The first MGM Marx Brothers movie looks great and finally has a real story to follow, but none of that is why you’d watch you watch The Marx Bros. They got rid of Zeppo only to add even more dull bits with a new actor/singer filling in for him. Cut out the singing and drama and this would have been great.
Another pre-Argento giallo mystery that felt a lot like the movie I had just watched the night before, Diabolique. None of the characters are likable because you know they are all cheating and plotting, but it’s the swinging 60s, so nobody seems to care. There are enough twists to make the somewhat predictable ending pay-off.
I’ve listened to so many commentaries on my various giallo DVDs that cite this movie as one of the primary touchstones of the genre. The plot follows two women who devise a plan to kill their mutual husband/lover. Things don’t go as expected and we are left wondering if he is still alive (or undead). I mostly enjoyed the film and the moody climax is the real reason to watch, but it felt a bit too slow to warrant the two hour running time.
A zero budget Hammer horror that’s built around a stupid looking monster skeleton that Peter Cushing is researching. Spill water on it and jelly-like skin forms. The monster doesn’t appear until the last five minutes. The rest of the movie is filled with terrible acting from the female lead and other boring happenings. They certainly get a lot of mileage out of a clip of “evil” cells under a microscope.
The Sweet Body of Deborah is an early giallo that is more of a straight up mystery rather than the body count thriller that the genre would evolve towards. There’s a lot of groovy late Sixties style in the dress and locations but it doesn’t have much cinematic style. That said, the mystery is solid albeit somewhat predicable and it does feature Lawn Twister™.
My series of wood engravings based on Italian giallo thrillers continues with Dario Argento’s “lost” classic, Four Flies on Grey Velvet. A lot of what would gel together and become the giallo masterpiece Deep Red is in its embryonic form in this film. I watched it multiple times while I hashed out ideas for this print and it has grown on me.
As with the other prints in the series, I am trying to compile my strongest memories of the film into a single static image. It’s not necessarily a depiction of a certain scene or attempt to capture the entire narrative. Although, I broke some of my rules here by using photographic source images to create my initial design.
This was a murder mystery about a hooded strangler who carves the letter M into the foreheads of his victims. Apparently, Blackmoor Castle is one of the first of the German Krimi films based on the novels of Edgar Wallace. There many similarities with giallo, but overall there is a lighter tone. Absolutely beautiful black and white photography on display here and a fun mystery to boot.
Slow but true to the book, which, admit it, wasn’t the most exciting of reads—those first 100 pages are a test of a man’s will. Every frame of this film is an exquisitely designed composition. Yet, there is something dull about the art direction, especially when compared to the Lynch version. Overall, I liked it but I hope it picks up a bit in part 2.
This felt like every early 90s art film I saw as a college kid. A few memorable scenes that are technically amazing (midnight water skiing amidst a fireworks display), but the story about dirty, horrible people finding themselves is just boring. I’m sure there is deep, high school level poetry meaning here, but I was not buying it.
I read a large chunk of this book in draft form as he serialized it on his Substack blog. This is the definitive refutation of “anti-racist” woke culture (a more apt term that he uses is KendiDeAngeloism). He frames it as a religion devoid of reasoning and logic. Not like a religion, but an actual religion. McWhorter’s arguments are detailed, well-informed, and often delivered with wit and humor. The book is not intended to change the minds of his targets, but rather to frame their positions in a way that makes their irrational behavior a little easier to understand (and avoid).
