Category Archives: Video

Saturday Matinee: Soldier/Demon With a Glass Hand

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“Soldier” and “Demon With a Glass Hand” (both 1964) are two classic Outer Limits episodes with screenplays by science fiction author Harlan Ellison. Both take place in the shared universe of the Earth-Kyba War, a backdrop Ellison also used for a series of stories compiled in the graphic novel anthology “Night and the Enemy” as well as the short story “The Human Operators” which became an episode of the New Outer Limits. Soldier is notable for being the screenplay for which Ellison filed a lawsuit against producers of The Terminator for plagiarism. Demon With a Glass Hand features an excellent performance from Robert Culp as a man who carries the burden of being the last chance for humanity’s survival. Most of the episode’s action takes place in the Bradbury Building (most famous for the final scenes in Blade Runner) which adds to its creepy atmosphere.

Saturday Matinee: The Twilight Samurai

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“The Twilight Samurai” (aka Tasogare Seibei たそがれ清兵衛, 2002), is a realist Samurai drama co-written and directed by Yoji Yamada set in mid-19th century Japan. It stars Hiroyuki Sanada as Seibei, a low-ranking samurai widower struggling to support his daughters and dementia-afflicted mother, who is forced by his clan’s leaders to kill a skilled rogue samurai. The film was inspired by the short story “The Bamboo Sword” by Shuhei Fujisawa and was groundbreaking for its approach to the genre; a samurai equivalent to a revisionist western.

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: An Open Secret

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“An Open Secret” (2014) is a documentary film about Hollywood child sexual abuse directed by Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil). The film features interviews with victimized performers, who were targeted when they were young boys (including Corey Feldman and Todd Bridges), as well as industry figures, the predators themselves, and journalists. The documentary originally had a very limited theatrical run and has never had a home video release causing widespread suspicion that there was a campaign to bury the film. Regardless, according to Wikipedia a pirated version was viewed at least 900,000 times. Due to the exposure of Harvey Weinstein and other Hollywood sexual predators, on October 12 2017 the film was made available for free for nine days on Vimeo. Because it went viral, with over 3 million viewings on various social media platforms in two weeks, the free viewing period has been extended until early November.

Watch the full film for free for a limited time here: https://vimeo.com/142444429

Saturday Matinee: The People Under the Stairs

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“The People Under the Stairs” (1991) is one of most overt and subversive social critiques in horror film format from the late great Wes Craven. The film’s plot, which also serves as a parable for America’s racial/class divide, focuses on Poindexter “Fool” Williams (Brandon Adams), whose family faces eviction by their landlords the Robesons (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie (who also played a quirky but far less menacing couple in Twin Peaks). Due to his desperate circumstances, Fool gets involved in a plot by his uncle Leroy and an associate to break into the Robesons’ house. The plan quickly spirals out of control and Fool escapes by hiding in the house with the help of children who were horrifically punished for breaking the Robesons’ “see/hear/speak no evil” rules.  Against the odds, Fool must escape to save his family and free the prisoners of the household.

Watch the full film here. (Streaming speed may be slowed by pop-up ads.)