Thank you, Spirit of Ed Wood Blogathon, for giving me an excuse to write about José Mojica Marins, the Brazilian screenwriter, director, and star of films every bit as quirky and original as those of the incomparable Wood. To be fair, Marins combines Wood with equal parts William Castle and Luis Buñuel, even – in ... read more »

The Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed takes a long look at some recent film and theater projects that have dealt with classical music – including The Soloist and Francis Coppola’s Tetro – and concludes the most interesting of the lot is the Wooster Group’s theatrical mash-up La Didone (bottom), which combines a 17th Century opera ... read more »

With regard to the whole issue of dubbing, conventional wisdom tells us that foreign films are best viewed in their original language. And I tend to agree with that. But there are some major exceptions to that rule – most of them Italian. That’s because Italian films are (or were) generally shot without synchronized sound. ... read more »

If you’re a fan of the films of Otto Preminger, Roger Corman, or Mario Bava – or, like me, all three – you will be saddened to learn of the death earlier this week of John Phillip Law, who was an iconic presence in the films of all three directors. For Preminger, he played a ... read more »

Boris Karloff in “The Wurdalak” episode of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath (1963) This is my ranked list of 31 Essential Horror Films culled from Ed Hardy, Jr.’s 183 Official Nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List. In keeping with the parameters of Ed’s poll, my primary criterion for inclusion and ranking ... read more »

Today’s Los Angeles Times, describing last night’s second Republican Presidential Debate, noted that most of the candidates “expressed support for a more aggressive approach to interrogations.”Some cinematic examples of “a more aggressive approach to interrogations” are pictured above. (Top: Mario Bava’s Black Sunday. Bottom: Massimo Pupillo’s Bloody Pit of Horror.) Sorry. Couldn’t find any waterboarding ... read more »