Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Suicide Club’ (Sion Sono, 2001)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Cold Fish’ (Sion Sono, 2010)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
The Feminine Grotesque #10: Genre Is a Woman and She Has Fangs – On ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’
“After viewing ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ for the first time, I wondered, ‘Doesn’t a woman have to be at least a little bit monstrous to survive?'”
‘Candyman’ or (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Say Farewell to the Flesh)
“As an adult viewer with a wider range of experiences and reference points than my pubescent self (this is what I tell myself anyway), what engages me most about ‘Candyman’ now is the themes on the fringes of the urban legend focus.”
Review: Mike Flanagan’s ‘Hush’
“‘Hush’ has some very interesting moving parts in what amounts to an average film.”
‘Southbound’ and the Anatomy of a Horror Anthology
“If the director’s approach to the material isn’t to your liking — say he’s too harsh to his characters or revels in gore for gore’s sake — a new direction, even within the confines of the broad horror genre, is just around the corner.”
Review: Robert Eggers’ ‘The Witch’
“The Witch does for the woods what Jaws did for the ocean. They’re ruined for you.”
Like Its Characters’ Christmas Plans, ‘Krampus’ Is More Fun in Concept Than Execution
“As it is, it’s like a stocking crammed with too many little bits and bobs that came to mind for the stocking-stuffer, ultimately pleasing no one like one or two well-considered big gifts would have.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Blood for Dracula’ (Paul Morrissey, 1974)
“‘Blood for Dracula’ is confusing thematically, but I think that’s part of the point. As pulpy as it is, Morrissey’s film strongly confronts and challenges our ideas of purity and gender.”
Case for Criterion: William Friedkin’s ‘Bug’
“‘Bug’ closes in on you in a curiously suffocating way. It’s disorienting in the best way possible.”
Case for Criterion: Tomas Alfredson’s ‘Let the Right One In’
“The horror reads as a treatise against a dominant culture that upholds rather old-fashioned ideas of gender…”
Fargo Film Festival Review: David Robert Mitchell’s ‘It Follows’
“By excluding grown ups from the narrative, ‘It Follows’ highlights the perseverance of young adults and their reliance on each other for a shared vision.”
Fargo Film Festival Review: Aaron and Austin Keeling’s ‘The House on Pine Street’
“Incredibly polished and finely acted, ‘The House on Pine Street’ will surely become a hit on the film festival circuit.”
Book Review: ‘Rex’d: Welcome to Scholomance’ is the Perfect Halloween Read
A Friday night Halloween keeps everyone busy, but once the kids are done collecting the sweets, kick back and check out the exceptional novel by J.R. Reher/J.B. Skelter, Rex’d: Welcome to Scholomance.
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