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Bonus Features: A Place in the Sun (1951)

Our current Movie of the Month, 1951’s A Place in the Sun, is a high-emotions noir about a desperate social climber who drowns his pregnant girlfriend so she doesn’t get in the way of his wealthier, prettier romantic prospect.  In essence, it’s an epic-fuckboy melodrama about the moral crimes young men were willing to commit for the chance to be with Elizabeth Taylor.  She was the most…

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Lagniappe Podcast: Heathers (1989)

For this lagniappe episode of The Swampflix Podcast, Boomer, Brandon, and Alli discuss the influential high school mean-girl comedy Heathers (1989). 00:00 The Big Texan Steak Ranch 09:00 Lured (1947)11:10 Eraserhead (1977)16:19 The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)20:50 Drive-Away Dolls (2024)24:18 Sasquatch Sunset (2024)28:06 The Beast (2024) 34:57 Heathers (1989) You can stay up to date with…

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The Not-So-New 52: Justice League — The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)

Welcome to The Not-So-New 52, your digital Swampflix comic book (adaptation) newsstand! Starting in 2007, DC Comics and Warner Premiere entered the direct-to-home-video market with animated features, mostly in the form of adaptations of well-received event comics or notable arcs. This Swampflix feature takes its name from the 2011 DC relaunch event “The New 52,” and since there are (roughly)…

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Deep Cover (1992)

There was a period of time in my childhood when I was convinced that Laurence Fishburne is the greatest actor alive.  Decades later, I’m once again being swayed to believe that superlative, except now my supporting evidence has less to do with his work in the high-premise sci-fi films The Matrix & Event Horizon than it has to do with his more complex character work in Bill Duke’s Deep Cover &…

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Civil War (2024)

The first noises you hear in Alex Garland’s Civil War are surround-sound blasts of static bouncing around the room in unpredictable, disorienting patterns.  That discordance continues in the film’s crate-digging soundtrack, which includes songs from bands like Suicide & Silver Apples that disorient their audiences with off-rhythm oscillation for a near-psychedelic effect.  Likewise, a sunny,…

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Santa Sangre (1989)

I’ve never had much enthusiasm for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s two signature films—the notoriously brutal acid Western El Topo & the psychedelic tableaux The Holy Mountain—despite the immense visual beauty both films convey as a collection of still images.  Jodorowsky is undeniably impressive as a visual stylist, but whenever he asserts full auteurist control over a picture, the visuals just kinda sit…

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Podcast #210: In a Violent Nature & Overlook Film Fest 2024

Welcome to Episode #210 of The Swampflix Podcast. For this episode, Brandon, James, Britnee, Hanna, and guest Bill Arceneaux discuss a selection of horror films that screened at this year’s Overlook Film Festival, starting with the gory slow-cinema slasher In a Violent Nature. 00:00 Welcome 04:47 In a Violent Nature 23:43 Moviegoing with Bill32:16 ME46:12 Dream Factory53:47 Hypoxia56:54 The…

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Abigail (2024)

The earliest press releases for the Universal Pictures horror Abigail reported it as a reimagining of the 1936 classic Dracula’s Daughter, citing Leigh Whannell’s 2020 remake of The Invisible Man and last year’s Nic-Cage-as-Dracula comedy Renfield as similar examples of what the studio is currently doing with its Classic Monsters brand.  Technically, Abigail does feature a vampire’s daughter in…

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The People's Joker (2024)

The People’s Joker made me cry.  A festival darling a couple of years ago, this DIY transfemme autofiction bildungsroman took an usually long time to reach general audiences, seeing as it was stuck in legal limbo for a while. You see, Vera Drew chose to tell the story of her life—from her earliest realizations that her body didn’t match her concept of herself, to her first real romance and how…

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The Not-So-New 52: Superman — Unbound (2013)

Welcome to The Not-So-New 52, your digital Swampflix comic book (adaptation) newsstand! Starting in 2007, DC Comics and Warner Premiere entered the direct-to-home-video market with animated features, mostly in the form of adaptations of well-received event comics or notable arcs. This Swampflix feature takes its name from the 2011 DC relaunch event “The New 52,” and since there are (roughly)…

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Family Portrait (2024)

Boredom is a funny thing. I recently attended a screening of Family Portrait, a domestic drama that runs just under eighty minutes. In truth, I call it a “drama” because I’m not really sure what else it could be, even though the word drama implies a level of action that’s not really present here. I don’t want to come down too hard on this film, as it was made by a local filmmaker and shot in the…

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Psychic Damage at The Overlook Film Festival

The term “horror” can apply to such a wide range of narrative, thematic, and aesthetic traditions that it’s almost too wide of an umbrella to be considered a single genre.  I’m always especially impressed with The Overlook Film Festival’s interpretation of what qualifies as horror in its programming, which makes room for films as disparate in tone & intent as a when-spiders-attack creature…

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Les horreurs d’Overlook

One thing I’m always searching for at New Orleans French Film Fest every year is French-language horror films: the kinds of artsy genre titles that premiere in the Midnight or Un Certain Regard programs at Cannes and then quietly seep onto streaming platforms like Mubi & Kanopy years later with no wide theatrical distro.  This year’s French Film Fest lineup delivered the familial sorcery drama…

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Lagniappe Podcast: All About Eve (1950)

For this lagniappe episode of The Swampflix Podcast, Boomer, Brandon, and Alli discuss the Old Hollywood classic All About Eve (1950), starring Bette Davis. 00:00 Movie of the Month 04:20 We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022)11:58 Deerskin (2020)17:38 Problemista (2024)28:34 Nimona (2023)32:26 Family Portrait (2024)37:15 Aliens (1986)41:00 The Birds (1963)47:10 King Kong vs. Godzilla…

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I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

I saw I Saw the TV Glow at this year’s Overlook Film Festival, a five-day horror marathon that’s held in New Orleans every Spring.  In an attempt to put my festival pass to full use, I crammed my schedule with new releases, spending noon to midnight at a downtown shopping mall for a four-day stretch of the fest.  I skipped sleep, meals, and parties so I could disappear into The Movies, only…

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Problemista (2024)

I’ve been a fan of Julio Torres’s for years, ever since a friend introduced me to the joys of Patti Harrison and I got into that whole crew. Los Espookys was a lot of fun, and I was excited to hear about his directorial debut when it originally premiered at SXSW last year, in 2023. It took some time for it to make it to my local theater, but I was excited to see that not only did it hit the…

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The Not-So-New 52: The Dark Knight Returns (2012, 2013)

Welcome to The Not-So-New 52, your digital Swampflix comic book (adaptation) newsstand! Starting in 2007, DC Comics and Warner Premiere entered the direct-to-home-video market with animated features, mostly in the form of adaptations of well-received event comics or notable arcs. This Swampflix feature takes its name from the 2011 DC relaunch event “The New 52,” and since there are (roughly)…