Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Evil Dead Posters from Bottleneck Gallery
Bottleneck Gallery will release two Evil Dead posters today, March 29, at 9am Pst/12pm Est. Set an alarm if you’re hoping to snag one, because they’re going to move faster than a Deadite.
Adam “Readful Things” Perocchi’s The Evil Dead artwork is inspired by the classic RoboCop poster. 24×36 giclee prints, limited to 125, will cost $60. Evil Dead 2 by Jack Gregory is a 24×36 screen print, limited to 75, for $70.
Bad Lieutenant 4K Uhd from Kino Lorber
Bad Lieutenant shoots onto 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on May 21 via Kino Lorber. The 1992 neo-noir crime film has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/Hdr.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Evil Dead Posters from Bottleneck Gallery
Bottleneck Gallery will release two Evil Dead posters today, March 29, at 9am Pst/12pm Est. Set an alarm if you’re hoping to snag one, because they’re going to move faster than a Deadite.
Adam “Readful Things” Perocchi’s The Evil Dead artwork is inspired by the classic RoboCop poster. 24×36 giclee prints, limited to 125, will cost $60. Evil Dead 2 by Jack Gregory is a 24×36 screen print, limited to 75, for $70.
Bad Lieutenant 4K Uhd from Kino Lorber
Bad Lieutenant shoots onto 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on May 21 via Kino Lorber. The 1992 neo-noir crime film has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/Hdr.
- 3/29/2024
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Ken Kelsch, the hard-charging cinematographer and Vietnam War veteran who shot the down-and-dirty classic Bad Lieutenant and 11 other features for iconoclastic director Abel Ferrara, has died. He was 76.
Kelsch died Monday at Hackettstown Medical Center in New Jersey after a battle with Covid and pneumonia, his son, Chris Kelsch, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“If you knew him, you probably have a story about him,” Chris wrote on Facebook. “He really was a great man, loved by many. A war hero who filled every room with his presence. An artist who never stopped being himself. A caring father who would do anything for his kids and grandkids. Shared his experience, wisdom and love with all. Our family will deeply miss him and always love him, as I’m sure many of you will as well.”
Kelsch also was the director of photography on Big Night (1996), co-directed, co-written and starring Stanley Tucci,...
Kelsch died Monday at Hackettstown Medical Center in New Jersey after a battle with Covid and pneumonia, his son, Chris Kelsch, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“If you knew him, you probably have a story about him,” Chris wrote on Facebook. “He really was a great man, loved by many. A war hero who filled every room with his presence. An artist who never stopped being himself. A caring father who would do anything for his kids and grandkids. Shared his experience, wisdom and love with all. Our family will deeply miss him and always love him, as I’m sure many of you will as well.”
Kelsch also was the director of photography on Big Night (1996), co-directed, co-written and starring Stanley Tucci,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Charles Grodin in Beethoven's 2nd (1993)Beloved actor Charles Grodin, known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, as well as the Beethoven films and The Great Muppet Caper, has died. Paul Schrader's The Card Counter has been slated for a release by Focus Features on September 10, after an extended delay during the early months of the pandemic. Written and directed by Schrader, the film follows a gambler who assists a young man in his revenge against a military colonel. Robert Eggers has also managed to complete his Viking epic The Northman after a long pause in 2020 due to the pandemic. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, and Björk, the film will be released on April 8, 2022. Meanwhile, Wes Anderson, whose film The French Dispatch will be premiering at Cannes this July,...
- 5/19/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended VIEWINGThe official trailer for Peter Strickland's In Fabric, which stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman who purchases a haunted dress from a sinister boutique. The long awaited trailer to Hideo Kojima's new boundary-pushing video game Death Stranding, which by way of motion capture stars the likes of Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Guillermo del Toro.Alien: The Play, a North Bergen High School production that features handmade costumes made of recycled materials, is now available online in its entirety. In the latest edition of the Museum of Modern Art's "How To See" series, curator Dave Kehr discusses how the nitrate prints and negatives of cinema's early days inspired audiences by expanding their perception of the world. Miranda July directs the music video for Sleater-Kinney's "Hurry On Home,...
- 5/29/2019
- MUBI
Born in Brooklyn, Ken Kelsch enlisted to fight in Vietnam when he was still a teenager. He became a decorated officer in the Army Special Forces, and with over four decades as a cinematographer, has amassed more than 50 credits in film and television. His work alongside Abel Ferrara, with whom he has collaborated over 15 times, includes Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game, The Addiction, The Funeral, and recent Tribeca Film Festival entry, The Projectionist. Along with actor Annabella Sciorra and composer Joe Delia, Kelsch will be doing a Q&A at MoMA during the screening of The Funeral on Thursday, May […]...
- 5/22/2019
- by Evan Louison
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Born in Brooklyn, Ken Kelsch enlisted to fight in Vietnam when he was still a teenager. He became a decorated officer in the Army Special Forces, and with over four decades as a cinematographer, has amassed more than 50 credits in film and television. His work alongside Abel Ferrara, with whom he has collaborated over 15 times, includes Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game, The Addiction, The Funeral, and recent Tribeca Film Festival entry, The Projectionist. Along with actor Annabella Sciorra and composer Joe Delia, Kelsch will be doing a Q&A at MoMA during the screening of The Funeral on Thursday, May […]...
- 5/22/2019
- by Evan Louison
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Watch out – a bloodsucking fiend is stalking the highways and by-ways of lower Manhattan… and she has a PhD! Abel Ferrara’s vampire mini-epic puts Lili Taylor through an ordeal that’s harrowing, transformational and either profound or pretentious depending on how you roll with existential philosophy. We acknowledge that Ferrara is a good judge of actor-flesh: sharing in the theory-speak and blood-soaked grue are Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, and Kathryn Erbe.
The Addiction
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1995 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 82 min. / Street Date June 26, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video
Starring: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Paul Calderon, Fredro Starr, Kathryn Erbe, Michael Imperioli, Jamal Simmons, Robert W. Castle, Michael Fella.
Cinematography: Ken Kelsch
Film Editor: Mayin Lo
Production design: Charles Lagola
Original Music: Joe Delia
Written by Nicholas St. John
Produced by Denis Hann, Fernando Sulichin
Directed by Abel Ferrara
By the time Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction came along,...
The Addiction
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1995 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 82 min. / Street Date June 26, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video
Starring: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Paul Calderon, Fredro Starr, Kathryn Erbe, Michael Imperioli, Jamal Simmons, Robert W. Castle, Michael Fella.
Cinematography: Ken Kelsch
Film Editor: Mayin Lo
Production design: Charles Lagola
Original Music: Joe Delia
Written by Nicholas St. John
Produced by Denis Hann, Fernando Sulichin
Directed by Abel Ferrara
By the time Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction came along,...
- 6/26/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
For this final week of home media releases, June is closing things out on a strong note, as we have plenty of horror and sci-fi offerings to get excited about. For those who may have missed it during its theatrical run earlier this year, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s The Endless arrives on both formats (and is absolutely worth your time).
Arrow Video is keeping busy with a pair of Special Edition releases–The Addiction and Vigil–and Vinegar Syndrome is serving up a double dose of cult filmmaking with their multi-format presentations for Grave Robbers and their Blood Theatre/The Visitants double feature. Scream Factory has put together a stellar Blu for The Curse of the Cat People, and for those in the mood for more feline-themed horror, Cat Sick Blues arrives on DVD this Tuesday. And for those of you Puppet Master fans out there, you’re...
Arrow Video is keeping busy with a pair of Special Edition releases–The Addiction and Vigil–and Vinegar Syndrome is serving up a double dose of cult filmmaking with their multi-format presentations for Grave Robbers and their Blood Theatre/The Visitants double feature. Scream Factory has put together a stellar Blu for The Curse of the Cat People, and for those in the mood for more feline-themed horror, Cat Sick Blues arrives on DVD this Tuesday. And for those of you Puppet Master fans out there, you’re...
- 6/25/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction (1995) will be available on Blu-ray June 26th From Arrow Video
The mid-nineties were a fertile period for the vampire movie. Big-name stars such as Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy flocked to genre, as did high-caliber filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, veterans Wes Craven and John Landis, independents Michael Almereyda and Jeffrey Arsenault, and up-and-comers Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. Amid the fangs and crucifixes, Abel Ferrara reunited with his King of New York star Christopher Walken for The Addiction, a distinctly personal take on creatures of the night.
Philosophy student Kathleen is dragged into an alleyway on her way home from class by Casanova and bitten on the neck. She quickly falls ill but realises this isn t any ordinary disease when she develops an aversion to daylight and a thirst for human blood…
Having made a big-budget foray into science fiction two years earlier with Body Snatchers,...
The mid-nineties were a fertile period for the vampire movie. Big-name stars such as Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy flocked to genre, as did high-caliber filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, veterans Wes Craven and John Landis, independents Michael Almereyda and Jeffrey Arsenault, and up-and-comers Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. Amid the fangs and crucifixes, Abel Ferrara reunited with his King of New York star Christopher Walken for The Addiction, a distinctly personal take on creatures of the night.
Philosophy student Kathleen is dragged into an alleyway on her way home from class by Casanova and bitten on the neck. She quickly falls ill but realises this isn t any ordinary disease when she develops an aversion to daylight and a thirst for human blood…
Having made a big-budget foray into science fiction two years earlier with Body Snatchers,...
- 6/13/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It’s icky, drippy and grindingly gross — and will make your forehead itch — but Abel Ferrara’s Bowery-set dime store horror opus has withstood the test of time. It’s a decent enough psychodrama, if one can set aside all the psychological-philosophical booshwah that’s leaked into horror criticism. Oops, Savant’s guilty of that too.
The Driller Killer
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video
1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 96 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day, Harry Schultz, Alan Wynroth
Cinematography Ken Kelsch, Jimmy Spears
Film Editor Jimmy Laine, Orlando Gallini
Original Music Joe Delia
Written by N.G. St. John
Produced by Rochelle Weisberg
Directed by Abel Ferrara
As some may have noticed, I’ve mellowed on the output of low-budget and independent horror efforts from the 1970s. While I was in film school bending my own tastes toward high production values and artistic merit, some crazy young filmmakers,...
The Driller Killer
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video
1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 96 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day, Harry Schultz, Alan Wynroth
Cinematography Ken Kelsch, Jimmy Spears
Film Editor Jimmy Laine, Orlando Gallini
Original Music Joe Delia
Written by N.G. St. John
Produced by Rochelle Weisberg
Directed by Abel Ferrara
As some may have noticed, I’ve mellowed on the output of low-budget and independent horror efforts from the 1970s. While I was in film school bending my own tastes toward high production values and artistic merit, some crazy young filmmakers,...
- 1/3/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Double Dutch International announced today that it has acquired the worldwide rights to the psychological thriller House of Last Things.
The film - written, directed and produced by Michael Bartlett - stars Rj Mitte (Breaking Bad), Lindsey Haun (True Blood) and Blake Berris. Cinematographer is Ken Kelsch (Bad Lieutenant, Big Night, Desert Flower).
House of Last Things is a thriller set in Portland, Oregon. A classical music critic leaves on an extended vacation to Italy with his grieving wife, leaving their spacious home in the hands of a young female caretaker (Haun). Joined by her boyfriend (Berris) and younger brother (Mitte), the house-- and a young boy-- begin inspiring strange and unexplained behavior, the limits of reality begin to blur.
Read more...
The film - written, directed and produced by Michael Bartlett - stars Rj Mitte (Breaking Bad), Lindsey Haun (True Blood) and Blake Berris. Cinematographer is Ken Kelsch (Bad Lieutenant, Big Night, Desert Flower).
House of Last Things is a thriller set in Portland, Oregon. A classical music critic leaves on an extended vacation to Italy with his grieving wife, leaving their spacious home in the hands of a young female caretaker (Haun). Joined by her boyfriend (Berris) and younger brother (Mitte), the house-- and a young boy-- begin inspiring strange and unexplained behavior, the limits of reality begin to blur.
Read more...
- 8/28/2012
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Chicago – Apocalyptic dramas are a dime a dozen these days, and it’s not difficult to determine why. While the Mayan calendar has singled out the specific day of our demise, record-breaking temperatures have caused some to worry that the planet has indeed reached its final act. Neither of these theories may be true, but that hasn’t stopped them from permeating our collective consciousness.
While many indie flicks have centered on characters living out the final days of life on Earth, no picture has matched the operatic intensity of Lars von Trier’s under-appreciated masterpiece, “Melancholia.” Yet Abel Ferrara’s “4:44 Last Day on Earth” has a power all its own, and like Von Trier’s film, it’s an immensely personal work. Ferrara cast his long-time girlfriend, Shanyn Leigh, opposite Willem Dafoe, and their dramatic age difference mirrors that of the director and his leading lady.
Blu-ray Rating:...
While many indie flicks have centered on characters living out the final days of life on Earth, no picture has matched the operatic intensity of Lars von Trier’s under-appreciated masterpiece, “Melancholia.” Yet Abel Ferrara’s “4:44 Last Day on Earth” has a power all its own, and like Von Trier’s film, it’s an immensely personal work. Ferrara cast his long-time girlfriend, Shanyn Leigh, opposite Willem Dafoe, and their dramatic age difference mirrors that of the director and his leading lady.
Blu-ray Rating:...
- 7/26/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Abel Ferrara is a handful. With wild gestures and expertly timed jokes, he piles the digressions high, but is much sharper and in control than his legendarily hard-living persona would suggest. The sixty-one-year-old has had one of American indie cinema’s most eclectic careers. A Bronx native, Ferrara has made his way from 42nd Street’s row of exploitation and porn theaters to the Croissette in Cannes. He mantains a manic, youthful energy that is both infectious and a bit terrifying, and although since he became sober over a year ago he has mellowed a bit, the toll that years of less-than-legal substances has taken has certainly not affected the filmmaker's wit or broad-hearted sensibility.
His new film, "4:44 Last Day On Earth," was shot early last spring and was initially slated to star Ethan Hawke. Some sources have claimed that Hawke dropped out after shooting had begun, rumors that Ferrara declined to address.
His new film, "4:44 Last Day On Earth," was shot early last spring and was initially slated to star Ethan Hawke. Some sources have claimed that Hawke dropped out after shooting had begun, rumors that Ferrara declined to address.
- 3/22/2012
- by Brandon Harris
- The Playlist
DVD Playhouse September 2010
By
Allen Gardner
The Girl Who Played With Fire (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Killer Inside Me (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck,...
By
Allen Gardner
The Girl Who Played With Fire (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Killer Inside Me (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck,...
- 9/25/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
With King of New York and Bad Lieutenant, Abel Ferrara was the chronicler of New York at its grittiest. But what happens when that city no longer exists? Compromise is not an option, he tells Andrew Purcell
Of all the great New York movie directors, none has captured the city's nervous energy better than Abel Ferrara. But while Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese have become establishment figures; and Spike Lee and John Cassavetes are celebrated outsiders, Ferrara has largely been ignored. Although he has never stopped making films, it is now more than a decade since his last cinematic release. His best-known movies, Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, are set in the dangerous but fertile period that began in the hip-hop late 70s and ended with the influx of corporate money in the mid-90s. His antiheroes are gangsters, junkies and cops, living on the margins in the heart of Manhattan.
Of all the great New York movie directors, none has captured the city's nervous energy better than Abel Ferrara. But while Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese have become establishment figures; and Spike Lee and John Cassavetes are celebrated outsiders, Ferrara has largely been ignored. Although he has never stopped making films, it is now more than a decade since his last cinematic release. His best-known movies, Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, are set in the dangerous but fertile period that began in the hip-hop late 70s and ended with the influx of corporate money in the mid-90s. His antiheroes are gangsters, junkies and cops, living on the margins in the heart of Manhattan.
- 8/5/2010
- by Andrew Purcell
- The Guardian - Film News
Release Date: Oct. 2 (limited)
Director: Abel Ferrara
Writers: Abel Ferrara, David Linter, and Christ Zois
Cinematographers: David Hausen and Ken Kelsch
Studio/Run Time: Aliquot Films, 88 mins.
In 2007, the longtime manager of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, Stanley Bard, was forced from his position in an attempt at turning the sometime-bohemian paradise into a corporate edifice earning money from its historic status. It’s an interesting and ongoing story, one that director Abel Ferrara has been capturing on film as it’s been happening by speaking with many of the hotel’s current and past inhabitants about the building’s past and future and how much it’s affected them personally. Too bad that’s only a small portion of the ramshackle Chelsea on the Rocks, which only peripherally explores the current developments and as a result topples under the weight of its unfocused ambition.
Director: Abel Ferrara
Writers: Abel Ferrara, David Linter, and Christ Zois
Cinematographers: David Hausen and Ken Kelsch
Studio/Run Time: Aliquot Films, 88 mins.
In 2007, the longtime manager of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, Stanley Bard, was forced from his position in an attempt at turning the sometime-bohemian paradise into a corporate edifice earning money from its historic status. It’s an interesting and ongoing story, one that director Abel Ferrara has been capturing on film as it’s been happening by speaking with many of the hotel’s current and past inhabitants about the building’s past and future and how much it’s affected them personally. Too bad that’s only a small portion of the ramshackle Chelsea on the Rocks, which only peripherally explores the current developments and as a result topples under the weight of its unfocused ambition.
- 10/2/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
DVD Playhouse—August 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—Director’S Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—Director’S Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
- 8/10/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Chicago – The Round-Up is back with a quintet of standard DVDs that may have gone unnoticed in your latest Best Buy circular. There’s at least one very good movie in here and a few unique independent offerings that you might want to take a peek at. We wish we had time to cover these titles in more depth, but here are the details - synopsis, cast, features - that you really need to know.
“Horsemen” was released on July 14th, 2009.
“Bad Lieutenant,” “Bart Got a Room,” “Big Man Japan,” and “The Great Buck Howard” will be released on July 28th, 2009.
“Bad Lieutenant: Special Edition”
Photo credit: Lionsgate Synopsis: “Harvey Keitel is a nameless New York cop, hopelessly addicted to drugs, gambling, and sex. As he makes his way to various crime scenes, he is concerned only with taking bets from his fellow cops on the outcome of the ongoing National League playoffs.
“Horsemen” was released on July 14th, 2009.
“Bad Lieutenant,” “Bart Got a Room,” “Big Man Japan,” and “The Great Buck Howard” will be released on July 28th, 2009.
“Bad Lieutenant: Special Edition”
Photo credit: Lionsgate Synopsis: “Harvey Keitel is a nameless New York cop, hopelessly addicted to drugs, gambling, and sex. As he makes his way to various crime scenes, he is concerned only with taking bets from his fellow cops on the outcome of the ongoing National League playoffs.
- 7/27/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Leaving Los Angeles" would be a proper title for Abel Ferrara's "The Blackout", a graphically decadent depiction of a Hollywood movie star's slide into booze and drugs.
Thematically similar to Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant", in which a cop's alcoholism ruined his life, this darkly delirious portrait is, by nature of the Hollywood milieu, much more salacious, both sexually and psychologically. While no one has ever accused Ferrara of being either upbeat or a prude, "Blackout", in its bawdy sexuality, often resembles an adult video, albeit one snuffed over with demonic obsession. With a charismatic and complex lead performance from Matthew Modine and his eminence bizarro, Dennis Hopper, doing a self-parody, "Blackout" should attract some cultish curiosity.
As some of us have heard, Hollywood can look the other way toward a star's drug addiction, and, in this case, screen star Matty (Modine) is encouraged to be as wild as he wants. Sexually, he has a new flavor every day, while pharmacologically, he's either sniffing or chugging. Still, he clamors for stability and deludes himself that his current wild child, Annie (Beatrice Dalle), is his one-and-only. Annie, however, is more realistic, having the keen perception to deduce that a guy who hangs out at a video company dedicated to bringing sexual saturnalia to the small screen might be a little conflicted as to his overall intentions.
And, most pointedly, she doesn't wish to mother the child of a "drug addict."
When confronted with her feelings, Matty not only goes into denial but into delirium, no longer able to control himself or even recall his actions: Has she left his life or has he killed her? Nightmares portend the worst -- and not even rehab, psychotherapy or the love of a good woman who looks like a supermodel (Claudia Schiffer) can assuage Matty's tormented despair.
As usual, Ferrara's stylistic will not be for every taste, but even detractors here will marvel at the production's shimmering sensuality. Admittedly, he has draped a horrible disease in G-string psychological garb, but the scenario (Marla Hanson, Christ Zois, Abel Ferrara) is generally credible and the characters identifiable. At its worst, the second half of the story is basically a drunk video as Matty spirals down into mania. "Blackout" is essentially structured in two parts, which might be blithely titled "Bottoms Up" (the bacchanalic first part) and "Bottomed Out" (the sickened second part).
Alternately dashing and debauched, Modine is well-cast as the drunkenly depraved Matty. As a sleazeball with auteuristic pretensions, Hopper is wildly entertaining as the smut-shooting video director, while Dalle is all wild sizzle as Matty's uninhibited "love."
"The Blackout" is brightest in its glossy visuals, with special praise to cinematographer Ken Kelsch for his sinuously glossy compositions and to composer Joe Delia for the drenched and steamy score.
THE BLACKOUT
Out of competition
MDP Worldwide
Presents in association with
Les Films Number One and CPA
An Edward Pressman Production
Producer Edward Pressman
Writer-director Abel Ferrara
Co-producers Pierre Kalfon, Michel Chambat
Executive producers Mark Damon, Alessandro Camon
Screenwriters Marla Hanson, Christ Zois,
Abel Ferrara
Director of photography Ken Kelsch
Production designer Richard Hoover
Music Joe Delia
Editor Anthony Redman
Cast:
Matty Matthew Modine
Micky Dennis Hopper
Annie Beatrice Dalle
Susan Claudia Schiffer
Annie 2 Sarah Lassez
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Thematically similar to Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant", in which a cop's alcoholism ruined his life, this darkly delirious portrait is, by nature of the Hollywood milieu, much more salacious, both sexually and psychologically. While no one has ever accused Ferrara of being either upbeat or a prude, "Blackout", in its bawdy sexuality, often resembles an adult video, albeit one snuffed over with demonic obsession. With a charismatic and complex lead performance from Matthew Modine and his eminence bizarro, Dennis Hopper, doing a self-parody, "Blackout" should attract some cultish curiosity.
As some of us have heard, Hollywood can look the other way toward a star's drug addiction, and, in this case, screen star Matty (Modine) is encouraged to be as wild as he wants. Sexually, he has a new flavor every day, while pharmacologically, he's either sniffing or chugging. Still, he clamors for stability and deludes himself that his current wild child, Annie (Beatrice Dalle), is his one-and-only. Annie, however, is more realistic, having the keen perception to deduce that a guy who hangs out at a video company dedicated to bringing sexual saturnalia to the small screen might be a little conflicted as to his overall intentions.
And, most pointedly, she doesn't wish to mother the child of a "drug addict."
When confronted with her feelings, Matty not only goes into denial but into delirium, no longer able to control himself or even recall his actions: Has she left his life or has he killed her? Nightmares portend the worst -- and not even rehab, psychotherapy or the love of a good woman who looks like a supermodel (Claudia Schiffer) can assuage Matty's tormented despair.
As usual, Ferrara's stylistic will not be for every taste, but even detractors here will marvel at the production's shimmering sensuality. Admittedly, he has draped a horrible disease in G-string psychological garb, but the scenario (Marla Hanson, Christ Zois, Abel Ferrara) is generally credible and the characters identifiable. At its worst, the second half of the story is basically a drunk video as Matty spirals down into mania. "Blackout" is essentially structured in two parts, which might be blithely titled "Bottoms Up" (the bacchanalic first part) and "Bottomed Out" (the sickened second part).
Alternately dashing and debauched, Modine is well-cast as the drunkenly depraved Matty. As a sleazeball with auteuristic pretensions, Hopper is wildly entertaining as the smut-shooting video director, while Dalle is all wild sizzle as Matty's uninhibited "love."
"The Blackout" is brightest in its glossy visuals, with special praise to cinematographer Ken Kelsch for his sinuously glossy compositions and to composer Joe Delia for the drenched and steamy score.
THE BLACKOUT
Out of competition
MDP Worldwide
Presents in association with
Les Films Number One and CPA
An Edward Pressman Production
Producer Edward Pressman
Writer-director Abel Ferrara
Co-producers Pierre Kalfon, Michel Chambat
Executive producers Mark Damon, Alessandro Camon
Screenwriters Marla Hanson, Christ Zois,
Abel Ferrara
Director of photography Ken Kelsch
Production designer Richard Hoover
Music Joe Delia
Editor Anthony Redman
Cast:
Matty Matthew Modine
Micky Dennis Hopper
Annie Beatrice Dalle
Susan Claudia Schiffer
Annie 2 Sarah Lassez
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/12/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Recap review to run on Dec. 30
This film was was originally reviewed Sept. 16 at the Toronto Festival of Festivals. It opens today Dec. 30 in Los Angeles at the Nuart Theatre.0303Members of the gutter-al elite -- those whose stomachs and moral fortitude are such that they can endure the rape of a nun, kinky sex, drug excesses, four-letter bombasts and other sub-''Mean Streets'' reality -- will be the sole survivors of this NC-17 blast.
With Harvey Keitel strutting his stuff as a strung-out New York City cop, ''Bad Lieutenant'' should bag some early cult-house dough, primarily from those cineastes still harkening back to Keitel's ''Mean Streets'' turn, but this blunt and preachy salvo is more likely to stir up mostly revulsion at the boxoffice. Exhibitors should be prepared for some -- to put it mildly -- colorful criticism from early-departing moviegoers.
A religious fable (the characters are named in high-stilt, morality-play simplicity -- Bad Lt., Nun, even Jesus), ''Bad Lieutenant'' is a hammer-and-trigger story blast of personal and moral redemption. In this salvo, Keitel stars as Bad Lieutenant, a junked-out jerk whose vices make Michael Douglas' ''Basic Instinct'' character look like an altar boy. Bad Lt. bullies women, steals evidence, sniffs coke and swills vodka, but his biggest weakness is for a Strawberry -- namely, ex-Mets slugger Daryl Strawberry.
Indeed, gambling is the little grunt's Achilles' heel. He gets in over his head fast on a Dodgers vs. Mets playoff, ultimately putting up 120 G's on the Dodgers to win the National League playoffs.
(boy, can you ever tell this was written a while ago).
Between whoring, betting, drinking, sniffing and strong-arming, this silver-badged slug does manage to notice one case: a beautiful nun (Frankie Thorn) has been gang-banged by local lowlife. Despite his hatred of organized religion -- ''The Catholic Church is a racket'' -- Bad Lt. gets mad. Or, rather, he gets confused when the Nun tells him she forgives her transgressors. While Bad Lt.'s drug-clouded sensibilities do not allow him to appreciate Christianity's turn-the-other-cheek theory of forgiveness, it does stir his street-fried brain.
Those viewers who survive director Abel Ferrara's graphic onslaught of sewer life will be jarred by clanky, sermonette-ish segments: The Nun talks about forgiveness; the Bad Lt. rants about retribution; even a hopped-up hooker delivers some morality parables.
The moral capper in Zoe Lund and Ferrara's scattergun screenplay is when the Bad Lt. hallucinates and sees Jesus: It's not exactly Saul on the Road to Damascus stuff, aesthetically or theologically, but it is well-lit -- we're talking lighting here, not philosophy.
While some viewers may chortle about the narrative's about-face ending, no one will question the veracity of the outcome of the Mets. vs. Dodgers subplot.
Keitel, as usual, flexes his impressive range: fear, swagger, charm, while Thorn is well-cast as the charitable Nun.
Technically, ''Bad Lieutenant'' is good: Ken Kelsch's in-your-face cinematography and Anthony Redman's punchy editing are appropriate.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
This film was was originally reviewed Sept. 16 at the Toronto Festival of Festivals. It opens today Dec. 30 in Los Angeles at the Nuart Theatre.0303Members of the gutter-al elite -- those whose stomachs and moral fortitude are such that they can endure the rape of a nun, kinky sex, drug excesses, four-letter bombasts and other sub-''Mean Streets'' reality -- will be the sole survivors of this NC-17 blast.
With Harvey Keitel strutting his stuff as a strung-out New York City cop, ''Bad Lieutenant'' should bag some early cult-house dough, primarily from those cineastes still harkening back to Keitel's ''Mean Streets'' turn, but this blunt and preachy salvo is more likely to stir up mostly revulsion at the boxoffice. Exhibitors should be prepared for some -- to put it mildly -- colorful criticism from early-departing moviegoers.
A religious fable (the characters are named in high-stilt, morality-play simplicity -- Bad Lt., Nun, even Jesus), ''Bad Lieutenant'' is a hammer-and-trigger story blast of personal and moral redemption. In this salvo, Keitel stars as Bad Lieutenant, a junked-out jerk whose vices make Michael Douglas' ''Basic Instinct'' character look like an altar boy. Bad Lt. bullies women, steals evidence, sniffs coke and swills vodka, but his biggest weakness is for a Strawberry -- namely, ex-Mets slugger Daryl Strawberry.
Indeed, gambling is the little grunt's Achilles' heel. He gets in over his head fast on a Dodgers vs. Mets playoff, ultimately putting up 120 G's on the Dodgers to win the National League playoffs.
(boy, can you ever tell this was written a while ago).
Between whoring, betting, drinking, sniffing and strong-arming, this silver-badged slug does manage to notice one case: a beautiful nun (Frankie Thorn) has been gang-banged by local lowlife. Despite his hatred of organized religion -- ''The Catholic Church is a racket'' -- Bad Lt. gets mad. Or, rather, he gets confused when the Nun tells him she forgives her transgressors. While Bad Lt.'s drug-clouded sensibilities do not allow him to appreciate Christianity's turn-the-other-cheek theory of forgiveness, it does stir his street-fried brain.
Those viewers who survive director Abel Ferrara's graphic onslaught of sewer life will be jarred by clanky, sermonette-ish segments: The Nun talks about forgiveness; the Bad Lt. rants about retribution; even a hopped-up hooker delivers some morality parables.
The moral capper in Zoe Lund and Ferrara's scattergun screenplay is when the Bad Lt. hallucinates and sees Jesus: It's not exactly Saul on the Road to Damascus stuff, aesthetically or theologically, but it is well-lit -- we're talking lighting here, not philosophy.
While some viewers may chortle about the narrative's about-face ending, no one will question the veracity of the outcome of the Mets. vs. Dodgers subplot.
Keitel, as usual, flexes his impressive range: fear, swagger, charm, while Thorn is well-cast as the charitable Nun.
Technically, ''Bad Lieutenant'' is good: Ken Kelsch's in-your-face cinematography and Anthony Redman's punchy editing are appropriate.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 12/30/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.