A Law Unto Themselves

An intriguing reworking of Daniel Defoe’s classic 1719 novel “Robinson Crusoe”, director Byron Haskin, who in 1953 brought aliens from Mars to Earth with the epic The War of the Worlds, this time flips the script and takes us to the red planet with the sci-fi cult classic Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). Though falling comfortably within the sci-fi genre, Paramount’s promotional team clearly reveled in the movie’s attempted accuracy – the trailer and advertising posters reading: “This film is scientifically authentic. It is only one step ahead of present reality”. And, in many ways, it was impressively accurate for what was known at that moment. Released at the perfect time in history, 1964 was just one year prior to the first spacecraft fly by of Mars... before that, all that we knew was by way of observation through telescope.

Set at a luxurious Italian seaside hotel during the much less touristy off season, the location is the stuff a vacation dream is made of... unless you’re in a giallo plot, then things might take a nosedive right off that very cliff-side. This is the setting of the sexy giallo The Sister of Ursula (1978), written and directed by Enzo Milioni. Following a pair of sisters, Dagmar (Stefania D’Amario) and Ursula (Barbara Magnolfi), they are on a mission – as the rather horrid death of their father has led them to search for their runaway mother... who left them when they were very young – after she made it famous as an actress. This search has brought them to the aforementioned resort

A late entry into the realm of the giallo, 1986's The Killer is Still Among Us, directed by then first time film maker Camillo Teti, comes across as rather meta and self-aware... after all, how often do you see a couple go to a giallo in a giallo? Based off of the true story of a serial killer known as “the Monster of Florence”, poor young couples, looking for love in all the wrong places (and by that, I mean in secluded, wooded areas), are being picked off by an unknown assailant... sometimes using a gun, at others, a knife.

After two years of cancellations, hardship and frustration, CAPE made its triumphant return this past weekend (April 23-24, 2022). The Cornwall and Area Pop Event, which has become a yearly staple in the city since its inaugural one day event back in 2015, was a rousing success. . . its two day attendance estimated somewhere north of 4000 people. One of the first large events hosted in Cornwall following the conclusion of the mask mandates, it brought some much needed normalcy to the city and its people... an expo filled with passion, hope, and comradery. For the first time in a very long while, most patrons’ smiling visages could be seen, children ecstatic, while the young at heart seemed equally as buoyed thanks to the enlivening event.

A most fitting tribute to the early days of the slasher film, writer/director Ti West’s X (2022), subtly pulls from Black Christmas, Halloween, while tossing in more liberal doses from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to bring the sub-genre back from the shadowy fringes of death and into mainstream theatres (though you could argue that this one is better suited for a classic drive-in screening). Opening with a really clever shot that pays homage to the traditional boxy 4:3 aspect ratio of years past, it actually isn’t... just some visual trickery to place us in Texas, circa 1979. Rather bluntly teasing a bloody conclusion, we then flash back twenty-four hours to our sex-crazed protagonists.

Kenneth Branagh’s most personal film to date, 2021's Belfast, which he writes, directs and produces, is heavily inspired by his own childhood experiences growing up in Northern Ireland – a tumultuous time to say the least. With newcomer Jude Hill playing his childhood stand-in (referred to as Buddy throughout), he is just what you’d expect – a creative dreamer more than willing to battle large dragons and the like, this wide-eyed ragamuffin absorbs every last experience. . . but is most entranced when watching movies on television or in red velvet seat-filled theatres.