Tag Archives: MVD Visual

Movies Till Dawn: Beyond Belief

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Paul Gaita

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974, Dark Sky Films) Tobe Hooper’s landmark horror film has been imitated, duplicated, and sequelized multiple times, all of which (even Hooper’s own 1986 revisit) haven’t come close to the anarchic, nightmarish terror of the … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: Cinematic Journeys

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Paul Gaita

“5-25-77” (2022, MVD Visual) Bittersweet, if overly long tribute to the pros and cons of the creative in the form of a nostalgic valentine to backyard moviemaking and teenage nerd-dom. Writer/director Patrick Read Johnson – a former special effects creator … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: The Saturday Morning Strange Goes Straight to Hell

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“Surf Nazis Must Die” (1987, Troma Films) A future California falls into lawlessness following a cataclysmic earthquake, and from the rubble rises a new Nazi regime (which includes LA Beat alumnus Michael Sonye) which aims to rule the beaches (and … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: Mid-July Global Mayhem

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Paul Gaita

“The Daimajin Trilogy” (1966, Arrow Video) Enjoyable blend of Japanese giant monster movie and historical action/drama, all issued in the same year by Daiei (the home of Gamera) and hinged on a similar plot: a massive statue of a warrior … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: More Biographies, Real and Imagined

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Paul Gaita

“Jazz on a Summer’s Day” (1959, Kino Lorber) I wrote about this exceptional concert film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival when Kino Lorber Repertory reissued it virtually to theaters in 2020 (which only feels like a million years ago); … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: More Biographies, Real and Imagined (Cartoons and Music Edition)

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Paul Gaita

“Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story” (2020, Kino Lorber) Detailed discussion and ultimately, deflation of the wildly popular animated television series “The Ren and Stimpy Show” and its once-vaunted, now-scandal-tainted creator, John Kricfalusi. His bizarro vision – … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: The World is a Monster (Halloween 2020 – The Final Chapter)

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Paul Gaita

“She Should’a Said No!”/”The Devil’s Sleep” (1949, Kino Lorber/Something Weird Video) The horrors of marijuana and diet pill addiction, as revealed by America’s fearless exploitation showmen. The top of the bill stars Lila Leeds, a minor actress who rose to … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: Siren Calls

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Paul Gaita

“The Letter” (1940, Warner Archives Collection) That Bette Davis, the wife of a rubber plantation owner in British Malaya, was justified in shooting the man who attempted to assault her, is accepted without question by the area’s white/wealthy community, and … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: Revenge of (Mostly) New Movies

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Paul Gaita

“Tyrel” (2018, Magnolia Home Entertainment) Tyler (Jason Mitchell, “Straight Outta Compton”) is the only African-American guest invited to a birthday celebration that grows more chaotic as the weekend wears on. Comparisons to “Get Out” are obvious, but don’t quite fit … Continue reading →

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Movies Till Dawn: New Year (Mostly) New Movies Part 3

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Paul Gaita

“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” (2018, Sony Home Entertainment) Hard-boiled hacker Lisbeth Salander – here played by “The Crown’s” Claire Foy – is tasked with destroying software that can access to the world’s nuclear arsenal; when the sinister Spider … Continue reading →

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