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August 2024 review update.

MaXXXine, 2024 (***)
High hopes after the extremely enjoyable Pearl yet despite a wonderfully stylish opening act, the film begins to lack any narrative focus and finally underwhelms. Also disappointing, despite a fun aesthetic and soundtrack, and speaking as a pedantic fetishy connoisseur of that decade, is a lack of attention to 1980s detail. Kevin Bacon is as ever annoying as Mia Goth is fantastic and compelling.

Longlegs, 2024 (**)
The trailers for this were so amazing thus setting expectations way too high for what turned out to be a pointless exercise in investigative drudgery and exposition dumps mansplained by a charisma-free supernatural FBI detective lady. As usual Nicholas Cage stars as Nicholas Cage, here making only a short appearance despite star billing and some decidedly dubious make-up.

Wonderland, 2024 (**)
Incredibly confusing sci-fi movie involving advanced technology capable of AI reunions with one's departed loved ones - by the time I figured out what was happening all interest in the sub-stories was lost. Despite its intriguing subject matter and setting, the movie lacks soul. I kind of wish it'd gone down a darker more dystopian Black Mirror-type route.

Tarot, 2024 (*****)
Three tales from Korea each tenuously based around a reversed tarot card. The first is certainly creepy and unsettling, the second downright unpleasant yet forgettable, however the third is worth the price of entry alone. An absolutely genius episode of body horror, creative and original, whose final scenes will long linger in the memory. 

Toys Are Not For Children, 1972 (****)
This 1970s low-budget psychosexual drama might be low on explicit sleaze but is highly original and believably acted by Marcia Forbes as the strange young woman. The plot tells a delightfully messed-up story of obsession and perversion. Imagine if John Waters had directed The Baby, it might look something like this.

Candy Land, 2022 (****)
In contrast to the above Toys Are Not For Children, Candy Land's sleaze is most definitely explicit and in that respect puts to shame the often incredibly coy horror movie scene. However that's not all: the movie is an extremely enjoyable and satisfying slasher, directed with loads of energy and belying its low budget.

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Fillmore Discos reviews are back with the recent 7-day series of overlooked rare vintage gems posted from my Twitter (hence their pitifully brief 140-character length). The scores, as always, are no more than a measure of how much I got off on watching them. If you've seen any of these, would love to hear your thoughts too.

Toys Are Not For Children, 1972 (*****)
I love sleazy Pinteresque psychosexual mindfuckery and just like 70s classic The Baby, Toys is amazing

Femina Ridens, 1969 (*****)
gloriously twisted misandrist Italian masterpiece featuring the exquisite Dagmar Lassander, modern cinema can't compare

Road To Salina, 1971 (*****)
eyes wide open mindblowing incest psychodrama, movingly intense performances from Rita Hayworth and Mimsy Farmer

So Sweet, So Dead, 1972 (****)
vintage giallo whose wanton sleaze is matched only by its sartorial elegance and a truly sumptuous soundtrack

Il Caso Mattei, 1972 (*****)
Rosi's fascinating Italian political biopic with an amazing proto-industrial techno soundtrack (yes, in 1972!)

Red Desert, 1964 (*****) 

Antonioni's extraordinary visionary traumatic film about alienation exacts a heavy emotional toll, you must see it

Frustration, 1971 (*****)
elegant erotic often disturbing study of female sexual frustration, daring to go where Polanski's Repulsion wouldn't

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The Woman, 2011 (*****)
this modern pitch-black misandrist horror masterpiece directed by Lucky McKee is the kind of movie that Michael Haneke will only ever dream about making; whilst the entire cast is fantastic, Pollyanna McIntosh is off the scale - please don't miss this one

May, 2002 (*****)
Lucky McKee's first  movie (not counting the budget romp All Cheerleaders Die) is a delightfully twisted lesbian-centric psycho-horror which will crawl into your vandalised psyche to spray paint obscene graffiti for its disturbed memory to linger on long after its final credits have rolled past

Thank God It's Friday, 1978 (****)
Donna Summer's sensational, electrifying live performance is undoubtedly the highlight in an otherwise still highly enjoyable vintage disco outing

Roller Boogie, 1979 (***)
sexy Linda Blair stars in this obscure late 70s West Coast disco film with a very special soundtrack for the genre's connoisseurs amongst us

The Woman In Black, 2011 (*)
Harry Potter pretends to be an adult in an inevitably dreadful British supernatural 'horror'; a 'Hammer' movie, my ass

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Tenement, 1985 (****)
a nasty South Bronx gang terrorise the residents of a run-down tenement building; there were quite a few of these urban warfare exploitation pictures in the 80s, most of which seem pretty goofy now - however, this lesser-known film despite its low budget stands up amazingly well with its surprisingly grim and tight direction by Roberta Findlay, though it is let down by the occasional intrusion of some truly awful freak-out rock

Emanuelle: Queen Of Sados, 1980 (**)
there are dozens of these Emanuelle films and by shrewdly noting the single 'm' you know you're opting for a knock-off italo-sleaze jamboree bag where anything, good but mostly bad, is possible - this time we're off to Cyprus, and were it not for Mario's epic ineptitude as the 'stud', this would be good; as it is, there's tons of mindless sex and nudity in and around the beach and orange groves, including the participation of Emanuelle's startlingly young daughter

Mother's Day, 1980 (****)
the madcap story might not amount to much but when the hyper-sleazy direction is as imaginative and energetic as it is here, you just don't care; easy to see why this movie, obscure in its day, is now so revered and inspirational for directors such as Eli Roth and Rob Zombie; looking forward to seeing the remake

Hide And Go Shriek, 1988 (*)
a bunch of 'teens' (read 28-year-olds) go for a sleepover in a big furniture store where there's inevitably a maniac on the loose; unfortunately, while that may sound tempting, this is a horror film with porn quality acting without the porn or the horror

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Wow, can't believe Vice even had translated the first giallo reviews I did into French. Anyway, never mind that, here's a mixed bag of more recent releases.

Bedevilled (*****)
another modern Korean masterpiece; the beautiful Hae-won is forced to take a vacation on a remote island after troubles at her workplace and reunites with a childhood friend - the drama that unfolds is as unflinchingly violent and shocking as it is poetic and beautiful, whilst the film's ending is extraordinarily moving in its quiet nuanced symbolism; highly recommended

The Jail The Women's Hell (**)
even though the golden era for Italian sleaze cinema has, sadly, long since passed, it hasn't stopped Bruno Mattei, and you can't help admiring him for that; unfortunately, TJTWH never really transcends its cheap shot-on-video values despite an inordinate amount of women's prison fetishism, game participation by the Filipino girls used as extras, and even some nostalgic Deodatoesque elements of the cannibal genre thrown into the mix towards the end

Re-Cut (**)
you can't beat shaky-cam horror at its best, even the not-so-good ones are watchable, something I guess that has a lot to do with the self-imposed obstructions placed upon the format by definition (as with the Dogma rules, for example) - Re-Cut gets so much right for the first tense hour, as three film-makers go to investigate a macabre killing in Wisconsin, but when a simple resolution to the proceedings would suffice, everything gets very silly in an orgy of implausibility; interestingly, you can tell the that the movie's going to implode when a musical score is sneakily incorporated as the protagonists are rooting around an abandoned house

The Super (*)
dreadful worthless attempt at making old school grindhouse with a group of porn quality actors as totally unbelievable tenants of a New York tenement; also, if you're going down the retro path then at least use original film stock, the digital application of those grainy filters should be outlawed

Burlesque (*)
ever seen one of those SMS 'competitions' along the lines of: what is the capital of France a) Tokyo b) London or c) ***PARIS***? well, Burlesque is as insulting in the same way; the only reason for checking it out was for its frequently quoted comparisons to the incomparably brilliant Showgirls - and well, no, Showgirls, it most definitely ain't, and Aguilera and Cher are laughingly miscast as the female leads; by the way, still ranting, I call bullshit on burlesque - a practice for women (and men) who want to be ogled on a stage but are too self-conscious or ugly to strip

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The Pom Pom Girls, 1976 (****)
Joseph Ruben, director of the classic subversive horror The Stepfather made this early gem, a prototype teen sex comedy filmed in an alluring quasi-documentary style, and one which has almost none of the self-conscious nostalgia and adult-imposed double standards of pervy antics versus uptight morality common to the genre in later years

Julie Darling, 1982 (****)
obscure creepy Canadian/German thriller full of delicious psychosexual tension as Julie uses her twisted teenage female imagination to plot the demise of her stepmother; quite possibly what many other girls in her place would at least contemplate

Fear, 1996 (****)
the bland title belies a taut high quality thriller as 16-year-old good girl Nicole falls for a charming psychopath on a night out with her friend; the film is full of finely observed details into the relationship between all the protagonists, in particular that of male insecurity and possessiveness

Return To Sleepaway Camp, 2006 (*****)
if only modern horror was even occasionally as remotely good as this unmissable direct sequel to 1983's Sleepaway Camp which, with exquisite respect, somehow manages to enhance the already genius original; another sequel is apparently on the way for later this year, canNOT wait

A Serbian Film, 2010 (*)
amateur try-hard shocker - look beyond the gratuitous visceral taboo-busting nature of the thrills and all you have is a Serb TV critic using his position to fulfil movie director fantasies; and that's not to mention all those gratingly ubiquitous MacBook Pro editing tropes, silly soundtrack, appalling acting, leaden script, all of which proves far more painful than anything suffered by the victims

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The Slumber Party Massacre, 1982 (****)
dyke horror ftw: this sleazy slasher is a breath of fresh air achieved via the simple result of a subtle but significant change in perspective from having been directed and written by women; in the latter case, Rita Mae Brown of lesbian erotic romance Rubyfruit Jungle fame

Fast Times At Ridgemont High, 1982 (*****)
of course FTARH is not so much a rarity with such a stellar cast, but this fantastic slice-of-life teen comedy drama is worth including here anyhow, it packs so much in its fast-paced 90 minutes that you never want it to end; all the beautifully observed touches and realistic insights have a non-linear feel that works so well given its main context of adolescent sexuality

The Beach Girls, 1982 (**)
whilst you can't help liking its pro-weed, pro-sexual promiscuity, gentle anti-authority vibe, this T'n'A comedy is not nearly as good as its sister production Sunset Cove (aka Malibu Beach)

Night Of The Comet, 1984 (***)
the sexy and charismatic Kelli Maroney is the real star of a clever funny parody of 50s/60s zombie sci-fi apocalypse B-movies; it's all the more charming because it never pretends to be more than what it's parodying

Murder Rock, 1984 (**)
Fulci was never shy about cashing in on the latest craze, in this case attempting to merge a Fame or Flashdance danceflick into a giallo - unfortunately, despite how promising that sounds in theory, he commits that cardinal sin of letting the narrative get bogged down in detective-work drudgery

Chopping Mall, 1986 (***)
fun 80s B-movie about a bunch of horny teens trapped in a mall patrolled by wonky security robots; not as much gore or sleaze as you hope for, but still good fun

Slumber Party Massacre 2, 1987 (*)
a dreadful goofy zero-budget Freddy Kruger rip-off that fails on almost every level

Sorority House Massacre 2, 1990 (*)
zero-budget trash which does little more than sully the good name of The Slumber Party Massacre, from which it shamelessly steals excerpts

Death Spa, 1990 (**)
a trendy 80s health club is the perfect setting for lots of lycra-encased flesh and gory locker and shower scenes; half-way through a parapsychologist is dropped into the mix and what started out as a seemingly routine giallo-style horror gets COMPLETELY and INCOMPREHENSIBLY bonkers

Angel III: The Final Chapter, 1990 (*)
a third new face for Molly in another disappointing sequel that takes itself far too seriously and lacks even Avenging Angel's flashes of inspiration

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Buckle up as this relentless 80s odyssey continues.

Happy Birthday To Me, 1981 (****)
it was a stroke of genius to cast Mary from A Little House On The Prairie as the main protagonist in this uncommonly (for its time) intelligent and memorable slasher; the weird narrative will have you guessing right till its satisfyingly macabre setpiece ending, convoluted though it may be; Syreeta's HBTM theme song in the closing credits is painfully exquisite

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, 1982 (*****)
forget about all the other oft-cited nonsense, this is hands down the best punk/music/anti-music movie ever, one which, along the way, takes all kinds of subversive swipes at the path the burgeoning MTV-led music industry would lead us to today; it succeeds where others fail principally because it's not trying to sell or mythologise some shit band; morons Steve Cook, Paul Jones, and Paul Simenon seem like the only ones not in on the joke, unlike Fee Waybill, who is both knowing and amazing as Lou Corpse of The Metal Corpses; not to mention the special treat of seeing jailbait Diane Lane (who I loved in Unfaithful) in a compelling nuanced role as the band's lead singer, Corinne '3rd Degree' Burns

Avenging Angel, 1985 (***)
although much of the original Angel cast is the same, out goes Donna Wilkes and in comes Betsy Russell as Molly the (now ex-) teen hooker; there are still flashes of the brilliance of the first: the Strip documentary style, the bedroom abduction scene, and odd bits of random pervery

Sleepaway Camp, 1983 (*****)
camp slasher extraordinaire that, by lulling you into expecting the genre's predictable tropes, continually manages to catch you off guard: deliciously twisted script, sleaze galore, nasty gory kill-scenes, and how it brilliantly manages to recreate the raw hyperactive sexual interactions and tension typical of large groups of adolescents together better than any other film that I can remember, to the extent it often made me shudder to recall how scary it often is to be a teenager

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers, 1988 (***)
despite a budget of zero and the absence of the glorious original's Felissa Rose, this is still well worth seeing

Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland, 1989 (***)
sadly, although considerably more money was spent on this second sequel and the prize of its accordingly higher body count, the sleaze and gore factor is greatly diminished; that all being said, if you, like me, love the values of the original then you also need to see this

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Private School, 1983 (****)
as you'd expect from a teen sex comedy, there's lashings of nubile flesh on display, often partially wrapped up in arousingly slinky 80s lingerie, plus the irresistible treat of having Betsy Russell and Sylvia Kristel in the same movie, but the direction is crisp, the characters come across as real human beings, and it's its rare sincerity and honesty that makes Private School such a cut above other generic trash

Angel, 1984 (*****)
outstanding cult classic about Molly, a bright 15 year old schoolgirl by day, Hollywood Boulevard hooker by night, plus her colourful band of faithful friends including a Jewish dyke, a huge tranny, and a glass-eyed cop, amongst others, as they try to nail a necrophiliac serial killer who's on the loose around the Strip; Donna Wilkes is sensational as young Molly and it's almost impossible to believe she was 25 when making this; I also can't imagine a film nowadays portraying subject matter like this with such affection and without condemnation, now we're stuck with hateful born-again moralists such as Moodysson and Haneke

Heavenly Bodies, 1984 (****)
the beautiful Cynthia Dale is fantastic as the female lead in this awesome low budget Canadian dance movie about three girls who set up an aerobics studio in a converted factory, the hi-nrg soundtrack is one of the best of the decade

Tomboy, 1985 (****)
80s camp heaven - you've got everything here, music, hairstyles, sexy clothes, bare breasts, and the iconic beauty of Betsy Russell (yes, she of Saw fame) in a fantastically nuanced role as the young girl working as a car mechanic

Bloody Pom Poms, 1988 (**)
a pretty incompetent generic slasher you badly want to like but ulitmately merely serves to remind one how effective and brilliantly made the canonical non-apocryphal first eight Friday The 13th movies were, even with the limited budgets at their disposal

Vicious Lips, 1988 (**)
intergalactic cyberdyke band Vicious Lips, along with their new singer, race across the galaxy to perform a gig; despite desperately low production values (and yet probably only a little worse than the shoddy fx in Star Wars), it's worth watching for the highly enjoyable musical moments and some occasionally successful flashes of campy humour

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The Unseen, 1980 (*****)
don't miss out on meeting 'Junior' waiting in the basement for you in this criminally underrated classic early 80s sleaze by High Rise director Danny Steinmann, never will you see mentally retarded done better; the only slight weakness for me is comedic thesp Sydney Lassick whose cheeseball horror-comedy performance seems incongruent with the otherwise darker mood of the film

Maniac, 1980 (***)
more creepy is less creepy: Joe Spinell overplays his role as the serial killer protagonist and never really convinces; that said, Tom Savini's effects and, in particular, the scene design of the maniac's small apartment are fantastic

Cruising, 1980 (*****)
William Friedkin's Cruising is not really such a rarity, indeed it stars Al Pacino, but it always surprises me to learn how few people have seen it; a cop goes undercover in the New York gay scene to investigate a serial killer preying on homosexuals, and what begins in sleazeball giallo territory ends in pure, yet oddly satisfying, enigma; top soundtrack too, a pertinent reminder that 70s/80s underground gay club music was far more eclectic than extended Donna Summer and Patrick Hernandez mixes and other stereotyping revisionism would credit it

Savage Streets, 1984 (*****)
incredibly enjoyable rape revenge sleaze masterpiece with Linda Blair and scream queen Linnea Quigley plus a perfect mid-80s rockin' AOR soundtrack to match

Silent Night, Deadly Night, 1984 (**)
the makers' ambitions were far greater than their budget or abilities, the acting is so bad (particularly the lead), the sets so cheap, and the script is so dull, that all the nice sleaze and gore moments ultimately fall rather flat; that said, the initial scenes with Billy in the convent school are superb

Crimes Of Passion, 1984 (****)
it's the captivating performance from the god that is Anthony Perkins that makes this (often overlooked) Ken Russell film so watchable; AP plays Rev. Shayne, a man riven with internal conflicts and demons, a man who becomes obsessed with China Blue, a part-time hooker

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So much seasonal catching up to do, a real bonanza.

Black Christmas, 1974 (*****)
the original and still the best slasher film bar none; more disturbing, more enigmatic, and thus more memorable than the derivative Halloween - it also seems to have a weird understated eroticism behind the narrative, but maybe that's just me

Black Swan (*****)
as impressive as The Wrestler wasn't; a sumptuous feast of uncompromisingly dark psychosexual intrigue and rivalry at a ballet company - Mila Kunis, in particular, is out of this world; this, along with Exit Through The Gift Shop and Saw: The Final Chapter, would be my main nomination for 2010's best

Catfish (****)
ideally seen without any knowledge or expectations whatsoever - in that spirit I shall say no more other than that I thought Catfish was totally porno

Trash Humpers (*****)
the brilliant Harmony Korine outdoes himself once again with this collection of crudely edited vignettes of the activities of a group of elderly sociopaths; it's fascinating to see how the applied masks so dramatically affect the behaviour of the participants; as with say The Blair Witch Project, the use of crummy VHS tape is more than stylistic, it's part of what makes the actions so much more believable and threatening

The Night Listener (**)
The Night Listener, about a gay radio host becoming obsessed with the case of an ill 14 year old boy, is frustrating for being so near to being very special indeed; Toni Collette, as the boy's mother, is as amazing and as memorable as Robin Williams is miscast in the lead role

Talhotblond (***)
you might be noticing a theme appearing by now... enthralling, at times shocking, documentary of an online love triangle which ultimately led to murder

Xtro, 1983 (***)
crude but charming offbeat science fiction horror with neat synth soundtrack

Pray The Devil Back To Hell (*****)
don't be fooled, this film documenting the rise of a group of Liberian women of various faiths and backgrounds against their male peers responsible for a climate of dismemberments, rapes, and other catastrophic mayhem, is incredibly moving

Life As We Know It (**)
as much as I enjoy Katherine Heigl's undoubted charms, the whole baby thing is way scarier than any horror film that is conceivable

Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup (****)
probably the most effective and certainly the most polished of all Dylan Avery's Loose Change documentaries, even though I still prefer the written word for these types of analyses

Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. (***)
great character study

Capturing The Friedmans (****) 
compelling docu that reveals far more about the Long Island vice cops' insane and preposterous sexual fantasies, and quite possibly inherent antisemitism, than it does the Friedmans, an admittedly weird family (though aren't they all?)

I Saw The Devil (***)
this typically stylish Korean revenge drama with lots of explicit gore starts out in fine style before sinking into a miasma of gratuitous implausibility and unnecessarily overscripted dialogues between a ludicrous all-purpose serial killer and the enraged fiancé of one of the murder victims

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