“It’s the law of the jungle,” one character says fairly early on in Beast — “early” as in after we’ve established that a lion decides to become a four-legged vigilante once some poachers slaughter his pride, but before this one-cat army sets his sights on our hero and his family. …
Read More »'Emergency Declaration' Is South Korea's 'Snakes on a Plane,' But With Covid
A standard direct flight from Incheon International Airport in South Korea to Honolulu clocks in at a little over 10 hours, and a lot can happen in the duration of that dawn-to-near-dusk journey. You could start and finish a medium-sized book or work your way through a season of a …
Read More »'Prey' Gives the 'Predator' Franchise Its Long-Awaited Masterpiece
“A long time ago, it is said,” an unseen voice says, “a monster came here.” The year is 1719; neither Arnold Schwarzenegger nor Jesse “The Body” Ventura will be so much as a glimmer in anyone’s eyes for centuries. The place is the Northern Great Plains of what will one …
Read More »'Not Okay' Gives Us an Anti-Heroine for Our Age of Perpetual Internet Thirst
Not Okay wastes no time telling us that its central character, a vapid Insta-famous charlatan named Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), is a bad person. Like, not a single second: Before the movie has even begun, a disclaimer pops up that warns of “flashing lights, themes of trauma, and an unlikable …
Read More »'Flux Gourmet' Is One F-cked-Up, Four Course Meal of Gastro-Horror
Travel past the edge of the woods, located on the periphery of some unnamed European country, and you’ll find a large house. Inside, an institute dedicated to sponsoring artists who deal in “culinary and alimentary performance” has set up shop. Its mission: giving a safe space to those who push …
Read More »'Irma Vep' Isn't a Remake — It's a Remix for Our Apocalyptic Age of Endless Streamable I.P.
“I don’t really care about movies,” the man says, nervously wringing his hands together. “I used to…but not anymore. Maybe it’ll come back?” It’s not an uncommon sentiment to hear in the Year of Our Lord 2022. What makes that comment stand out, however, is that it’s being delivered by …
Read More »'RRR' Is the Best — and Most Revolutionary — Blockbuster of 2022
It’s tough to pinpoint the exact moment that the movie hooks you; mileage will vary per viewer. For some, it might be right from the get go, during a Melodrama 101 preamble involving a kidnapped child and casual colonial cruelty that leaves corpses in its wake. Others may find themselves …
Read More »'X': Two Grindhouse Staples — Horror and Porn — Combined Into One Neo-Exploitation Classic
Bloody. Brutal. Grungier than a big-city back alley and more guts-strewn than a slaughterhouse. This is how you like your slasher-flick horror, and trust us when we say Ti West has your back. Part of a young, hungry generation of horror auteurs weaned on the grindhouse canon, he’s dabbled in …
Read More »For the Love of Leatherface, Can Someone Please Kill This New 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'?
There’s a very important message embedded in this brand new, fresh-off-the-chopping-block version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and it’s one that should be carved crudely in stone with whatever sharp instrument you have on hand, mechanized or otherwise. It’s not that hipsters should ixnay gentrifying ghost towns in the dustier corners …
Read More »Karen Black Always Wanted to Make an Album. Years After Her Death, It's Here
Nearly eight years after her death, Karen Black has left multiple footprints on the culture. Thanks to roles in Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and Nashville, she’s remembered as part of the New Hollywood film movement of the Seventies. Her ground-breaking role as a transgender woman in Robert Altman’s Come …
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