Posts by Nate Yapp

In this new version of Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, writer/director David Lee Fisher attempts to pay homage to the German Expressionist classic. Using modern digital techniques, he places his actors in front of backgrounds from the original, adds spoken dialogue to what was once a silent movie, and expects us to be impressed with his "remix." However, the result isn't so much a reorchestration as it is the same damn thing with grating voices yammering malarkey over the music.(read more...)

Editor's Note: Since we have separate reviews of the Death Proof and Planet Terror DVD releases, the credits information reflects only the fake trailers by Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and Eli Roth (Rodriguez's Machete trailer was included on the Planet Terror DVD).

In Grindhouse, maverick directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino team up to teach modern audiences about the long-dead art of the grindhouse exploitation double feature of the 1970s. To recreate the experience, they've provided us with two feature-length films, fake trailers, and cheesy retro intertitles. In many ways, they are very successful in their educational endeavor. Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror , shows us why these films were their own kind of art. Tarantino's segment, Death Proof , shows us why this art is now dead.(read more...)

It is difficult to find many horror films made within a few years of Frankenstein (1931) where Boris Karloff is not wearing some kind of monstrous makeup. Even in The Black Cat (1934), his character wears a faux widow's peak to suggest a demonic appearance. However, in 1935's The Black Room, Karloff foregoes the heavy greasepaint and prosthetics, stripping his acting to the bare bones of the profession -- vocal inflection, body language, and that light of thought flickering behind the eyes. As a bonus, he gives a bravado double performance, playing both halves of a set of identical twins.(read more...)