Paul is the man behind the sensational Psychotronic Netflix Facebook group. Go there, like it and watch as the great Netflix Streaming film recs start rolling in!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Psychotronic-Netflix/133663886682843
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Psychotronic-Netflix/133663886682843
Here's his 2013 Film Discoveries list:
http://www.rupertpupkinspeaks.com/2014/01/favorite-film-discoveries-of-2013-paul.html
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The Glass Cage (1964)
The death of actress Arlene Martel caused me to Antonio
Santean's crime thriller, one of her sole starring roles, in which she plays a
pair of twin sisters involved in a murder plot. More than just a great showcase for Martel's talents (the
sisters are, of course, diametric opposites), THE GLASS CAGE manages an odd,
hypnotic tone halfway between BLAST OF SILENCE and DAUGHTER OF HORROR, a
dreamlike nature that the film's low-budget origins only help. It's an impressively lurid tale that
certainly deserves more than the obscurity it currently has, and King Moody
steals the show as a deranged artist who finds his affections unwanted.
I'm not quite sure why I dismissed Joseph Kahn's DETENTION
so easily when it was released a few years back -- maybe because it's from a
director mostly known for music videos and TORQUE or due to the only big name
actor in the film being Dane Cook.
In any case, I'm glad I caught up with it, as it's a wild, genre-bending
high school adrenaline rush in the best of ways, and the fact that the film is
misdescribed as a tale of a vengeful prom queen may work to its advantage, as
there's no way to properly explain the relentlessly bizarre happenings that the
film actually entails. Just sit
back and enjoy the ride -- you'll be able to judge within the first minute if
the breakneck pace is your speed or not.
The Eurocrime films of the '70s have always been
intimidating to me, mostly because I'm never quite sure where to start. Duccio Tessari's DEATH OCCURRED LAST
NIGHT, released this year on Blu-ray from Raro, is a fine example of the
poliziotteschi at its most lurid, a story of a young, mentally-challenged, sexually
ravenous girl who vanishes and the father who wants her back. DEATH presents an impressive slight of
hand in its storytelling, as while the central character is the detective
investigating the case, it's Raf Vallone's distressed father that makes the
film so compelling. It's a grim, soul-sucking work in the best of ways, even if
the bizarrely upbeat score tends to undermine the tone.
I've spent this year looking at the films made for the USA
Network during the '80s and '90s, and have grown a new respect for the constricting
format of the made-for-TV film.
One of the most pleasant surprises was 1990's BURIED ALIVE, directed by
future A-lister Frank Darabont, a surprisingly shocking and grim neo-noir about
a love triangle to which the titular event is just the beginning. Making great use of its performers at
their best (Tim Matheson as a nice guy pushed too far, Jennifer Jason Leigh as
a duplicitous-yet-confused housewife and William Atherton as a total sociopath)
and featuring some genuinely claustrophobic moments, BURIED ALIVE is the type
of slow boil thriller that deserves a much greater reputation than its boob
tube origins suggests.
In 1979, Walter Hill's THE WARRIORS made Coney Island-based
street gangs seem exciting, but Stephen Verona's BOARDWALK, released the same
year, shows them as symptoms of a changing environment, as an elderly Jewish
couple (Lee Strasberg and Ruth Gordon) is forced to deal with the fact that the
neighborhood they've lived in for decades is no longer the one they're comfortable
in. A heartbreaking tale of
cultural change, BOARDWALK examines issues of race, religion and urban decay
with care, thanks to a solid script and excellent performances. The poster art, for some reason, sells
the film as a comedy about old people doing zany things, which may account for
the film's unfortunate dismissal.
2 comments:
The wrong poster for Buried Alive. That poster's from the 1990 Harry Alan Towers Pleasence-Vaughn-Ginger Lynnn slasher.
@George white: I beg to differ Mr. White. The poster/box has the right actors names and credits printed on it. Not that a mistake like you are posing couldn't happen but, I also recognize Tim Matheson in the pic- so , that would be a difficult mistake to make!
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