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One of my favorite professors in college would start and end every class session with the same sage words of wisdom, “You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” This quote, resonating loudly in the absence of video stores, in the disposal of physical media by major retailers, with the undeniable influence of social media on creative output and in the shadow of a global pandemic, paints an entirely new perspective on the future of film and the paths that will be taken based on the past already paved.

The narrative theme we will describe as “looking back” is not a new concept for storytelling. Whether searching history for stories about famous figures, critical moments, or rare circumstances, returning to the past is grounds for interesting stories.

Looking back at the footprints set by genre film; from Méliès to Wiene, from Murnau to Browning,...

For all the talk of our declining values and increasing permissiveness in our society, it's hard not to feel downright prudish watching Waves Of Lust, an early effort from Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust). Even if you can chalk up some of that dissonance to it being an import, Waves challenges even the most sexually charged modern feature films for sheer prurience, without even trying to disguise its intentions behind a curtain of respectability (we're looking at you, Shame). Unfortunately, it ignores nearly every other quality of film production to do it, but that doesn't mean you won't have a darn good time.

If Last House on the Left was a remake of The Virgin Spring, then this could similarly be called a callback to Knife in the Water, Polanski's early thriller. Rich, demented industrialist Giorgio (John Steiner) invites the young couple Irem (Al Cliver) and Barbara (Silvia Dionisio) aboard his yacht for the weekend,...

DVD Release Date: July 31, 2012

Price: DVD $19.98

Studio: Raro Video/Entertainment One

Elizabeth Turner turns up the heat in Waves of Lust.

Sex and violence flows freely in Italian genre filmmaker Ruggero Deodato’s 1975 thriller Waves of Lust.

The movie focuses on two carefree youngsters, Irem (Al Cliver) and Barbara (Silvia Dionisio), who are invited for a weekend cruise on a yacht owned by Giorgio (John Steiner), a ruthless and cynical industrialist, who is married to Silvia (Elizabeth Turner), a disturbed woman who allows herself to be physically and mentally abused by him. Silvia then forms a love triangle with Irem and Barbara who conspire against Giorgio, whose misogyny and paranoia pushes him over the edge into murder.

A minor cult film like many of Deodato’s imports (his most popular remains the 1980 gross-out Cannibal Holocaust), Waves of Lust is initially reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s (Carnage) 1962 thriller Knife in the Water.

Directed by: Riccardo Freda

Written by: Antonio Cesare Corti, Riccardo Freda, Simon Mizrahi, Fabio Piccioni

Cast: Stefano Patrizi, Martine Brochard, Henri Garcin, Laura Gemser, Anita Strindberg, John Richardson, Silvia Dionisio

While shooting a violent murder scene on a horror movie set, actor Michael (Stefano Patrizi) nearly chokes his co-star Beryl (Black Emanuelle Laura Gemser) to death in an uncontrollable rage.

Fortunately for Michael, it's his last scene before taking a break to visit his estranged mother, Glenda (genre vet Anita Strindberg), for a long weekend. The troubled thespian brings along his girlfriend, Deborah (Silvia Dionisio), to the old family mansion, a place he hasn't seen in years. They are greeted by creepy butler Oliver (John Richardson), who divulges to Michael that his mother is very ill but doesn't want him to know.

Once the pair have been shown to their separate rooms, Michael is reunited with sickly Glenda, who seems...

Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian DVD label RaroVideo announces two rare horror titles slated for release on December 6th: Lamberto Bava's Body Puzzle and Riccardo Freda's Murder Obsession.

Lamberto Bava’s Body Puzzle tells the tragic and increasingly morbid story of the lovely widow Tracy (Gorky Park’s Joanna Pacula). Not only has her famous pianist husband Abe died in an auto accident, but someone keeps breaking into her house and leaving severed body parts lying around. A candy store owner is gutted, a poor woman has her hand lopped off in a public bathroom, a young swimmer is castrated, and so on. The investigating police officer, Michael (The Church’s Tomas Arana), strikes up a hot and heavy romance with her to keep Tracy’s mind off the rapidly accumulating trophies. Michael’s supervising...