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Yabu no naka no kuroneko, a review by Danae Cassandra

Yabu no naka no kuroneko  (Kuroneko)

Year of Release:  1968
Directed By:  Kaneto Shindo
Starring:  Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Sato 
Rated:  Not Rated

Overview:
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn feudal Japan, malevolent spirits are ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is dispatched to confront the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the similarly terrifying Onibaba, Kuroneko (a.k.a. Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale, with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.

My Thoughts:
What a magnificent film!  The cinematography is so perfect, so gorgeous, the unconventional use of lighting, the play of darkness and shadow in the film, the eerie fog that heralds entering the supernatural realm.  The look of the film and its atmosphere are so wonderfully done, the use of black and white so appropriate that I can't imagine what this would look like in color.  The actors are all great as well.  Poetic, tragic, symbolic, chilling, I would highly recommend this for any fan of classic or Japanese horror.  Avoid only if you can't watch a subtitled film (in which case, I feel sorry for you).  Any other horror film I watch this month has a high bar set by Kuroneko.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall:  4.75/5

(From Danae's 2012 Horror on October 8th, 2012)

Haunted Gold, a review by Rogmeister

Haunted Gold (1932)  58m
Directed by Mack V. Wright
Cast: John Wayne, Sheila Terry, Harry Woods, Erville Alderson, Slim Whitaker, Blue Washington

One of 6 "B" westerns that Wayne shot for Warner Brothers in the early 30's, this has two Dukes in it...Duke Wayne himself and his white stallioin, Duke.  This is a sort of mix between a western and a scary mystery haunted house kind of movie.  John Wayne plays a young rancher who comes to a mostly deserted town with his black friend Clarence after receiving a mysterious letter...a young girl has also come after receiving a letter.  It turns out an outlaw gang is after the gold in a mostly abandoned gold mine, of which the girl's father was wrongly cheated out of his half.  There is some nice eerie atmosphere here along with the usual high-energy heroics.  Unfortunately, this wouldn't play well today due to the black  man's super-scared caricature performance which was so prevalent back in those days...the "lawdy feet, do yore thing" kind of performance.  But if you remember it was a product of the time, you can still watch this film and enjoy it.  

The DVD offers a  nice print of this movie.  There are no extras but the DVD does feature no less than three "B" westerns starring John Wayne.  Besides Haunted Gold, you also get Ride 'Em, Cowboy and The Big Stampede.

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 29th, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Kolchak: The Night Stalker


The Ripper
A serial killer who is terrorizing women continually avoids capture, and Kolchak comes to believe that the murderer is none other than the original Jack the Ripper.

My Thoughts:
When I popped on this pilot episode the first thing I did was check the running time. This is a good example of how much commercials take up today compared to the '70s when this show aired. This episode runs for almost 52 min. Today's series runs for about 42 min. That is a good 10min. extra of story they got back then!

This is an old series that I blind bought because I thought it sounded good. I bought it four years ago... and yet to watch it all. I have purposely took my time on this show since only 20 episodes exist. It is a series I found I enjoy quite a bit. And this is a good pilot episode. But it is not a favorite episode. It is a little on the slow side. But it does have a fairly interesting story.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on February 24th, 2010)