A young woman who has a metal plate in her head after a car accident develops a fixation with automobiles. After a series of violent incidents she goes on the run and assumes the identity of a missing teenage boy, moving in with the boy’s firefighter father. This is Crash meets The Fast and the …
One of the films I watched the most as a kid in the 80s was Supergirl. This obviously raised a few eyebrows at the time (ahem) but I was obsessed with this fantastic entry into the Superman franchise. It surprised me greatly to find out years later that the film was panned by some critics …
Continue reading Reading Tealeaves in Lake Tahoe- Why Supergirl (1984) is An Underrated Gem
A former concentration-camp doctor is left paralysed after a failed attempt on his own life. When a nurse is sought to assist in his day-to-day care, a young man steps forward who was one of his victims years earlier. If you need a warning as to how shocking this film is, John Waters calls In …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 54- In A Glass Cage (1986)
At the end of World War 2, the Japanese experiment on Chinese and Russian prisoners of war in Unit 731 to develop bacterial plagues. A historical film shot through the exploitation lens so graphic violence takes precedence over strict accuracy. It’s well shot, well acted and has great special effects. But with fare like this, …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 53- Man Behind The Sun (1988)
A taxi driver stops for a stranded woman, not to help her but to murder her instead. Her fiancé just so happens to be a trained Secret Service agent who becomes obsessed with tracking down the man who carried out this atrocity. Violent, yes, but with a brilliant script, beautiful cinematography and great acting. There's …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 52- I Saw The Devil (2010)
Sadistic Yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his boss who has gone missing but during this crosses paths with Ichi, a literal psycho killer (to quote Talking Heads) who appears to be even more extreme. Ichi The Killer caused serious waves in its release here in the UK with the BBFC wanting substantial cuts before it …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 51- Ichi The Killer (2001)
‘A troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.’ This Takashi Miike film was bound to be notorious, as it was directed by the same director who made Ichi the Killer and Audition. I was also looking forward to this …
Thank God for IMDB- ‘A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 49- Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
In the Old West, a sheriff and his posse set out to rescue several townspeople from a cannibalistic tribe known as the troglodytes. It’s cowboys vs cannibals! Or The Searchers meets The Hills Have Eyes. I normally hate Westerns except when they involve gore, people eating each other and star none other than Kurt Russell. …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 48- Bone Tomahawk (2015)
The Devils takes place in 17th-century France. Father Urbain Grandier is trying to protect the city of Loudun from the evil Cardinal Richelieu but this is threatened by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft. The Devils is bonkers filmmaking, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s frenetic, frenzied and hits a …
