Thrillers | Cagey Films

Italian murders and Ninja intrigue from Radiance

Posted on July 24, 2024July 22, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Souvenir "art" becomes an instrument of murder in Luigi Comencini’s The Sunday Woman (1975)

Recent Radiance releases include a pair of Italian police procedurals – Pietro Germi’s neorealist noit The Facts of Murder (1959) and Luigi Comencini’s satire on bourgeois hypocrisy The Sunday Woman (1975) – and some traditional and new wave martial arts from Japan with Yasuharu Hasebe’s pop-art Black Tight Killers (1966) and a set of the first three movies in Daiei’s Shinobi series of bleak Ninja movies, Satsuo Yamamoto’s Band of Assassins (1962) and Revenge (1963) and Kazuo Mori’s Ressurection (1963). And speaking of Ninjas, Neon Eagle have released a deluxe two-disk set of Godfrey Ho’s patch-job Ninja Terminator (1964) and the original Korean movie cannibalized by Ho, Kim Si-hyun’s The Univited Guest of the Star Ferry.

Sam Peckinpah’s swansong: The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Posted on July 10, 2024July 10, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Ali Tanner (Meg Foster) fights for her child in Sam Peckinpah's The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Imprint’s two-disk limited edition of Sam Peckinpah’s final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983), presents both the theatrical cut and the version Peckinpah initially handed to the producers – while there are numerous differences in the editing, neither version can make the murky story coherent. Some well-staged scenes and an interesting cast fail to breathe life into the Cold War paranoia and the filmmaker’s career ends with an air of disinterest and exhaustion.

Masculinity under stress: late films by Sam Peckinpah and William Friedkin

Posted on June 19, 2024June 16, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

As defeat becomes inevitable Corporal Steiner (James Coburn) knows that survival is unlikely in Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron (1977)

Two veteran directors, late in their careers, revisit their explorations of masculinity and violence in a pair of films which weren’t well-received by critics: Sam Peckinpah’s sole venture into the war movie genre Cross of Iron (1977) and William Friedkin’s wilderness thriller The Hunted (2003)

Winter 2024 viewing, part four: More other labels

Posted on March 13, 2024March 11, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

An enigmatic gunman (Jean-Louis Trintignant) seeks revenge in Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968)

Yet more wide-ranging genre viewing – from classic and modern samurai to spaghetti western and ’40s supernatural noir and ’70s hard-boiled romance, ’50s exploitation horror to Hitler, Bigfoot and haunted 12″ vinyl.

Winter 2024 viewing, part two: Vinegar Syndrome

Posted on February 28, 2024February 26, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

A brain chip turns Erica (Jade Leung) into a killing machine in Stephen Shin's Black Cat 2 (1992)

Recent Vinegar Syndrome releases offer a range of genres and styles and widely varying degrees of satisfaction – there’s Hong Kong action, Indonesian horror, experimental indie sci-fi, neo-noir and feminist vigilante violence, giant rats, Biblical horror and quite a bit of sex and violence.

Fall 2023 viewing, part four

Posted on November 1, 2023October 31, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Frequently betrayed by those who hire him, Shouhei Narumi (Yusaku Matsuda) stays focused on the job in Toru Murakawa's The Game Trilogy (1978-79)

Crime, violence, sports, noir, international intrigue and political allegory from Kino Lorber and Arrow Video.

Fall 2023 viewing, part two

Posted on October 18, 2023October 20, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Amnesiac Johnny McBride (Anthony Quinn) investigates his own past in Victor Saville’s The Long Wait (1954)

This week marks the thirteenth anniversary of the blog and there’s still no clear pattern to what I watch and write about! The first post went up on October 22, 2010. Hard to believe it’s been going this long, with almost 900 posts and over 3200 reviews so far. I don’t think I’ve ever stuck with anything this faithfully in my entire life! Thanks for reading!

Fall 2023 viewing, part one

Posted on October 11, 2023October 11, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Detective Luigi Mackeroni (Udo Samel) and his cross-dressing partner Babette (Leonard Lansink) face an unusual foe in Martin Walz's Killer Condom (1996)

As always, writing falls behind viewing and I’ve missed mentioning some disks that deserved at least a comment – so here are some quick notes on recent releases from Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome and some smaller labels covering a wide range of genres from spaghetti westerns to East European animation, from low-budget sci-fi to documentary, from comedy to horror to exploitation.

Recent Asian releases from Eureka

Posted on August 2, 2023February 24, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Disillusioned Christians Shiro Amakusa (Kenji Sawada) and Hosokawa Gracia (Akiko Kana) return from the dead to seek revenge in Kenji Fukasaku's Samurai Reincarnation (1981)

Eureka, and their specialty label Masters of Cinema, continue to release a range of Asian films, from pulp action to classical tragedy. Among recent releases are a two-disk set of four sequels to Rickay Lau’s Mr. Vampire (1985), Cynthia Rothrock’s first lead role in Mang Hoi & Corey Yuen’s Lady Reporter (1989), and a pair of very different samurai epics: Tadashi Imai’s bleak dissection of the Bushido code in Revenge (1964) and Kenji Fukasaku’s mix of history and supernatural horror in Samurao Reincarnation (1981).

More recent Indicator releases

Posted on July 22, 2023July 22, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff) seeks revenge for what he believes was an injustice in Enzo G. Castellari's Cold Eyes of Fear (1971)

A pair of colourful Robin Hood adventures from Hammer Films and an atypical home-invasion thriller from action specialist Enzo G. Castellari are showcased in two recent releases from Indicator.

Tag: Thrillers