BORN IN FLAMES (1983) - Criterion

Born in Flames
Criterion
Original Release Date: Feb. 20th, 1983
Written by Ed Bowes, Lizzie Borden
Directed by Lizzie Borden
Starring Honey, Jean Satterfield, Adele Bertei, Florynce Kennedy
Language English (SDH available)

Get your copy HERE from Criterion, or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Excellent

Half documentary, half science fiction polemic, Born in Flames asks questions that are still as relevant as ever. Instead of imagining a dystopian future, filmmaker Lizzie Borden shows us a future ten years out from a "socio-democratic" victory. Described as "the most peaceful war ever", it seems the U.S.A. just decided they were fed up with fascism and communism and have now settled into a seemingly idyllic worldview. Except not everyone is being treated truly equally.

In the included interview, Borden boils the film down to its central idea: "What if women were still left behind after the socialist revolution? It would be working women and women of color." We are therefore introduced to a number of revolutionaries; women attempting to affect change. Honey (played by Honey), and Isabel (Adele Bertei) both host late night (pirate?) radio shows--Phoenix Radio and Radio Ragazza respectively--playing tunes and urging listeners not to settle for the imperfect world of the new American Socialism, better though it may be, and Adelaide (Jean Satterfield) and Zella (Florynce Kennedy) of the Women's Army, with Adelaide doing the more boots-on-the-ground good work of recruiting and organizing relevant protests, like a secretary's strike.

There are also the Bicycle Brigades, groups of women on bikes who travel the city keeping an eye out for women being harassed, preventing assaults by circling like sharks and drawing attention by blowing whistles. In what I think is a perfect distillation of the film's themes, a newscaster reports that "...officials condemn the lawlessness of such vigilantism asking for information regarding the women involved" before cheekily adding "...perhaps even their telephone numbers."

This shows the central hypocrisy of Borden's futuristic world: women are still not being treated fairly with regards to equal job opportunities and basic physical safety, meanwhile we are shown a cabal of men trying to suss out the leadership structures of these groups and organizations in an attempt to dismantle them. This hypocrisy, that women are not to have their needs taken seriously but are simultaneously a potential threat to all of society, is the logical discordance that drives the film. With Born in Flames, Borden seems to be plainly asking: Which is it?

Borden cast non-actors for most of the roles and, rather than giving them strict lines to follow, would have a discussion of the scene's themes, then allow them to speak their minds. These issues were what was on their minds at the time and, while the issues at hand have most definitely changed, we as a society are still nowhere near anything you could call an idyll.

As things build towards a legitimately quite shocking ending (which is all I will say), Borden's obvious punk ethos and ideals of equality are underlined and undermined in equal measure. Though obviously made inexpensively, and largely lacking recognizable names (there are a few exceptions), Born in Flames is a powerful example of a filmmaker pushing the boundaries of their means, and not being afraid to demand better from the world.

The Packaging: Excellent 

This is your average Criterion packaging, which is overall better and sturdier than your average slim, blue case. The cover image is of Honey staring down the barrel of the camera while addressing the city via her Phoenix Radio show, with appropriately punk-tinged text and visual jazz.

The Audio + Video: Good

This is not a crystal clear film. Borden shot on whatever film was available, including scrap ends, so there are some changes in visual quality from time to time, and overall, even though Born in Flames has been restored, it still looks like what it is: a film more concerned with passion than precision made by a filmmaker with something to say.

But that roughness, the grain, the quote/unquote "imperfections" are emblematic of punk. Born in Flames is gritty, not pretty, and chooses poignancy over technical perfection. This only adds to the faux documentary aesthetic, feeling off-the-cuff and unrehearsed, which sells the reality presented in the film, in turn underscoring the film's once-and-future relevance. It cannot be understated how brilliantly creative this approach is. Rather than setting her film in an overblown dystopia, having the world seem otherwise "good" really demands the viewer interrogate their own world and ideals. More authors spring to mind than have utilized this approach than filmmakers, so aspiring directors: take note.

Special Features: Average

I'm lukewarm on the special features on this one. With something like this, which is fairly unique conceptually and was created in a similarly unique way, I would like all the context you can give me. What's included here is an admittedly very informative interview with Borden, and her previous feature, 1976's Regrouping.

Regrouping, briefly, is another not-exactly documentary. If the opening text is to be believed, it was originally intended to be more of a straight-ahead document of a women's group, before the subject group lost interest, leaving Borden holding the bag. My read on it is that it ends up becoming a frustrating viewing experience about the frustrations she was feeling, but I'll leave you to make your own assessments.

Altogether, I feel like, even supplemented by the essays in the included booklet, I still want for more context.

• Lizzie Borden Interview (12:21)
• Regrouping (1:15:06)

In Summary: Buy it on sale

Obviously, all films are not for all people, and non-narrative (or not-exactly narrative) films can be a slightly taller order. Born in Flames, despite the novelty of its futuristic setting, and the shocks of its climax (which I avoided discussion of because I believe it's best experienced without expectation), this is still ultimately a documentary. However, I feel like the concerns, the issues, at the core of the film are still so prevalent that the film is worth watching as more than just a snapshot of its time. Definitely worth watching, slightly less definitely worth owning.

NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (Kino Lorber)

Night of the Juggler

Kino Classics
June 6, 1980
Written by William W. Norton, Rick Natkin, based on a novel by William P. McGivern
Directed by Robert Butler, Sidney J. Furie (uncredited)
Starring James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, Julie Carmen, Abby Bluestone, Dan Hedaya
Language English

Buy it HERE from Kino Lorber, or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Excellent

Holy Toledo, gang! I originally saw this restoration in July as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival--at least, I think so. It was AN restoration, I'm not 100% certain it was THIS restoration--and I was jaw-on-the-floor riveted the whole time. Full of style that was for the time quite revolutionary, and awash in tension, Night of the Juggler hits the ground running and never really lets up.

Sean Boyd (James Brolin) is an ex-NYPD cop turned trucker who's on the outs with his wife but is still trying to show up in a meaningful way for his daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone). When a local loon, Cliff Gorman as Gus Soltic the titular Juggler, mistakes Abby for a higher-profile child and kidnaps her, he sets off an exhaustive chase across the city of New York that takes Sean and other interested parties from high society brownstones to the actual sewers and everywhere in between.

A few things set this apart from the myriad of films and television involving a parent unrelentingly chasing down a kidnapper, and only some of them are obvious on a first viewing, while the rest were made clear after checking out the special features. First of all, the pacing. While I absolutely responded to it, as mentioned above, I wasn't conscious of how completely the film emphasized it until Julie Carmen mentioned in an interview how she felt the presence of jogging early on mirrors the unrelenting forward motion of the rest of the film. Relatedly, original director Sidney J. Furie's pioneering use of long lenses to add a claustrophobia to all shots, interior or exterior, by cramming the frames full of foreground and background detail. The result is a film that actively feels like desperately trying to push your way through a crowd going the other direction.

Brolin sells all of it. He has an easygoing but no-nonsense quality that tells the audience from the jump that the Juggler absolutely grabbed the wrong guy's kid (and not just because he actually did think she was a different kid). Once Sean is on the move, he pretty much never slows down and certainly not of his own accord, even though in real life, Brolin broke his foot filming an early chase scene and production had to halt temporarily, but more on that later.

I'd be remiss not to mention the rest of the cast, because they're all fantastic. Richard S. Castellano and Dan Hedaya as cops, with Hedaya becoming an especially dangerous thorn in Sean's side; Cliff Gorman giving a truly unhinged and dangerous performance as the Juggler; Julie Carmen as the sweet Maria who takes pity on Sean and helps him out; and a pre-breakout Mandy Patinkin doing a version of the accent that he would use in The Princess Bride as Allesandro the cab driver. And then there's New York itself. We're all well familiar with the old "the city is a character" adage, but I'd say that here NYC is almost a performer. Sidney Furie allegedly said that in New York, even the extras are great actors, and I'm inclined to agree with him. They add a level of reality to the film that makes the world feel so much more real and visceral.

The Packaging: Good

Talk about the type of case, if there’s a booklet, essays, etc. Talk about what stood out to you as someone who values owning physical media!

This comes in a standard Kino Lorber black 4K/Ultra HD case, which looks sharp, but the real one-two punch for me is the slip and the reversible cover art. One side offers the more colorful of the two illustrations which depicts a visibly shaken Sean in high contrast blue lighting above an image of the Juggler dragging Kathy through a sewer tunnel with the tagline "Somewhere out there his little girl is crying for help." This one is also the image on the slipcover, and it's a great one. The deep blue and teal green of the tunnel below work really well with the stark black background and white-and-blue title.

But, the reverse side, while less colorful, is my favorite. Above a narrow collage of imagery from the film is a depiction of a wild-eyed Sean tearing an image of New York City apart with his bare hands! It's all in black and white with the tagline "In the heart of every victim is a hero and he'll tear apart a city to prove it." at the top. The effect reminds me a little of the pop art collage work I first encountered in comic books from the 1960s and '70s and it's just an incredibly arresting image. I have limited wall-space, but I'm seriously considering tracking down a full-size poster.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I love the look of this film. As I mentioned above, Sidney J. Furie's concept for using the long lenses is fantastic. It crowds the frame with visual obstacles--fences, subterranean pipes, the people of the city--in a way that makes you almost desperate to keep your eyes on the action. After production halted due to James Brolin's broken foot, producers wanted Furie to make changes to the script that would see his character Sean spend less time being active onscreen. Seeing as how Furie had constructed the whole film to feel like a desperate chase, he disagreed which led to his being replaced by credited director Robert Butler. Luckily Butler and cinematographer Victor J. Kemper kept the long lenses, ensuring a cohesive vision for the film as a whole--and one that Butler would adapt to the Hill Street Blues pilot the next year, helping to establish a look for street-level crime stories that persists to this day.

The transfer really works incredibly well with this style of filmmaking. Taken from a 4k scan of the original camera negative, there's film grain present, but the images themselves are very sharp, which you really need with the cluttered depth of frame achieved by the long lenses. On a lesser transfer, Sean and Sgt. Barnes (Hedaya) having a conversation with a chainlink fence between them and the camera could easily be muddy, or the third act descent into sewers and subterranean utility corridors, with all their pipes, steam, and other visual obstacles, could be a dark mess of blurry shapes. Here, everything feels tactile and real, which adds to the immersion. I felt like I had to actively keep my eyes on what was happening, lest the movie get away from me.

The audio mix adds to that effect as well. As I type this, I can't think of any score, though I know there had to be some. All I can recall is the sounds of the city swallowing everything at every turn. Obviously, you can't run down a busy street in New York without drawing the ire and car horns of numerous drivers, but also people passing on the street and general atmospheric sounds were all mixed very well in my three-channel soundbar.

Special Features: Excellent

What I always want most from special features is context. I like to know the clime and conditions in which the film I've watched was made. The features on this Kino release are dynamite for context! There are the two interviews, the Pandemonium Reflex inquest segment, and a very informative commentary track, all of which added to my understanding of this film as an object. Even the trailers help give me an idea of similar films of the era (though as always, I think trailers need a 'Play All' option).

The inquest feature especially, really stands out for me. In addition to elucidating a lot of the information about the filmmaking style that I've mentioned above--which I appreciated because I didn't even realize I was responding to it until it was brought to my attention!--it also really brought Sidney J. Furie into sharper focus for me and added a bunch of his (to me) lesser-known films to my watchlist.

• Commentary from film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Summer of '78, an interview with James Brolin (13:51)
• The Sweet Maria, an interview with Julie Carmen (14:22)
• Pandemonium Reflex: An Inquest into Sidney J. Furie’s Night of the Juggler (14:02)
• Trailers
• Night of the Juggler (1980) (1:53)
• Hardcore (1979) (1:23)
• Vice Squad (1982) (0:59)
• The Hunter (1980) (3:15)
• Stick (1985) (1:22)
• Death Wish 3 (1985) (1:41)

In Summary: Must Own

There's a certain relentless determination in a film that audiences respond to. It's part of what made the John Wick series pop for so many people. Few films really support that tone as well as Night of the Juggler. From the moment Kathy is taken, the film rarely loses momentum, and even when it does it more than makes up for it when the pace picks back up. The densely packed frames add a desperation and anxiety to the chase that, as I mentioned, was adopted shortly after this and remains part of the genre's visual DNA. It's because it works.

Thrillers are called thrillers for a reason. You want your audience tense, and excited, and Night of the Juggler delivers, as a film, hugely. On top of that, this release allows for a tremendously satisfying, high quality viewing experience with plenty of satellite materials for deep-divers to explore. 

A CONFUCIAN CONFUSION / MAHJONG: Two films by Edward Yang (Criterion)

A Confucian Confusion / Mahjong:
Two films by Edward Yang
Criterion
1994 / 1996
Written by Edward Yang
Directed by Edward Yang\
Starring Shiang-chyi Chen, Bosen Wang, Shu-Chun Ni, Tsung Sheng Tang, Virginie Ledoyen,
Chinese / English with subtitles available in English

Buy it HERE from Criterion

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movies: Good

Edward Yang is a fascinating figure with an equally interesting story. Originally an architect, he was inspired by the work of Werner Herzog to instead become a filmmaker, directing a handful of features over roughly twenty years before breaking into wider prominence with what turned out to be his final film. The critical appreciation for 2000's Yi Yi then triggered an examination of Yang's back catalogue of films. Criterion have previously released Yang's A Brighter Summer Day (1991), and they have plans to release Yi Yi in January of 2026, but this release concerns the two features that came in between those films, Yang's two comedies: A Confucian Confusion (1994) and Mahjong (1996). Yang seems fascinated with the ways in which groups of people interact, whether it be a family (Yi Yi), schoolmates (A Brighter Summer Day) or, in the case of both A Confucian Confusion and Mahjong, the young people in and around Taipei in an era of great financial growth. As much an examination of the city itself as the characters, both films are awash with nuance, motion, light, and tension.

A Confucian Confusion follows a handful of young professionals working in and around an entertainment company. Their clients and projects include a weekly TV show, an author, and a play being put on by an eccentric auteur. An additional dimension to things is the interpersonal relationships behind these business relationships: Molly (Shu-Chun Ni) has been put in charge by her wealthy husband Akeem (Bosen Wang). She might not be our main character (there might not even be one), but she's inarguably the lynchpin. Her sister (Li-Mei Chen) hosts the TV show, her friend from school is the auteur director (Ye-Ming Wang), who it turns out "borrowed" the plot from an old novel written by the author (Hung Hung), who happens to be Molly's brother-in-law, which will require him to sign a release. Akeem also wants to take his relationship with Molly from one largely of convenience to one involving actual love, but believes she has been having an affair.

Mahjong, while also concerned with Taipei as a financial mecca and with family, romantic, and friendship dynamics, introduces crime elements to the mix. Red Fish (Tsung Sheng Tang)'s father has gone into hiding. Though the family is quite wealthy, he owes a tremendous amount to local criminals, who plan to get it back by taking Red Fish hostage. He's part of a gang of low-level hustlers whose main scam is having Little Buddha (Chi-tsan Wang) make strange predictions which the other members make come true, "proving" Little Buddha's value to wealthy marks who then pay handsomely to secure his services. Intertwined around these schemes are a sought-after hairdresser (De Zhao), a British actor (Nick Erickson), and his French ex-girlfriend (Virginie Ledoyen) who came all the way there seeking closure, among others.

To say that Edward Yang's films are complex would be a bit misleading. They're actually quite simple, and elegant, they're just very detailed. Their comedy comes from situations, and the ways in which ostensibly normal characters react to them, and to each other. But the same goes for the drama present in both films: relationships are strained, fractured, changed, broken, or repaired and Yang's extremely empathetic viewpoint shines through. There are very few irredeemably "bad" people, just people who want different things. These films are about learning that there's more to the world than just what you get out of it, and about crossing the threshold from trying to change the world to allowing it to change you.

The Packaging: Excellent

This double feature comes packaged in the standard Criterion case: sturdy and handsome, like me. Unlike me, this release features art by Tori Huynh. A minimal black, white, and red color scheme and simple, clean lines depict most of the important characters from both films on both sides of the cover--there are 22 on the front, I believe--, the booklet, and both discs.

The booklet, in addition to a wonderful essay by Dennis Lim and a Director's Note from Edward Yang himself that originally accompanied A Confucian Confusion's press notes in 1994--both of which provided me with tons of valuable cultural context--also features several wonderful images from the films. But. My personal favorite bit of the included ephemera is a reproduction of a drawing Yang himself did of the main cast of characters in A Confucian Confusion, to help keep all the interpersonal relationships clear. It was mentioned in the bonus features, and I was pleased to find it included.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I found nothing about either the audio or video presentations to take issue with. These films are small in scale and somewhat intimate in the way they are captured, and the audio mix makes them feel very grounded and real. One of the producers owned a TGI Fridays in the city, leading to many scenes in both films being set there, perhaps as a commentary on the commercial encroachment of western culture, perhaps as a convenience, or perhaps both. Mahjong also features the Hard Rock Cafe as a hub of interaction for what it's worth, though as far as I could find, that was entirely an aesthetic choice. Regardless, the constant hum of pop music in both locations while the characters are trying to have important conversations felt incredibly relatable and familiar in a way that added a lot of emotional texture to scenes.

The down-to-earth focus of Yang's lens likewise conveys an almost voyeuristic intimacy, like we are stumbling across these people in the moments, while out in the world, but it doesn't limit the everyday beauty he could capture. There's a certain modern loveliness to things like a series of neon lights in the darkness that Yang was obviously aware of. One especially lovely shot, allegedly inspired by Shadows and Fog (1991), at one point in A Confucian Confusion features two characters in a high rise office beautifully backlit by the dawn skyline. I'm hard pressed to think of a director with more of a grasp of the quiet beauty of the everyday.

Special Features: Good

I think this release has all its bases covered. Personally, what I look for in supplemental features is context: unless I'm already deeply familiar with a film personally, there's nothing I like more than better understanding the environment in which an artist has created their art. It's why I loved movie hosts growing up, and why I enjoy things like the Blank Check podcast now. The Q&A with Yang on Disc One is nothing but straight-from-the-horse's-mouth information about A Confucian Confusion from conception to execution. Similarly, the discussion on Yang's works between Chinese cultural studies scholar Michael Berry and film critic Justin Chang was incredibly enlightening. 

But if you're someone interested in "the process",  here's an interview with editor Chen Po-Wen who worked on every one of Yang's films from A Brighter Summer Day onward. There's also a filmed performance of an entire play by Yang for those folks who like finding some freebies in their bonus features. The various sources paint a picture of Edward Yang as an incredibly considerate artist in all senses of the word.

• Disc One:
• Edward Yang Q&A (53:27) - recorded after a screening of A Confucian Confusion in 1994
• Likely Consequence (45:20) - recording of a 1992 performance of a play by Edward Yang
• Disc Two:
• Michael Berry & Justin Chang (44:12)
• Interview with editor Chen Po-Wen (25:49)

In Summary: Buy It On Sale

Of the two films featured here, Mahjong works slightly better for me. While both films are insightful and delicate examinations of humanity and the ways we interact with each other and the great big world, the addition of a crime element allowed both the comedy and drama aspects of Mahjong to sing a bit more. That said, both films are just fantastic. Beautiful, elegant, and occasionally unexpectedly funny.

If you are looking for gentle, well-drawn examinations of characters, some of whom are just slightly larger than life, I would bump this up to a Must Own, but for some filmgoers, these movies might be just a little too mellow; too low-stakes. Even the threats I mentioned in Mahjong never really feel life-or-death, even if they're presented that way. They're just a different prism to examine these characters through, and in my case, a much appreciated one.

"Beast of Burden, Chapter 8: Try Walking a Mile with My Paws"

The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming memoir "BEAST OF BURDEN".
Available from Babylon Zoo Publishing in Q3 2025.

Rin Tin Tin pretends to answer his own fan mail.

Chapter 8 : "TRY WALKING A MILE WITH MY PAWS"

After getting everyone's souls back in the correct bodies I gave up my treasure hunting career, packed up my metaphorical bindle, and headed west to Hollywood to seek my fortune. Not the first, not the last, as I say. Seeking your fortune isn't exactly shooting fish in a barrel, of course. I needed to take the bull by the horns and find work to make ends meet. That's how I ended up behind the bar four nights a week at a dive called The Cat's Pajamas that had a reputation for being "where the real animals went". I thought this meant rowdy crowds and tough customers, and while there were those too, I learned that in this case "real animals" frequently meant real animals.

The Pajamas was an unassuming little place in the shadows of the major studio lots, and, in addition to handfuls of your average oddballs, all the animal actors--anyone who was anyone, as they say--came there to wet their beaks. In the first couple of weeks, I learned the ropes: the good and bad tippers, who gets a tab and who doesn't, but most of all to keep quiet as a mouse about what went on there. It was nothing illegal, mostly, but any gossip could be the straw that broke the camel's back for our clientele's careers.

Orangey the cat--who would go on to some acclaim with my help--spent some of their time as Minerva, their drag persona that performed at clandestine burlesque houses in the area. Morris--the 9Lives cat food spokescat, and not to be confused with Morris the alligator--were in a relationship, but no one could know about it. Rin Tin Tin--German shepherd immigrant turned bonafide movie star--had hired Jimmy the Crow--star of over a hundred films, and actually a raven--to help him respond to his mountains of fan mail, which at first I thought was a kindness, before learning he was working Jimmy like a dog, ironically, and for peanuts. I won't name names, but let's say a little bird told me that Rinty couldn't get his paws to stop shaking long enough to sign correspondence without at least a bottle of schnapps.

But it wasn't all monkey business. The lion's share of regulars were sweethearts. Terry--Toto from The Wizard of Oz--introduced himself to me on my first day to reassure me that any little people who came in and dropped his name could drink on his tab. He'd been paid three times what they were on that picture, knew that wasn't right, and was trying to pay it forward. Frances the Talking Mule did what made him famous: talking. A lot. Told me his whole story; about how he came over from Mexico and took the talkies by storm before being priced out by the competition at rival studios--like Mr. Ed, that scumbag (¹). Regardless, Francis and I became close and he invited me to a poker game with many of the aforementioned patrons and they came to like me too; I laughed easily, lost more than I won, kept the drinks flowing, and kept my mouth shut.

(¹) - My lawyers have advised me that I am to make it abundantly clear that Mr. Ed is only a scumbag in my own humble, personal opinion, and that I do not have, and I quote, "tons of dirt on him, enough to bury him deeper than a groundhog’s graveyard."

My brush with the silver screen came one day when some gopher from Paramount poked his head in saying Blake Edwards needed Orangey back on set for reshoots. Problem was, Orangey was well into their cups for the evening and in no condition to perform. Next thing I knew, I'm on the set of a big Hollywood production, hundreds of gallons of movie magic raining cats and dogs on me, soaking me to my skin. That's right, in the climactic rain scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's, any time Cat isn't in close-up? That's me.

Thus began my career standing-in and stunt-doubling for some of the most famous critters in Hollywood. I was busy as a beaver; very quickly in demand. Union rules limited the hours an animal performer could work in a given day, but as a human, they could work me like a rented mule. The Lone Ranger rode me off a bridge into a river; I pointed to that damnable well Timmy had fallen into; I shared the big screen with Johnny Weissmüller and Rex Harrison; I was riding high on the hog.

It couldn't last however. I blew out my hip which put me on the shelf for 8 months and limited what I was able to do, physically, thereafter. Worse, during my convalescence, Variety did a profile on me called "Beast of Burden" which unfortunately painted me as the leader of the pack for a wave of human actors bent on replacing animals in all films. I returned to The Pajamas as a black sheep. Most of my former poker buddies and more recently co-workers assumed I'd been a snake in the grass the whole time and they turned their backs on me.

I was heartbroken. With the benefit of hindsight, I'm ashamed to admit that instead of addressing the elephant in the room, I tucked my tail between my legs and headed back east like a bat out of Hell. I'll always think of those times, and those people, fondly, but clearly the cows had come home and that chapter of my life was finished.

Hunter is an author of some renown.
Just because you may not reknow who he is doesn't change that.
Facts is facts.

This piece originally ran in the MovieJawn Summer 2025 print zine, under the title Stunt Animal.
It is all 100% true. Like, so true that you don't even need to check. Why waste your time?

WATCHLIST - October 2025

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome, to all my spooky boos and autumn aficionados! The season approaches on cloven hooves, so I'm putting together another Spooky Watchlist. I've been making these for a few years, originally just for myself and the folks I live with, but other pals kept asking to be included, so here we are. This year marks my second collab with MovieJawn, and you can and should read the first one HERE, because it was written to help folks who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by too many choices feel more at ease, and to make building their own month-long movie marathon less intimidating. So go read that one, then come back. I'll wait.

I will, however, reiterate my three main rules because they bear repeating:

Rule 1: Start with the easiest prompts first. Don't get hung up on one you're having trouble with, just come back to it.
Rule 2: There are no wrong answers. Make your selections however you want, and if you're "wrong" about a movie: who cares, as long as you had fun watching it.
Rule 3: The search bar is your friend. First, I hope we've all turned A.I. responses off (it's easy to do), but if you're having trouble coming up with a title, Letterboxd and to a lesser extent IMDb have plenty of themed lists for you to peruse for inspiration.

Now let's dive in. I've shared the image so you can copy it or print one out if you want to. Now I'm going to walk you through the prompts with some suggestions. We'll start with the ones that are extremely YOU-specific:

Free Streamies
    Tubi, Plex, and PlutoTV are all excellent and importantly FREE resources for films great and small,
    and I'm trying to reinforce the idea that you don't necessarily need to pay for all your entertainments,
    even if you're big into streaming. So fire up your free streamer of choice and find something that looks
    fun!
Physical Media
    Choose a film you currently own, or owned at one time, or want to own on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray or
    some other format.
Birth Year
    A movie released in your birth year, or the birth year of a loved one who'll be watching with you.
Studio Specific
    Pick a flick from a favorite studio if you have one - TriStar Pictures, Cannon Films, or Full Moon
    Entertainment leap readily to mind for me.
Homegrown
    A film made or set in or near your hometown, or wherever you might live now.
First Time Watch
    Select a movie you, or someone watching with you, has never seen.

For the rest of these prompts, I'll try to make at least one suggestion family friendly in case you've got kids who'll be watching with you or maybe you just don't love the scarier side of the season. Also, in light of the country's recent bout of xenophobic inhospitality, I'll be suggesting at least one film of non-American origin, if for no other reason than to better appreciate the global arts community.

Monster By Name
    A movie with 'monster' in the title - Monsters (2010), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Monster Seafood Wars
    (2020, Japan).
Monster By Nature
    A movie where the "monster" doesn't look like one - Psycho (1960), Monster House (2006), Hausu
    (1977, Japan).
Monster By Nurture
    A movie about what it takes to make a monster. It could be trauma, an evil spirit, a potion, a curse,
    alienation, anything at all - Evil Dead II (1987), Gremlins (1984), The Loved Ones (2009, Australia).

Blockbuster
    A film that was such a smash that it inspired numerous imitators - Alien (1979), E.T. the Extra-
    Terrestrial (1982), Godzilla (1954, Japan).
Mockbuster
    A film that's clearly inspired by something else - Life (2017), Masters of the Universe (1987), Bloody
    Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995, Japan).

Horny
    Define this one however you're most comfortable: a film that's actively about being horny, or just one
    with a sexually-charged atmosphere, or perhaps one about The Devil or another famously horned
    character - Species (1995), Little Nicky (2000), Shivers (1975, Canada).
Costume Inspo
    Folks dress up as all kinds of non-spooky things from movies for Halloween, so watch a movie that's
    got good, non-spooky costume fodder - Police Academy (1984), Minions (2015), Ultraman (1966,
    Japan)
The Master of Suspense
    A film by or in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. On the plus side, a lot of Hitchcock is pretty all-ages
    friendly - What Lies Beneath (2000), The Birds (1963), Cobweb (2023, South Korea).
"Never D Your Own G"
    This phrase--coined the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast, Episode 131: Beneath the Darkness
    (2011)--means "Never dig your own grave", which is unquestionably good advice. Choose a movie
    with grave digging or a cemetery - Shallow Grave (1994), Army of Darkness (1992), Cemetery Man
    (1994, Italy).
Kid Favorites
    Could be a favorite from when you were a kid, or if you have kids it could one of their faves, or just a
    well-liked film made for kids - Teen Wolf (1985), The Addams Family (1991), Wallace and Gromit:
    The Curse of the Where Rabbit (2005, UK).
Summerween
    A good scare is an any time of year treat Jaws (1975), Tremors (1990), High Tension (2003, France).
Permission to Board
    Movies where someone uses an Ouija board or similar device - Ouija Shark (2020), 13 Ghosts (1960),
    Alison's Birthday (1981, Australia).
Season of the Witch
    Yes, there are a few films with this as a title and you could watch one of them, but this could be any
    witchy movie - Bell Book and Candle (1958), Supergirl (1984), Suspiria (1977, Italy).
A.I. Was Never a Good Idea
    "Artificial Intelligence" is heavy on the artificial part and extremely scarce on the intelligence. Always
    has been - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), Ghost in the Shell
    (1995, Japan).
Monster Mashup
    Choose any film where more than one type of monster appears - Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Scooby-
    Doo (2002), Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man (1973, Mexico).
Weapon of Choice
    Decide on a movie where a distinctive weapon is used - Planet Terror (2007), Krull (1983), Shaun of
    the Dead (2004, UK).
Clowning Around
    Step right up and choose a circus or clown-centric genre film - Freaks (1932), Something Wicked This
    Way Comes (1983), Santa Sangre (1989, Italy).

1950s
    Pick a genre film from the decade that brought us Snoopy - Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954),
    Them! (1954), Diabolique (1955, France).
1960s
    Choose a genre film from the Free Love era - X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963), Mad Monster
    Party? (1967), Black Sabbath (1963, Italy).
1970s
    Select a genre film from the decade of Pong - Phantom of the Paradise (1974), The Phantom
    Tollbooth (1970), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, UK).
1980s
    Decide upon a genre film from the age when Tiffany ruled the malls - Return of the Living Dead 
    (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Pin (1988, Canada).
1990s
    Opt for one genre film from the epoch of Crystal Pepsi - Anaconda (1997), Galaxy Quest (1999), I
    Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990, UK).
This Year
    Single out a genre film from 2025 - Sinners (2025), KPop Demon Hunters (2025), Bring Her Back
    (2025, Australia).

This penultimate prompt is designed to make things easier for you--think of it as a cheat code to help make your October viewing go even more smoothly.

Franchise Freebies!
    Basically, if you want to watch an entire franchise spread out over Oct., feel free to count some of the
    films in that series INSTEAD of any prompts you're having trouble with. Can't think of a Monster By
    Nurture film you wanna watch, or not that interested in a movie from the '70s? Watch some of the
    Saw films instead. But all your substitutes must be from the SAME franchise, and they must be
    watched IN ORDER.

This last prompt is the ONLY one I think is date-specific:

All Hallows Eve
    On the 31st, watch a really "Halloweenie" movie - Murder Party (2007), It's the Great Pumpkin
    Charlie Brown (1966), The Wicker Man (1973, UK).

Feel free to build your watchlist in whatever order you want, by the way, and remember: the spooky season isn't just for horror. There are plenty of other genres that fit right in: sci-fi, martial arts, super heroes, fantasy, whodunnit, kaiju, etc. Best of luck, I hope you have fun. 

I cohost the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast and we've covered some of the films mentioned above, if you're interested:

• Episode 11: Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• Episode 28: Hausu (1977)
• Episode 110: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
• Episode 111: Cemetery Man (1994)
• Episode 118: Bell Book and Candle (1958)
• Episode 131: Beneath the Darkness (2011)
• Episode 140: Alison's Birthday (1981)
• Episode 155: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Episode 159: Jaws (1975)
• Episode 168: Supergirl (1984)

Share your progress with #SpookyJawnList on your social media of choice, and as always - Long Live the Movies!

PUFF X

PUFF X
A Decade of the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival

Get your tickets HERE

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

Ten of anything is quite a milestone. We count by tens after all, so doing something ten times or, in the case of the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival doing it for ten years, is nothing to sneeze at. I've covered PUFF for a few years, and they always showcase a wide assemblage of titles, both features and shorts, that might otherwise fly under the radar. I'm very much looking forward to what they've got in store for this year.

With these sorts of articles, I would usually single out a few features to highlight. I'm not going to do that here because A) PUFF is relatively small, so there's only a handful of features to begin with, and B) I looked into all of them and they all look pretty interesting, so why don't I just walk you through what this year's fest has to offer:

Wednesday, Oct. 1st:

The fest kicks off with a filmmaker meet-up featuring a panel discussion led by local filmmaker and Drexel’s Westphal College professor David Greenberg.

Thursday, Oct. 2nd:

The films begin on the 2nd with a double feature cohosted by Girls Like Horror beginning with You Know What You Are (dir. Rose Trimboli), a vampire horror-drama (produced by MJ contributor Shayna Davis). I was already interested in YKWYA after speaking to Shayne about it briefly earlier this year, and its teaser trailer, which features a young woman sitting on a bench and briefly remembering some past violence in a terrible flash, is so stylish I can't help but be intrigued.

A screening of 1985's The Oracle (dir. Roberta Findlay), where a spirit reaches out to a young woman for help solving its murder, follows and I was pleasantly surprised by a few things: it looks a little janky, it appears to be a Christmas (and maybe even a New Year's) movie, and there is a reliance on sickly, bright green light throughout, which is a cinematic affectation I always love. I'm a big fan of alternative holiday viewing, so I was sold almost immediately.

Friday, Oct. 3rd:

Friday features two films from PUFF alumni: Robbie Banfitch returns with a new found footage film, Tinsman Road. Its teaser trailer is primarily a shot of a ballerina music box silhouetted against a wall with footage projected on it, and paired with audio alluding to the film focusing on a missing young woman. It ends with the phrase "Sorrow is Terror", which is heartbreaking, chilling, and fascinating in equal measure.

I've actually seen Alex Phillips' latest, Anything That Moves, and it's tonally very different from what I was expecting. A messily ambitious film (complimentary) about love and sexuality set amidst a giallo-esque murder spree, ATM will likely leave you smiling and satisfied, if somewhat bewildered.

Saturday, Oct. 4th:

As the late, great DMX said, "X gon' give it to ya", and PUFF X is definitely giving it on Saturday. The most packed day of the fest this year boasts five features. Projection (dirs. Evan Samaras & George Scoufaras) seems to be the story of an aspiring screenwriter making his dream project alongside, and forgive me if I have this wrong, the spirit of his recently-deceased father? And there appears to be some kind of giant-serpent worshipping cult shenanigans, as well. Head Like a Hole (dir. Stefan MacDonald-Labelle) seems to be about a man hired to watch ... a hole, but to paraphrase Twin Peaks, the hole is not what it seems. To be clear, I'm not sure what it really is, but it surely ain't just a hole.

I had heard good things about Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (dir. Christopher Bickel), but nothing could have prepared me for how Extremely My Shit it appears to be: big, colorful, violent, with a story centered around the extremely collectible vinyl record of a long-gone cult that just might not be all that gone. The practical effects look perfectly artisanal (and goopy!), and at one point there's a wild-eyed young man yelling "Fuck your entire generation!", so I ask you: what's not to love?

I wasn't able to find trailers of any kind for two of the films but from what I could find out, they both seem to be right up my alley. Mooch (dir. Jeff Ryan), which follows a slacker golf caddy turned amateur p.i. on a case that "spirals wildly out of control", and is being compared to The Big Lebowski (1998), sounds like a great palate-cleanser to a weekend of films that tend toward darker stuff. Alan at Night (dir. Jesse Swenson) meanwhile starts with a sillier premise, an internet prankster films the unusual behavior of his new roommate, but I anticipate things will get very weird. Since it's the final film of Saturday, I'm guessing it will.

But wait! That's not all! Spread across the rest of the weekend, amidst the features, are a number of blocks of short films. The Bizarre Block caps off the Girls Like Horror night on the 2nd, there's an Animation Shorts block and a Global Grab Bag block on the 3rd, and the Horror Shorts block is nestled in the middle of all those films on the 4th. But all good things must come to an end...

Sunday, Oct. 5th:

Sunday winds the festival down with the Music Videos block and Local Shorts block leading up to the PUFF X Awards ceremony bringing things to a close in the afternoon. The shorts are always a really interesting experience because, though the PUFF crew organize them into these themed blocks, watching them back-to-back can lead to some fun moments of cognitive whiplash. Sometimes it's a better eye-opener than a cup of coffee!

Notably (to me at least) in Jason X (2001), the infamous serial teen-murderer went to space, as one does. Not to overreach for a corny pun, but this year's PUFF X looks equally as out-of-this-world! Get your tickets immediately, or live to know the true feeling of true regret. 

HONG KONG 1941 (Eureka)

Hong Kong 1941
(Eureka)
Originally Released Nov. 1st, 1984 
Written by Koon-Chung Chan
Directed by Po-Chih Leong
Starring Cecilia Yip, Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, Paul Chun, Wu Ma
Language: Cantonese (w/English subtitles) and optional English dub track

Buy it HERE from Eureka, HERE from MVD, or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MJ Podcast Director

The Movie: Excellent

An action romance with epic aspirations but a much more intimate focus, Hong Kong 1941 gallops through set-ups and familiar story beats with a looseness that I really enjoyed. To be fair, there's a lot to set up: Yip (Chow Yun-Fat) comes to Hong Kong to stay with his very sweet aunt and decidedly salty uncle. He butts up against local tough guy Wong (Alex Man) and falls for the sickly but lovely local girl--who Wong is also, somewhat secretly enamored with--Nam (Cecilia Yip). The three of them are fast friends, and form a loose love triangle where everybody behaves themselves (mostly).

There's also some complications involving a local rice magnate who happens to be Nam's father who just fires his workers whenever they want to be paid fairly; a local crime boss / politician Chairman Liu (Wu Ma), and police sergeant Fa-wing (Paul Chun) who especially has it out for Wong. As interwoven as our three leads' lives are with each other, they're being equally dragged into confrontations with these outside obstacles and aggressors. As I said, there's a lot of track to lay before the film drops its biggest bomb: actual bombs.

The spine of this story is built around the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. So on top of the ephemeral, emotional stakes are incredibly tangible, real-world hardships and danger. For what it's worth, I think the script, by Koon-Chung Chan, does an incredible job balancing these things. The war is never fully just a backdrop for the interpersonal drama, it's never allowed to feel commonplace. Scenes that are primarily about developing our leads' stories or characters also showcase actions of the invading Japanese army, from the comparatively innocuous--like rewarding children with food for singing in Japanese--to the outright hideous--hunting down and assaulting the local women.

The fact that Hong Kong 1941 manages to maintain an (overall) light feeling is truly impressive. The love triangle never feels overwrought, the violence and danger never feels excessive, and the whole thing works thanks to director Po-Chih Leong, editor Peter Cheung, and the performances of our leads. I've been a fan of Chow Yun-Fat for a long time. He just has an effortlessness to him that borders on cocky without, for me, ever tipping over the line. Both Alex Man and Cecilia Yip play extremely well off of him and each other, and you can really feel and understand that they all care for each other.

As a war movie, Hong Kong 1941 might be lacking in scope, but that was never its focus. While a war, which is a comparatively abstract concept, can most certainly be interesting, it's the people affected by it that make a story worth telling.

The Packaging: Excellent

Eureka Entertainment's cases are just a bit larger than your standard, closer to Criterion's, which is either nice, because it feels a bit sturdier, or annoying if you'd like all of your Blu-rays to be uniform. This one also comes with a cardboard slip and a reversible cover. The minimalist art on the slip--a hand holding a katana, with our three leads in miniature, standing on the tsuba (guard), in high contrast black and blood red on a deep orange background--is on one side of the cover, with a fantastic painted illustration of Yip, Wong, and certain key scenes on the other.

Also included is a booklet featuring an essay from Hong Kong and Chinese Cinema specialist Gary Bettinson about director Po-Chih Leong which gives a very solid overview of his career. If you've read any of my other Disc Dispatches, you'll know I love context. Additionally there are some wonderful photos from the production in the booklet.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I thought this looked tremendous. The opening scene (maybe two?) had a slight peach tint to things that I wasn't crazy about. On one hand, it had the overall effect of a sepia filter in that it sort of helped sell the whole "this story takes place in the past" thing, but I was worried it would overstay its welcome. It doesn't, subtly fading to something cooler that makes the blues and greens in the costumes and locations pop and somehow feels more urgent and in-the-moment.

There's some film grain present, but it's a good amount; it lets you feel the movie, the weight of its history. Something I noticed near the end of the film that I found weirdly charming is that you can, occasionally, see the shadows of moths circling the set lights. Imperfections, if you even want to think of them as such, are proof that this was made by people, and through, I'm sure, no small amount of effort. I love that.

I noticed no issues with the audio at all. There is a certain distance to the sound that is era appropriate, but it's not nearly as noticeable as other films from this era. Whether this is the result of the filmmaking at the time, or any sort of restoration, I'm not sure. Regardless, everything came through very clearly, even at times when contrasting sounds--like a gentle score playing alongside the sounds of a boat engine--were present.

Special Features: Excellent

I won't pretend that every single piece of additional material on here was fascinating or enlightening, but much of it was. And there's just so much of it that I'm actually not sure where it was that I learned what became the background information I was most obsessed with: this was made because of Margaret Thatcher!

What I mean is (and forgive me if I'm getting details wrong): Thatcher bungled some deal or another which led to Britain losing their longstanding control of Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1984, which reminded many people (including filmmakers) of the Japanese invasion after Pearl Harbor in 1941. This film as well as a film called Love in a Fallen City (1984, dir. Ann Hui), both set in that era, were each released within the same year and, coincidentally, both star Chow Yun-Fat!

For reasons that I think should be obvious, I've been wondering about world history, the lessons we may or may not be learning from it, and the impact that has on people who just want to live their lives as peacefully as they are able. This gave me quite a lot to chew on.

• Tony Rayns on Hong Kong 1941 (30:29)
• Crossing Cultures with Po-Chih Leong (21:47)
• Po-Chih Leong on Hong Kong 1941 and Cultural Identity (recorded at East Film Fest 2023) (21:38)
• Archival Interviews
• Cecilia Yip 1 (29:09)
• Cecilia Yip 2 (4:23)
• Cecilia Yip 3 (11:33)
• Chow Yun-Fat 1 (13:13)
• Chow Yun-Fat 2 (5:33)
  
• Paul Chun (a.k.a. Paul Pui) (8:30)
• Hong Kong theatrical trailer (4:03)
• International release trailer (3:48)

• Included booklet with an essay from Gary Bettinson

In Summary: Buy it on sale

While I was knocked out by Hong Kong 1941, and I was, I admit that this type of film might not be for literally everyone. Sure, few films are, but some are, and it is for those that I'll reserve the absolute highest recommendation. As it stands, this is an incredibly strong offering. As a film, it's an excellent bit of historical melodrama. As a release this is incredibly rewarding, with plenty of additional materials to inform the production and its history. It's also the first time Hong Kong 1941 has been made available on Blu-ray outside of Asia.

This has some absolutely gorgeous moments, both visually and emotionally and I think anyone with an interest in Asian cinema would be well-served to have this on their shelves. 

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (Criterion)

Carnal Knowledge
Criterion
June 30th, 1971

Written by Jules Feiffer
Directed by Mike Nichols
Starring Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margaret, Rita Moreno
English

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Criterion

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Movie: Excellent

Carnal Knowledge blew my mind. All I really knew going into this, aside from the pedigree of the cast and crew, was the whole censorship debacle which ultimately resulted in the film being re-released with a new tagline: "The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Carnal Knowledge is not obscene. See it now!" As a result of that, I knew this was sexually candid but not necessarily explicit. What I didn't expect was an examination of what is now recognized as toxic masculinity from a 54 year-old film that's also expressly feminist, and wildly understated. The dialogue showcases screenwriter Jules Feiffer's razor sharp knack for observation, the performances are incredibly magnetic, and the filmmaking from director Mike Nichols and editor Sam O'Steen allows for plenty of room for the actors to shine.

Sandy (Art Garfunkel) and John (Jack Nicholson) are college roommates who bond by talking about sex and love. John is the more vulgar of the two, goading Sandy to push girlfriend Susan (Candice Bergen) for more action. Once Sandy informs him he's finally getting somewhere with her, John calls her up himself, and they begin an affair. At this point, I thought we were going to have a basic love-triangle story with Susan enjoying the connection she shares with Sandy, but also responding to the sensuality of John while both of the men yearn for the kind of relationship with her that the other has. But then something magical happens. The film just casually slips forward in time. No subtitles to denote the jump, nothing aside from John & Sandy's change in appearance and their dialogue. 

This trust in the audience is emblematic of the steady hand behind the camera. Drawing on Feiffer's background as a cartoonist--his weekly strip in The Village Voice ran for forty years!--Nichols utilizes long takes of characters talking (frequently all but directly to camera), rarely cutting away for coverage of the other person. He also tends towards long shots of the women as the men talk, allowing us to experience these outwardly mundane conversations through them as they process what is being said, and said about them. For a movie that on the surface seems obsessed with men & maleness, this is a powerfully feminist filmmaking choice.

Carnal Knowledge is not a film everyone will enjoy watching. It is at times ugly, revealing, explicit and embarrassing. Not unlike the titular characters in Mikey and Nicky (1976, dir. Elaine May) neither of our leading men are especially likeable, but they're sadly all too common. Fun fact: Mike Nichols and Elaine May were the influential comedy duo Nichols and May from '59-'62. Even at 54 years on, this kind of warts-and-all look at toxic masculinity is perhaps even more important that it was at release.

Culturally we're at a low point in the pursuit of equality, respect, and safety for anyone not represented by this type of well-off white men. Carnal Knowledge doesn't offer any answers. How could it? But it also doesn't soften these men or their slide into irrelevance any; it doesn't let them off the hook. Depiction, importantly, does not equal endorsement.

The Packaging: Good

This is your typical Criterion release, which is by-and-large pretty damn good. If you're unfamiliar, their cases are a little larger than the standard Blu-ray, a little sturdier and more durable. The cover wouldn’t feel out of place had it been the poster in 1971, with its muted, autumnal palette and four head shots. It also has an image on the inside of Jack Nicholson sitting naked, smoking a cigarette, in an armchair.

This version also comes with a 40-page booklet featuring an essay from Moira Weigel and an article from Herb A. Lightman which features conversations with cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno and production designer Richard Sylbert (originally published in the January 1971 issue of American Cinematographer). Weigel's essay especially resonated with me, affirming some of my feelings about the film and elucidating other facets I wasn't considering. These kinds of additional materials are really what's important about re/releasing older films. Cultural and social context are incredibly vital aspects to make clear for new viewers.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I had no issues with either the audio or visual presentation. There is some film grain, and a certain very slight muffling to the audio, but both of those are merely signs of having been made in a bygone era. They add a sensory warmth to the whole experience for me, while looking and sounding perhaps as good as the film ever has. With a film as dialogue-centric as this one is, you want to make sure things sound as good as possible, and let me assure you: this does.

The included booklet has a paragraph about the audio & video mastering that underlines a very important elephant in the room: this master was created using the 35mm separation masters because the original camera negative had become too damaged and moldy. Film preservation is such an important undertaking, as is, I feel, owning and making available all varieties of film.

Special Features: Excellent

I recently wrote about Criterion's release of The Wiz and lamented the lack of some theoretical special features to add greater context to the film. In contrast, Carnal Knowledge is a wealth of context. The two half-hour-ish conversations were very interesting, even though I find Jason Reitman somewhat tedious. The piece focusing on the editing was extremely enlightening and gave me an added dimension to keep an eye on during my rewatch with commentary, which I am very thankful for because the editing is so subtle and unflashy that it might otherwise have passed me by. As it stands, the editing is one of my favorite parts of the film. But my favorite of these materials was definitely the podcast with Jules Feiffer, who I found to be incredibly entertaining and fascinating.

• Commentary track from filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute
• A conversation between Mark Harris (Mike Nichols' biographer) and film critic Dana Stevens (29:04)
• A conversation between Mike Nichols and director Jason Reitman (36:02)
  
• An episode of the To Live & Dialogue podcast w/Jules Feiffer (43:20)
• Bobbie O'Steen on the editing (19:15)
• Trailer (0:57)
• Radio spot (0:59)

In Summary: Must Own

There are any number of good reasons to own Criterion's Carnal Knowledge release. The acting, direction, screenwriting, and editing are all masterclass-level examples of their respective craft. The story here is frequently uncomfortable, but nonetheless riveting. But for me, I think the best reason might be spite.

Personally, I rankle at outside entities trying to control what entertainments I can and cannot access, and as I mentioned above, when Carnal Knowledge was initially released, it screened at a theater in Georgia resulting in an obscenity case that took about two years to resolve, and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was, and I cannot stress this enough, found not to be anything you could call obscene. As with banned books, or adult entertainment, I like having at my disposal something that the pearl-clutching masses decidedly did not want to be widely available. Sometimes, spite can be a great motivator. But with that comes the caveat: this may not be for all tastes. And that is fine. Everything doesn't need to be for everyone, but everyone should be allowed to decide what is for them.

OBEX (2025)

OBEX
Directed by Albert Birney
Written by Albert Birney, Pete Ohs
Starring Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, Paisley Isaacs, Frank Mosley, Dorothy
Running time 1 hour and 30 minutes
Currently unrated by the MPA

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

One of my favorite films from my time covering the 2021 Fantasia International Film Festival was a weird little piece of brain candy that got stuck somewhere in my mind called Strawberry Mansion. A near-future dystopia film where an omniscient megacorpo has the ability to audit dreams in order to draw more taxes, Strawberry Mansion highlighted a distinct visual and tonal style, a strong sense of individuality, and a touching message about love, art, and the importance of living a life. It stayed with me--enough so that I picked up the physical release as soon as I could--and firmly put filmmakers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley on the map for me.

OBEX comes once again from director Birney, going solo on this one, though he co-wrote it with Pete Ohs. Themes about the ephemeral nature of life, as well as a fondness for VHS tapes, a fantastical story, and a melancholic bittersweetness mark OBEX as coming from one of the minds behind Strawberry Mansion, but as with any auteur (or auteur in the making) what really delights me is where the films differ from each other. In contrast to the brightly-colored and thematically sweeping Strawberry Mansion, OBEX is shot in black and white and, despite a third act trip into a sword-and-sorcery fantasyland, feels very intimate.

Conor (Birney) lives a very solitary life in a small home in the year 1987. Aside from his beloved dog Sandy (played by Dorothy), and the occasional through-the-closed-door interactions with neighbor Mary (Callie Hernandez) who does his grocery shopping for him, Conor does not interact with anyone. He watches a three-high stack of era-appropriate TVs, and offers his services as an ASCII artist for $5 a pop via magazine ad: "I will draw you with my computer". It's while checking out his latest ad in Personal Computing magazine that he sees an ad for a computer game called OBEX. Via the U.S. mail, also conducted like a dead-drop, Conor exchanges $20 and a self-shot VHS audition tape for a personalized OBEX disk (or perhaps it's a diskette?).

Initially the game experience is a bit of a letdown: overly simplistic gameplay with confusing objectives and rules, though the main character sprite looks just like Conor and his trusty steed is named Sandy. But after becoming frustrated and throwing the diskette (I'm going with diskette, it's a nice, vintage word) in the trash, things start to become a bit hazy. Odd, potentially supernatural events begin unfolding in small ways at first, and largely without Conor seeming too concerned, but as time wears on, it seems like the demon IXAROTH, the game's antagonist, may be affecting the real world.

If this sounds a bit like Brainscan (1994, dir. John Flynn) that's because it is, though OBEX pays homage to the ur-text for movies where a demonic entity manipulates reality: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven). In NoES, Freddy Krueger is a visceral, vengeful creature acting out a punishment on the children of the townspeople who murdered him, while in Brainscan, The Trickster is a demon who obfuscates reality in pursuit of a more immersive gaming experience. IXAROTH falls somewhere in between these two in really interesting thematic ways.

[Spoilers to follow for both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Brainscan] 

Despite numerous characters' disbelief that "this can't be happening" throughout the Nightmare franchise, it is happening. Freddy is a real threat, so much so that the franchise's seventh installment, Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994, dir. Wes Craven), moves up one level of the reality, bringing Freddy into "the real world" where previously, he had only been a character in films. Conversely, all of Brainscan's threats and dangers are ultimately revealed to be The Trickster living up to his name--though to be fair, there is a reality-breaking mid-credit stinger that's just... wonderfully, delightfully confusing.

As events unfold in OBEX, we are given snapshots into Conor's backstory and subconscious through a series of dreams where he is driving with his sick mother in the backseat, taunting and almost haunting him. It becomes clear that Conor's unstated agoraphobia--an anxiety disorder signified by feeling unsafe in certain, usually unfamiliar locations--may be a response to his grief. When IXAROTH invades his home, through Conor's stack of TVs, and kidnaps Sandy, he takes away Conor's only safe space and threatens his only real remaining connection to his life. It's on his ensuing quest to rescue Sandy that Conor will be forced to confront his past traumas, go well outside of his comfort zone, and even address some uncomfortable truths about his childhood that he seemingly wished to avoid thinking about.

The last aspect of OBEX that I wanted to address is the use of, in my eyes, heavily thematically-relevant cicada imagery. Conor's home is surrounded by them, with a lone bug even invading his space from time to time, and once he sets off on his grand quest, he encounters them as obstacles and enemies in service of Conor's demonic nemesis. We're familiar with butterflies as a metaphor for personal growth and rebirth and it's obvious why they are the more commonly-found imagery, but I think the frequent insert shots of cicadas molting included in OBEX are meant to represent the same thing. To Conor, they're undesirable because they represent the kind of difficult forward motion in his life that he is avoiding making. On top of that, their constant chittering acts as a metaphor for the constant noise of distraction modern life and technology allows us.

As a film, OBEX is at times unsettling, at times thrilling, but always fascinating and made with a deliberateness that's extremely confident and self-assured. You can enjoy it on multiple levels; the technical aspects of the filmmaking, the engrossing horror/adventure story, or the emotional core, and get quite a lot out of it, but if you leave with one takeaway, let it be this: Albert Birney is a filmmaker to watch.

Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 - Week 2

Doc’s Fantasia Fest Journal
Week 2: Features
The Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 3rd

Get tickets HERE 

By “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Fantasia International Film Festival is always an amazing opportunity to sample films from around the world that might otherwise not be exhibited so prominently. Though there are exceptions--for instance Ari Aster’s latest film had its Canadian premier here on July 16th, and genre legend Takashi Miike is involved in three films at this year’s fest--most of the films here don’t have a built-in audience and generally lack the marquee names of Hollywood productions, but what they lack in mainstream recognizability, they more than make up for with creativity and unique filmmaking choices.

Below, I’ve chosen four films to highlight that I hope you’ll keep an eye out for in the future.

Transcending Dimensions
Written and directed by Toshiaki Toyoda

A mysterious disappearance, a finger-chopping cult, a hired killer, and a conch shell that opens the path to higher planes of existence all collide under the stylish direction of Toshiaki Toyoda as the film Transcending Dimensions. In a story where nothing and no one is exactly what it seems, or at least not for the reasons you might think, you’re forced to be patient and allow it to reveal its secrets around you. Transcending Dimensions feels like a Kiyoshi Kurosawa mystery with a dash of David Lynch, aided by a legitimately fantastic soundtrack (no lie; this flick turned me on to the amazing band Sons of Kemet) and some truly dazzling visuals. I can’t say I fully understood all of it, but I loved going along for the ride.

Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey (Kakukaku Shikajika)
Written by Date-san, Akiko Higashimura
Directed by Kazuaki Seki

Akiko Higashimura’s autobiographical manga series comes to the big screen as an emotionally engaging bit of melodrama that’s as much about the struggles of the creative process and issues of self-worth as it is about the Gruff Mentor cliché. Mei Nagano anchors the piece with a light but magnetic performance as Akiko and plays incredibly well off of the, at times, comedically hard-nosed painting instructor Hidaka, played by Yô Ôizumi who you’re as likely to know from his voice work as his live-action appearances. Somehow, despite never really throwing any huge curves my way, I was fully engrossed in this simple, sweet, personal story. Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey is one of the more purely heartwarming things I’ve seen at Fantasia this year.

Stuntman
Written by Anastasia Tsang, Oliver Yip
Directed by Albert Leung, Herbert Leung

I quite liked this debut feature from the Leung Bros., while I acknowledge that it’s a little messy. In that way, the experience of watching Stuntman is a lot like watching the stunts of the era that it holds in such high esteem: maybe not quite perfect, or painless, but impactful and decidedly real-feeling. Stuntman follows a once-renowned director and stunt coordinator, “Heartless” Sam Lee (Wei Tung) as he takes one last job which calls into stark relief his lifetime of issues both on-set and in his personal life. It is at times unpleasant to watch, not for any graphic or triggering reasons but because you want to like Sam and watching him torpedo his good will in ways that feel almost deliberate is just heartbreaking, but ultimately a fitting love letter to the gonzo stunts of the 1980s and the performers who embodied the “Hong Kong spirit”. Imagine Sammo Hung making The Wrestler (2008, dir. Darren Aronofsky) about stunts and you’ll have a decent idea of the sense of humor and character pathos this flick delivers alongside the stuntwork.

Rewrite
Written by Makoto Ueda, based on the novel by Haruka Hôjô
Directed by Daigo Matsui

One of the films I caught during the 2023 Fantasia Fest was River, which introduced me to writer Makoto Ueda’s interest in the “tiny loop” concept--he collaborated with director Junta Yamaguchi on two films exploring the idea of small scale time loop adventures, the aforementioned River, and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020)--leading to Rewrite being very high on my Want To Watch list. Ueda, working this time with a new director and adapting someone else’s story, is still in the playground he seems to enjoy so much. One day in the school library, high schooler Miyuki (Elaiza Ikeda) discovers that new transfer student Yasuhiko (Kei Adachi) is actually from 300 years in the future! Over the next 20 days, as she shows him the sights of her era and finds out that he was drawn there after reading a young adult romance novel set at the time, they begin to fall awkwardly, tenderly in love and Miyuki vows to write the novel that he will one day find in the future: The Perfect Loop. But ten years later, on the day she expects a timey-wimey visit from her younger self, young Miyuki never shows. Now, with her high school reunion looming ever closer, Miyuki must figure out exactly what really happened in that halcyon summer all those years ago. Ueda’s familiarity with the tropes of time travel allows Rewrite to play in that space while focusing on telling an effective emotional story, one about personal growth, about being happy with what you have, and learning to accept the past.