Movieline Online

The  Cult of Fulci  most often focuses on the director’s horror output, which peaked in the early ‘80s with titles like  Zombie  and  City of the Living Dead .  But wedged in between those two titles was his sole entry in the  poliiziotteschi  genre,  Contraband  (1980), a scattershot crime movie that delivers the same amount of gore in a different cinematic package. Luca (played by all-purpose Italian hunk Fabio Testi) is a reticent smuggler torn between loyalty to his brother, Enrico, and his wife and young child.  But when Enrico is assassinated, Luca risks everything to get revenge, going head-to-head against a ruthless drug dealer who plans to take over the entire Naples smuggling operation.  Once the power struggle attracts the attention of the “old guard”, the city is soon littered with corpses who each meet their end in gruesome detail.   Although it eschews the supernatural for a  Godfather / F...

The legal system doesn’t come up against the supernatural too often.  Outside of the latest  Conjuring  entry, which was based on the real-life case of Arne Johnson, the two genres rarely cross paths.  But Frank De Felitta’s novel  Audrey Rose  (and his follow-up  The Entity ) went out on a limb to challenge that spirituality can be proven in a court of law…or a least pose enough doubt to earn a hefty settlement.  The 1977 film however barely creeps out of the long shadow cast by  The Exorcist. Janice and Bill Templeton’s enviable Park Avenue lifestyle is rudely interrupted by their daughter Ivy’s violent nightmares.  Doctors and psychiatrists can provide no explanation; but Elliot Hoover can.  He claims that Ivy is the reincarnation of his daughter, who died in a fiery car crash, and insists he be allowed to play a part in her life.  The Templeton’s, particularly Bill, suspect some sort of shakedo...

Absurdism is comedy’s red-headed step-child.  It doesn’t take quite as much skill to pull off and often passes for a clever sort of satire…even if its target isn’t quite clear.  Director Wes Anderson has made an entire career out of keeping audiences guessing, buoyed by incredible set design and big-name actors.  Quentin Dupieux, on the other hand, doesn’t have a fraction of the resources, but comes up with something far more effective in  Incredible but True  (1922), a 74-minute spoof of our cultural obsession for eternal youth that plumbs surprising emotional depths.  Alain and Marie, a late middle-aged couple, have finally purchased their first home.  Besides a large master bath and stunning deck, the property has one unique selling point: a manhole-sized opening in the basement that transports you 12 hours in the future…and reverses your age by three days.  Marie quickly becomes obsessed, spending most of her life in a...

Ken Russell’s  The Devils  (1971) is a bombastic attack on the senses.  It’s also a genuine cinematic masterpiece.  But its subject matter of sex, torture and corruption within the Catholic Church was too much for  any  studio to handle at the time, leaving the film essentially orphaned after an aborted UK and US release, so much so that’s it’s damn near impossible to see  anywhere  outside of a few screenings on Shudder from time to time.  But the seedier side of Russell’s film was a roadmap for exploitation filmmakers to follow, resulting in the creation of an entire subgenre –  nunsploitation -  where sins of the flesh suggestively covered up in a black and white habit. The Nun and the Devil  (1973) is far more reserved than some other entries, reinforcing Russell’s theme of sexual repression with flashes of forbidden hetero and lesbian escapades while a power struggle tears the Saint Arcangelo Convent ap...

As an example of macho escapism, nothing beats a prison movie.  Except a  futuristic  prison movie!   Escape from New York ,  Fortress ,  Alien 3 , heck, even Vin Diesel broke out of a doozy in  The Chronicles of Riddick .  But for some reason  No Escape  (1994) fell behind the cinematic couch cushions.  Barely even mentioned after the recent unexpected passing of star Ray Liotta, the film ranks right up there as an action-packed vision of our privatized, militarized justice system gone wrong. After murdering his superior in cold blood, Robbins (Liotta) is shipped off to Absalom, a self-sufficient island with a warring population of prisoners:  the savage Outsiders and peace-loving Insiders.  Not anxious to take orders from  either  camp, Robbins eventually proves his worth to the Insiders’ spiritual leader  (Lance Henriksen) and makes a deal that will earn him a seat on th...

A direct-to-video horror-comedy that feel between the cracks of the Blockbuster era and streaming explosion,  Satan’s Little Helper  (2004) is an offbeat, sometimes sloppy, but never boring take on the Halloween masked killer scenario.  Director Jeff Lieberman gives it a seat-of-your-pants slasher vibe that mixes dark humor and childhood nostalgia for a truly unique bit of B-movie magic. 8-year-old Douglas Whooly has a hard time separating video game violence from the real thing; so much so that he mistakes a masked serial killer for Satan himself, offering to help his “master” complete his nightly chores.  But when Dougie’s new friend seems to be targeting his own family, the fun and games turn deadly, putting his mom and sister in danger of winding up like a pair of smashed pumpkins!   Shot on video in the early days of the digital revolution,  Satan’s Little Helper  feels decidedly low-rent for the first 30 minutes or so.  But wh...

Although we tend to assume the high-concept romantic comedy was a particularly unflattering invention of the ‘90s, the formula was utilized much earlier – and much better – throughout film history.  Whether it’s  Bringing up Baby  or  Notting Hill , there’s an art to doing the  meet-cute  correctly.  And director Just Jaeckin, known mostly for kickstarting the erotic film renaissance with  Emmanuelle , gets it just right with 1978’s  The Last Romantic Lover . A hypersexualized feminist with a fear of commitment, Elisabeth stages a controversial magazine contest in which men are judged on their physique, manners, kissing and…uh, size.  Pierre, a lion tamer, is convinced to enter against his will by his fellow circus performers who hope to use the prize money to keep their show afloat.  But when the big prize winds up being a ten-day vacation with the woman of your choice, Pierre chooses Elisabeth, dragging her bac...