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FROM BEYOND (UNRATED DIRECTOR’S CUT)

FROM BEYOND (UNRATED DIRECTOR’S CUT)

   Note—From Beyond was released in 1986 with an R rating.  Years later, the deleted material was rediscovered and edited back, into the unrated DVD.  This is the version the…
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DEAD ALIVE

DEAD ALIVE

     Dead Alive is an easy movie to dismiss.  It features non-stop humor, most of it over the top and too camp-y to believe.  But its approach to the…
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SUSPIRIA

SUSPIRIA

    Sometimes you have to accept a movie on its own terms.  Many critics would mention I Walked With a Zombie as an example.  Like these critics, I feel…
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NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

    Even before the credits finish, you can tell Night of the Hunter won’t be your average western…or thriller…or anything else.  You hear music—straight out of the most savage…
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CARRIE

CARRIE

    The years spanning the mid 60’s and the early 70’s saw some major changes in American movies, and in movies worldwide.  Barriers on nudity (The Pawnbroker, Women in Love)…
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(REC)

(REC)

 For most of us, The Blair Witch Project (1999) was the first horror story we experienced that tried to disguise itself as real-life events.  (A few novels had actually done…
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PET SEMATARY

PET SEMATARY

Some of us are fortunate enough to experience a novel, poem, painting…or movie, that strikes us as perfectly planned, all the way from the outline in the artist’s soul. Maybe…
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INSIDE

INSIDE

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HENRY; PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER

HENRY; PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER

     Henry was definitely not the first serial killer movie.  For that, you need to go back to Fritz Lang’s M (1930), maybe further.  But it came out early…
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THE SEVENTH VICTIM

THE SEVENTH VICTIM

    The Seventh Victim is a unique movie experience– in many, many ways.  Some may find it highly scary…others may find it more creepy than scary.  Others…find it neither.  Like…
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AUDITION

AUDITION

     Audition begins as a quiet, thoughtful character study.  You may be reminded of Ordinary People, the under-rated late-60’s drama Rachel, Rachel, even a serious variation on Sleepless in Seattle. …
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ALIENS

ALIENS

     I don’t write about many big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. But writing about Aliens feels like a privilege—like describing someone you feel honored to know. It has all of this: solid…
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I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

      “You have to accept this one on its own terms.”        This definitely applies to I Walked With a Zombie.  But doing it may not…
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BEDEVILLED

BEDEVILLED

     You watch, helpless, as a woman transforms into a mass murderer. You can read her thoughts…it doesn’t take a mind reader: People are going to grind you into…
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FRANKENSTEIN

FRANKENSTEIN

     Frankenstein dates back a long time, all the way to the dawn of talking pictures. Because so many of its themes have been borrowed or expanded on since then,…
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CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

      How can our search for love, and a violent outcome, be chained together so intensely?        How many of us can remember and regret, hurtful…
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CAT PEOPLE

CAT PEOPLE

     Like I Walked with a Zombie, Suspiria, and many more, you need to acceptCat People on its own terms.  Not everyone, especially younger people, will find it scary.  I…
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DELIVERANCE

DELIVERANCE

     Deliverance is not a movie you find in the horror section of the video store.  My feeling though; if this isn’t a horror movie, what is. My arguments…
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PHENOMENA

PHENOMENA

 If you’re a fan of Suspiria, Reanimator, and other movies where filmmakers show no fear of going too far, you might love Phenomena. Phenomena takes loads of chances, and mostly succeeds……
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PEEPING TOM

PEEPING TOM

     Most of the movies I write about, that move me– tend to be unique. But even among those, Peeping Tom is a singular experience…one that will leave you…
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