thriller

Neal Stephenson’s Thriller ‘Polostan’ Is a Wild Ride Through 1930s America

Neal Stephenson’s Thriller ‘Polostan’ Is a Wild Ride Through 1930s America

Neal Stephenson’s thrilling and slow-burn historical thriller Polostan presents the 1930s as a calamitous carnival ride building inexorably toward Hiroshima.

Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’

Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’

What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.

Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’

Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’

The Barcelona School made avant-garde films nobody could understand, such as the pop art 1960s mash-up, Fata Morgana. But it sure looks good.

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

In the vein of socially relevant topics at Venice Film Festival 2024, Queer, Joker: Folie a Deux, and 2073 got the island of Lido talking for different reasons.

Teen Horror Film ‘Cuckoo’ Is a Deliriously Fun Mess

Teen Horror Film ‘Cuckoo’ Is a Deliriously Fun Mess

For his teen horror film Cuckoo, director Tilman Singer tries to tame his wild and creative imagination into something more commercially friendly, with mixed results.

Thriller ‘The White Rabbit’  Ensnares Viewers in Hitchcockian Fashion

Thriller ‘The White Rabbit’ Ensnares Viewers in Hitchcockian Fashion

Thriller short film The White Rabbit ensnares viewers with a joke, a nightmare, and an illusion in a sly interplay that evokes Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies

Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies

Sci-fi movies Unknown Terror, The Colossus of New York and Destination Inner Space inject monsters into personal melodrama for masculine redemption.

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

The family is the source of neurosis, and any hint of an allegedly happy ending in these three film-noirs must happen over someone’s dead body.

Department Q Film ‘Boundless’ Unravels

Department Q Film ‘Boundless’ Unravels

Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q crime thriller The Hanging Girl unravels in its 2024 film adaptation by Ole Christian Madsen, Boundless.

Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’

Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’

For compelling and worrisome reasons, crime sells in our TV entertainment. The Responder, Shardlake, and Eric feed our brutal compulsion in varying ways.

Nordic Noir in Transition: Jussi Adler-Olsen’s ‘Department Q’ Books on Film

Nordic Noir in Transition: Jussi Adler-Olsen’s ‘Department Q’ Books on Film

Jussi Adler-Olsen, author of the Nordic noir Department Q series, isn’t thrilled with the transition of his work to film. Five directors of six films argue that’s a crime.

21 Beacon Street’s Impossible Missions

21 Beacon Street’s Impossible Missions

In 13 episodes, lost TV wonder 21 Beacon Street is an uncanny and legally actionable precursor to the Mission Impossible franchise.