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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

The cast of THE PARENTING (2025) — including Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow — deserves a better film than this tepid horror comedy. The comedy is by the books; the horror never funny enough. The manage to make a few scenes of connection work, but the rest — meh.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

The immediate influence was other films about astronauts transformed by something they encounter in space. I think it also anticipates films like John Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Lifeforce."

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Marlene Dietrich, dressed lavishly by Rene Hubert, isn't the whole show in THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS (1941), but she might as well be. Her subtle comic playing almost compensates for her being surrounded by men who don't deserve her. She should have run off with maid Theresa Harris.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

For all their best efforts, Samantha Eggar and Linda Thorson can only briefly elevate Canexplotation film CURTAINS (1983) from its status as a third-rate slasher that attempts to mimic the giallo genre.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE (1952) is like a mash-up of M and THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, focusing on a young boy who does a better job tracking the killer preying on his classmates than do any of the film's adults.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955) launched science fiction in England and paved the way for Hammer's rise as a house of horror. It also offers a fascinating take on toxic masculinity as played by Brian Donlevy as the scientist who keeps penetrating space with his phallic rockets.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Argentine film noir takes on family dysfunction in DON'T EVER OPEN THE DOOR (1952), a moody mash-up of two Cornell Woolrich stories with fabulous cinematography by German expatriate Pablo Tabernero (Peter Paul Weinschenk).

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Osgood Perkins creates a unique serial killer tale by drawing on his own feelings about family in LONGLEGS (2024). It's visually stunning and features strong performances, particularly by Nicolas Cage and Kiernan Shipka.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

We are all the dancing chicken, according to Werner Herzog's STROSZEK (1977), the witty, absurdist tale of an alcoholic street musician (Bruno S.) who can't cope with life in Berlin, so he gives Wisconsin a try.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

When scientist Robert Shayne tries to get in touch with his racial subconscious he turns into THE NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953) and makes me feel so Jung.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Roz Russell tries to become a film noir femme fatale as an actress who kills her possessive producer in THE VELVET TOUCH (1948) but ends up out-acted by Sydney Greenstreet and Claire Trevor, as would 96.2 percent of working actors in the 1940s.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Keenly observed, well-written and beautifully performed, Jesse Eisenberg's A REAL PAIN (2024) owes a debt to his earlier work with Noah Baumbach. Problems are explored but there are no artificial resolutions. It all just is...and that's a beautiful thing to experience.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

If you're a pro-wrestling fan, you could have mindless fun watching DARK MATCH (2024), in which a struggling wrestling promotion books date at a remote small town not knowing they'll be fighting to the death. If only writer-director Lowell Dean had picked just one motivation for the murders.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Did he have a medical check-up recently? If they had to draw blood from the back of his hand, it could leave that type of bruise.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

An amazing ensemble piece, Robert Aldrich's excoriation of military corruption, ATTACK (1956) is a beautiful poem about the horrors of war until he and screenwriter James Poe start telling us at the end what the film has already shown us. Still good work from Eddie Albert, Eddie Albert. et al.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Robert Eggers' NOSFERATU (2024) is so bogged down by portent the movie can't break out. It's so over-written that instead of being scary it's often funny.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

John Waters' finished his "Trash Trilogy" with DESPERATE LIVING (1977), a revolutionary epic with screwball elements featuring Mink Stole at her comic best, as a mental patient who helps accidentally kill her husband and moves to a shantytown presided over by Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Robin Wood called THE SENTINEL (1977) a reactionary horror film, and it's easy to tell why. It sees evil in corruption, but associates that with homosexuality, aging, mild obesity, disabilty and cats, and presents the Catholic Church as our defense against corruption. As if...

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Behind the whackadoodle gimmicks, THE TINGLER (1959) is surprisingly effective thanks to the always welcome presence of Vincent Price and stage star Judith Evelyn, giving a solid silent film performance as woman scared to death because she can't speak. Everyone else, scream! Scream for your lives!

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

You bring the guillotine. I'll bring my knitting.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Until he has to compromise on the ending, Alfred HItchcock turns SUSPICION (1941) into a crackerjack thriller about a woman (Joan Fontaine) who suspects her charming new husband (Cary Grant) may be capable of murder. Time has been kinder to his performance than to hers.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Is it dystopian science fiction as social commentary or Saturday matinee serial? ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024) can't seem to make up its mind about anything except exploiting a dead actor for a nostalgic buzz.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

[REC]2 (2009) has its flaws, mainly some convenient new aspects of the zombie infestation in a quarantined apartment building, but it moves well and adds more detail to the source of the zombie outbreak, linking it directly to the Catholic Church in a country where the church supported fascism.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

The script may veer into the simplistic, but ANGEL BABY (1961) features terrific camera work by Paul Wendkos and stand-out performances from Salome Jens, Mercedes McCambridge, Henry Jones, Joan Blondell and, reminding us of when he actually acted, George Hamilton.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

When Barbara Stanwyck takes the screen in THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE (1970), overly showy direction and a predictable haunted-house script don't matter. It's all about her character's emotional life, and few project that better.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

It's Clara, not Carla, and I can't figure out how to edit a post here.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

POLAROID (2019) got dismal reviews, but it's the rare teen horror where many of the cast look and act like teens and the plot about a cursed camera is more than just empty-headed nihilism. Director Lars Klevberg clearly didn't get the memo that these films are supposed to suck.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Nathalie Alvarez Mesen's first feature, CARLA SOLO (2021), is a dreamlike feminist take on the ways women who buy into the patriarchy relentlessly oppress each other.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

With a plot the rips off CARRIE, actors in their 20s playing teens, sexual sizzle with no heat and a final scene setting up a sequel nobody wants, TAMARA (2005) should be so bad it's good, but no. It's just bad.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Elio Petri is almost a prophet in INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION (1970), with Gian Maria Volonte's corrupt police chief anticipating the Watergate scandal, Silvio Berlusconi and President Tiny Hands, and if that offends you, you're following the wrong account.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

The rare songwriter bio in which the leading players, Fred Astaire aand Red Skelton, can sell a number, THREE LITTLE WORDS (1950) has great musical bits by the stars, Vera-Ellen, the young Debbie Reynolds and, in any gay man's favorite, Arlene Dahl. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xxq...

youtube.com

I Love You So Much | Three Little Words | Warner Archive

YouTube video by Warner Bros. Classics

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Everybody — director John Farrow, cinematographer Nicolas Musuraca, Robert Mitchum, Maureen O'Sullivan and Claude Rains — contributes something special to WHERE DANGER LIVES (1950) except leading lady Faith Domergue, who seems lost having to play a role requiring thought and transitions.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Watching CHRISTMAS PRESENCE (2017) is like coming down Christmas morning to find a lump of old and a gift from the bottom of your list under the tree.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Jacque Audiard finds music and magic in the story of a Mexican drug lord who transitions to become the saintly EMILIA PEREZ (2024), with knockout performances by Karla Sofia Gascon and Zoe Saldana.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Curtis Harrington's THE KILLING KIND (1973) is really more absurdist queer psychodrama than horror film, with mother Ann Sothern and son John Savage sharing scenes that almost sound like something Edward Albee would have written.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Edward Berger's direction of CONCLAVE (2024) and a terrific cast (Bravo, Ralph Fiennes!) elevate a script that's basically THE BEST MAN mixed with DYNASTY. I kept expecting Joan Collins to sashay in and say, "I own 51 percent of this Holy See."

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Despite a few effective scenes, ALLISON'S BIRTHDAY (1981) feels drawn out, with love scenes that seem to be padding. And calling the demon the satanists are summoning "Merne" makes me wish I were watching a film with Myrna Loy.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Though hardly a great slasher film, HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE (1980) features a fun performance by Tom Hanks in his film debut and some surprisingly thoughtful depictions of small-town life and women's roles.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Barbara Stanwyck can make almost anything work, but it seems unfair to make her cope with inane plot of CRY WOLF (1947) and Errol Flynn's somnolent performance.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

There's some good filmmaking in STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET (1958) when the faux hip dialogue doesn't get in the way. Wand what would you do if you found two pounds of uncut heroin just lying around in a vacant lot?

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Andrew Fitzgerald's AN ANGRY BOY (2023) starts well and has some engaging young leads, but sacrifices its good will with plot shortcuts in the last act and by conflating homosexuality with child abuse. Memo to filmmakers: I don't watch so I can be bashed.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Although billed as a remake, the 2008 DAY OF THE DEAD only relates tangentially to George A. Romero's much deeper 1985 original, though I enjoyed Stark Sands as a love-starved vegetarian zombie.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

In his TV movie SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME (1978), John Carpenter tries out techniques he'd later use to greater acclaim in HALLOWEEN. He also makes Lauren Hutton the prototype for generations of final girls, a misnomer since the survivors are clearly mature enough to be women.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

In just five minutes, Jan Sterling delivers a performance that dominates John Sturges' MYSTERY STREET (1950), even in a film with good work from Ricardo Montalban as a non-stereotyped Latinx police detective and Elsa Lanchester as a pushy landlady.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

People are commodified in John Frankenheimer's subversive SECONDS (1966). DAYS OF OUR LIFE fans will be happy to see Frances Reid delivering a kick-ass performance as widow who doesn't realize she's not really a widow.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Dorothy Arzner teaches WORKING GIRLS (1931) that it's sisters before misters in this intriguing pre-Code melodrama.

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Dr. Frank @frnklin2001.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Barbara Steele turns into a stunt man in a fright mask in THE SHE-BEAST (1966) since she was only signed for one day's work. The film manages to generate some scary moments even without her.

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