by Kayla Hurowitz The Toxic Avenger (Hertz & Kaufman, 1984) The Toxic Avenger is an unabashedly violent film from directors Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment. It follows Mitch Cohen’s titular character as he finds romance and fights evil in the town of Tromaville. The film has no sense of irony, sticking to … Continue reading
When Ethan and Joel Coen released their darkly comedic crime thriller, Fargo, in 1996, the movie had an impact on the film community that wasn’t unlike the effect of Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough, Pulp Fiction two years earlier. Fargo may not have been the duo’s first outing, but it was the film that made them a … Continue reading
by Jon RobertsAve Maria (Palestine, dir. Basil Khalil) Funded by Palestine, this short film plays with differences in religious beliefs while maintaining a fun, humorous tone throughout. Ave Maria takes place at a nunnery in the West Bank after an Israeli family’s car breaks down outside. The film addresses the oddities in both religions, as … Continue reading
by Justin Bertolero The Man Who Fell To Earth (Roeg, 1976) By 1976, David Bowie had become a bona fide musical superstar, particularly in his home country of England. Hot on the heels of his hit albums Diamond Dogs and Young Americans, Bowie wanted to try his hand at a film career. For his first … Continue reading
by Erin Gardiner From the December 2015 Issue Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Hughes, 1987) A businessman and an eccentric nomad collide, almost literally, in the middle of a crowded New York City street. Their perspectives are turned upside down when they end up in each other’s company for the next few days leading up to … Continue reading
by Haley Goetz From the December 2015 Issue Kids (Clark, 1995) The story of how Kids was made is legendary. A young Harmony Korine was skateboarding when he came across Larry Clark, a photographer that he idolized. They got to talking and that night, Korine began to crank out the Kids screenplay. About a week … Continue reading
by Sam Paulson From the October 2015 Issue Antichrist (2009) Antichrist is the first film in the trilogy and plays like Trier’s version of a torture porn movie. It deals with the pain of depression, both in an emotional and physical sense. While the film shares many similar visual motifs with the Saw franchise, it … Continue reading
by Byron Bixler & Eli Hayes From the April 2015 Issue Basket Case (Henenlotter, 1982) A hideous growth vaguely resembling a partial human being is separated from a boy at a young age only to be reunited and carried about in a large wicker basket, occasionally released to exact its revenge on those who dared … Continue reading
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