celluloid consommé

Dario Argento’s 1982 return to giallo gets a substantial visual upgrade from Synapse Films in their standard release. 4K box art courtesy of MVD Visual. Following in the vein of Argento’s definitive gialli  Bird With the Crystal Plumage  and  Four Flies on Grey Velvet ,  Tenebrae  was   a return to form for the director after flirting with the supernatural in films like  Suspiria  or  Inferno  and many will say this is some of his best work. A writer specializing in murder mysteries visits Rome for a publicity tour, and as he’s scheduled to arrive a murder takes place using his novel as inspiration. He becomes part of an investigation that takes more from him than he realizes, as those who have worked on the book become targeted. Argento has a definitive style and it’s on full-blown display in  Tenebrae , as well as its metafictional commentary about the cruel nature of material that gialli is drawn from, material like the books his...

Adrián García Bogliano’s 2018 film gets a standard release from Synapse Films, with a special audio treat. Blu-Ray box art courtesy of MVD Visual. Black Circle  is an oddity in the world of horror cinema. It is within the cult subgenre (not a cult film, but a film about cults) although there is no hidden menace among its founders. In fact, everything the group claims to be true actually is and it’s up to the work of the viewer and each individual character to decide when to buy into all of it, however there is a point where it is impossible to deny. It feels like a horror film torn from the pages of a graphic novel in its developed visual style, and the marriage it proposes between the visual and aural is fascinating. It has something to offer to fans of the horror and sci-fi genres with notable superhero elements. Celeste (Felice Jankell) reunites with her sister Isa (Erika Midfjäll) and is given a record designed to direct meditation and hypnotize the subject, promising them a be...

Kensuke Sonomura’s new procedural martial arts film has hit the shelves. Blu-Ray & DVD box/disc art courtesy of Well Go USA. Kensuke Sonomura has been a rising director in martial arts film for a little while now, and  Hydra  certainly turned some heads when Well Go USA released his first film in 2021, two years after its inital release. Sonomura’s second film here,  Bad City , gets a release much sooner from Well Go between its festival run in just over a year. The film follows the metropolitan police department in the fictional Kaiko City, where a Yakuza lord announces that he will run for mayor. A special task force is created to take him down as quickly & effectively as possible, which sees the temporary release of ex-police inspector Torada (Hitoshi Ozawa) to help lead the investigation. The film is very much steeped in the world of procedural law enforcement, but occupied with those who already have reasons to distrust the system they have to work within. Vi...