Why Criticism: The Race to Problematize Bittersweet Horror Endings
“In order to fully engage with horror films, it’s important to look at the monster and the world that’s being upended by that monster.”
Review: Matthew Ninaber’s ‘Transference’
“‘Transference’ feels like a 13-and-under science fiction-themed board game. The pieces are clearly labeled, the color design fits the genre premise and the directions are confusing.”
Review: Liz Garbus’ ‘Lost Girls’
“The lack of resolution inherent in the source material sets up an insurmountable task: the solution to the central crime and mystery that puts this particular story in motion.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Régis Roinsard’s ‘Les traducteurs’
“Roinsard is so preoccupied with setting up the next twist that ‘Les traducteurs’ does little to establish why viewers should care.”
Review: ‘The Invisible Man’ Is a Sight for Sore Eyes
“Whannell’s ‘The Invisible Man’ is an absolute banger, and stands tall as the most spectacular evolution of the story to hit the big screen.”
Review: Oz Perkins’ ‘Gretel & Hansel’
“Great art has every piece in intimate communion with the art as a whole. ‘Gretel & Hansel’ takes an elemental approach to the folklore, gasping with the fears of the original material while exhaling a new mystique of its own.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Christian Petzold’s ‘Undine’
“Petzold’s use of fairytale is rote, but – as a piece of Sirkian high melodrama – ‘Undine’ is eminently satisfying.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Camilo Restrepo’s ‘Los conductos’
“‘Los conductos’ announces Camilo Restrepo as a visceral talent with the substance to back up his sublime imagery.”
Light in a Dark Room: The Legacy of ‘The Snake Pit’
“‘The Snake Pit’ became the first Hollywood film to address mental health in such a raw way, and set a standard for future films that similarly explore the topic.”
Sundance Film Festival Review: Josephine Decker’s ‘Shirley’
“‘Shirley’ is not just a film about the pain and struggle of creativity for all artists, but about women particularly.”
Review: Richard Stanley’s ‘Color Out of Space’
“‘Color Out of Space’ is one of the weirdest, most disgusting, thought-provoking and provocative releases of the year…”
First as Tragedy: ‘Winter Kills’ and the Twilight of the Conspiracy Thriller
“The demise of the conspiracy thriller pointed to a broader shift; it signalled the rise of a new credulity, a willingness to re-engage with the idea of America in spite of its reality.”
Review: Mati Diop’s ‘Atlantics’
“Diop’s feature debut is one that embraces the strange, joyous and tender moments that extend beyond boundaries and linear temporalities. Neither love nor life moves in a straight line.”
The Spirit of Revolution: How World Cinema Defined the 1920s
“There is a danger and dynamism to 20s cinema which was gradually eradicated by the standardisation of production processes.”
Review: Sophia Takal’s ‘Black Christmas’
“Playing with of-the-moment vocabulary familiar on college campuses, the latest ‘Black Christmas’ upends several slasher conventions, even if the film is a step down from the director’s excellent ‘Always Shine.'”
‘The Curse of the Cat People’: Val Lewton’s Groundbreaking Introduction of Childhood Fantasy
“Lewton’s insights into both childhood and adult inner personal conflicts are legacies which deserve recognition in the foundational history of horror, both for psychological thrillers and fantasy films.”
The Absent Presence in ‘Klute’
“In dramatizing themes of absence and presence so thoroughly, ‘Klute’ embodies a central feature of neo-noir; as a self-conscious revision of a classic film cycle, noir is always both absent and present in neo-noir films.”
Manic Lust in Neo-Giallo ‘Knife + Heart’
“As a love letter to a cinematic wave of films that were (and are) often dismissed as style devoid of substance, ‘Knife+Heart’ triumphs in both story and genre evolution.”
Genre at Terminal Velocity: The Films of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani
“What allows Cattet and Forzani’s films to flourish is that they modify cinematic influences to accommodate today’s instant gratification culture.”
Emilio Miraglia and the High-Gothic Giallo
“Miraglia’s deliberate interweaving of castles and glimmering blades taps into the one element that both Gothic and giallo art share: the ability to taffy-pull delight from terror. Both Poe and Bava would tip their hats.”