The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to me isn’t a great giallo movie but is notable being Dario Argento’s feature debut and has great style to it even when character actions aren’t entirely believable. Still, any Argento or giallo fans will get a kick out of this film.
This two-disc release from Arrow Films’ “Arrow Academy” line, Spotlight on a Murderer offers great video and audio transfers but falters a bit in the features department with only an older featurette, though the accompanied booklet is worth a read.
Evil Ed is one quirky but entertainingly bad film and although I really was even aware of it before this Arrow Video release, it apparently does have enough of a following that this set includes a “Special ED-ition Cut” with ~6 more minutes of footage.
Madhouse maybe has a modest following, but being this my first viewing, I found it awfully tedious with little to no thrills not to mention no scares whatsoever, and add in some below average performances, even by 1980s slasher standards, it makes for just a bad movie.
Often funny with plenty of gore for horror-hounds, Brain Damage is plenty of fun though I felt it got on the lengthy side in many instances — the sex scene in particular went on forever — yet the film was entertaining enough.
Cops vs. Thugs is a well made, finely acted crime-drama (with some genuinely humorous moments), that anyone interested in foreign releases would enjoy.
The Climber was an interesting little Italian flick and features a fun performance by lead Joe Dallesandro and although I wasn’t fully involved with the crime-thriller centric story, no doubt any fan of Italian cinema might find it at least interesting.
Admittedly I’m really not a fan of surrealism cinema, not that the ideas go over my head (albeit some do) but often times it comes across pretentious and worse yet, outright dull. Even so, Kiju Yoshida’s visuals are at least something to behold.
Not going out on a limb to say that Donnie Darko is a transformative kind of movie, one that even so many years later still holds up so well and features tremendous performances from most involved.
Caltiki: The Immortal Monster is a quirky 1950s Italian flick that is part silly, part respectable for its effects work that is worthy of watching if only for that aspect, and viewing with friends might make for a fun time.
Django, Prepare a Coffin is one of the very few quasi-sequels to the original and on its own, is actually not a half bad spaghetti western and features a charismatic and entertaining performance from Terence Hill.
Of these two movies, I found House to be the more entertaining but House II does have its moments but it veers far more into the slapstick comedic territory than its predecessor. As far as this release goes, it is unfortunate that the third and fourth movies weren’t included (they are in the Arrow UK release).
Cinema Paradiso is a wonderful and beautifully shot drama that is absolutely superb for any fan of movies and character drama with a touch of romance and lost love.
Creepshow 2 certainly isn’t as good as its predecessor (which had a fantastic line-up of actors) but this sequel is still a lot of fun with one memorable line (“Thanks for the ride, lady!”). While I wasn’t a fan of ‘Old Chief Wood’nhead’, the other two stories weren’t bad at all.