News

Steven Spielberg always appears a little wary when the subject of Jaws comes up. While the blockbuster maestro frequently enjoys chatting about past triumphs, the mere mention of his career-making success seems to transport him back to those endless days floating in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard, waiting for a mechanical shark to work, actors to stop squabbling, and maybe some type of spiritual deliverance. “I was more courageous or I was more stupid,” the director once said about that time in his life. “And I think of both of those things existing underwater.”

For that reason, when he’s asked what his favorite part is of his first masterpiece, Spielberg doesn’t say the innovation he created out of necessity by shooting shark attacks from the fish’s perspective, nor does he jump to John Williams’ primal score. Rather it’s always the image of three characters sitting...

With so many folks out there looking for ways to keep themselves entertained at home right now, perhaps this new batch of home media releases might have something to offer you this week. If you missed it in theaters last year, the controversial Black Christmas remake hits both Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, and Scream Factory has put together a fourth volume in their Universal Horror Collection series, which looks like a must-own for all classic genre fans out there.

Also headed to Blu this week is The Nines, which is one of my favorite underseen films from Ryan Reynolds, as well as Cannibal Apocalypse, featuring John Saxon. We also have Glenn Danzig’s Verotika coming out on Tuesday and if you need something to keep the kiddos busy, Jumanji: The Next Level should do the trick.

Other releases for March 17th include Uncaged, By Day’s End, Witch Hunters,...

By Jeremy Carr

The success of Larry Cohen’s 1973 Blaxploitation classic, Black Caesar, was so immediately evident that producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, then head of American International Pictures, put the sequel wheels in motion almost instantly. The follow-up, Hell Up in Harlem, was released just 10 months later, still in 1973. Such a hasty turnaround certainly makes its mark on the completed picture, with a frenetic tempo, chaotic storyline, and haphazard construction that all seems to mirror its own pace of production. Yet even in the face of this slapdash development, the film itself is thoroughly entertaining, if not quite living up to its predecessor.

Reprising his role as Tommy Gibbs, the shrewd criminal entrepreneur who worked his way up through the underworld ranks in Black Caesar, Fred Williamson starts off the sequel in dire straits. As seen in the earlier film, Tommy had proudly flaunted an aggressive charm, with a sly...

All (post-Romero) zombies are cannibals, but not all cannibals are zombies. This is an important distinction to note for your trading card set, as well for discerning Italian horror cinema. As a youth, I thought it was only the undead with a taste for flesh; that is, until I saw Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (‘81), two sweet and unassuming films where the living sate their hunger by eating douchey interlopers in various jungle settings. The first especially stands out due to a layer of social commentary splashed about, fighting to be seen in between the real animal slayings and crafted carnage. But it’s there and it’s potent; as it is with Cannibal Apocalypse (’80), an allegorical tale of the inner destruction that the Vietnam War wrought on those who survived. That, and a whole lot of flesh ripping.

Released in Italy in August with a stateside premiere September of...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The early-to-mid 1970s was the heyday of grungy cop thrillers. Films exploring the seamier side of police work arguably got its biggest boost from the 1968 release of "Bullitt", which dared to show cops intertwined with ethically-challenged politicians in their common quest for career advancement. With the release of "The French Connection" and "Dirty Harry" in 1971, the genre kicked into high gear. In these films, the anti-hero disregards constitutional protections to take the law into his own hands. With America reeling from soaring crime rates, audiences cheered on these dubious symbols of our justice system. It's safe to say that watching these films from today's standpoint, one might have a different reaction to the tactics used by Popeye Doyle and Harry Callahan. However, there were more nuanced looks at modern urban police departments in films that explored corruption without the benefit of an superhuman anti-hero. Sidney Lumet's...