Le Trou: the Labor of Cinematic Love
When I was in graduate school I took a course about labor and cinema that had a wide range of post-war films coupled with readings from critical film studies, post-structuralist Marxism, etc. —you get...
View ArticleLord of the Rings and the 1970s Fantasy Aesthetic
The kids and I started watching Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy this week, and they’re having a blast with it. When I saw the shot of the Ring Wraiths filing into the tavern in the Fellowship...
View ArticleHitchcock Motifs
UMW Art History professor JeanAnn Dabb is teaching a Freshman Seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. Few subjects in this world are more compelling than Hitchcock’s films, and it’s hard to think of a better...
View ArticleInternational Horror Comes to Culpeper: Four Flies on Gray Velvet and Thriller
On October 25th the Library of Congress, Packard Campus will be showing Dario Argento’s 1972 film Four Flies on Gray Velvet. The following description of this trippy film is taken from Wikipedia:...
View ArticleWire 106: S03E03 “Dead Soldiers”
In this video discussion of episode 3 of Season 3 of the The Wire, “Dead Soldiers,” Paul and I were joined by Meredith Fierro, Amy Wallace, and Alison Thoet. The conversation covers a lot of ground,...
View ArticleFour Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
@jimgroom Bava Snob — Martin Weller (@mweller) October 27, 2014 I try not to be, but whenever I see a Dario Argento film it’s hard not to compare his work to the master, Mario Bava. And with such a...
View ArticleThe Last Hunter
A couple of nights ago enjoyed an epic double feature of the two defining Vietnam War movies: The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979). It was a 6 hour tour de force, and both films were even...
View Article“Il mattino ha l’ oro in bocca”
One of the things I have been looking forward to greatly this summer was finally watching The Shining with my oldest son. He’s already a bit of a horror fan junky, but I’ve begged him to hold off on...
View ArticleFrom “The Bishop of Battle” to Repo Man: the Bus Journey of an 1980s Film Punk
I recently picked up Scream Factory’s 2015 blu-ray release of Nightmares (1983), a low-budget urban legends/horror omnibus in the vein of Creepshow (1982) and Cat’s Eye (1985)—the latter of which my...
View ArticleThe Other Multiregion in My Life: Pioneer DVL-909
When I think about it I’m very much a multiregion kinda guy. I hail from humble NTSC Long Island roots (region 1) but find myself in the Italian Alps living a very PAL (region 2) existence. I mean even...
View ArticleIt’s Father’s Day, and I want my cake!
In Italy Father’s Day is recognized on St.Joseph’s saint day, which is today. And I have to say given Joseph’s role in Jesus’s birth, there’s a strange subtext to the day here Anyway, I spend much of...
View ArticleThe Boy Who Streamed Too Much
So after digging in on the streaming for Reclaim Karaoke Tuesday night, I turned to preparing a discussion about Mario Bava’s seminal giallo film The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963). That discussion...
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