Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers is a Gothic romp, a parody of Hammer-style horror that plays like a Looney Tunes cartoon trapped inside an old German Expressionist nightmare. It’s silly, stylish, sometimes aimless, and yet oddly charming, like a vampire who insists on wearing a cape to dinner but can’t find his fangs. Uneven…
Tag: Dark Comedy
The Raven (1963) – Review
Few films manage to blend the macabre and the ridiculous with such cheerful abandon as Roger Corman’s The Raven. A Technicolor romp through Gothic castles, candlelit laboratories, and magical duels, it’s part horror, part farce, and all campy charm. With Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff hamming it up in the best possible way,…
Tales of Terror (1962) – Review
Roger Corman’s Tales of Terror is the cinematic equivalent of a gothic wine flight: three mini-doses of Edgar Allan Poe, poured into one luridly lit glass, swirled with gallows humour, and gulped down with Vincent Price’s velvety voice as the chaser. Released in 1962 at the height of Corman’s “Poe cycle,” it’s both spooky and…
The 10th Victim (1965) – Review
Pop-art satire, screwball romance, and a bra that doubles as a firearm, The 10th Victim is the kind of science fiction only the swinging ’60s could produce. A film that takes a gleefully cynical look at a future where legalized man-hunting is the ultimate sport and the ultimate advertising opportunity. What follows is a stylish,…
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) – Review
If Fargo and The Howling ever shared DNA, the result might look a lot like The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Written, directed by, and starring Jim Cummings, the film is a genre-bending hybrid—equal parts murder mystery, werewolf thriller, and midlife crisis drama. Remarkably, this unlikely combination holds together with surprising cohesion.