Spring Thaw
Things to Come...
Hello Readers,
It has been a while since I checked in here. So far 2026 is even worse than 2025, but I am enduring and moving forward with the substack. Hopefully you haven’t had to deal with fascists kidnapping your family, friends, or neighbors. I also hope that no bombs have been dropped on your neighborhoods in completely random and unnecessary wars. My productivity has slowed down with the existential stress of authoritarianism, as well as a bunch of other things like blizzards, sinus colds, family illness, work conferences, cat sitting, and cholesterol.
But good things are forthcoming. My thoughts on cinema influenced by Surrealism and The Weird will continue soon with an in depth look at a couple movies directed by Lucio Fulci. It is one of those situations where the more you look, the more similarities you find. The Marquis de Sade, Salvador Dalí, Hans Bellmer, HP Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith all show up. I am trying to get Leonor Fini and Leonora Carrington in there too, but haven’t landed references that float yet. One of the best things about writing criticism is the research process when you get to read all the stuff previous scholars have already written. Lately I’ve been all about Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ book The Giallo Canvas, The Marquis de Sade and The Avant-Garde by Alyce Mahon, and Stephen Thrower’s charming and shockingly comprehensive Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci. My next essay will be worth the wait.
I decided to lower my subscription prices on substack. Although my posts are less frequent, they have been of a higher quality for a while now. But I am hesitant to take monthly payments if I am not publishing enough on a monthly basis. The monthly price will go down to $4, and the yearly subscription to $40, which is a great deal if you want to support thoughtful and unique film criticism. [edit: SS didn’t let me lower the monthly price below $5!)
Looking further ahead, the plan is to conclude the Surrealist Weird fixation with some thoughts on Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). I also plan to write an essay that will probably be the closest thing to a manifesto I will ever do. Sometimes people ask me what motivates my criticism and where do my ideas come from. This will give me an opportunity to articulate a general framework and maybe even a bibliography of influences that will show that there is an actual method to my occasionally dissonant and contradictory approach to cinema.
Later in the year I am going to focus on New York City pictures, an entry point that can lead in so many directions. The possibilities are endless, but I will say that the idea came to me after watching Night of The Juggler (1980) for the first time. It is sleazy, exhilarating, delightful--exactly what a NYC picture should be. I have also been meaning to write about NYC-set films made by people from other places. It isn’t just about what the city really is, but how outsiders perceive it. I grew up about 200 miles from there and have been to the city countless times in my life, but it is one of those places that attracts so many people from all over the world. It is fascinating to see what it means to natives and people from other cultures.
My capsule reviews will also continue, whenever I see noteworthy movies in public venues. Over the next few months I plan on visiting theaters during visits to NYC, San Francisco, and Boston.
Okay, I think that’s it. Godspeed!
