Originally published in 2016 for the Terror Test episodes on The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy, and The Purge: Election Year. The Purge Will Be Televised. The Revolution Lost Its Corporate Sponsors. I wasn’t excited about watching The Purge. I figured it would be an extended home invasion movie played out as a joyride. To some degree it is, … Continue reading From the Eunoia Archives: The Terror Test: Test Prep #4
From the beginning, Twin Peaks seemed like an impossible international hit, and there’s no way the third season, The Return, could live up to every expectation. The cliffhanger ending of the second season and the seeming disregard to the characters led to rumors that the last episode was David Lynch’s middle finger extended at the … Continue reading When you get there, you will already be there: Twin Peaks: The Return
Matador (1986)Pedro Almodóvar is one of those directors I’ve missed, though I’ve had his movies on lists for decades. Matador is an early film and one he considers among his least favorite of his own work. I’d be happy to make something as “bad” and interesting as this. On the surface, the world in the … Continue reading Activate the Holosphere!: Recent Viewing
A post of mine popped up a few times that it was being read, but I couldn’t remember what it was about. It happened to be the the “Favorite Films for Every Year I’ve Been Alive” list. I noticed it got rather squirrelly towards the end. For one, I tend to watch older movies. For … Continue reading Might as well…again…2018 edition.
Even the first career I dreamed about began with a movie–Jaws. I wanted to be a shark expert. Later, I wanted to be Ray Harryhausen. That began with Clash of the Titans (and King Kong, which I saw around the same time). I wanted to make stuff like the Kraken, not only the stop-motion scenes, … Continue reading A Cinephile’s Sins of the Fathers or Let’s Put on a Show!
Limite (1931)This is the only film completed by Brazilian director Mário Peixoto and it has been lost at various times throughout the decades. Supposedly Peixoto saw a magazine cover image of a woman’s face and a man’s hands in cuffs and he decided he would make a film. The story involves three people stranded in … Continue reading Sometimes murder is like love: Recent Viewing
Originally posted with The Terror Test episode on Psycho (1960) and Frenzy (1972). This was the first time I got to talk with Murray Leeder, a professor, writer, and cultural critic. A short bio and some of his titles listed after the interview. I’ve found his work invaluable as I continue to watch and think … Continue reading From the Eunoia Archives: The Terror Test: Test Prep #3
Test Prep is a series of essays that I occasionally write to complement episodes of The Terror Test, a horror podcast. The guys are currently setting up a new website (actually, they are currently on a “monster trip” in Europe, and then they’ll be setting up the new website–I’ll provide links when it goes live). You can … Continue reading From the Eunoia Archives: The Terror Test: Test Prep #2
My wife and I chose this as a Saturday date night movie. We had both seen it before, but decades ago. She was disturbed by it, having somehow happened onto it at age seven. I watched it not too long after it fizzled from theaters and found its way onto VHS shelves as a double … Continue reading Just Give Me the Crown: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
Stephen McClurg 