Home — Crooked Marquee

A Field Guide to Fantômas on Film

Apr 30th, 2020

In the Shadow of the Guillotine. The Murderous Corpse. The False Magistrate. The titles are as macabre as the masked madman that appears in them....

<i>Nuns on the Run</i> and the End of HandMade Films — Craig J. Clark

Nuns on the Run and the End of HandMade Films

Mar 30th, 2020

HandMade Films was formed by George Harrison and his business manager, Denis O’Brien, for the express purpose of bankrolling Monty Python’s Life...

Review: <i>Downhill</i> — Craig J. Clark

Review: Downhill

Feb 13th, 2020

From their screenplay for Alexander Payne’s The Descendants to their joint directorial debut, 2013’s The Way Way Back, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash...

Tom DiCillo’s Road in and Out of <i>Oblivion</i> — Craig J. Clark

Tom DiCillo’s Road in and Out of Oblivion

Jan 15th, 2020

The Time: The mid-’90sThe Place: Downtown New York CityThe Setting: A nondescript warehouse/film studioThe Scene: “Ellen and Damian...

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: <i>Under the Silver Lake</i> — Craig J. Clark

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: Under the Silver Lake

Dec 22nd, 2019

In spite of its pedigree as writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s follow-up to surprise horror hit It Follows – and the fact that it played in...

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: <i>Climax</i> — Craig J. Clark

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: Climax

Dec 22nd, 2019

Gaspar Noé is the living embodiment of the adage that nothing exceeds like excess, a filmmaker whose works are designed to overwhelm the senses,...

Tidings of <i>Comfort and Joy</i> — Craig J. Clark

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Nov 26th, 2019

It’s a common enough sight in Christmas films: holiday shoppers admiring animatronic window displays and taking advantage of the sales at...

Review: <i>The Twentieth Century</i> — Craig J. Clark

Review: The Twentieth Century

Oct 28th, 2019

Winnipeg, Canada, has produced more than its share of strange and singular filmmakers. Guy Maddin is likely the most well-known, but Manitoba’s...

Y2Kinema from <i>Last Night</i> to <i>Relaxer</i> — Craig J. Clark

Y2Kinema from Last Night to Relaxer

Oct 15th, 2019

We knew on Jan. 1, 2000, that the hysteria surrounding Y2K had been overblown. But before that, the fears that the so-called “Millennium Bug”...

<i>The House of the Devil</i> and the Horrors of the Pre-Digital Age — Craig J. Clark

The House of the Devil and the Horrors of the Pre-Digital Age

Oct 14th, 2019

Ever since the proliferation of the mobile phone, horror filmmakers have to go out of their way to explain why their characters can’t use them to...

Stick to the Script: Christopher Guest's <i>The Big Picture</i> (1989) — Craig J. Clark

Stick to the Script: Christopher Guest's The Big Picture (1989)

Sep 22nd, 2019

Long before he corralled some of the screen’s most skilled improvisers to make such classic mockumentaries as Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show,...

Scary Scarecrows to Watch in the Dark

Aug 6th, 2019

We’re the scarecrow people, have we got lots in common with you. And if you don’t start living, well, you’re all going to wind up scarecrow...

<i>Midsommar</i>'s Folk-Horror Family Tree — Craig J. Clark

Midsommar's Folk-Horror Family Tree

Jul 18th, 2019

There’s scarcely a review of Midsommar that doesn’t include a mention of The Wicker Man — and with good reason. (Ours is no exception.) Robin...

Scene of an Anatomy: Kyle MacLachlan in <i>Blue Velvet</i> — Craig J. Clark

Scene of an Anatomy: Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet

May 22nd, 2019

In the 2016 documentary David Lynch: The Art Life, one of the stories Lynch recounts from his childhood is the time a naked woman appeared out of the...

In Memory of Dick Miller: The Many Lives (and Deaths) of Walter Paisley

Feb 4th, 2019

Ring rubber bells, beat cotton gongs, strike silken cymbals, play leathern flutes. The cats and cans and you and I and all such things with...