SPUTNIK  (in space, no one can hear you read) 

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I’m pleased to welcome back Mark Spangler for another one of his insightful reviews…

In the days of yore, we quaked to Quasimodo, dreaded Dracula, and feared the Frankenstein monster.  The wolfman had us howling while the mummy had us screaming for mommy.  Soon came atomic monsters, horrors from Hammer, and later still, demon-possessed little girls, slashers, freaks, cannibals, and zombie hordes. There was and still is much to be afraid of when we venture out into the darkened theaters we love so well. The most terrifying element in the history of the horror film, however – or any genre for that matter –  is the dreaded “s”’ word.  Yes, we’re referring to the unmentionable, the taboo, the hideous…  subtitles.

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The Ninth Gate – Film Review by Mark Spangler!

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I’m pleased to welcome back Mark Spangler who graciously submitted this spectacular retro-review of a film I haven’t seen since it hit theaters twenty years ago. It’s been a few years since his last piece on Once Upon a Time in the West and, if you read that brilliant bit of writing, you know why I was delighted when he reached out again!

At first glance, the raps on Roman Polanski’s 1999 devil-worshipping opus The Ninth Gate ring true… slow pacing, shopworn material, and most importantly, uninspired acting paired with an unsatisfying ending.  This reviewer, at first glance, had to agree, but a chance encounter with a two-dollar DVD at a second-hand store provided an opportunity to replay the movie and allowed for some second thoughts on this Johnny Depp oddity.  This film, upon further review, it would seem, has aged well and is a worthy successor to the embattled director’s 1968, near-classic Rosemary’s Baby.

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