japanese ghost imagery, the film established the now predictable J-horror conventions (stringy-haired spirits, sparse visual style and a smattering of jump scares) and introduced a technological edge that made it all seem relevant. Investigating the unexplained death of four teens, journalist Reiko Asakawa uncovers a cursed videotape that kills viewers seven days after watching the images of a ghostly figure emerging from an old well. That figure turns out to be Sadako, daughter of a discredited psychic, whose rage at her murder transcends death and is transmitted like an electronic virus. Reiko, aided by her ex-husband, Takayama, whose own psychic abilities come in handy, attempt to break the...