Skip to Content

Interview with Al Kratina, Writer of 24 Hour Rental

Late last night on The Super Channel, Reel One unleashed its new pitch black comedy, 24 Hour Rental upon an unsuspecting world. Described as a “no-holds-barred, deviant gangster satire” the series is produced and directed by George Mihalka, and stars Romano Orzari as Tracker, a gangster heavily in debt to the Russian Mob trying to …

Read More about Interview with Al Kratina, Writer of 24 Hour Rental

An Open Letter to the Internet: I’m Sorry We Don’t Like The Same Movies

Cult Cinema: Volume 13: Dear Internet, I’m sorry that we don’t like the same movies. I’ve let you down. After all that you’ve given me, from the questionably legal pornography, to the gory photos of car crash victims and dead celebrities, to the endless hours spent trolling creationist message boards and acupuncture websites, I’ve done …

Read More about An Open Letter to the Internet: I’m Sorry We Don’t Like The Same Movies

Italian Institute of Stupidity Science and Philosophy

Horror fans are a mysterious, cultish bunch. Or at least, they like to think they are, imagining themselves the vanguard of the underground; Morlocks feeding off pampered, mainstream Eloi dandies with D&G sunglasses and designer perfume. But go to any horror film screening, and see if you’re not surrounded by Blackberry-toting shitheads who got armband tattoos so they look good pounding Redbull & Vodkas at La Boum. Sure, there are the hardcore horror fans, concave chests vainly attempting to fill out Necrophagist t-shirts, keeping the black flame alive on message boards that use crime scene photos as wallpaper. But they’re dwarfed in number by the Friday night date crowd, who wouldn’t dare miss opening night for the latest Rob Zombie movie, provided Fast and Furious isn’t playing somewhere.

Read More about Italian Institute of Stupidity Science and Philosophy

The Barkerians

Cult Cinema: Volume 6 In the 1980s, author Clive Barker was dubbed the new face of horror. And what a face it was, one that looked like it should be fellating both Lord Byron and Aleister Crowley during a sex magic ritual, all arched eyebrows and smooth cheeks and smoky eyes. Barker’s 1985 short story …

Read More about The Barkerians

Academy for Tarantino-Guided Imagery

Cult Cinema: Volume 5 Quentin Tarantino is every video store clerk’s idol, and every film critic’s nightmare. Venerated by midnight movie buffs and Blockbuster cashiers for his unadulterated love of cult cinema, Tarantino has proved that a film school education is no match for passion, creativity, and kinetic energy. Unfortunately for film critics, this has …

Read More about Academy for Tarantino-Guided Imagery

The International Society for Lynchian Consciousness

Cult Cinema: Volume 4 David Lynch films are a litmus test of intelligence. You don’t have to like them to prove that your cinematic IQ is above the level of a mouth-breather with a Vin Diesel DVD collection. But you do have to realize the films’ artistic merit. And then give lengthy interpretations of their …

Read More about The International Society for Lynchian Consciousness

Whip It

Whip It 2009, USA Directed by Drew Barrymore Written by Shauna Cross (also novel) Starring Ellen Page, Alia Shawkat, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig Whip It is not for me. And I mean that literally: it wasn’t made for me. The producers of the film probably couldn’t care less what a 20-something male thinks of …

Read More about Whip It

Take Out (2004)

Take Out 2004, USA Directed by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou Written by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou Starring Charles Jang, Jeng-Hua Yu, Wang-Thye Lee, Justin Wan English/Mandarin In the context of film reviews, ‘hypnotic’ often means the critic fell asleep, but got the DVD for free and is trying to be nice. This is why Jean …

Read More about Take Out (2004)

Surrogates

Surrogates 2009, USA Directed by Jonathan Mostow Written by Michael Ferris, John D. Brancato, Robert Venditti (graphic novel), Brett Weldele (graphic novel) Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames The idea of creating an imaginary persona as a replacement for reality is nothing new, at least for those of us who try to …

Read More about Surrogates

Post Grad

Post Grad 2009, USA Directed by Vicky Jensen Written by Kelly Fremon Starring Alexis Bledel, Zach Gilford, Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch 89 minutes, English When it comes to a critic’s personal biases and preferences, transparency is crucial. So, I’ll admit that I have a hard time with films about pretty people years younger than me …

Read More about Post Grad

‘District 9’ is in the upper echelon of science-fiction films with a message, a moral, and a mech suit

Generally speaking, I don’t like to be lectured. It brings back painful memories of my childhood, when my father would continually admonish me for being untidy, killing the family pets, and digging up my dead sister for Saturday night ‘dates.’ I especially dislike preaching about race relations, because ever since flipping past The O’Reilly Factor while channel surfing, I’ve become convinced that only communist agitators and terrorists complain about racism. But I’ll make a special exception for director Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, because it mixes its didactic moralizing with giant bugs and the mechanized body armour from Robot Jox.

Read More about ‘District 9’ is in the upper echelon of science-fiction films with a message, a moral, and a mech suit

An Open Letter to the Internet: I’m Sorry We Don’t Like The Same Movies

Cult Cinema: Volume 13: Dear Internet, I’m sorry that we don’t like the same movies. I’ve let you down.  After all that you’ve given me, from the questionably legal pornography, to the gory photos of car crash victims and dead celebrities, to the endless hours spent trolling creationist message boards and acupuncture websites, I’ve done …

Read More about An Open Letter to the Internet: I’m Sorry We Don’t Like The Same Movies

Methamphysical Society for Research, Development, and Tweaking

Cult Cinema: Volume 12 It’s tough to be straight-edge. By virtue of being drug- and alcohol-free, the whole world thinks you’re some Christian hardcore kid from Boston who only speaks in Minor Threat lyrics. But on the other hand, you do get to picture the whole world as some sort of decadent, liverish imbecile, lounging …

Read More about Methamphysical Society for Research, Development, and Tweaking