Door Into Silence (1991)

If you want to see a perfectly entertaining premise completely wasted, I can’t recommend any film more than Lucio Fulci’s Door Into Silence. With a kick ass name and an actual legit actor (John Savage of The Deer Hunter), one would think they’re about to witness Fulci’s masterpiece, but sadly, that’s not what the audience gets. It’s too bad that someone with as many films under his belt as Fulci (56 directorial credits on IMDB), had to go out with this as one of his last films. That said, let’s take a gander at the story and tear this puppy a new one.

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The Cremator (1969) – DVD Review

So, I just finished watching The Cremator, aka Spalovac mrtvol, and boy, that was not what I was expecting at all. After wandering online a bit, I was lead to believe that I was going to be watching a very dark comedy, or at least something so ridiculous that I would find humor in it. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Cremator is a very slow decent into the mind of a man who thinks he’s freeing the souls from those that he cremates and, in turn, allows them to be reincarnated as something better. Of course, all of this is set against the backdrop of World War II and Hitler’s rise to power (now, please tell me where the humor is in that?).

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Diary (2006) – DVD Review

Want to see a Pang Brothers movie with a great look like The Eye or Re-Cycle with a generic story and an over-complicated twist ending? Well, then, you my friend are in luck! Diary, aka Mon seugn, is here and what a beautiful mess this thing is. As I just stated this film is gorgeous (as is almost any film from Oxide and Danny Pang), but there’s not enough meat to the story to keep many viewers interested.

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Naboer aka Next Door (2005) – DVD Review

Naboer is a psychological-thriller, written and directed by Pal Sletaune.  The film is centered around John (Kristoffer Joner) who just was dumped by his girlfriend Ingrid(Anna Bache-Wiig).  When Ingrid comes to John’s apartment to grab a few of her things, John attempts to discuss what went wrong with their relationship.  Ingrid’s attempts to ignore the questions, but she does engage in conversation and while they are speaking, there are car horn blasts outside and it just happens to be Ingrid’s new Boyfriend, Ake.  That takes the conversation to another level and John is furious that Ingrid had told Ake the private and intimate details of their now failed relationship.

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Mad Love (1935)

Let’s start this off with a quick stroll down memory lane that most of you won’t care about. I remember popping in Casablanca and getting my first experience with Peter Lorre. The guy just had that presence that you can’t really describe, but when he’s on the screen you can’t look away. From there I wandered into The Maltese Falcon and into the film that cemented Lorre as a favorite of mine, Fritz Lang’s M. What does my history watching Lorre films have to do with anything? Well, I’d heard good things about Mad Love, but it wasn’t really until I found out that Lorre was in it that I went out of my way to watch the film, and I’m glad I did.

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One of the many, many incredible scenes from Mad Love.

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Blind Beast (1969)

Once and a while a film comes along that really pushes the envelope on the emotional landscape that modern life has become accustomed to. Blind Beast, or Môjû, fits into this category with ease. Yasuzo Masumura’s dark tale is something of a screwed up spectacle as the audience is dragged along a story of love, betrayal, and what some would consider, insanity, which leads to each of the character’s downward spirals.

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Psychic Killer (1975) – DVD Review

Killers that use their minds instead of their bodies (and an assortment of weapons) are always the scarier (In my opinion) characters in films. They can do the most horrible things you’ve ever imagined, but they don’t have to actually be there. Of course this makes it rather difficult for the police as they try to deduce how random, seemingly unrelated victims meet tragic ends, without any way for a killer to get near them. More often then not, the murders are still rather generic, and the story crawls along as the killer seeks vengeance, or just a good time, while never really placing themselves in any jeopardy. Psychic Killer falls into this sub-genre , and gives the audience everything it could hope for in a low budget horror venture.

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The Face of Another (1966)

The idea that your entire identity can be lost upon a horrible disfigurement to your face is nothing new to the world of cinema. Films such as Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face and Jess Franco’s The Awful Dr. Orloff have explored these themes before with varying degrees of success. These same themes in the hands of auteur Hiroshi Teshigahara and surrealist Kobo Abe however produce a beast altogether different than anything seen before. The Face of Another is a film far ahead of its time, and a masterpiece of identity lost.

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Ms. 45 (1981) – Mikey B

What would happen if you were pushed to the point of snapping, and you couldn’t tell anyone? What would you do? Who would you hurt? How far would you go to make everything all right? Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 poses these questions, and more, as it follows the plight of a mute seamstress, Thana (played by the late Zoë Lund) as she just tries to get through her days. The problem is, she’s been raped, twice in one day (heck, both happen within the first ten minutes of the film), and she’s not ready to let anyone walk all over her…ever again.

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