1980s

Florian Widegger wrote:
‘Goodbye romance – welcome reality’ is the almost programmatic title of one of the songs that accompanies this remarkable film by Siggi Götz and Jess Franco’s former assistant, who died young. The 18-year-old Dave is imprisoned for stealing a motorbike, but fakes a suicide and, chased by law enforcement officers, makes his way through West Berlin, which was surrounded by a wall at the time and is the film’s secret main attraction. First he seeks out his girlfriend, a stripper in one of the city’s hippest clubs, then he settles unfinished business with his ex-client … Schenkel’s official directorial debut – enriched with great punk and new wave music made in West Germany – is a chilly and visually stunning document of the no-future generation. Rightly cult!Read More »

From DVD booklet:
The works recorded here are made by Jun Kurosawa mainly in his years
at university.
The remarks on Jun Kurosawa’s works have been focusing on his
impulse of destruction, which are expressed in degenerative keywords
such as “death” and “thanatos”: whereas aesthetical images are
also often mentioned. Is it because his distinct features help them to
establish such images? The features can be described as “film scratch”
and “harsh noise,” all of which can be found in his masterpieces such
as “NEKO-MIMI (1994)” and “JESUS WITH ONE LEG (1991-1994).”Read More »

A teen, who is the exact double of a rock star, switches places with him so the rock star can spend some time with a “real family.” Each has problems trying to adapt, so they decide to switch back again and appreciate their own families.Read More »

The lonely young woman Ariella feels among strangers in her upper-class family in her own house. Ariella is discovering her sexuality and her arrogant mother Helena, her father Rodrigo and her brothers Clécio and Alfonso do not give love or affection to her. When Ariella overhears a conversation of her brothers, she learns that he biological father was lured by Rodrigo that had stolen his fortune and raised her as a daughter. Now Ariella plots revenge against her family using her beautiful body to reach her goal.Read More »

A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.Read More »

A group of women go on a horse-riding expedition to an isolated mountain region where they become prey to a gang of crazed white supremacists. Apparently an Ozploitation turkey (IMDb users have no kind words for it) directed by the once-eminent Tim Burstall and starring Lindsay Wagner, Joanna Cassidy and Tom Skerritt.Read More »

This slow-moving occult thriller has Pamela Sue Martin and hubbie Tim Matheson menaced by a coven of witches when they move to an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Director Carl Schenkel — who went on to make the interesting Knight Moves — does the best he can with a tedious script and a lot of miscasting, but it doesn’t make the movie any more interesting. It looks like a who’s who of ’80s sitcoms, with Woody Harrelson, Jeff Conaway, and Inga Swenson along for the evil doings, but some viewers will be rolling on the floor when they see Leave It to Beaver’s Barbara Billingsley as a 300-year-old witch. The highlight of the film is an exploding church, which may just be loud enough to wake you up so you can rewind the tape. “
by Robert FirschingRead More »

Quote:
This biographical film is set in 1937, with Fallada suffering the effects of living under a microscope. The film details his decline, as he is intermittently imprisoned and threatened in order to motivate him to write for the Fatherland. Even the attention of his kind, patient wife and loving children begin to feel oppressive to him. This is one of the few films to take a serious, in-depth look at the tribulations of a creative artist pulled in all different directions by the real world.Read More »

A woman hired to write the history of a wealthy family stays at the family’s estate in Oregon. She discovers that she strongly resembles a long-dead ancestor in the family, and finds things happening to her that happened to–and led to the death of–that woman.Read More »