After setting up Meridian Films, Canada’s first commercial video production house, Julian Roffman took another crack at feature film directing, and the gamble was this unusual crime film that riffs the Leopold-Loeb murders wherein two beatniks murder a kid for kicks…
Some thoughts on this past Sunday’s screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) with Bernard Herrmann’s magnificent score performed live by the TSO at Roy Thompson Hall, and some Hitchcock stuff.
Review of John Carpenter’s Christine (1983), released on Blu by Twilight Time, plus recollections of The Thing, which recently screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
A taste of the latest entry in the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s fun media series Packaged Goods: Artful Animation, which screens Wed. Feb. 20th, and features a post-screening discussion with Gerald Ding, Creative Director of Psyop.
Quick tally of notable screenings in T.O., including The Bloor’s Doc Soup: Portrait of Wally (with director Q&A) + Cinema Politica: Doctors of the Dark Side (with guest Q&A), and Canada’s Top 10 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Speaking of Canadian cinema heritage (ahem): I’ve uploaded a lengthy review of Alvin Rakoff’s Death Ship (1980), recently released in a crisp Blu-ray special edition by Scorpion Releasing, which somewhat replaces the 2007 Region 2 DVD from Nucleus Films.
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
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