Drama

Director: Norberto López Amado
Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría based on a novel by Javier García Sánchez
Release year: 2002
English title: They Are Watching Us

A descent into madness: Spanish Gothic Style

Spain’s horror film industry had a huge comeback in the 90′s with directors such as Álex de la Iglesia, Jaume Balagueró and specially, Alejandro Amenábar; a new generation of young directors demonstrating that there was a lot more going on in Spain’s cinema besides Pedro Almodóvar‘s already famous melodramas. The nightmarish nights and the urban decay of Spain’s big cities, the grim and ghostly memories of the country’s troubled past and in particular, that characteristic black humor that Spaniards domain very well. These have become the main ingredients of that tasty mix producing the dark fantasies of Spain’s new horror films.

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Director: Quentin Dupieux
Writer: Quentin Dupieux
Release year: 2010

One tire, two reviews.

Rubber is a roadmovie about the most lonesome killer imaginable. He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t walk. He doesn’t listen. He just lurks, stalks and… blows things up.  His name is Robert, and he was the star of this year’s opening movie for Offscreen Film Festival 2011. Not one, but two of us attended the screening. Hence, another dual-review.

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Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Writers: Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sergio Citti
Release Year: 1976
Italian title: Salò O Le 120 Giornate Di Sodoma

A manifesto for perversion and evil

As Allied forces began their final push to control Italy, a group of Fascist leaders in Salo, Northern Italy, (the last bastion of Nazism left in Italy) who knowing their time is limited, decide to bow out with a bang. Their plan is to kidnap local boys and girls, the sons and daughters of so called Communists in the community in order to subject them to the utmost degradation while at the same time satiating their own evil vices.

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Director: Norifumi Suzuki
Writer: Jiku Yamatoya, based on a manga by Masaaki Sato
Release year: 1979
Japanese title: Dabide no hoshi: Bishôjo-gari

Human depravation… Sex… Torture… Death.
Or, how to be mislead by Japanese 70′s exploitation cinema.

Tatsuya is a handsome but lonely man who inherits his family’s fortune. This includes his late parents’ luxurious mansion on an isolated and serene location.  Tatsuya likes beautiful young women. He also likes inviting them to his mansion. But sadly, they don’t really like what all he does to them.

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Director: Uwe Boll
Writer: none, inspired by true events
Release year: 2009

Much ado about Toothpaste…

Four petty criminals share a minuscule cell and spend most of their days playing poker and exchanging tall stories. One day, a game of poker runs out of hand and the weakest player of the foursome loses a bet…

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