This week on The Stacks, after an unplanned week off due to illness, Shana and j. are back with a full-bore exploitation week, continuing coverage of the Stray Cat Rock series in part one (0:00-1:34:33) with both Toshiya Fujita's Wild Jumbo and Yasuharu Hasebe's Sex Hunter (both released in 1970) in addition to the 13th episode of Ultra Q, "Garadam…

Breaking slightly with tradition for the titling this week, due to us covering six films this week (plus one TV episode). In part 1 (0:00-1:39:33), we discuss the next two entries in the All the Haunts Be Ours folk horror box set - the 1958 Norwegian film Lake of the Dead, directed by Kåre Bergstrøm, and the 1987 Icelandic TV movie Tilbury, directe…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss Michael J. Murphy's 1995 direct-to-video folk horror The Rite of Spring and episode 11 of Ultra Q, "Balloonga" in part one (0:00-1:33:48), while part two (1:33:49-2:50:05) features three 70s film picks - Pedro Olea's 1973 Spanish exploitation drama It's Not Good for a Man to Be Alone, a 1978 entry in th…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. return to the films of Al Adamson, with part one (0:00-1:15:56) discussing his 1960 directorial and acting debut, Half Way to Hell, as well as his 1969 psychotronic western Five Bloody Graves. In part two (1:15:57-2:42:47) we talk about three additional features - the 2000 Coen Brothers megahit O Brother Where …

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. return to the films of Werner Herzog in part 1 (0:00-1:30:45) with 1977's Klaus Kinski character study Woyzeck, in addition to our ongoing coverage of Ultra Q with the tenth episode, "The Underground Super Express Goes West." In part 2 (1:30:46-3:08:03), we talk about three additional features - John McTiernan'…

On The Stacks this week, Shana and j. bookend our February gore month with another Herschell Gordon Lewis feature, 1970's surrealist horror The Wizard of Gore, in addition to episode 9 of Ultra Q, "Baron Spider" to conclude part one (0:00-1:24:23). In part two (1:24:24-3:10:23), we cover three additional films - John McTiernan's peak action blockbu…

On The Stacks this week, Shana and j. conclude our bloody February with four films and one television episode. In part 1 (0:00-1:36:49), we cover Jess Franco's notorious lo-fi 1981 video nasty Oasis of the Zombies as well as "Terror of the Sweet Honey" - the 8th episode of Ultra Q. In part 2 (1:36:50-2:49:59), we discuss three additional films - Pa…

This week in The Stacks, our impromptu February gore month continues! In part one (0:00-1:09:42), we discuss David Cronenberg's 1983 body horror / media satire Videodrome, while part three (1:09:43-2:25:36) features three additional bloody films: Douglas Grossman's late-80s teen slasher Hell High, the Indonesian black magic / comedy sequel Santet 2…

Our bloody February continues this week - in part 1 (0:00-1:22:47) we discuss the sixth(ish) entry in the Black Emanuelle series, Joe D'Amato's 1977 sexploitation gore feature Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, as well as the 7th episode in the Ultra Q series, "S.O.S. Mount Fuji." In part 2 (1:22:48-2:59:59) we have three additional features: Pasqua…

This week, we begin a bloody February in The Stacks, beginning with Herschell Gordon Lewis' 1963 landmark gore feature Blood Feast, joined in part 1 (0:00-1:24:35) with the weird, off-model sixth episode of Ultra Q, "Grow Up! Little Turtle!" In part 2 (1:24:36-2:32:53), we have two additional gory features - the first in José Mojica Marins' classic…

This week on The Stacks, in part 1 (0:00-1:46:22) Shana and j. continue to dig into the work of legendary actor Lee Marvin with the 1984 French black comedy / crime satire Dog Day (aka Canicule, directed by Yves Boisset), as well as continuing to go through the classic 1966 Ultra Q TV series with its fifth episode, "Peguila Is Here!" In part 2 (1:4…

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:38:13) Shana and j. continue exploring the films of Lee Marvin with John Boorman's 1967 neo-noir masterpiece Point Blank as well as continuing our ongoing coverage of the Ultra Q TV series, with episode 4, "The Mammoth Flower." Then in part two (1:38:14-2:56:31), we have two additional features, the 1990…

This week on The Stacks, in part 1 (0:00-1:12:46) we discuss John Carpenter's debut, the USC student film expanded to feature length of Dark Star (1974), an absurdist sci-fi satire about blue collar workers blowing up planets, in addition to continuing coverage of the Ultra Q TV series with its third episode ("The Gift From Space"). In part 2 (1:12…

This week, continuing our New Years Resolutions month, we kick off in part one (0:00-1:47:56) with Alain Resnais' labyrinthine 1961 art film Last Year at Marienbad, followed in part two (1:47:57-3:06:08) by two 70s crime features - Michael Ritchie's 1972 New Hollywood meat and sex trafficking picture Prime Cut, and Enzo G. Castellari's 1976 ultra-v…

For the first entry in The Stacks recorded in 2024, we continue our ongoing coverage of Andy Sidaris' Malibu Bay Films with 1989's Savage Beach, as well as episode 2 of Ultra Q ("Goro and Goro" from 1966, directed by Hajime Tsuburaya) in part 1 (0:00-1:27:31), while in part 2 (1:27:32-3:02:58) we talk about the odd Amando de Ossorio Spaghetti North…

This week on The Stacks, we close out 2023 with four features - in part 1 (0:00-1:07:35) we're discussing the second Harry Palmer film, Guy Hamilton's 1966 entry Funeral in Berlin, which remains satirical but hews closer to existing spy cinema, and in part 2 (1:07:35-2:37:05) we have a triple feature, discussing Richard Franklin's surprisingly good…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. talk Sonny Chiba, with the 1972 Ryuichi Takamori exploitation film Yakuza Wolf (0:00-54:01), followed by an extended part two (54:01-2:53:25) featuring a roundup of the last six pictures in the Indicator collection From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family, concluding our discussio…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss Terry Gilliam's 1985 dystopian Christmas classic Brazil (0:00-1:54:30), followed in part two (1:54:30-2:56:49) by Makoto Naito's deranged 1975 yakuza exploitation film The 13 Steps of Maki as well as Luca Balser's 2023 New York anthology picture What Doesn't Float. Then we conclude as usual with discuss…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. finally return to the Outlaw Gangster VIP series with its second entry, from 1968, directed by Keiichi Ozawa, featuring the continuing adventures of emotional swordsman Goro, quiet-quitting his yakuza position (0:00-1:09:18), followed by discussion of both Rene Cardona Jr.'s wild exploitation potboiler La casa …

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. talk about a classic Toho Ishiro Honda kaiju picture, 1956's Rodan, as well as the first episode of influential kaiju TV series Ultra Q ("Defeat Gomess!" from 1966) in part one (0:00-1:00:42), followed in our second part (1:00:43-2:21:08) with discussion of Piotr Szulkin's 1986 dystopian sci-fi black comedy Ga-…

This week, Shana and j. finally return to our regular Stacks after our accidental hiatus and Halloween celebration. First up, we conclude our coverage of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy with the 1966 all-time classic Italian western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (0:00-1:19:26), followed with discussion of two deranged 80s action exploitation flicks…

This week, we move back toward our regularly scheduled programming after Halloween. First up is the 1991 Christopher Walken peak action war on drugs film McBain (directed by James Glickenhaus, running to 1:10:43), then we head over to Eastern Europe for a double bill of Piotr Szulkin's dystopian sci-fi O-Bi O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985) and …

This week, Shana and j. conclude our bonus week of rigorous exploration of The Spooky Stacks, concluding with another quadruple bill. First up is PG: Psycho Goreman, a 2020 Canadian horror-comedy directed by Stephen Kostanski, with the second part (1:02:37-2:31:03) comprising discussion of George Romero's shelved 1975 elder abuse PSA The Amusement …

This week, Shana and j. close out this year's spooky season with three all-time classics of the horror genre - Alfred Hitchcock's landmark 1960 crime drama / OG slasher Psycho (0:00-1:13:01), followed by the first two Universal Horror pictures, Tod Browning's Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein (both from 1931, discussion continuing 1:13:01-2:26…

This week, Shana and j. continue celebration of the spooky season with discussion of 2001's Takashi Miike yakuza splatter epic Ichi the Killer (0:00-1:26:16) as well as William Friedkin's monolith of Satanic horror, 1973's The Exorcist (continuing to 2:35:21), followed as always by additional discussion of all the other movies we've watched in the …

The Spooky Stacks continue with our October horror crawl in a quadruple bill! In part one (0:00-2:08:43) we discuss both Friday the 13th 3D (1982, directed by Steve Miner) and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, directed by Joseph Zito) and in part two, we talk about Mandy (2018, directed by Panos Cosmatos, continuing to 2:55:10) and Final De…

After an unexpectedly long absence, Shana and j. are back to open The Spooky Stacks for this October. This week, we cover key slasher canon with Friday the 13th Pt II (directed by Steve Miner, 1981, discussion running 0:00-1:31:30), followed by some arthouse surrealism with Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy (2010, running 1:31:30-3:04:34, also feat…

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are in the midst of a two week break, once Shana's internet access is properly back up and running, so too will we be <3 -j.By j. the curator

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. are talking some religion and politics (and aliens!), starting with Luis Buñuel's 1969 surrealist treatise on heresies and anathema, The Milky Way (running 0:00-1:25:35), followed by Piotr Szulkin's 1981 political satire War of the Worlds: The Next Century (1:25:36-2:27:50) and a little bit on John Coats' eerie…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. are discussing the 1957 French noir Speaking of Murder (directed by Gilles Grangier, running 0:00-1:05:43), followed by some loose conversation about the next four films in the From Hollywood to Heaven box set of films by the Ormond family, encompassing Forty Acre Feud, The Girl From Tobacco Row, The Exotic One…

This week, Shana and j. continue our coverage of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity / Yakuza Papers saga with part two, Hiroshima Death Match (aka Deadly Fight in Hiroshima, 1973, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, running 0:00-1:21:02), followed by the 2019 Lao time travel / psychological horror film The Long Walk (directed by Mattie Do, 1:21:02-2:31…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss the thorny 1957 Budd Boetticher / Randolph Scott western Decision at Sundown (0:00-1:09:37) as well as two exceptional 1924 Buster Keaton silent features, Sherlock Jr and The Navigator (1:09:38-2:11:53), concluding as always with some mini-reviews of the other physical media we've watched in the past we…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. continue coverage of the films of Andy Sidaris with his James Bond-riffing 1988 action / spy / sexploitation flick Picasso Trigger (0:00-1:13:31), then a major change of pace for our second feature, Piotr Szulkin's 1980 Polish dystopian / existential sci-fi Golem (1:13:32-2:27:10), finally concluding in part 3 …

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. cover the first entry in the Stray Cat Rock series of Japanese youth violence gang movies, 1970's Delinquent Girl Boss (0:00-1:06:02), followed by Rene Cardona Jr's 1985 post-Indiana Jones exploitation jungle adventure Treasure of the Amazon (1:06:03-2:01:59), concluding as usual with some mini-reviews of all t…

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. conclude our coverage of the Female Prisoner Scorpion series with its off-model fourth entry, Female Prisoner Scorpion #701's Grudge Song (1973, directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, discussion running to 1:09:55), then we take a deep dive into the first disc of Indicator's From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved F…

This week it's a folk horror double feature, with the first ever Soviet horror film, 1967's Viy (directed by Konstantin Ershov and Georgy Kropachyov, running 0:00-1:07:56) followed by the 1970 Spanish true crime-themed folk horror Forest of the Wolf (aka The Ancines Woods, directed by Pedro Olea, running 1:07:56-2:11:10), and as always we conclude …

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. continue covering the Zatoichi series with the fourth entry, 1963's Zatoichi the Fugitive (directed by Tokuzo Tanaka, running to 1:15:17), followed by Bo Widerberg's 1976 police procedural The Man on the Roof (1:15:17-2:06:50), concluding as always with discussion of the other physical media we've watched in th…

This week, Shana and j. start off the third year of The Stacks with an in-depth look at a fundamental modern classic, the 1999 David Fincher action satire Fight Club (0:00-2:03:35), followed by discussion of Al Adamson's 1964-1971 feature(s) Psycho A-Go-Go / Fiend With the Electronic Brain / Blood of Ghastly Horror (2:03:35-3:00:21), concluding as …

This week, we celebrate 100 episodes of The Stacks with Brian De Palma's 1996 blockbuster Mission: Impossible (0:00-1:16:40) and the 1988 Albert Pyun / Cannon Films fairytale Alien From L.A. (1:16:41-2:23:22), concluding with a look back on the 100ish movies we've watched in the past year, in the Stacks Awards. The live list of The Stacks is online…

This week on The Stacks, we dig into some truly brain-fried regional horror with Tim Ritter's 1987 16mm slasher satire Killing Spree (0:00-1:19:02), followed by the Tulsi & Shyam Ramsey 1988 Bollywood horror blast Veerana (1:19:02-2:32:35), concluding as usual with discussion of all the other physical media we've watched in the past week and decidi…

This week on The Stacks, we're talking about John McNaughton's 1998 beer ad noir Wild Things (0:00-1:25:25) and Michael J. Murphy's strange no-budget 1985ish meta-slasher Bloodstream (1:25:26-2:23:45), followed by discussion of all the other physical media we've watched since last time. The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.co…

This week on The Stacks, in a bit of a change of pace, we're covering a collection of short films for our first part, the Mondo Macabro / Altered Innocence joint release Apocalypse After, collecting surrealist shorts from Bertand Mandico (discussion running 0:00-2:27:31), followed by Joe Swanberg's 2011 mumblecore drama Silver Bullets (2:27:31-3:24…

This week on The Stacks, we're returning to Arrow's Shawscope Volume 1 with Lau Kar-leung's great 1978 kung fu comedy Dirty Ho (0:00-1:12:48), followed by the 1967 James Bond feature You Only Live Twice, directed by Lewis Gilbert (1:12:49-3:02:20), concluding as usual with discussion of the various other physical media we've watched this week and c…

This week on The Stacks we're watching a couple deep vibes blue-tinted films involving erotic longing and mortality. First, we continue with our ongoing coverage of the films of Shinya Tsukamoto with 2002's blue pink film A Snake of June (and fill in a gap with a brief discussion of his early short film The Adventure of Denchu-kozo) (0:00-1:29:41),…

This week on The Stacks, we're delving into some wild 70s crime cinema, beginning with the 1970 Roger Corman "true crime" self-examining exploitation film Bloody Mama (0:00-1:16:23), followed by Stelvio Massi's dense, bloody 1978 poliziotteschi Convoy Busters (1:16:24-2:22:16), and concluding as always with discussion of all the other physical medi…

This week on The Stacks, we're diving into Kinji Fukasaku's Yakuza Papers series with the sprawling super-dense chaos of its first entry, 1973's Battles Without Honor and Humanity (0:00-1:25:15), followed by Eric Red's silly, elevated 1991 evil limbs film Body Parts (1:25:16-2:22:57), then into The Watched Stacks, where we talk about all the other …

This week on The Stacks, we've got a pair of British films, starting with Sidney J. Furie's 1965 cool domestic espionage thriller The Ipcress File (0:00-1:19:53), first in the Harry Palmer series starring Michael Caine, followed by the 2008 Academy Award winner for best picture, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (1:19:53-2:51:37), as always conclud…

This week on The Stacks it's a Brian De Palma double feature, beginning with his landmark 1976 Stephen King adaptation Carrie (0:00-1:35:47), followed by the underappreciated 1998 Nic Cage ultra version of a locked-room murder mystery Snake Eyes (1:35:47-2:45:24), then The Watched Stacks, with capsule reviews of other physical media watched this we…

This week on The Stacks we conclude Arrow's Yokai Monsters box with the 2005 Takashi Miike remake/reboot The Great Yokai War (0:00-1:59:19) and puzzle over the bizarre 1998 Macedonian candidate for best foreign film, Goodybe 20th Century, directed by Darko Mitrevski & Aleksandar Popovski (1:59:19-3:01:08), concluding with capsule reviews of other p…

This week on The Stacks we're digging deep into the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock voyeur suspense masterpiece Rear Window (0:00-2:02:46), followed by the 1977 Stelvio Massi poliziotteschi Highway Racer (2:02:46-3:16:00), concluding as always with discussion of all the many other things we've watched on physical media in the past week and deciding what we'l…