Kent Conrad

Cult movies aren’t the same as good movies. Good movies generally have decent production values, interesting stories and scripts, nuanced performances, and resonant themes. Cult movies can have any or all of the above, but can often dispense with most or even all of the markers of quality to create their cult moments. That weird…

Based on a Clifford Odets stageplay, this story of 50s Hollywood corruption is melodramatic candy for classic cinema fans.

Takeshi Kitano’s first international success is unique, enigmatic and frequently beautiful.

Zhang Yang’s Tibetan Buddhist western is long on beautiful landscapes, short on clear narrative.

Okkervil River’s songwriter expands a song into an intriguing short film about nostalgia.

Returning to his Yakuza series a whole six months after the last, Fukasaku covers similar ground, but finds new angles.

Japanese director Kore-Eda continues career-long streak of touching, humorous and very human dramas.

A personal perspective on war is shown in this anime about a daydreaming house-wife’s life in Japan in WWII.

A rare movie about fencing and Soviet oppression, The Fencer infuses the sports movie formula with real-world stakes.

Gloria Swanson stars as a singing star who just wants her man in this silent comedy melodrama.

Entertaining cop movie despite a wildly fluctuating tone, a departure from director Fukasaku’s harder-edged Yakuza material.

Another cult film where you had to be there, The Unholy’s Blu-ray extras show what went wrong.

Fun, fast paced, and unexpectedly grisly for a late ’50s movie, cult favorite Caltiki gets a lavish Blu-ray treatment.

The very ’80s horror/fantasy movie series gets a lavish box-set Blu-ray release.

A vintage Yakuza story by Fukasaku in his prime about the corrupt links between cops and gangs.

Cheerfully sleazy exploitation movie about a singing brain parasite is charmingly repellent.

One of the great filmmakers of the 20th century fills his domestic comedy with wistfulness, charm…and fart jokes.

Thematic trilogy from a Japanese master, these three films are designed to be as beautiful, and baffling, as possible.

Yakuza blow up the world, and that’s just first film of this loose trilogy starring Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi.

Informative, engaging overview of the actor’s life and work, both with Akira Kurosawa and beyond.

This story of the enormously successful Japanese metal band is steeped in both triumph and (near constant) tragedy.

Visconti’s biography of Ludwig II has access to amazing locations, some good acting, and no momentum.

The top Japanese box-office draw of 2016, Your Name is a modern anime of uncommon quality, both visually and in storytelling.

Finally, a new, readily available collection of one of the best comic strips ever.

Bikers come back from the dead, and it’s pretty groovy in this early 70s cult obsession.

Chan-wook Park’s sumptuous period piece is masterfully mounted, compelling, erotic, but is more compelling than involving.

In these three films about criminal outsiders, Takashi Miike tones down his frenetic style demonstrating a commitment to craft.

The 2016 sequel to the ’99 shock hit tries to update the original’s formula, but to much diminished effect.

The engaging and detailed story about the business strategies surrounding Pixar’s IPO.

C.H.U.D. strands a fun premise and surprisingly great cast in a meandering story with few thrills.

With 14 movies and hour of extras, this set is all a fan could want (and more than most need.)

Original Ringu director’s best follow-up to his international hit, Dark Water is overwhelmingly atmospheric and surprisingly poignant.

Hiroshi Teshigahara’s enigmatic, hypnotic tale of a man trapped is equal parts Twilight Zone and Kafka, and completely absorbing.

Meiko Kaji and her incredible cheekbones star in four Japanese women’s prison movies with varying levels of insanity.

Karyn Kusama’s creepy little thriller finds it scares in strained manners and social tension rather than loud noises.

The prescient network TV action thriller comes to a satisfying, emotional conclusion.

This feature-length doc on the special effects master reveals the artistry behind his creature features.

Mario Bava’s seminal Giallo film couples a gleeful disregard for good taste with incredibly artful imagery.

A second volume of movies from Nikkatsu’s ’60s heyday branches out from just crime movies, with occasionally baffling results.

Hsiao Hsien Hou won Best Director at Cannes for this gorgeous, but largely plotless and completely unsatisfying historical drama.

Nico Mastorakis’ cult horror-action movie does nothing with an interesting premise, gets great Blu-ray release anyway.

Whit Stillman’s winning romantic comedy about politics set in late Cold War Spain.

Six Yakuza movies from the ’60s, replete with knife fights, anguish, and women falling in love with the wrong gangster.

The third in the remake/reboot movies series, Evangelion 3.33 takes the story in completely new directions.

This collection of documentaries includes a sobering look at PTSD that was suppressed for 30 years after it was made.

An authorized look at the first two terrific seasons of TV’s handsomest (and most horrific) show.

Three action/crime films from Nikkatsu studios that showcase their popular leading me of the late 50s.

A creepy song on the end credits of a creepy movie created a lifetime fan.