A few reviews

[Zaharoff]

Lake Nowhere - 2014 - USA

Lake Nowhere - 2014 - 5/10

Three couples and a spare disembark at the cabin by the forlorn lake.
Where they are observed … by a guy who appears to be auditioning for Sasquatch.
Alcohol, weed, implied canoodling, and a little barking dog.
Homage / pastiche to 80’s Slashers suffers from a trope of “airing on late nite TV".
Nudity, awkwardly excised, seconds of commercials, tape offtrack.
Part Slasher, part zombie. Males, to a soul, overact.
Good concept, missteps during execution.

 

[Zaharoff]

Minoes - 2001 - France

Minoes - 2001 - 6/10
AKA - Miss Minoes

Curiosity killed – make that, altered the cat.
After a barrel of illegal waste spills, Minoes the cat drinks it.
Turning into a female human, with a taste for fish and aversion to dogs.
Behind the waste, however, is the town’s most influential man.
Minoes and her league of feline family scurry forth to topple.
Pretty good family fare. Performed nicely everywhere save for the States (atrocious dubbing).

 

[Zaharoff]

The Man On The Eiffel Tower - 1949 - USA

The Man On The Eiffel Tower - 1949 - 6/10

Inspector Miagret and the #1 suspect in a stabbing, the impoverished knife sharpener.
The slain was rich, the heir impatient with two grasping females on either arm.
Then there is the pompous intellectual, Life’s failure, who taunts the Gendarmes.
Scrappy, minor Noir features flashy turns by Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone.
In addition to beautiful Paris locations (must have been dazzling at the time).
The color has deteriorated badly into a sepia tone.

 

[Zaharoff]

Pride And Prejudice - 1995 - UK

Pride And Prejudice - 1995 - 8/10

THE adaptation that Janeites rally around.
The Netherfield estate is to be let by the young Mr. Bingley, a single gentleman of good fortune.
Young Bennet sisters are in a tizzy, hopes mix with delusion.
Only Elizabeth and Jane, the two eldest, check themselves.
This has version has unsparing production values, and an extended run time that breathes.
Genuine chemistry between leads Ehre and Firth fueled this intensely.
The emotional restraint is faithful to Austen, and a contrast to cathartic outbursts of other attempts.

 

[Zaharoff]

Peter Hujar’s Day - 2025 - USA

Peter Hujar’s Day - 2025 - 7/10

Taken from the interview transcript between photographer Hujar and writer Rosenkrantz.
She was planning a project akin to “what artists do all day.”
Here, Hujar reflects on his day. A shoot with Ginsberg, chatting with other photographers, writers.
Commercial jobs, if he could land them, especially if they paid.
Most of this occurs in an apartment, or a few rooftop shots.
Enthralling throughout, although there is plenty of name-dropping amidst a mid-70’s New York .
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369820

 

[Zaharoff]

Law And Order - 1932 - USA

Law And Order - 1932 - 6/10

Frame Johnson, brother Luther, sidekick Deadwood, and shotgun wielding Doc Brandt arrive in Tombstone.
Where a gang of outlaws rule, rustle cattle and shoot opponents in the back.
Tensions simmer until conflict flares at the OK Corral.
Violent Pre-Code is a reimagined version of Wyatt Earp.
Earp had died just three years previously, and widow Josephine was fiercely protective.
Not as sanitized as all later versions (which omitted Earp's brothels, thieving, etc...).
Pristine restoration in 2025, along with commentary.

 

[Zaharoff]

Nine Puzzles - 2025 - S Korea

Nine Puzzles - 2025 - 6/10
AKA - Nain Peojeul // 나인 퍼즐

“I really hate people. Why the hell do you work so hard just to stay alive?
“Why would you struggle to live? I don’t see the point of it.”
Nihilistic K-drama involves the search for a serial killer.
One targeting the powerful and influential.
Fans of interlocking mysteries and compartmentalized puzzles may enjoy.
The profiler is too young to be believable, and the sock-hat cop rings wrong.
Who and why, worked out. How, is completely overlooked.

 

[Zaharoff]

Never Hike Alone - 2017 - USA

Never Hike Alone - 2017 - 6/10

Hiker and podcaster Kyle notices the “No Trespassing” sign and steps over it.
He needs to make up time and decides on a shortcut by the lake.
Hey, there’s an abandoned campsite here!

Crystal Lake? Didn’t something happen here back in the 80’s?
Jason somebody? Sounds like a campfire myth.
Homage to a franchise builds slowly, but it gets there.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369821

 

[Zaharoff]

Chicken Town - 2025 - UK

Chicken Town - 2025 - 5/10

Lee causes the actual accident, but shifts blame to best mate Jayce.
Who receives ten months incarceration. Upon release, he starts looking.
An old geezer discovers he has been growing reefer for years.
Local punks taunt school children.
Odd assorted premises and characters bounce at random.
This plays like a draft, a series of sketches, and desperately needs a rewrite to tighten the plot.

 

[Zaharoff]

Confessions - 2010 - Japan

Confessions - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Kokuhaku // 告白

The students are unruly, untamed, ungovernable. Immune from consequences.
Teacher Yuko is leaving, but not before infecting two with HIV.
The unnamed pair who had murdered her four-year-old daughter.
Why?
Psychological thriller of confessions, explanations, half-baked rationale, denials.
Gripping throughout. Horror or justification for those who believe the axiom “spare the rod”.

 

[Acutely decayed]

I liked Buffet Infinity, it's not perfect but any such interaction you would only see a cross-section, this tries to convey that while holding your hand and telling a coherent story, nice

 

[Zaharoff]

Stigma - 1977 - UK

Stigma - 1977 - 6/10

Workmen voice they would leave the stone undisturbed, but the new owner wants it shifted.
Katherine, standing nearby when it is lifted, feels an ill wind course through her.
Afterward, she is increasingly out of sorts, blood weeping from her pores.
The landscape casts a timeless aura, and explanations are vague guesses.
Katherine is able to keep the blood secret from her family, which I found surprising.
(Note: My bride said females keep secrets from men all the time. Point.)

 

[Zaharoff]

The Ghost - 1963 - Italy

The Ghost - 1963 - 5/10
AKA - Lo Spettro

“Who’s there?”
Stupid man, he tricked me with that will. After all I did for him.
“What’s that noise?”
I don’t care if the village is talking, if everyone suspects.
Everyone knew he took poison. Trying to cure his paralysis.
Lavishly furnished Italian Gothic crawls like a snail in the icebox.
Poorly directed or incompetence, take your pick.

 

[Zaharoff]

Toys In The Attic - 1963 - USA

Toys In The Attic - 1963 - 6/10

Julian and child bride Lily return to New Orleans on the sly.
The Chicago venture had been a failure. Indeed, everything Julian attempted failed.
Well, his sisters would bail him out. They always bailed him out.
I knew this was based a Lillian Hellman play; otherwise, I would have sworn Tennessee Williams.
Southern Gothic of betrayal, lust, class, race, control.
Award winner on Broadway, but definitely too steamy and provocative for Main Street.
Geraldine Page arresting as the bubbles and sunshine sister, with an agenda.
Dean Martin fine as the luckless, boastful, big-plans Julian.

 

[Zaharoff]

Eerie - 2018 - Philippines

Eerie - 2018 - 6/10

Too many girls have been found dead at the Catholic girl’s school.
Murdered, suicide, misadventure.
Guidance counselor Patricia intervenes, butts heads with boss Sor Alice.
Interviews the unhappy girls, including the deceased.
Filipino horror mines guilt, persecution, mystery.
Religious overtones may deter many.

 

[Zaharoff]

Tipping The Velvet - 2002 - UK

Tipping The Velvet - 2002 - 6/10

Young Nan takes up with an older female, a male impersonator, and heads to London.
Friendship glides into more taboo territory as they work closer as a team.
Adventures move across prostitution, cross-dressing, coming-of-age.
Overtly lesbian, and a feast for fashionistas.
If you watch enough BBC shows, you will recognize the superb casting.

 

[Zaharoff]

Giant - 1956 - USA

Giant - 1956 - 6/10

Overblown melodrama of rich man / poor man saga.
Powerful rancher Benedict gets hisself an East Coast bride and hauls her back to Texas.
Where Miss Leslie soon realizes how uppity the whole stinking sons of Benedict clan are.
A diversion, and solace, is neighbor Jett, a wildcatter and white trash.
The underlying theme is about breaking. Breaking a filly, breaking the new wife, breaking the lower orders.
Characters and sideplots galore. Few are compelling.
Three and a half hours of Texas bombast. All hat, no cattle.

 

[Zaharoff]

First A Girl - 1935 - UK

First A Girl - 1935 - 6/10

Aspiring performer Elizabeth is befriended by female impersonator Victor.
When misfortune strikes, she steps in and pretends to be a man, pretending to be a woman.
Continental acclaim ensues.
Music, romance, comedy in breezy remake of 1933’s Victor And Victoria.
Several gaudy musical numbers, over-the-top and weirdly irresistible.
Songs are not so catchy to me, but I was fascinated by the triple rhyming structure of many.
Jessie Matthews is adorably cute.
Like Joan Morgan before her, Hollywood made Matthews an offer (“Damsel In Distress” with Fred Astaire).
Her studio refused to let her go. The indifferent hand of Fortune.

 

[Zaharoff]

The Absent One - 2014 - Denmark

The Absent One - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - Fasandræberne (aka: Disgrace)

Before his suicide, a retired detective asks Mørck to look into the old murder of his children.
Mørck dismisses him, then, guilt-ridden, begins to dig though the old files.
Zeroing in on a prestigious boarding school for the rich and troubled.
As with The Keeper Of Lost Causes there are reams of plot and legwork.
The villains are wealthy, prone to Inflicting brutal injuries.
At the center is a witness from decades earlier, now sought by both sides.
Better for fans of police thrillers, rather than viewers who desire in-depth characterizations.

 

[Zaharoff]

The Amusement Park - 1975 - USA

The Amusement Park - 1975 - 6/10

The man enters the white waiting room and encounters a doppelganger of sorts.
Who warns him that the outside world, the Amusement Park, is not worth it.
Nevertheless, old as he is, the man wants to see it, to experience Life.
Out in the world, the elderly are cheated, robbed, disrespected, marginalized, institutionalized.
In many ways, the journey is the daily nightmare of old folks.
Save your pennies, children, for tomorrow glides ever closer.
What George Romero calls the Amusement Park, I have always termed the Great Parade.