Synopsis:
At a cancer research lab off the coast of Ireland, a group of scientists dies under mysterious circumstances. Before anyone notices their demise, the human and bovine inhabitants of the island’s lone, tiny village begin to turn up dead — with their bodies the consistency of tapioca pudding. Renowned bone doctors Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing) and David West (Edward Judd) are dispatched from the mainland to solve this medical mystery. West’s rich-girl paramour, Toni Merrill (Carole Gray), bribes her way into the expedition by providing air transport. When daddy needs his plane back, the group becomes trapped on the isolated island just as the true extent of the science-run-amok menace becomes apparent. One of three films Hammer horror vet Terence Fisher lensed for small British outfit Planet Studios, Island of Terror was followed by Island of the Burning Doomed (aka Night of the Big Heat).Read More »

Synopsis:
After inadvertently killing his girlfriend, a man (Asano) flees Macau for Thailand in an attempt to cope with his guilt, and avoid possible arrest. But the relocation doesn’t prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies.Read More »

Marko has a poet’s sensibilities in Veles, a town in war-torn Macedonia. His sister is a bully, his mom’s a doormat, and his dad is a striking factory worker who drinks and plays bingo. At school, Marko is tormented by thuggish fellow students, led by the loutish Levi, the son of a police captain. Marko’s teacher of Macedonian, a Bosnian, sees promise in Marko’s writing and gives the lad hope that he can someday escape Veles. A chance friendship with a thief who’s passing through town furthers Marko’s education. Is hope a mirage? What sort of fatherland is Macedonia?Read More »

Synopsis:
Lew Harper is a Los Angeles based private investigator whose marriage to Susan Harper, who he still loves, is ending in imminent divorce since she can’t stand being second fiddle to his work, which is always taking him away at the most inopportune of times. His latest client is tough talking and physically disabled Elaine Sampson, who wants him to find her wealthy husband, Ralph Sampson, missing now for twenty-four hours, ever since he disappeared at Van Nuys Airport after having just arrived from Vegas. No one seems to like Ralph, Elaine included. Read More »

Synopsis
A young man takes drastic measures to rid his dysfunctional family of its various afflictions.Read More »

Synopsis:
John Wayne toplines this biography of the cattle owner John Simpson Chisum, a controversial figure who was the most powerful man in New Mexico during the Wild West era. A founder and prominent citizen in the town of Lincoln, Chisum is slow to act when ruthless land baron Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker) moves in on several local businesses and takes them over. By the time Chisum and his ally, fellow rancher Henry Tunstall (Patrick Knowles), decide to go to the law, Murphy’s already bought and paid for influence there, as well. The only recourse left to the cattlemen is to take Murphy on in all-out range war that embroils everyone in the county, including Tunstall’s hand Billy the Kid Bonney (Geoffrey Deuel) and his comrade Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett). Screenwriter and producer Andrew J. Fenady based the script for Chisum (1970) on his own short story, a very loosely fact-based account of Chisum, Billy the Kid and their involvement in the Lincoln County wars.Read More »

Quote:
During the Second and Third Crusades, Saladin beat the Franks in battle partly because he was helped by an Arab Christian named Issan. Thus he was able to reconquer Jerusalem and take many prisoners, including Guy de Lusignan, a Christian King.
This big budget production, promoted by Assia, a well-known female producer, enabled Chahine to offer an Arab perspective on the history of the Crusades such as presented by Hollywood and Cinecittà. In order to obtain Egyptian army’s logistical support and also administrative clearances, Chahine cunningly persuaded Nasser, the charismatic ruler of Egypt, that the film was being made as a tribute to him.Read More »

This low-key, well-acted, underrated and pitch-black comedy didn’t get the recognition it deserved upon it’s (limited) release in 1994, even with director Michael Tolkin’s stature as screenwriter of ‘The Player’ and his freaky directorial debut with ‘The Rapture’. Peter Weller and Judy Davis play wealthy but spirtually bereft professionals in LA who decide to ditch their previous lives and open a store. It goes badly rather quickly. Watch for Adam West, perfectly cast as Peter Weller’s hipster father.Read More »

Barbara Wurm, Edition Filmmuseum wrote:
Po zakonu (also know as Dura Lex) was the cheapest film produced in Russia (perhaps even still today); at the same time an absolute masterpiece, the greatness of which stems from its very minimalism. The minimum effort required for the story-development (Kuleshov constantly claimed, he happened upon Jack London’s story “The Unexpected” quite by chance), the minimum number of characters (just three for most of the film), a minimum of inter-titles and lines of dialogue, a minimum of locations; a clearing not far from Moscow (posing as “Alaska”) and a cabin–the perfect setting for a stripped-to-basics chamber play. Even if the juggling of shot composition and length (Kuleshov’s notorious “Americanism”) is not as artistically ambitious as in his previous work, it is still apparent how close-ups dominate inside, whilst outside, in the snowy landscapes and riverscapes, long shots reign, seemingly to the point of halting all movement.Read More »