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Author Archives: Ross Birks
The Sect (1991)
A scattershot and scatterbrained Italian shocker that is massively improved by deft direction courtesy of Michele Soavi. A filmmaker of layered images, Soavi constantly throws in details to make his shots pop that little bit louder. In his movies you … Continue reading
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this but it somehow seemed a lot cheaper and rougher than I remember this time around. Still, it’s a terrific course-correct that gets the series on sure footing after the muddled … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged 1987, Chuck Russell, Craig Wasson, Heather Langenkemp, Patricia Arquette, Robert Englund, Wes Craven
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Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
I’ve grown to love this movie for all the ways it feels like a true successor to Carpenter’s Halloween and for all the ways it doesn’t. I like to imagine a world where this was a success and we got … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged 1982, John Carpenter, Tom Atkins, Tommy Lee Wallace
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Landline (2017)
Edie Falco and John Turturro as Jenny Slate’s parents? The casting director of Landline is NOT fucking around. How perfect. I didn’t love Robespierre and Slate’s previous collab, Obvious Child, as much as I probably should have but this one really … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged 2017, Edie Falco, Gillian Robespierre, Jenny Slate, John Turturro
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Paint It Black (2016)
At the centre of Paint It Black is a symbiotic relationship between two women; Josie, a twenty-something whose boyfriend has just committed suicide, and Meredith, the boyfriend’s mother; a hateful resentful woman who seems determined to both destroy and possess … Continue reading
John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Ghosts of Mars is similar to Prince of Darkness in that it serves up an encore of Carpenter’s favourite storytelling tropes; the Rio Bravo remixing, the siege, the horde of supernatural baddies, the stoic antihero and plenty more. But where … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged 2001, Clea Duvall, ice cube, Jason Statham, John Carpenter, Natasha Henstridge, Pam Grier
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John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
While often lumped in with John Carpenter’s late-career slew of misfires, Vampires actually gets a lot of things right. It’s fun to see him finally indulge in the explicit Western iconography and tropes he had flirted with for his entire … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged 1998, James Woods, John Carpenter, sheryl lee, William Baldwin
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The House on Sorority Row (1983)
You know you’re in good hands about five minutes into The House on Sorority Row. As Richard Band’s lush score swells, the credits unfold over a series of images that depict a girl’s “getting ready” routine with totemic importance. Shot … Continue reading
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
While One-Eyed Jacks has the grandeur and elemental framing of a big-budget American western, its concerns and tempo feel unmistakably European. It presents itself as a revenge flick, but actually unfolds like a sweeping melodrama. This is far more interested … Continue reading
The Belko Experiment (2017)
The Belko Experiment is a film totally committed to its blunt premise. Characters are there to be killed brutally, what little story there is is only there to provide the most basic of genre frameworks. It’s exactly the film it … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged 2017, Greg Maclean, Gregg Henry, James Gunn, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn
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"This Film Should Be Played Loud" 