Psiconautas, los Niños Olvidados (lit. Psychonauts, the Forgotten Children) [Birdboy: The Forgotten children] (2016)

I have no idea what drew me to this one: it looked a lot like a kind of art that I might try to avoid: the “cute+dark” that is often an internet darling, but rather obnoxious to me. I was wary, but I think there were some reviews that suggested otherwise—plus, it seems to be […]

Tesis [Thesis] (1996)

I remember renting this film, presumably from the now sadly closed Fat Cats back in Boone, NC in college. The film made an impression (enough that, nearly 20 years later, parts felt familiar from that lone viewing), in part for itself, and in another, smaller part for the way it looked: somewhat soft, rather like […]

La danza de la realidad [The Dance of Reality] (2013)

I started on Jodorowsky at the suggestion of a friend. Curiously, said friend suggested Santa Sangre. Why is that curious? Well, I finally picked up a copy–but I still haven’t watched it. I have, however, watched La Cravate, Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain (twice, one of them being in a theater). Here I […]

La Ciénaga [The Swamp] (2001)

It’s a cause I’ve poked at many times, including the last time I reviewed a movie: if I find a low-priced Criterion, I buy it. It’s not complicated–the effort and funds needed for a distribution company like that to take interest in a niche, “premium-priced” title (thus guaranteeing comparatively low returns, other than from whoever […]

Los Cronocrímenes [Timecrimes] (2007)

I vaguely recall hearing this name associated with director Ignacio “Nacho” Vigalondo, but considering how confused I was about what movies he was known for, I’m not even sure what that all amounts to, other than possibly an invented memory. Vigalondo was most recently responsible for Colossal, which I did like, but I don’t know that […]

El Espinazo del Diablo [The Devil’s Backbone] (2001)

“¿Qué es un fantasma?” This question opens Guillermo del Toro’s first foray into melding the Spanish Civil War with supernatural elements, later continued with El Laberinto del Fauno. Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is an orphaned old boy near the end of the Civil War, taken by his “tutor” to an orphanage in a desert portion of […]

La Flor de Mi Secreto [The Flower of My Secret] (1995)

If one reads my reviews from the livejournal name I post them under, one finds that I was pointed toward Pedro Almodóvar when reviewing, of all things, La Noche del Terror Ciego, a cult, low-budget Spanish horror film. I’d also run across the box set I purchased this in on occasion at work, but shrugged […]

La noche de las gaviotas [The Night of the Seagulls] (1975)

Aha! A literal translation of title for the final film in what is widely called Amando de Ossorio's "Blind Dead series." Often it is also called the best of the series, or at least the best of the sequels. Well, let's not beat around the bush: I'm inclined to agree. We have some stumbling blocks […]

El Buque Maldito (lit. “The Damned Ship”) [The Ghost Galleon] (1974)

For some reason, I watched ths dubbed, under the impression that the Spanish language track was not present on the DVD because this was the first of the films that did not have two different cuts in the box set. Oops. It's not awful, but it's still universal dubbing (ie, not Italian style–they were all […]

El Ataque de los Muertos sin Ojos (lit. “The Attack of the Dead Without Eyes”) [Return of the Evil Dead] (1973)

Yeah, more totally made up "translations." We're really watching "The Attack of the Dead without Eyes" but I guess that IS kinda clumsy it doesn't really matter. Though, I must say the English title is bizarre. Where were the original "Evil Dead"? There was no incarnation of Amando de Ossorio's first film with a title […]