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1994’s Bandit Queen is a punishing film. But it’s also a beautiful one. Which perhaps metaphorically explains the persistence of its main character, Phoolan Devi, whose life seems to be made up of one on torture after another, interrupted by only the briefest moments of joy. According to director Shekhar Kapur’s film, it’s a life many Indian women born into lower castes are forced to endure thanks to religious and social mores that equate the female gender on the same level as dogs and livestock. Based on the book India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi , the movie doesn’t shy away from the graphic rapes, beatings and emotional scars, beginning with her forced marriage at the age of 11 to a 30-year-old man. Raped just days after her wedding, Phoolan flees from household, which marks her as a lower class whore into early adulthood by the higher-caste Thakurs. Exiled from her village, Phoolan crosses paths with a group of bandits living in the countryside. Rescued...

Arrow Video USA is making quite a statement with its first four titles released in North America. The company has a well-established reputation for delivering exquisite collector’s editions of cult and classic titles alike in European markets. But here in the States they’re competing with a number of niche entities with loyal fans of their own like Blue Underground, Shout Factory and Twilight Time. So, just like the first day of school, first impressions are important. And films like Massacre Gun , a Japanese noir-gangster entry from 1967, prove that the company isn’t going to succumb to peer pressure. Starring Jo Shishido ( Branded to Kill ) as weary middle-management gangster Ryuichi Kuroda, he begins the film by murdering the woman he loves. Although Kuroda pulled the trigger, he was following the orders of his boss, Akazawa. Things reach the breaking point when Kuroda’s brother, a boxer, has his hands crippled for speaking out, ruining his career. Push finally comes to shov...

Even though the company was struggling to remain relevant in the late ‘60s, Hammer Films still cast a long shadow upon the British film industry, particularly when it came to horror and exploitation features. Witchfinder General , produced by rival studio Tigon, made a splash in 1968 by pursuing a more adult audience and taking a less fanciful approach to its gruesome material. Mark of the Devil , shot in ’69 but unreleased until 1973 due to its graphic content, extrapolated all this to its most extreme – and extremely well marketed – conclusion. Shot in Austria by writer / director Michael Armstrong, who was pushed off the picture by producer Adrian Hoven, there actually is a plot amongst all the torture, rape, stabbing, flaying and stake burning…but it’s certainly not what earned the film its cult reputation. Mark of the Devil is a movie that knows exactly what its purpose is: to shock. And it still does that quite well 45 years later. Charged with cleaning house after the...

Rarely would a true cineaste ever listen to a commentary track before watching the film itself. But that’s something to consider when it comes to Blind Woman’s Curse , a Yakuza / samurai / ghost story that is so unconventional is helps to actually have someone describe what you’re watching! Director Teruo Ishii was one of the premiere film stylists of Japanese exploitation, often focusing on the macabre, grotesque and flat-out bizarre aspects of otherwise predictable genres. Case in point, this period yakuza release from 1970 which goes off the narrative deep end compared to similar action releases from the era, but does give star Meiko Kagi a dry-run as a tight-lipped professional killer, a role she would perfect in the Lady Snowblood and Female Convict Scorpion series a few short years later. Here she plays Akemi Tachibana, respected head of the Tachibana gang, fending off a pair of rivals encroaching on her family’s traditional turf. But even more troubling than that is her...

There are literally hundreds of Italian westerns still waiting for release on any home video format; most of them copycat productions that haven’t aged quite as well as the films of Leone, Corbucci and Sollima (the unofficial “holy trinity” of the Spaghetti Western genre). So one must approach any new title with a certain amount of trepidation, relying on the taste of cult film labels to pick the cream of the remaining crop. And Arrow Video USA nailed it right out of the gate with their first North American Blu-ray debut, Day of Anger (1967). Directed by Tonino Valerii, Leone’s early assistant director and co -director on 1973’s My Name is Nobody , the film falls into the “tutorship variation” narrative, with Lee Van Cleef as aging quickdraw artist Frank Talby who arrives in the small town of Clifton looking for a place to retire in comfort. But men like Talby aren’t able to hang up their guns easily, so he trains a lowly street sweeper, Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma) to be his righ...

With the wealth of biographical attention lavished on Roger Corman over the past decade, it’s become obvious that his “do-more-with-less” approach to filmmaking is based less on circumstances than genetics. Even when blessed with the largest budget of his career and an entire back lot at his disposal, rumor has it Corman brought in his major studio debut – The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) – under budget and days ahead of schedule. Old habits die hard…just like the unlucky victims in this recreation of the most infamous event of the gangster era. Using old photos and historical documents as a guide, Corman went out of his way to make the film as accurate as possible, even using a Paul Frees voice-over to introduce each major player as they pop up. While the effort is admirable – and miles away from the director’s usual exploitation story structure – it’s also needlessly complicated. So much so that it’s difficult to keep up with cast of characters since the script seems to g...

Although modern scientists surely have a clear picture of what’s going on in the center of the Earth, layer by meticulous layer, I bet none of them accounted for fire-breathing toads or telepathic birdmen. So until proven otherwise, I suppose there’s still a chance that Pellucidar, the cavernous kingdom created by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs, is still waiting to be discovered. This 1976 film adaptation, At The Earth’s Core , (1976) was pretty juvenile stuff at the time of its release…and remains so today, thank goodness. Full of floppy rubber monsters, mushrooms the size of skyscrapers and cave girls who speak perfect English, director Kevin Connor was an old hand at this sort of escapist matinee fare, having already produced the similar Land Time Forgot and People Time Forgot . But the psychedelic color scheme and creative set design gives Earth’s Core a retina-searing edge over its competition. On a trial run of their new drilling machine, Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushi...

Movie stars are an endangered species. Especially those of the female persuasion, whose careers are often – unfairly – limited to how long they can remain visually appealing. And the brightest stars burn out the fastest. Case in point, Barbara Steele, the darkly luminous queen of Italian Gothic horror whose debut in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday led to a string of similar starring roles, including the latest to debut on Blu-ray: The Long Hair of Death (1964). Cast in dual roles once again, Steele plays the daughter of woman falsely accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake by command of a morally corrupt royal family. Despite trading her body for her mother’s life, both women are murdered, leaving a younger sister, Lisabeth as the family’s sole survivor. Years later, Lisabeth is forced to marry the very man responsible for her situation, Baron Kurt Humboldt, a spoiled, lustful thug who drags her to the altar. But supernatural forces tip the scales of justice as a mystery wom...

The horror genre demands a constant influx of new blood. From writers, directors, cast and special effects crew, the genre is a springboard to bigger and better things. But, like working at McDonalds, no one is really expected to make a career out of it. So you have to give those continue to stay scary by choice a bit of grudging respect…if might be the last they ever get. Director Brett Simmons had momentum on his side after turning his short film Husk into a feature in 2011, debuting as part of the AfterDark Film HorrorFest. His fast-paced, slick story about killer scarecrows made an impact with fans and proved he had a talent for making the familiar frightening. Three years and two films later, Simmons is still working in familiar territory with Animal (2014), an old-fashioned body count monster movie, but has a more difficult time upping the fear factor. Alissa (Keke Palmer) and her closest pals hike to their secret family campground but lose track of the trail and wind u...

A project that grew out of his lengthy interviews with Alfred Hitchcock (published in book form in 1967), director Francois Truffaut subjugates his more artistic tendencies in The Bride Wore Black (1968), a hypnotic revenge story that incorporates many of Hitch’s trademark cinematic tricks and is even set to a matching Bernard Hermann score. But the end result is more than a sycophantic homage; it’s an in vitro thriller that plays to the cheap seats and art crowds alike. With no preamble, the story introduces us to Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) as she murders the first of her five planned victims: Bliss, a self-confessed playboy who she shoves off a balcony during his own engagement party. Coral, a failed romantic, Morane, a callous politician, Delvaux, a common criminal, and Fergus, an arrogant artist are all next on her list of targets. The reason for Julie’s mercilessly methodical act of retribution springs from the tragic death of her husband on their wedding day, shot dead on ...

You’ve got classic auteurs like Bergman, Truffaut and Ford. Modern guys like Kubrick, Scorsese and Coppola. Even the quirky independent minded fellas like Cronenberg, Lynch, and Wes Andersen. But what the hell do you do with someone like Larry Cohen? Here’s a guy who arguably has put up just as impressive a body of work, but gets none of the credit. Laboring on genre pictures like blaxsploitation, shoot-em-ups, and monster-on-the-loose flicks, just to name a few, that garner little or no respect from mainstream critics. While the big names walk away with all the awards, Larry Cohen’s work is more subversive, changing the genre from within, adding a twist where another director would walk a straight line. And God Told Me To might just be the perfect example of what his unique style of guerilla filmmaking is capable of; a high-concept story of gods, demons, and extraterrestrials that most filmmakers with triple the budget would be wary of attempting. As the film beings, NYC is under sieg...

Everyone loves an underdog…especially the Academy Awards. And Breaking Away (1979), the story of a tight-knit group of Bloomington, Indiana townies who go toe-to-toe against a well-trained team of frat boy bicyclists, is a perfect companion piece to Rocky , which won Best Picture just three years earlier. So even if the film’s five nominations weren’t exactly unprecedented (it took home only Best Original Screenplay), director Peter Yates’ production still feels like a breed apart from all the sports films that came before and after. Obsessed with all things Italian, Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher) dreams of racing at the highest level, despite his “son of a stone-cutter” background in an economically depressed small-town. He and his other “Cutter” buddies (including Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) face an aimless future after high school, a fact that the local college jocks are only too keen to rub in their faces. But Dave’s remarkable racing ability gives ...

Between the 4th and 5th installments of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Robert “Freddy” Englund wound up scoring the role of his dreams. Pitched as a modern horror update to the classic Gaston Leroux novel, The Phantom of the Opera (1989) was filmed on recycled sets with a rushed schedule that took advantage of the then-popular Budapest tax breaks. Bookended with a pair of modern-day scenes, but mostly working within a period setting interrupted with flashes of gore straight out of the slasher genre, the film vacillates between a classy Hammer Films-style and Fangoria extremism. What should have been a complete disaster – and was a box-office dud – wound up as a vibrant and vicious retelling of an oft-repeated story. Lifting elements from the source novel, direct film adaptations and De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise , director Dwight Little ( Halloween 4 ) gives the film an unexpected bump in quality right out of the gate and isn’t afraid to emphasize the more artistic...

I imagine every filmmaker also considers themselves a movie fan . But when they succumb to the temptation to make a movie about the movies, things can get dicey. Tarantino, for example, seems to have lost himself in self-reflexive homages whose only function is to validate his inspirations. Meanwhile, back in 1985, Woody Allen took a right turn into pure fantasy with The Purple Rose of Cairo , a tender yet tragic story of the golden age of cinema brought to life…quite literally. Living hand-to-mouth during the Depression, Cecilia (Mia Farrow) finds escape from the drudgery of a boring job and a bad marriage at the local movie theater, which projects exciting, romantic and heroic exploits that provide a sort of temporary amnesia. One evening during her third or fourth screening of The Purple Rose of Cairo , starring charming up-and-comer Gil Shepherd (Jeff Daniels), the character he plays, Tom Baxter, steps right out of the screen and sweeps her off her feet. Multiple repercussio...

Much like its main character, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) is deceptively dangerous. With a title and setting that suggests an inspirational ode to the wonders of a private school education, director Ronald Neame’s film (adapted from the novel by Muriel Spark) is instead a frightening profile of a woman whose abuse of power and politics in the classroom is a corrupting influence on all those around her. All the more shocking is the culprit behind this scandalous state-of-affairs: one Maggie Smith, currently the Dowager Countess of Grantham on Downton Abbey . Once the viewer adapts to the idea of Smith as the haughty, desirable Jean Brodie, a well-traveled connoisseur of the arts who passes on her love of culture to her students often at the expense of other academic pursuits, the story becomes a tragedy in the making…but exactly whose tragedy is the real question. Brodie, as a character, is a fascinating mix of contradictions, professing her commitment to her students wi...

Although its purpose for most is pure entertainment, cinema can make a most persuasive argument when called upon to do so. Case in point, Stanley Kramer’s 1960 film production of Inherit the Wind , based on the successful play which in turn was based on the highly publicized Scopes “Monkey” Trial of 1925 in which a Tennessee teacher was charged with breaking the law by introducing the concept of evolution to students in his classroom. The resulting media circus made headlines from coast to coast as the “backward” beliefs of the Bible belt were presented in 30-point font for all the world to see. Kramer’s film is decidedly biased (as was most of the country then and now) towards Darwin’s theory of man’s evolution from our slouching ape-like ancestors. Creationism - the idea that God planted humankind on Earth fully formed - is a hard pill to swallow. But Inherit the Wind wisely tackles an even bigger issue: a man’s right to think, to innovate, to argue, to disagree and, most impo...

Oliver Stone might very well have the most impressive string of films produced over the course of 10 years in the history of cinema. Starting in 1986 with Salvador and Platoon (released amazingly enough in the same year) all the way up to Natural Born Killers in 1994, the man could do no wrong. It was as if God had granted him a certain amount of time get his message across and the director was damn well going to make the most of it. Transitioning from standard Hollywood storytelling to an MTV shorthand that kept him one step ahead of his contemporaries, Stone only had one real dud in the whole decade: the third film of his Vietnam trilogy, Heaven & Earth (1993). Based on the memoirs of Le Ly Haslip, her story begins in an idyllic Vietnamese village that is quickly ravaged by the horrors of war. Caught between the seemingly patriotic ideals of the Viet Cong and the influx of American soldiers, her family is torn apart and forced to survive however they can. Le Ly (Hiep T...

The recent passing of director Mike Nichols heralded a celebration of his work, starting with his Oscar winning counter-culture hit The Graduate through his two-dozen odd credits on Broadway. Much deserved compliments abounded, not the least of which was the rather obvious statement, “the man knew how to make a hit.” Surprisingly, The Fortune (1975) wasn’t one of them. Starring the hottest properties in Hollywood (Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty) and a behind the scenes crew responsible for some of the ‘70s most celebrated films, the film nevertheless sank into the sort of obscurity even basic cable didn’t have the heart to recycle. In an effort to dodge the Mann Act of 1910 which prohibited transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral” purposes, Nicky (Beatty), a married man, convinces a naïve heiress, Freddie (Stockard Channing), to marry his partner-in-crime, Oscar (Nicholson), and run away as a threesome to California. While patiently working on his divorce, Nicky ...

Cinematic failures always seem to draw attention. There’s the catastrophic sort; the big budget, high profile vanity project that audiences slow down and gawk at like a freeway accident. And then there’s the quiet sort like Supernova (2000) that are released almost as an afterthought, flagged for failure by a studio just mitigating its losses. Responding to a deep space distress signal, a medical rescue team is met by a single survivor, a suspicious treasure hunter ( Twilight ’s Peter Facinelli) who brings a glowing inter-dimensional relic onboard that bestows youth and super strength on whoever comes in contact. As acting Captain, Nick Vanzant (James Spader) must rally his crew (including medical officer Angela Bassett) to dispose of the intruder and his device before they’re all sucked into the gravitational pull of a giant sun. Directed by Walter Hill ( The Warriors ) who shepherded the Alien franchise as a producer, Supernova works from a remarkably similar story…or maybe n...

If you don’t mind a quick digression, let’s take moment to lament the lost art of liner notes. While the ‘70s graced us with beautiful album covers often accompanied by informative introductions and anecdotes, the death of vinyl all but killed the written word when it came to music. Home video never even had glory days to wax nostalgic about, unless you count a few deluxe laserdisc titles. But niche DVD labels like Criterion and the short-lived NoShame resurrected the practice of including well-researched, entertaining essays that served as a gateway to the often outré material contained within. What’s the point, you ask? I’m paying to watch a movie, not read some chump’ s opinions . True, but chances are if you’re buying something like Slaughter Hotel or Werewolf Woman you’d likely appreciate the camaraderie of a fellow fan…not to mention a little back story on the production, which Raro Video’s new Blu-ray releases do quite well thanks to liner notes by Fangoria’s Chris Alex...

When a director’s name is used as an adjective it’s safe to assume they’ve reached the peak of cinematic immortality. Kubrickian, Spielbergian, Hitchcockian: one-word descriptions that provide a general feel for the work or its influences. While Otto Preminger never achieved such elevated status, he cultivated his reputation as a taboo-challenging director whose films were worthy of critical acclaim and big box-office returns, much like Hitchcock who seems to be the major inspiration behind Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), a progressively engaging mystery which used the same “no one admitted while the clock is ticking” gimmick as Psycho …as well as an inventive title sequence by Saul Bass. After dropping off her four-year-old daughter at a new school that morning, Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) returns for pick-up only to find her child, nicknamed Bunny, is missing. But not only is Bunny gone, the staff claims to have no knowledge of her whatsoever. The London police launch an investigat...

You don’t have to be a film critic to recognize the common elements in Terry Gilliam’s work. Beginning with his contributions to Monty Python and the Holy Grail , the director always seemed to gravitate to the more ridiculous aspects of our society. For Gilliam you’re either swallowed by the industrial machine or in a constant state of revolt against the same. Neither option seems to be a good theme for a kids’ film, which, based strictly on circumstantial evidence, Time Bandits in generally agreed to be. Gilliam’s second solo feature film is often disturbing, complex and mean-spirited. But it’s just as often hilarious, goofy and unarguably clever. All the ingredients are there for a fracturing of the classic fairy tale: seven dwarfs, magical maps, kings, queens, giants and ogres. But unlike Shrek , which simply littered its story with pop-culturisms for shock effect, Time Bandits goes much deeper down the theological rabbit hole. Kevin (Craig Warnock) is a curious kid who g...

Evil Dead 2 might just have been the most influential movie of its generation. Sam Raimi’s visually tricked-out action-horror spoof contained more imagination than all the other movies released in 1987 combined. And his anything-goes approach inspired a legion of up-and-coming directors who lifted bit and pieces but could never quite equal its inspired lunacy (except for perhaps Peter Jackson who shared the same sense of humor but with more blood and guts). While Raimi’s style has gone mainstream there are still a few aspiring auteurs of the grotesque looking to one-up the original. Norwegian writer/director Tommy Wirkola scored some cult acclaim with his 2009 Nazi zombie flick Dead Snow that stood out in a crowd of undead cash-grabs. Funny, energetic and unapologetically gory, the film became a word-of-mouth hit in the horror community and landed Wirkola a chance at the big time with 2013’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters . With a worldwide gross of over $200 million, the d...

Prison movies seem to strike a communal nerve, as if we were all pleasurably whacked on the knee by a tender old physician. Which is odd considering the genre itself is so uncinematic , playing out behind iron bars, brick walls and razor wire that limit our sense of scale and movement. But inherent is almost every screenplay in that longing for freedom - both physical and spiritual - that excuses a somewhat philosophical approach to what should be a soul-crushing scenario. This resonates quite clearly in 1962’s Birdman of Alcatraz , starring Burt Lancaster as the real-life (if somewhat sanitized) prisoner Robert Stroud, a convicted killer who experiences an unlikely transformation while serving his life sentence. Entering Leavenworth prison as an angry, unrepentant sociopath, Stroud runs afoul of the warden (Karl Malden) who promises to add whatever new punishment the law allows after Stroud murders a guard. But as the years slip by, Stroud begins to soften thanks to his adopted p...

Screenwriter Lem Dobbs sums up the significance of Elvis’ performance in Flaming Star (1960) quite succinctly as “the path not taken.” Rather than coast by on his good looks and a rousing theme song, Presley was determined to change the course of his acting career in this his first movie role after returning from the Army. Playing the “half-breed” younger son in a frontier family, the character of Pacer Burton afforded him the opportunity to actually emote alongside his fellow actors rather than just shake his hips. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the sort of performance audience’s had in mind for the King of Rock n’ Roll. Directed by Don Siegel, one of the few noteworthy directors Presley ever worked with, Flaming Star deals with the uncomfortable issue of racism packaged in a comfortable western format. The Burton family’s idyllic Texas range life is torn apart when a savage attack by a Kiowa Indian tribe upon their neighbors stirs up bad blood. Pacer and his full-blooded Kiowa mot...

Call it bad luck, bad karma or just bad timing; some folks never get the credit they deserve. Arch Oboler began his career with a breakout success on the 1936 radio program Lights Out , a weekly horror play that aired on NBC at midnight which allowed for much more edgy content. Oboler parlayed that success into a career in Hollywood and hit the jackpot again in 1952 with Bwana Devil , the first color 3D film that unleashed a tidal wave of imitators. But these accomplishments never made Oboler a household name, despite the fact that many of those inspired by his ideas and innovations (Rod Serling and Stephen King among them) did just that. Perhaps because Oboler, although quick to spot a trend, never took full advantage of the film medium. 1966’s The Bubble is a perfect example, shot with a new 3D technology that allowed for much simpler filmmaking techniques (and set the standard for every 3D film for the next 30 years), but burdened with a storyline that is a poor match for the ...

The Vanishing (1993) was blasted right out of the gate for simply attempting to replicate the eerie appeal of the original 1988 Dutch version, even though both films were directed by the same man, George Sluizer, who restages the story with a big-name cast, one major new character and a Hollywood ending that had critics crying foul. With a couple of decades of perspective, one can afford to be a bit more unbiased. And the truth is, the American version isn’t just bad by comparison, it’s bad all by itself. After a lover’s spat, Jeff (Kiefer Sutherland) and Rita (Sandra Bullock) pull in to a busy truck stop to refuel for their road trip. Rita, however, never comes back to the car. Years later, Jeff is still racked with guilt about her disappearance and obsessed with getting closure. His loyalty (and haggard appearance) wins the sympathy of a pretty waitress, Rita (Nancy Travis), who soon becomes his first follow-up relationship. Meanwhile, the film introduces us to Barney Cousin...

After debuting Demons and Demons 2 on Blu-ray in an exclusive steelbook format, Synapse Films has released a slightly less collectible but equally spectacular looking pair of stand-alone editions that epitomize the gonzo ‘80s Italian horror aesthetic. Produced by Dario Argento ( Suspiria ) and directed by Lamberto Bava (son of Mario), you won’t find a more silly, sick and visually slick double feature of Euro-splatter anywhere! Just don’t expect it to make any sense. At this point in his career Argento had drifted into a pattern of disconnected imagery tied with the loosest of narrative threads, designed more like Fangoria photoplays than linear stories. And apparently he developed Demons and its sequel along the same lines, packaging both films with a prefabricated heavy metal soundtrack built around some outstanding make-up effects by Sergio Stivaletti. There’s a screenplay in here somewhere, but it’s practically non-essential. Demons begins with a disfigured servant of Sa...

Shock Waves has been lying undiscovered in the cult movie ocean for decades, much like the undead Nazi soldiers in the film itself. Even Blue Underground’s original 2003 release on DVD didn’t generate the sort of attention the film deserved for creating a fever-dream atmosphere quite unlike any zombie film before or since. But with zombies still firmly in command of our movies, TV and video games, director Ken Wiederhorn’s prune-faced corpses are rising from the depths in a brand-new Blu-ray edition that’s destined to win over new fans. Shipwrecked on a small island off the Florida Keys, a group of tour boat passengers and her crew search for shelter in an abandoned hotel only to be greeted by a former German SS commander (Peter Cushing) who tries to scare them off. His warning, however, comes too late as some sort of natural disaster has awoken his troop of super soldiers just offshore. Now these unstoppable killing machines are stalking everyone on the island, intent on draggi...

In the ‘80s movies were bit like top-40 radio, you got a little of everything. Oscar bait such as Gandhi and Out of Africa existed in a comfortable box-office balance with escapist summer fare like Return of the Jedi …much the same way Casey Kasem could play Lionel Richie and Men At Work back to back without missing a beat. But even in this glorious melting pot of an environment, a film like Under Fire was probably out of touch with what audience’s were willing to pay for. With CNN broadcasting about the chaos and corruption in Central America 24 hours a day, the story of a trio of journalists caught up in those same explosions and petty politics probably felt more like “bad news” than a good time at the movies. In the film’s defense, Under Fire does a fine job of making the situation understandable and personal . Nick Nolte, whose disheveled-look was working in his favor here, plays Russell Price, a hardcore news photographer who specializes in getting the shots no one else ...

Satan worshippers have been a literary and cinematic standby for ages. But in the real world could all those demonic conspiracies really operate undiscovered? Think about it; if the finale of Breaking Bad can’t be kept on the down low for 24 hours, what chance does Lucifer have of quietly conquering the world?! Which just goes to show that one’s suspension of disbelief is severely put to the test in The Believers (1987), starring Martin Sheen as a police therapist whose family is targeted by a rogue cult with connections reaching into some of the highest levels of corporate America. Mark Frost’s script – based on a novel by Nicholas Conde – makes no bones about his condemnation of the rich and powerful, characterizing the lot as ruthless elitists willing to exchange their first born for a golden ticket to the 1% club. It’s a timely criticism (then and now ) exaggerated to almost comic effect. But it’s also a predictable one that never colors outside the lines, despite having a...

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Jennifer (1978) is practically drooling over Brian De Palma’s Carrie . The details are tweaked just enough to avoid a lawsuit, but the story follows the same general trajectory: mousy outsider is teased relentlessly by a gang of mean girls at an elite prep school until a psychic powered rampage evens the score. Only this time, the telekinetic connection is between a girl and her snakes ! Despite the copycat plot, Jennifer works remarkably well until the big finale. Actress Lisa Pelikan has the same sort of timid appeal as Sissy Spacek (and even manages a Southern accent) while the cast of bullies, led by Amy Johnston, is wonderfully despicable. There’s a reason so many films rely on the tortures of high school social status: because no matter how ridiculous the hazing gets, it’s still sickeningly believable. There’s no pig’s blood here, but Jennifer suffers from plenty of nasty frame-ups, dead pets and even nude photos of her...