The revisionist western is, by its nature, a subversion of storytelling tradition. In America, this typically meant pushing back against the romanticized, black & white mythology of the Old West. In Europe, particularly Italy and Spain, they used American history as a backdrop while examining their own modern politics. One of the rarer examples of western revisionism came from the Soviet Union, where the iconology of the Hollywood western was typically used to explore regiona

A truly innovative and unique filmmaker, Teruo ‘King of Cult’ Ishii’s prolific career encompassed almost 100 features, shorts, and television episodes, ranging from the children’s sci-fi serial Super Giant (Japanese: Sūpā Jaiantsu; aka: Starman and Spaceman, 1957-1959) to mainstream hit Abashiri Prison (1965), which inspired no fewer than 17 sequels. But his enduring legacy is a series of pinku eiga thrillers and ero guro shockers, including Shogun’s Joys of Torture (Japanese

Generally overlooked outside of his home country, Nobuhiko Obayashi was among the most unique and unpredictable Japanese filmmakers. Including experimental shorts, his work spanned 75 years from 1944 to 2019. Known for combining avant-garde and commercial sensibilities and best remembered stateside for House (1977) – an anarchic horror comedy co-written with his then-teenage daughter, Chigumi, that achieved retrospective cult status, thanks to a Criterion Blu-ray – Obayashi’s

The concept of body horror as a vehicle for exploring women’s mental health and other feminist philosophy was brought to mainstream attention in recent years, thanks to Coralie Fargeat’s surprise awards darling, The Substance (2024)...

The 1970s were a golden age of made-for-TV horror in America, fronted by Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971), Robert Day’s Initiation of Sarah (1978), and the wider oeuvre of Dan Curtis, including the soap opera Dark Shadows (1968-’69), The Night Strangler (1973), and Trilogy of Terror (1975). These films established new formulas that flourished, despite the limitations presented by FCC standards & practices. During the 1990s, Stephen King adaptations grew beyond theaters and made

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Belgian martial artist turned international superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme’s already unusual career was the number of times he played dual roles. He appeared as twins separated at birth in Ringo Lam’s Maximum Risk (1996), he played clones in Lam’s Replicant, and time travel helped him to play different versions of the same guy in Peter Hyams’ Timecop (1994). This all originated with Sheldon Lettich’s Double Impact, a moderate hit that Van D

Ching Siu-tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) was, in some ways, the creative peak of the Hong Kong New Wave era’s xianxia movement, as initiated by producer (and some say co-director) Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain in 1983. The genre was already steeped in imitation and homage, so it came as no surprise that Ching’s film led to three official sequels, an animated film, a 2011 reboot, and an array of movies that liberally ‘borrowed’ the imagery and other elem

From slimy creatures to supernatural wizardry to sex-crazed serial killers, the biggest collection in Arrow Video's Shawscope series yet

Michael Crichton, the forever king of high concept speculative airport fiction, made his directorial debut with the beloved science fiction pastiche Westworld (1973). Unlike the HBO series remake that followed, this version of the story puts thrills and entertainment value ahead of provocative existentialism, preventing Crichton from digging too deeply into the horrors of being a sentient machine. Instead, with what little time he has (this is a very short movie), he focuses

During the 1980s, Hong Kong studios began the search for a female equivalent to rising cinema idols, like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, in keeping with the tradition of King Hu’s Come Drink with Me (1966), Huang Feng’s Hapkido (aka: Lady Kung Fu, 1972), and Lau Kar-leung’s My Young Auntie (1981). This led to a series of full-throttle action classics affectionately known as Girls with Guns movies. The Girls with Guns genre really kicked off with the In the Line of Duty films, a