RYOMA ANSATSU (“The Assassination Of Ryoma”)Production: Japan, 1974 Director: Kuroki Kazuo Category: Samurai Ryoma Sakamoto was a notorious rogue samurai, an imperial loyalist who tried to unite the Choshu and Satsuma clans and prepared the way for the Meiji Restoration (1868). He was assassinated just before his plans came to fruition, Continue Reading
LE VIEUX FUSIL
LE VIEUX FUSIL (“The Old Rifle”) Production: France/Germany, 1975 Director: Robert Enrico Category: Nazi/Violence Enrico was not an exploitation director, but there are enough elements in this film – starting with atrocity as a man’s wife is burned alive by Nazi flame-throwers – to qualify it as being amongst the ranks of Continue Reading
CRYPT OF DARK SECRETS
CRYPT OF DARK SECRETS Production: USA, 1976 Director: Jack Weis Category: Vietnam/Horror A disturbed Vietnam vet is robbed and killed by thieves in the Louisiana bayou, but comes back to “life” with the help of Dambella, a sexy swamp witch who performs her snake-curses in the nude. A steamy conflagration of the Viet-vet, Continue Reading
AROUSED
AROUSED Production: USA, 1966 Director: Anton Holden Category: Serial Murder/Sex-Psycho From the same NY grindhouse scene as the films of Michael and Roberta Findlay, Holden’s “roughie/ghoulie” is one of the best of the period, featuring a psychopathic killer with a grudge against hookers (his mother was a prostitute who neglected Continue Reading
SZEGÉNYLEGÉNYEK
SZEGÉNYLEGÉNYEK (“Outlaws”) Production: Hungary, 1965 Director: Miklós Jancsó US release title: The Round-Up Category: War Atrocity In the desolate aftermath of Kossuth’s 1848 rebellion against the oppressive Hapsburg Austrian Empire, the last remaining nationalists are imprisoned and subjected to physical and psychological torture. Framed in stark black-and-white images of devastation, Continue Reading