Had Dark Purpose been an hour long episode of a TV show, he would have delivered. But forced to come up with, roughly, three half-hour acts, the movie isn’t dynamic enough to make us forget nothing much is going on.
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The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
Part of the fun of watching gialli is getting lost in the needlessly convoluted twists, becoming so disoriented that one simply has to throw up one’s hands and surrender to the lurid displays of sex, violence, and style.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a bit like Roman Holiday if Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn got caught up in a murder mystery. It isn’t grim, and it does have a certain spirit to it, but it also dabbles in tense Gothic atmosphere.
Wahan Ke Log
It’s a cause for celebration when a B movie delivers as spectacularly as Wahan Ke Log does, especially given that its genre elements also have to make room for the singing, dancing and romancing.
The Maze
The Maze depends on atmosphere. Very little happens. Small tidbits are thrown the viewer’s way — a glimpse of a glistening creature, a webbed footprint, the foreboding stares of the butlers.
The Bastard Swordsman Saga
Near the end of its lifespan, Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio decided that no film was too weird, resulting in a late-in-the-game deluge of utterly bizarre martial arts fantasy films.
Do Ankhen Barah Haath
V. Shantaram was an artist of conscience who dedicated himself to using the filmic arts as a means to further social causes. At the time Do Ankhen Barah Haath, Shantaram was a good few years beyond his most acclaimed works.
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Hatchet for the Honeymoon is not the kind of film to watch for ingenious murders. It is the kind of film to watch for paranormal and sartorial phenomena, discotheques, and horrifying old toys.
The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion
Forbidden Photos is not an exceptionally plotted giallo. Nonetheless, it has a structure sturdy enough upon which to hang a lot of crazy mid-century design
Island of Death
Island of Death still has the power to shock and entertain in a hilariously debased, grubby way. Twists are heaped upon perversions until the whole thing threatens to collapse into one giddily irredeemable pile of filth.
Kung Fu Zombie
Kung Fu Zombie, , one of the films that inspired the creation of Teleport City, pits Billy Chong against an indestructible living dead martial artist with flaming hands and feet.
Sex and Naps
On the surface, The Wicker Man is the story of one police constable’s attempt to scrooge up a town’s May Day revelries. Delving deeper into its waters, however, is aided by a few key texts that informed the film.
