THREE STARS

BEYOND THE GAZE: JULE CAMPBELL’S SWIMSUIT ISSUE

Capsules Blog, Corporate Corruption, Documentary, Photography, sex, Sexploitation, THREE STARS, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema

June 27, 2025

Welcome! Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. Punk heart still beating. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda…

EYES OF LAURA MARS — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Giallo, Hollywood, Horror, LGBTQ, Serial Killer, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS, Women's Cinema

August 4, 2024

“Eyes of Laura Mars” is a classic Hollywood movie, and a great guilty pleasure. This movie could just be your…

THE TROUT

Capsules Blog, French Cinema, LGBTQ, THREE STARS, Transgressive Cinema, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

August 3, 2024

Welcome! Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.…

GHOST SHIP — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Horror, Podcast, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS

October 29, 2023

While Ghost Ship may not provide much more than a series of cursory scary moments over its 88-minute length, the movie’s over-the-top…

THE NINTH GATE — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Cult Film, Horror, Literary Adaptation, Religion, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS, Women's Cinema

October 28, 2023

Pauline Kael said that “great movies are rarely perfect movies,” and this truism certainly applies to The Ninth Gate. Actress…

SEVERENCE — SHOCKTOBER!

British Cinema, Cannes Film Festival, Capsules Blog, Corporate Corruption, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS

October 24, 2023

“Severance” is just enough of an exploitation satire (think, Roger Corman in his heyday) to hold your interest beyond its…

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 — SHOCKTOBER!

BDSM, Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Cult Film, Dutch Cinema, Horror, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS, Transgressive Cinema

October 20, 2023

Will this movie give nightmares to more than a few of the audiences who manage to last through it? You…

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Horror, Re-boot, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 19, 2023

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is a nuanced horror movie modulated to incur just the right quality of nightmare.…

BURKE & HARE — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, British Gangster, Capsules Blog, Horror, sex, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 19, 2023

John Landis’s loving homage to the Vaudeville and Grand Guignol-based humor of Britain’s Ealing Studios is a retrofitted black comedy…

FINAL DESTINATION 5 — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Franchise, Horror, sex, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS, Transgressive Cinema, Women's Cinema

October 19, 2023

The “Final Destination” franchise settles into its comfortable shock horror rhythm in this latest outing. Notable is the film’s proficient…

TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Horror, Independent Cinema, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS, Women's Cinema

October 19, 2023

Co-writer/director Eli Craig deconstructs nearly every slasher horror movie cliché dating back to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for a gross-out…

DARK SHADOWS — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Cult Film, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS, Women's Cinema

October 16, 2023

“Dark Shadows” is a lot more fun than any of the “Twilight” movies combined. The movie is about sustaining a…

EDDIE THE SLEEPWALKING CANNIBAL — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS, Transgressive Cinema

October 12, 2023

Fine-tuning the nuances of cannibals, rather than zombies, proves modestly rewarding in a dark little comedy that owes more to…

OCTOBER COUNTRY — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Documentary, Horror, Politics, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS

October 8, 2023

A devastating documentary portrait of its filmmaker Donal Mosher’s family living in the culture vacuum of Mohawk Valley, New York,…

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Franchise, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS

October 7, 2023

More contemplative and thematically muscular than Wes Craven’s 1984 original slasher flick, Samuel Bayer’s updated version has a quieter surreal…

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE — SHOCKTOBER!

BDSM, Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Cult Film, Horror, Politics, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, , THREE STARS

October 7, 2023

High concept meets sustained graphic horror in Tom Six’s satirically challenged thriller that succeeds if only by the realistic treatment…

GHOST LIGHT

American Cinema, American Independent Cinema, Capsules Blog, Independent Cinema, Shakespeare, THREE STARS

June 21, 2019

At a time when Hollywood has lost its mojo, low budget indie films such as “Ghost Light” come with simple…

THE NINTH GATE

Classic Cinema, Horror, Reviews Blog, SHOCKTOBER!, Suspense, Thiller, THREE STARS

March 3, 2019

Pauline Kael said that “great movies are rarely perfect movies,” and this truism certainly applies to The Ninth Gate. Actress…

THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF JOHN WELD

Biopic, Capsules Blog, Documentary, THREE STARS

February 28, 2019

Weld instinctively understood what Joseph Campbell called “following your bliss.” In Weld’s case that bliss relied on the love of…

GHOST SHIP

Horror, Reviews Blog, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS

February 23, 2019

While Ghost Ship may not provide much more than a series of cursory scary moments over its 88-minute length, the movie’s over-the-top…

BEYOND THE GAZE: JULE CAMPBELL’S SWIMSUIT ISSUE

EYES OF LAURA MARS — SHOCKTOBER!

THE TROUT

GHOST SHIP — SHOCKTOBER!

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK — SHOCKTOBER!

TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL — SHOCKTOBER!

DARK SHADOWS — SHOCKTOBER!

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET — SHOCKTOBER!

GHOST LIGHT

THE NINTH GATE

GHOST SHIP

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