Author and film historian Roberto Curti is such an expert on Italian genre cinema, he literally wrote the books on them: 2013’s Italian Crime Filmography and 2015’s Italian Gothic Horror Films, both published by McFarland & Company. And he’s still writing them! In fact, Curti has two new books out this summer: Tonino Valerii: The … Continue reading Guest List: Roberto Curti’s Top 5 (Technically, 7) Unlikely Superheroes in Italian Cinema→
In the curious case of Corpse Mania, its iconic Shaw Brothers shield logo may as well stand for “Sex Bizarro.” Necrophilia tends to bear that rep. Residents of a street in Guangzhou notice that ever since that mysterious man Li Zhengyuan (Erik Chan Ka Kei, Human Lanterns) moved in, the streets are heavy with a … Continue reading Corpse Mania (1981)→
What’s in Hong Kong’s The Cave of Silken Web? Try seven spider demons, in the shapely form of sisters clad in eveningwear from the Roy G. Biv collection, with color-coordinated webs to match. Still, I could not tell them apart — a difficult task made all the more taxing by the insistence of director Ho … Continue reading The Cave of Silken Web (1967)→
Hong Kong King Kong! This Shaw Brothers take on the giant-monkey-gone-ape story is so unintentionally hysterical that even joking about it in print doesn’t do it justice. In a remote jungle, an earthquake — simulated via unbelievably bad rear-screen projection — unleashes a giant gorilla from the mountain. If you’re fishing for an explanation as … Continue reading The Mighty Peking Man (1977)→
In his directorial/screenwriting debut, hip-hop musician and multihyphenate RZA also portrays, natch, the man with the iron fists. Unfortunately, the man with iron fists is cursed with a tin ear, a wooden personality,and ham-handed camera skills. That last didn’t make much sense, but you get the gist: The Man with the Iron Fists is deeply … Continue reading The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)→
