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Craig J. Clark

Craig J. Clark watches a lot of movies. He started watching them in New Jersey, where he was born and raised, and has continued to watch them in Bloomington, Indiana, where he moved in 2007. In addition to his writing for Crooked Marquee, Craig also contributes the monthly Full Moon Features column to Werewolf News. He is not a werewolf himself (or so he says).

News archive

Ushering in a New Era: Corman, Price, and Poe at AIP

Oct 19th, 2020

In the early 1960s, Roger Corman graduated from drive-in cheapies to ornate Gothic horror treats, adapted from the works of Edgar Allan Poe and...

Albert Brooks Plays Himself

Sep 23rd, 2020

With a new showcase of his work on the Criterion Channel, we look at how Albert Brooks explored the possibilities of his carefully crafted comic...

Mario Bava’s <i>Black</i> (and White) <i>Sunday</i> — Craig J. Clark

Mario Bava’s Black (and White) Sunday

Aug 11th, 2020

It’s one of the most striking openings in cinema history: A burly, shirtless man in a black hood stokes a brazier, heating up a branding tool...

Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. Unfettered: The Early Works of a Queer Cinema Legend

Jun 16th, 2020

In the decade after Stonewall, gay culture exploded and thrived in ways previously unthinkable. One filmmaker who covered every facet of it – from...

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,...

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