[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Richard Fleischer’s The Boston Strangler is a fascinating paradox. In some respects (e.g., in terms of its plot, narrative structure, and character archetypes), it’s a rather typical police procedural—albeit a remarkably lurid example of the genre by the standards of the late '60s (the degree of exploitative, voyeuristic sleaze in which it indulges is, in my experience, more commonly associated with the '70

[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Kazuhiko Hasegawa’s The Youth Killer revolves around a brutal act of parricide. The catalyst for the crime is an argument regarding protagonist Jun Saiki’s “loose” girlfriend, but that isn’t really the cause—only the motive. Such conflicts are hardly uncommon, after all, and they rarely result in murder; what other environmental factors nurtured the irrational rage that ultimately culminated in violence? I

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Quite early on in director Lav Diaz’s Magellan, the governor of a newly conquered territory outlines the Portuguese crown’s imperialist ambitions. Their mission, he explains to the assembled soldiers, is threefold: to spread Christianity at the point of a sword, to extinguish the influence of “heretical” religions, and—perhaps most importantly—to seize control of global trade routes, thus toppling rival nat

[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] The “revenge film” has become a genre unto itself at this point. Death Wish , Rolling Thunder , John Wick , Lady Snowblood , Oldboy , any of the innumerable adaptations of Hamlet —viewers have become so intimately familiar with the basic tropes, conventions, and archetypes associated with these stories that I needn’t even bother listing them. The deceptively yet appropriately titled Revenge , on the other

[ The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] Lancelot du lac both begins and ends with scenes of shockingly graphic violence. Two knights clad in cumbersome suits of armor clash on a desolate battlefield, so thoroughly exhausted that they can barely lift their weapons. Finally, one combatant lands a decisive blow, beheading his opponent with one last desperate flail of his sword; the decapitated corpse collapses in a limp heap, gushing blood onto t

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] In a Violent Nature revolves around a novel enough premise: what if...

[The following list contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Way back in 2020, I wrote: I firmly believe that a villain is only...

[The following essay contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] You either lose your mind or die. No in between. That quote is Cyberpunk:...

[The following essay contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Over the course of his career, David Cronenberg has become...

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] It took me way too long to discover Grosse Pointe Blank. Which...

[WARNING: The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS for 13 Assassins, Skyfall, Django Unchained, and Avengers: Endgame.] What defines a...

Ventured out to Metrograph to catch a screening of the gorgeous new 4K restoration of Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong. This stylish,...

1917 is a breathtaking technical achievement. Producing a “single-take” movie (even one as obviously stitched-together as this—not a...

I’ve decided to revisit my House of Bamboo review because I somehow forgot to mention that it features one of the most realistically...

[The following review contains SPOILERS; you have been warned!] If the poetry of violence is a language in and of itself, then Martin...

“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” isn't merely a title; it's a mission statement. It immediately evokes a vivid image, promising a celebration and/or...

The original Harakiri (1962) is an uncompromisingly uncomfortable film, a scathing criticism of the fetishization of bushido in general...

As much as I love the “classic” Western, it’s been fascinating to witness how such innovative filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino and the...

A good action scene does not exist for its own sake; rather, it is the culmination of the screenwriter’s meticulously-laid groundwork....

By the end of The Walking Dead’s seventh season premiere, Rick Grimes is a broken man. And it’s his own damn fault. And as I watched the...