2000s
Plot: 42 students, 3 days, 1 winner. Let the games begin. Even more than twenty years later Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) has lost none of its inherent power. It was, is, and remains a milestone, a worldwide phenomenon that Japan hasn’t been able to match nor surpass to this
1980s
Plot: feisty columnist challenges her editor-in-chief to a bet. Hilarity ensues! In the Edwige Fenech 80s comedy canon Sballato, gasato, completamente fuso (or High, Gassed, Completely Melted, released in the English-speaking world as simply An Ideal Adventure) is probably the least talked about. Directed by master satirist and genre specialist
2000s
Plot: in a post-apocalyptic wasteland two starlets seek a sacred stag reel. John Michael McCarthy is probably the closest America has come to having a Josh Collins. Collins was the master of ceremonies behind Pervirella (1997) (with Emily Booth) and Superstarlet AD is cut from a very similar cloth. Pervirella
1970s
Plot: estranged sibling returns to the old family seat, finds eccentric relatives. León Klimovsky’s La saga de los Drácula (The Dracula Saga internationally) has retroactively attained cinematic immortality not only because it was a direct competitor to Paul Naschy’s own Count Dracula’s Great Love (1973) but because
2000s
Plot: two news anchors unite to exonerate an innocent man… and find love. Not everything that the “King Of Bollywood” touched turned to gold instantly, or was a sure-fire hit for that matter. Case in point and with the benefit of twenty years of hindsight is Phir Bhi Dil Hai
1980s
Plot: vacationers face mercenaries, zombies, and cannibalistic monks. The eighties was the last great hurrah for classic Filipino exploitation. As the 90s dawned Hollywood reinforced its grip on the international market with big budget, special effects-driven event movies that no little independent could ever begin to compete with. The decline
2010s
Plot: hospital is haunted by apparitions and suspect slayings. Ghosts are deeply ingrained in Chinese culture and folklore. They were part of oral tradition before writing developed during the Shang Dynasty (1600 - 1046 BCE). From there out they came one of the earliest stories in ancient Chinese literature and
1970s
Plot: trauma transforms demure small-town girl into gun-toting angel of death. Karateci Kiz (Karate Girl in most of the English territories, Golden Girl in certain European markets, and Golden Karate Girl in most of Scandinavia) is a peculiar regional variant on an established (and often imitated) formula. At heart it’
2010s
Plot: PDEA officers fight to survive a night-time bust in the slums. It’s impossible to argue with nearly 40 years of cinematic tradition. BuyBust is Filipino through and through. Described on the regular as, “Die Hard in the slums” this adrenaline-pumping two-hour actionfest might very well be as incendiary
1990s
Plot: experimental treatment turns disgraced doctor into homicidal maniac. Intensive Care is the stuff of legend in the history of Dutch cinema, horror and otherwise. Conceived by the dynamic duo of director Dorna X. De Rouveroy - daughter of Robert Rouveroy, who did uncredited special effects work on David Cronenberg’
2000s
Plot: inflatable doll is given sentience and is in awe of the world around her. Air Doll (空気人形) is a Japanese fairytale with a pronounced South Korean magic realist bend. As an elegant mix of drama, romance, and comedy that blends the joie de vivre of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie
1970s
Plot: exchange student pulls prank on class playboy. Hilarity ensues! The careers of commedia sexy all'Italiana starlets Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati were irrevocably intertwined but didn’t exactly run parallel. Whereas la Guida made her ass a thing of national pride through a series of breezy comedies,