Kent Conrad

Welcome to giallo, Italian murder mysteries with stylish direction, quirky detectives, brutal violence, and copious nudity.

Hitchcock’s screwball comedy about a married couple who find they weren’t married starts promisingly but never gets off the ground.

A satirical Western that has some good performances, but could stand to be either more sincere, or funnier.

Nathan Heller, fictional detective solving real life crimes, is on the hunt for the missing half of a ransom payment.

An enormously expensive modern musical, the movie that financially destroyed American Zoetrope is beautifully made and rather ill-conceived.

A tight, intricate concert that highlights Gabriel’s past achievements, with a complete performance of the best-selling “So” album.

Shrouded in tragedy, this adaptation of a comic book about revenge from beyond the grave gets a great 4K release.

A spare, dark novel about a Chicago cabbie who works at night, and accidentally gets involved with two separate murders.

Bert I. Gordon’s noirish ghost story gets a lavish special edition Blu-ray, including footage restoration and the film’s own MST3K episode.

A tight, taut war film with some dynamite performances that explores the frustrations and rewards of being a man in command.

Collecting the last 10 issues of Venus, a comic that starts out science fiction romance and becomes gruesome horror.

Two disillusioned revolutionaries are accidentally thrust into a new political fight, when all they want is to rob a bank.

Lush production of the stage play, it’s beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted, and filled with characters impossible to like.

The Ring (2002) might be one of the most influential horror movies of the new century. Based on the Japanese Ringu, the tone, atmosphere, and techniques were widely copied for movies for most of the decade. There’s a low body count, and an emphasis on creeping terror and mystery that we can see throughout the…

Guy Maddin’s second feature about a love triangle at the end of WWI is as dream-like and bizarre as his first.

Two films featuring a trio of Hong Kong’s actress elite that are long on spectacle and weirdness, short on sense-making.

Billy Wilder’s adaptation of an Agatha Christie play boasts great performances, taut pacing, and smart humor throughout.

An ambitious story stomped on by a studio makes this interesting thriller less than it could have been.

Perplexing drama about a prospector who strikes it rich, but eventually implodes his family with greed and rage.

This adaptation of a stage play is a dark satire about Japanese life in the early ’60s.

Containing the complete saga of Farscape, this release is a wild ride for newcomers and old fans alike.

A quirky crime thriller made in Tarantino’s wake, this decent film doesn’t quite have the chops to match up.

A dark, violent Western that pits two angry men against each other, with grit and plenty of gun fights.

Fantagraphics are releasing hardcover reprints of Atlas Comics, a precursor to Marvel, starting with horror book Adventures into Terror.

A belated follow-up to Mask of Zorro misses the mark on several levels, including humor, thrills, and the lead’s chemistry.

Aliens mercilessly hunt down local yokels in this micro-budgeted homage to sci-fi and old Westerns.

This prequel to the Silence of the Lambs is engaging and ridiculously well cast, though nowhere nearly as impactful.

An unusually successful modern horror thriller set in the ‘70s has scares, creepiness, and a surprising number of human touches.

A surprisingly fun follow-up that runs with the original’s premise in unique new directions, including an ass-kicking nun.

A beautiful 4K release of a movie tailor-made for Halloween parties, not so great for just watching.

Batman’s first animated feature film brings all the best of the animated series to the silver screen.

Erich von Stroheim directs and stars in a film with elaborate sets, some enormous action pieces, and little narrative drive.

A new 4K release of Lucio Fulci’s incomprehensible but atmospheric and gory supernatural zombie thriller.

John Hughes’ wistful and hilarious celebration of youth and ’80s Chicago comes to 4K.

The follow-up to Hellraiser had a bumpy time getting to cinemas, and its theatrical release is given the 4K treatment.

This deliberately paced anthology has the master reflecting on the nature of man and his world, with constant beautiful imagery.

Another in Fantagraphics’ continuing reprint series of comic stories based on the Disney Afternoon lineup.

An addition to Scrooge McDuck’s early lore, this story, translated from French, is a brief, powerful coming of age tale.

Part of Fantagraphics Disney Master’s series, this collection highlights some of artist Giorgio Cavazzano’s best duck comics.

The wild notion of a life under constant public scrutiny has become even more relevant 25 years after its release.

Often as beautifully shot as it is bafflingly plotted, this Western monster movie is an odd artifact of its time.

Terry Gilliam’s classic story of a childhood interrupted by adventure shines in this new 4K transfer.

Guy Maddin’s bizarre story about friendship ruined has a rare commodity in an art film… a sense of humor.

Will Holden and Grace Kelly stand out in this film about aviators in the Korean war.

A tribute to ’60s American monster comics, Doris Danger is a loving tribute for an extremely specific niche audience.

Real life former yakuza Noboru Ando plays a retired gangster who wants to escape a life that won’t leave him alone.

Hideo Gosha’s sword for hire stories depict an unkempt but decent ronin in a hellscape of dishonor and violence.

The movie that supposedly got Seijun Suzuki fired deserves its reputation as a wildly experimental, bizarre, and entertaining gangster movie.

Near immortal Superman deals with an all-too-human problem in this choppy adaptation of a great limited comic series.

Credited to Alan Smithee in theaters, Dennis Hopper’s re-edited Backtrack feels ahead of its time, and completely out of step.