Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on July 31, 2018

Death Walks at Midnight (1972) This nifty thriller from director Luciano Ercoli has enough turns to keep you guessing until the end. Top fashion model Valentina (Nieves Navarro, aka: Susan Scott) takes an experimental hallucinogen for money and has visions of a brutal murder with a spiked gauntlet.   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on July 26, 2018

(1972) Directed by Aldo Lado; Written by Aldo Lado and Ruediger von Spies; Starring: George Lazenby, Anita Strindberg, Adolfo Celi, Dominique Boschero, Piero Vida and Nicoletta Elmi; Available on DVD and Amazon Prime Rating: ***½ “I have always considered that giallo films   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on July 18, 2018

(1970) Directed by Mario Bava; Written by Mario di Nardo; Starring: William Berger, Ira von Fürstenberg, Edwige Fenech, Howard Ross, Helena Ronee, Teodoro Corrà and Ely Galleani; Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating:*** “Everyone seems to be waiting for something that’s not   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on July 8, 2018

(1971) Written and directed by Dario Argento; Original story by Dario Argento, Luigi Cozzi and Mario Foglietti; Starring: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bud Spencer, Oreste Lionello and Francine Racette; Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating: **** “…I k   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 30, 2018

Highway 61 (1991) Director/co-writer Bruce McDonald’s bizarre odyssey (his style could be described as David Lynch by way of Jim Jarmusch) is a road trip like no other. Pokey Jones (Don McKellar) is a socially inept barber living in a small town in Ontario, Canada. His humdrum life takes an...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 25, 2018

(1983) Directed by Peter Yates; Written by: Stanford Sherman; Starring: Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis, David Battley, Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane; Available on Blu-ray and DVD. Rating: *** “What we were doing was portraying a fantasy story with   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 18, 2018

I hate rating movies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a necessary evil, I suppose. It’s what you’re supposed to do when you review films, right? It’s a thumbnail sketch of my opinion, in easy-to-digest, minimal thought-inducing form. It’s all you’d ever need to kno   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 5, 2018

We’ve come to the end of the Great Hammer-Amicus Blogathon, hosted by Gill Jacob from Realweegiemidget Reviews and me, but it’s not really an end, but a beginning. Why, you might ask? We’ve enjoyed hosting this blogathon so much, that we plan on making it an annual event. With that   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 4, 2018

(1971) Directed by John Hough; Written by: Tudor Gates; Based on characters created by Sheridan Le Fanu; Starring: Peter Cushing, Mary Collinson, Madeleine Collinson, Dennis Price, Isobel Black and Damien Thomas; Available on Blu-Ray and DVD Rating:**** “As far as I was concerned, this w   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 3, 2018

Welcome to Day Three of the Great Hammer-Amicus Blogathon, hosted by Gill Jacob from Realweegiemidget Reviews and me! Today, we return with another stellar bunch of posts, including reviews, history, a word puzzle and movie-themed recipes. Be sure to tune in on Tuesday for a blogathon wrap-up.   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 2, 2018

Welcome to Day Two of the Great Hammer-Amicus Blogathon, hosted by Gill Jacob from Realweegiemidget Reviews and me! Yesterday’s turnout exceeded our expectations, with a tremendous batch of reviews that encompassed the history of Hammer Films from 1936 to 2010, and a survey of the best of Amic   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 1, 2018

(1965) Directed by Freddie Francis; Written by Milton Subotsky; Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Neil McCallum, Bernard Lee, Donald Sutherland, Katy Wild and Roy Castle; Available on DVD. Rating: ***½ Note: This is an expanded version of a capsule review, w   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 1, 2018

How do you make two things that are already great even better? By combining them, of course. Gill Jacob of Realweegiemidget Reviews and I have submitted for your reading enjoyment The Great Hammer-Amicus Blogathon! Witness two amazing houses under one roof (don’t try to think of the architect   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 28, 2018

Tommy (1975) Writer/director Ken Russell’s hallucinatory adaptation of The Who’s seminal rock opera engages your senses and intellect. Roger Daltrey plays the title character, a “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who “sure plays a mean pinball,” and becomes a latter-day m   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 22, 2018

(1986) Directed by: Frank Oz; Written by Howard Ashman; Based on the musical play by Howard Ashman, which was based on the screenplay by Roger Corman and Charles B. Griffith; Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Levi Stubbs, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, John Candy and Bill Murray Availabl   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 10, 2018

(1986) Directed by Julien Temple; Written by Richard Burridge, Christopher Wicking and Don MacPherson; Based on the novel by Colin MacInnes; Starring: Patsy Kensit, Eddie O’Connell, David Bowie, James Fox, Ray Davies, Eve Ferret and Sade; Available on Blu-ray (region B) and DVD (Out of Print)   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 1, 2018

(1993) Written and directed by Trey Parker; Starring: Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Toddy Walters, Robert Muratore, Matt Stone and Jon Hegel; Available on DVD. Rating: **** “I think the biggest influence for Cannibal was just the musicals, like Rodgers and Hammerstein-style musicals   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 25, 2018

Long Dream (2000) Director Higuchinsky’s adaptation of a horror manga by Junji Ito is only 59 minutes long, but it packs a potent wallop. A seasoned doctor (Masami Horiuchi) and his young protégé observe an unusual patient with a strange affliction. Each night, the patient experiences drea   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 15, 2018

(1964) Directed by Nathan Juran; Written by Nigel Kneale and Jan Read; Based on the novel by H.G. Wells; Starring: Edward Judd, Martha Hyer and Lionel Jeffries Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating: ***½ “H.G. Wells did suggest that perhaps the ant men grew intelligenc   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 6, 2018

(1973) Directed by Robin Hardy; Written by Anthony Shaffer; Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt; Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating: ****½ “We wanted to create a 20th century pagan society, and we wanted to make a treasur   read more