Fantasy | Cagey Films

Recent viewing: March-April 2018, Part Two

Posted on April 18, 2018December 2, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Donnie's visions involve a giant, enigmatic rabbit in Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko (2001)

More eclectic recent viewing, from 1970s detective noir to an Italian anthology from the ’60s to Japanese horror and classic ’50s sci-fi.

King Hu’s Legend of the Mountain (1979)

Posted on April 7, 2018December 10, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

A new digital restoration of King Hu’s epic period ghost story Legend of the Mountain (1979) from Masters of Cinema reveals this languid masterpiece in all its pictorial glory; a stunning dream of a movie.

Miscellaneous viewing – March 2018

Posted on March 28, 2018March 7, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Christopher Lee tries unsuccessfully to hide behind his shades in a supporting role in Philippe Mora's Howling II (1985)

Recent viewing includes a range of genre movies, from bloated big-budget international productions to scrappy low-budget independents, from large-scale fantasies to lo-fi science fiction, from horror remakes and sequels … all available on Blu-ray.

Rhyming Pairs

Posted on March 14, 2018May 20, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Religion is no protection from the horrors of Thana's world in Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 (1981)

Recent viewing has included three pairs of movies – two Anime features from 2016 (In This Corner of the World and Your Name), two thrillers from 1967 and 1972 by English directors (Point Blank and Pulp), and a pair of gritty horror-tinged thrillers from 1979 and 1981 which transcend their exploitation roots (The Driller Killer and Ms. 45).

Ishiro Honda: Father of Godzilla … and more

Posted on February 24, 2018December 10, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

Ishiro Honda with his most famous offspring

A recent biography of Godzilla-director Ishiro Honda reveals far more facets than his image as a creator of giant monster rampages.

Paddington 2 (2017)

Posted on January 31, 2018July 2, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Paul King’s second adaptation of Michael Bond’s childrens’ books about Paddington, a good-natured bear and his positive influence on the world around him, is every bit as good as the first film.

Preliminary Notes on Twin Peaks 2017

Posted on December 27, 2017September 18, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

The eyeless woman Naido (Nae Tazawa) tries to warn Cooper in the Other Place in David Lynch's Twin Peaks (2017)

By turns funny and frightening, gripping and frustrating, David Lynch’s revival of Twin Peaks is a prodigiously inventive television epic.

Speed reviewing: 50 Capsule Comments

Posted on December 13, 2017December 19, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

A malevolent psychic returns from the dead in Tom McLoughlin's One Dark Night (1982)

Very brief comments on several dozen disks viewed over the past few months.

Summer viewing: short takes

Posted on August 16, 2017May 25, 2025 by Kenneth George Godwin

A sepctacular oil field blaze in Andrew V. McLaglen's Hellfighters (1968)

A round-up of recent viewing ranging from classic fantasy to low budget horror to rugged adventure and a western.

Viewing notes: June 2017 – Arrow Video

Posted on June 14, 2017March 26, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

An evocative image of Meiko Kaji from Yasuharu Hasebe's Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (1970)

Arrow Video’s commitment to genre releases is on full display in a selection of recently viewed Blu-rays, each featuring informative supplements: the Japanese juvenile delinquent series Stray Cat Rock, Don Coscarelli’s epic Phantasm series, a pair of Gothic gialli from Emilio P. Miraglia, and Spanish director J.P. Simon’s adaptation of Brit author Shaun Hutson’s gross-out novel Slugs.

Tag: Fantasy