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Joe Eszterhas, the legendary screenwriter of “Basic Instinct,” the 1992 thriller that defined femme serial killers in film and made an icon of Sharon Stone, has closed a $4 million deal to write a reboot for Scott Stuber’s United Artists banner and Amazon MGM Studios, TheWrap has exclusively learned.

The deal is the biggest spec script sale of the year so far, and commits Amazon to a $2 million payout against a potential $4 million to Eszterhas if the movie is made.

“To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: the rumors of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist,” Esztherhas said in a statement to TheWrap. “I call my writing partner the Twisted Little Man and he lives somewhere deep inside me. He was born 29 and he will die 29 and he tells me he is ‘sky high up’ to write this piece and provide viewers...

If you are only thinking The Godfather, Scarface, and maybe Scent of a Woman when you hear Al Pacino’s name, you are missing half the story and, honestly, some of the most fascinating corners of his filmography. Pacino is not just the loud, brash, larger-than-life guy yelling “Hoo-ah!” or going toe-to-toe with De Niro in a shootout. He is also the master of quiet tension, of broken men, of slow burns and raw emotional messes.

Over the years, buried between the iconic blockbusters and courtroom monologues, are smaller films where Pacino took risks. Films that did not make a billion dollars or flood awards season, but nevertheless show just how much range and weird, wonderful nerve the man actually has.

These are the roles where he whispered instead of roared, where he got vulnerable, or just plain weird, and they deserve way more love than they’ve gotten. If...

Dan Stevens, who has become synonymous with indie horror, is paired with icon Al Pacino for the ultimate exorcism film, “The Ritual.” The duo star as two priests who “face the ultimate test of faith,” as the logline teases. The film is based on the true story that was captured in 1935 book “Begone Satan!” about a Church-sanctioned exorcism. The original account of the events went on to inspire “The Exorcist” book and William Friedkin’s famed 1973 film that later spurred a franchise.

The official synopsis for “The Ritual” reads: “When the Church sanctions the exorcism of Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowan), two priests — divided by doubt — must confront a force beyond comprehension… and their own faith.” Ashley Greene and Patricia Heaton co-star.

Pacino recently told Entertainment Weekly that after starring in “The Ritual,” he can finally watch Friedkin’s “The Exorcist.” Pacino worked with the late auteur on “Cruising,” which was...

Between 1971 and 1983, a new Al Pacino performance was an event ... most of the time. No one was excited to see Pacino follow up the supercharged "Cruising" by playing a stressed-out papa in Arthur Hiller's abominable 1982 family dramedy "Author! Author!" Other than that, there was always the promise of greatness with Pacino, whether presented in the form of "Panic in Needle Park" or "Scarface." And when your peak is "Dog Day Afternoon" and/or "The Godfather Part II," that's pure, transcendent craft.

There was, however, a growing sense with Pacino around the time he did the controversial "Scarface" that the actor was eschewing nuance and depth for scenery-devouring showmanship. His Tony Montana was the culmination of a tendency towards growling and gesticulating (which began in films like "...And Justice for All" and "Cruising"), topped off with a thick Cuban accent. It's a towering performance, but it's also one that proved difficult for him to shed.

The 1970s is arguably the greatest decade in cinema history, at least in terms of American cinema. Aside from the New Hollywood movement giving rise to many of the most legendary filmmakers audiences know today, there was also an abundance of great movies coming out in various genres. In most cases, there are up-and-coming actors and directors working together to make a great film. Sometimes, Classical Hollywood era directors would make a film here and there that audiences really enjoy but then go on to forget. It's not as though these films aren't great; it's just that there were so many iconic films coming out during the decade, that a few gems would get left behind in peoples' memories. More often than not, these films would team up a rising star with a respected director and the result would be pure gold. However, because the big new names weren't attached,...

Throwback To When An Al Pacino Movie Sparked Major Outrage Across The US ( Photo Credit – Prime Video )

When it comes to unconventional movies, many would assume today’s films push the boundaries like never before, but truth be told, even the most controversial modern movies seem tame compared to some of the audacious releases from the ’80s. Don’t believe me? Take the prime example of Cruising, a thriller starring Al Pacino that not only dove headfirst into a dark and unexplored subculture but also left audiences stunned with its graphic and boundary-pushing content.

Cruising: A Plot That Raised Eyebrows

In the movie, Al Pacino takes on the role of a cop sent undercover into New York’s gay leather scene to track down a serial killer, a premise that alone raised eyebrows. However, the film’s most jaw-dropping moment comes during a murder sequence, where, for a few frames,...

A day after Disney disclosed its fiscal first quarter 2025 results — which included entertainment revenue rising year-over-year, Disney+ slightly declining as expected in subscribers and ESPN revenue also up — its stock dipped slightly even as five Wall Street analysts published relatively bullish post-earnings notes.

In its Feb. 5 filing, the Burbank-based entertainment giant also lowered what it plans to spend on content this fiscal year. In November, the Bob Iger-led company said it expected to spend $24 billion, while in its latest disclosure it said the figure will be around $23 billion for produced and licensed content, including sports rights. For fiscal 2024, Disney’s content spend was $23.4 billion.

The company’s stock was trading around $110 per share as of Thursday.

“In terms of cost cutting, as a company, we’re focused constantly on identifying opportunities where we’re spending money perhaps less efficiently and looking for opportunities to do it more efficiently,” CFO...

Set years before George Michael’s arrest and inspired by the bathroom raids that provoked a moral panic in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1963, Carmen Emmi’s Syracuse-set thriller Plainclothes offers a unique twist on the coming-out genre. Cruising the food court and men’s room at a local mall, young undercover officer Lucas (Tom Blyth) lures men into stalls, getting them to expose themselves before they’re taken down by a cop (John Bedford Lloyd) who is not above slapping a fellow officer on the butt in the gym, a thread the film never quite pulls fully at.

Told in a non-linear structure, the thriller oscillates between two parallel timelines: one focusing on a New Year’s Eve party with Lucas’ controversial uncle after the death of his father; the other as he conducts police work at the mall. In the earlier timeline, Lucas becomes infatuated with Andrew (Russell Tovey), a...

After William Friedkin’s Cruising spent the better part of the aughts as the subject of earnest, if guarded, revisionist critique, how does the film hold up in our current era of representational politics and trigger warnings? And why does it feel like how you answer that question will determine which side pocket you keep your handkerchief in?

The gay side of Film Twitter had previously treated Friedkin’s 1980 ode to fisting, frottage, and flash cuts with a level of curiosity nearly equal to the fury of the disco era’s gay community. What currency could an undercover police officer’s punk-disco battle with the monsters in his closet possibly have when held against the ironic sense that an avowed sexual assaulter with a fondness for golden showers will soon be the one to usher in a rollback of LGBT gains at every level? But in its day, Cruising was...

For an undercover cop in 1997, the art of baiting gay men into propositioning you in public restrooms is a grotesque art form that requires a strict adherence to the rules. You can’t say a word to your targets, relying on eye contact to convince them that your intentions are sexual. You can’t actually step into a bathroom stall, and have to goad them into unzipping while you remain in a public space. And you’re certainly not supposed to take their phone number and proceed to fall in love with them after failing to make an arrest.

Yet that’s exactly what Lucas (Tom Blyth) ends up doing in “Plainclothes,” Carmen Emmi’s directorial debut that revisits the world of undercover cops in the gay community most famously explored in William Friedkin’s “Cruising.” Distracted by family tensions caused by his father’s terminal illness and tortured by his own homosexual urges,...

With gay rights coming back into the crosshairs in almost every country across the globe, Carmen Emmi’s slow-burn drama is sobering reminder of just how far these things have progressed in the past 30 years. Taking place primarily in 1997 — unfolding in flashback from the framing device of a family New Year’s Eve party being held a few years later — it takes a little while to find its feet. Once the main players are established, though, and experimental flashes of harsh analog video become a more recognizable manifestation of its ugly-beautiful aesthetic, Plainclothes builds to a very satisfying conclusion, putting a torrid but meaningful gay love affair at the center of a universal coming-of-age story.

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart is an unlikely reference point, not because Plainclothes is a genre film — though it shares a tiny bit of DNA with William Friedkin’s much more...

Like “Cruising” for the 1990s New Queer Cinema set, Carmen Emmi’s feature debut “Plainclothes” features the most emotionally (and physically) naked performance yet from rising British star Tom Blyth. He plays Lucas, a rookie cop somewhere outside Syracuse assigned to post up in one of those bland, sad Malls of America, hoping to lure men into a toilet stall — and into exposing themselves or more.

This clandestine, bait-and-catch operation was the sort of problematic police procedure that got people like George Michael into trouble for lewd conduct. Here, it forms the basis of a thriller — and one with shades of romance when Lucas’ own secret attraction to men starts overtaking him. And especially in the form of Russell Tovey, sparking a hesitant hook-up and possible romance after Lucas catches Andrew (Tovey) in the bathroom, only to end up lingering too long.

IndieWire shares an exclusive clip for the film in the video above.

All aboard for a festive float down the river! Susan Calman returns with a new season of “Christmas Cruising,” and this year, she’s setting her sights on the enchanting Christmas markets of Germany. Premiering this Friday, December 27, at 8 Pm on Channel 5, the episode follows Calman’s journey along the Main and Rhine rivers, […]

Christmas Cruising with Susan Calman...

In their feverish film, Craig plays a man embroiled in a drug-fuelled gay affair. He and director Guadagnino talk about love, ageing – and a forgotten sex act

There is no shortage of directors who have made movies about gay life only to then backtrack and claim they were not specifically gay stories after all: Tom Ford did it with A Single Man, William Friedkin with both Cruising and The Boys in the Band. Luca Guadagnino, the director of Call Me By Your Name and this year’s steamy tennis romcom Challengers, is not about to play that game. “It is the most gigantic gay film in history,” he says of his latest picture, for which he recreated 1950s Mexico City on 12 stages at the Cinecittà studios in Rome. “I don’t think there has ever been a bigger gay movie.” Then again, he doesn’t have much wriggle room: the film is called Queer.

Arrow Video has unveiled their February Blu-ray lineup, hitting some major titles that will find viewers cruising the streets of New York City, dining with the Sawyer family and fending off space vampires.

Arriving on February 25th from Arrow will be William Friedkin’s Cruising, which is being featured in a limited edition 4K release, notably restored from the original camera negative. While you’ll see some previously available special features, the set has some new extras. They include:

Brand new commentary featuring original musicians involved with the soundtrack

I Want to Be the Curator, a brand-new interview with actress Karen Allen

Walking the Line, a brand-new interview with actor, film consultant, and former police detective Randy Jurgensen

Breaking the Codes, a brand-new visual essay surrounding the hanky-codes featuring actor and writer David McGillivray

Cruising also comes with a 120-page perfect-bound collector’s book with photos, articles and essays, as...

Al Pacino will cruise for a killer on 4K Ultra HD when Cruising is released by Arrow Video on February 25.

The 1980 serial killer thriller’s long-unavailable theatrical version has been newly restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative in Dolby Vision with original lossless English mono audio, 2.0 stereo, and 5.1 sound.

The Exorcist‘s William Friedkin writes and directs, loosely based on Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel of the same name. Pacino stars with Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, and Don Scardino.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

Audio commentary by writer-director William Friedkin Audio commentary by writer-director William Friedkin, moderated by critic Mark Kermode Audio commentary with original musicians involved with the soundtrack (new) I Want to Be the Curator – Interview with actress Karen Allen (new) Deleted scenes and alternative footage On-set audio featuring the club scenes and protest coverage Censored material reels Theatrical trailer, teasers, and TV spots

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:...

Known to many for his role as Horatio Caine on Cis: Miami from 2002 to 2012, David Caruso first gained notoriety in the police procedural drama NYPD Blue. The actor chose to depart from the latter of these products in 1994 to pursue a career in film. During the brief erotic thriller craze brought about by the success of Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct, Caruso took a role in Jade. A thriller, released in 1995 and directed by William Friedkin, also featured a stacked cast that included Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Bien, and Richard Crenna.

To say Jade was not well received by critics and audiences would be an understatement. Jade bombed at the box office and was subject to scathing reviews from many critics. Like other erotic thrillers from the time period, such as Sliver, Body of Evidence, and Color of Night, the overall reception was mostly negative, despite these films all...

Breaking into the acting industry requires a lot of patience and effort along with talent. Stories of actors doing odd jobs alongside audition calls are a dime a dozen, as many didn’t depend on the career for initial financial support.

However, one actor almost took a dangerous route slipping into organized crime before stepping into the industry. Modern Family star Ed O’Neill revealed that a friend offered him a shady job profile with the wrong side of the law in his early days. At the time he had no other means of earning, but thankfully, he rejected the idea and tried his luck with acting instead.

This Modern Family actor could have been a mob boss Ed O’Neill in Modern Family | Credits: ABC

Sydney Sweeney was a tour guide, Meghan Markle worked as a calligrapher, and Margot Robbie made delectable sandwiches before they landed their big breaks (via...

William Friedkin's 1973 horror classic The Exorcist is often thought of as a cursed film. The hysteria sparked at screenings, the rumors of disturbing behind-the-scenes events, and the exploitation of religious anxiety all combined into a reputation for real evil. This notoriety was amplified when the three-film Exorcist franchise drew fans such as the Zodiac Killer, the Gainesville Ripper, and Jeffrey Dahmer; stranger still, a real-life killer had a bit part in the first film.

Historically, horror has been a convenient scapegoat for public crises. After all, it is easier to ban a movie than to address the real causes of violence in society. However, when a storied franchise like The Exorcist attracts such infamous admirers, it becomes impossible not to take notice and the killers in question have also been linked to Scream, Cruising, and American Horror Story: NYC. There is no reason to believe that their crimes were inspired by these films,...

Nearly 45 years ago, Al Pacino knew his controversial 1980 film Cruising wouldn’t age well.

In his new memoir Sonny Boy, the Oscar winner admitted he found the movie “exploitative” to the LGBTQ community upon its release, revealing that he donated his pay from the William Friedkin-helmed film to various charities.

He explained he was interested in “pushing the envelope” but the project “became very controversial during its production” with protesters at set “almost every day,” concerned the film would depict the LGBTQ community in a negative light, according to People.

Loosely based on the 1970 Gerald Walker novel, Cruising stars Pacino as Detective Steve Burns, who goes undercover in New York City’s S&m bars to catch a serial killer that’s viciously murdering the city’s gay men.

Pacino found Cruising “exploitative” once it was released in 1980, and he ultimately “remained quiet” instead of promoting the film.

Al...

Al Pacino’s filmography is packed with iconic performances, but there’s one movie in his career that left a sour taste. Released in 1980, the film saw Pacino playing an undercover cop infiltrating New York’s underground gay scene to catch a serial killer. The role came with a hefty paycheck, but according to Pacino, it also came with a side of regret.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

Critics and LGBTQ+ activists slammed Cruising for its portrayal of gay culture, sparking protests that haunted the film’s release. Pacino himself later admitted he was uncomfortable with how the movie depicted the LGBTQ+ community, calling it a misstep in his career.

Al Pacino Donated His Cruising Paycheck, Calling the Film a Humiliation to the LGBTQ+ Community Al Pacino in William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) | Credits: Lorimar Film Entertainment

Al Pacino dropped a bombshell in his memoir Sonny Boy.

Four years later, Al Pacino is opening up about his near-death experience with Covid-19.

The Academy Award winner revealed his “pulse was gone” after he had a bad reaction to steroids while being treated for a life-threatening Coronavirus infection back in 2020.

“It was so — you’re here, you’re not,” he told The New York Times. “I thought: Wow, you don’t even have your memories. You have nothing. Strange porridge.”

Pacino recounted, “What happened was, I felt not good — unusually not good. Then I had a fever, and I was getting dehydrated and all that. So I got someone to get me a nurse to hydrate me. I was sitting there in my house, and I was gone. Like that. I didn’t have a pulse. In a matter of minutes they were there — the ambulance in front of my house. I had about six paramedics in that living room,...

John Waters' satirical black comedy horror Serial Mom led many viewers to believe that the movie was based on a true story, though that claim is not entirely true. One of John Waters' classic movies, Serial Mom, stars Kathleen Turner as Beverly Sutphin, an unassuming upper-middle-class housewife who has a dark secret: she is a serial killer. The targets of her murders are anyone she feels has offended her or broken the unsaid rules about quiet, suburban life. As the police get closer to catching her, Beverly doubles down on the killing.

Though Serial Mom flopped at the box office, it has grown into a cult classic. The dedicated performances by Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, and a young Matthew Lillard as well as some clever kills make Serial Mom a film that's a joy to watch from start to finish. The film is not just an excuse for Waters...

Detective stories from the '80s showcased a diversity of genres, including comedies, thrillers, and buddy cop movies, still popular today. Familiar faces like Harrison Ford, Jackie Chan, and Sean Connery starred in these films, while others like Eddie Murphy found success and showcased their talent. Iconic films like "Cruising," "Sudden Impact," and "To Live and Die in L.A." presented unique storylines and performances that defined the detective genre in the '80s.

Detective stories show no signs of going out of style, and while there are great examples in recent years, many of the subgenre's best come from the '80s. The most memorable detective stories keep audiences invested and rooting for the protagonists to succeed in their pursuit of criminals. The bold decade gave rise to these stories told within a variety of genres, including comedies, thrillers, and buddy cop movies.

Because detective films are an extension of the crime and action genres,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSThe Souvenir Part II.Equity, the British entertainment industry trade union, has greeted the incoming Labour government—the first in fourteen years, having won in a landslide—with demands for reforms to the government’s arts funding.Meanwhile, across the Channel, snap French parliamentary elections resulted in an upset victory for the leftist coalition Nouveau Front Populaire over Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which had promised to privatize, at least partially, the national television and radio broadcaster, amid other cutbacks.IATSE has released more details regarding its tentative contract with AMPTP, including allowances and limitations around the use of artificial intelligence.Teamsters Local 399 is still bargaining with AMPTP and may still be far from resolving issues...

This article contains spoilers for "The Bear" season 3.

In "The Bear," it's been well-documented that the often volatile, surprisingly sweet, Taylor Swift-loving Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is a movie fan, and he's particularly enamored with the works of directors like Michael Mann and Ridley Scott. In season 3, we discover that he's also a devotee of William Friedkin, the iconoclastic filmmaker of "The Exorcist," "Sorcerer," and "The French Connection." 

But Richie's fandom goes well beyond simply enjoying Friedkin's films. In episode 4, he references a story about a Japanese Zen garden told by Friedkin in a 2020 documentary in which the director served as the interview subject. That reference alone reveals that Richie admires Friedkin so much that he's gone out of his way to not just watch the director's filmography, but seek out insights into his process.

And the true depths of Richie's interest go even deeper -- all the way into...

Bud S. Smith, an Oscar-nominated film editor who was a regular collaborator with William Friedkin and whose other credits include “Putney Swope,” “Flashdance” and “The Karate Kid,” died Sunday at his home in Studio City, Calif. due to respiratory failure after a prolonged illness. He was 88.

Smith’s death was confirmed by his wife, dialogue editor Lucy Coldsnow-Smith.

Over a career spanning five decades, Smith was a two-time Academy Award nominee: in 1984 for Adrian Lyne’s romance fantasia “Flashdance,” and in 1974 for William Friedkin’s horror classic “The Exorcist,” which Smith shared a nomination for with Evan A. Lottman and Norman Gay. Smith won the BAFTA award for best editing for “Flashdance” and received a career achievement award from American Cinema Editors in 2008.

After beginning in television and working under David L. Wolper in the ’60s, Smith’s first feature editing credit came at the end of the decade with Robert Downey,...

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s whirlwind career of 40-plus movies made within just over a dozen years kicked off with Love Is Colder Than Death. It ended, all too soon, with a sendoff that may as well have been called Death Is Hotter Than Love. Even if it hadn’t wound up being Fassbinder’s final cinematic will and testament, Querelle, an uber-horny but otherwise unorthodox adaptation of Jean Genet’s 1947 novel Querelle of Brest, would still feel like a film precariously perched between rowdy, profane life and that liminal, insatiable zone that always follows la petite mort.

But because the timeline spanning the film’s completion to its release was bisected by Fassbinder’s death from a drug overdose, it’s nearly impossible to avoid overlaying the gorgeously wrecked glamour of his entire career onto the film, draping the virtue of his carnal vices over a package that’s already prodigiously overstuffed.

In December of 1973, two movies that would change the face of horror and the ways it dealt with religion and spirituality were released. One was an instant hit, immediately changing the landscape of the genre forever. The other was severely cut by executives who simply did not understand it and unceremoniously slapped into the B-picture slot on double bills with Don’t Look Now, where it seemed to die a quick death. Over time, it grew from an underground cult discovery to a genre-defining masterpiece. The former is, of course, William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, which remains a terrifying and inimitable masterpiece. The latter is Robin Hardy and Anthony Schaffer’s The Wicker Man, a truly remarkable film that became a flashpoint for an emerging subgenre—Folk Horror. Though both films deal in religion, The Exorcist and The Wicker Man could not be more divided in their approach to the subject.

It is impossible for us to stop talking about Al Pacino, the method actor, who has delivered a number of masterpieces, including Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. The Oscar-winning actor, 83, has had an illustrious career spanning five decades and counting, earning him millions of dollars and making him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars.

Well, any actor would eventually encounter some level of controversy in the course of their career, and Pacino is by no means an exception. Even though the acclaimed actor has starred in some challenging roles in the past, nothing compares to the 1980 flick Cruising, since the entire movie was controversial.

Al Pacino in The Godfather II [Credit: Paramount Pictures]Famous for his work on The Exorcist, William Friedkin directed Cruising, which was loosely based on Gerald Walker’s novel of the same name. Despite working on the film, Pacino left such a negative impression on...

Exclusive: Comedian and writer Julian Clary (Julian Clary: Live – Lord of the Mince) will play the title role in this festive season’s London Palladium pantomime Robin Hood, with singer and travel show presenter Jane McDonald (Cruising with Jane McDonald) topping the bill as Maid Marion.

The annual Palladium show, now in its ninth consecutive season, has become an eagerly awaited staple in the West End’s calendar. It runs from December 7 through January 12, 2025. Priority booking opens 10 Am (GMT) April 25.

Last year’s production, Peter Pan, with comedy legend Jennifer Saunders making her pantomime debut as Captain Hook, and with Clary playing Seaman Smee, was a sold-out success, playing 56 performances -often two a day – to an audience of more than 123,000 at the 2,200 capacity variety house.

When tickets went on sale, there was a moment when 90,000 people were in the queue, waiting their turn to book seats.

Ambiguity in Cruising's ending allows audiences to ponder the unresolved fate of the killer(s) and Steve Burns. The film's title Cruising cleverly signifies both gay community practices and police patrols. The LGBTQ+ community protested Cruising due to fears of reinforcing harmful stereotypes about the community.

The following article contains sensitive subject matter about homophobia and violent hate crimes.

Little was explained about the killer in the Cruising ending, leaving audiences to come to their own conclusions. 1980's Cruising dives into the depths of New York City's gay nightlife and the harrowing pursuit of a serial killer targeting the community. Starring Al Pacino as Officer Steve Burns, the narrative follows his undercover journey into the leather bar scene to catch the murderer. Directed by William Friedkin, known for his work on The Exorcist, Cruising stands out for its gritty portrayal of a subculture then at the margins of society,...

April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.

One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...

Dead Mail at SXSW brings back '80s horror vibes with a nod to influential filmmakers like William Friedkin and David Cronenberg. The film is their own, but directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy say they were influenced by classics like Cruising and The Brood, presenting a grainy retro aesthetic in Dead Mail. Catch the world premiere of this thrilling psychological experience on March 9 at Violet Crown 2 during SXSW!

South by Southwest is back, baby! These days, the acclaimed annual festival extends far beyond the hit music scene, which has welcomed countless award-winning performers. Among the highly anticipated films at the SXSW festival in 2024, for example, is Dead Mail. Yes, the eerie title is meant as a funny and spooky double entendre. The new psychological thriller offers a gloriously retro look at a certain iconic decade known as the 1980s, with a twisty little storyline about a heroic postal service...

The Criterion Collection is known for their dedication to championing classic and contemporary movies we should all be seeing, showcasing them with exquisite transfers and film school-level special features. But when it comes to their streaming service The Criterion Channel, the catalog is a bit looser. And it got weird and worse(?) this month, as they added a 14-title retrospective of the Golden Raspberry Awards. Titled “And the Razzie Goes To…”, Criterion’s grouping compiles 14 movies that come complete with bees, turkey time and whatever the hell Tom Green was doing for the duration of Freddy Got Fingered.

Here is the full list of Razzie flicks now available on The Criterion Channel: Cruising (1980), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Xanadu (1980), Querelle (1982), Under the Cherry Moon (1986), Ishtar (1987), Cocktail (1988), Showgirls (1995), Barb Wire (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Swept Away (2002), Gigli (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006). That’s more than 80 Razzie nominations, ranging from Showgirls’s...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

And the Razzie Goes to . . .

As much as we hate to give Razzies any sort of promotion, The Criterion Channel has a new series to show just how wrong the execrable organization has been over the past decades. Launching today, they are spotlighting comedic gems like Tom Green’s Freddy Got Fingered, Elaine May’s Ishtar, and Neil Labute’s The Wicker Man, alongside Cruising, Heaven’s Gate, Xanadu, Querelle, Under the Cherry Moon, Cocktail, Showgirls, Barb Wire, The Blair Witch Project, Swept Away and Gigli.

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

BlackBerry (Matt Johnson)

In BlackBerry, the rise of a blue-chip tech company sets the stage for the dissolution of a longstanding friendship. Sound familiar? Just wait ‘til you hear the score.

There is, a critic will argue, a great deal of value in finding and discussing the worst films of the year. All the films released in a given epoch are a reflection of the trends and ideas that produced them, and scoring the bottom of the barrel for the worst filmmaking, the worst ideas, and the most misguided thinking will provide a valuable analysis of where we are as a society. Worst-of lists are important and vital and should be written with enthusiasm. They also let critics blow off steam a little bit; we don't have the luxury to skip bad movies or avoid talking about the ones we hate. It's our job.

The Golden Raspberries, or the Razzies for short, however, lost sight of that value a while back. The annual Razzies announcement is usually a snarky affair that only serves to pick on the year's least popular blockbusters,...

Some apotheosis of film culture has been reached with Freddy Got Fingered‘s addition to the Criterion Channel. Three years after we interviewed Tom Green about his consummate film maudit, it’s appearing on the service’s Razzie-centered program that also includes the now-admired likes of Cruising, Heaven’s Gate, Querelle, and Ishtar; the still-due likes of Under the Cherry Moon; and the more-contested Gigli, Swept Away, and Nicolas Cage-led Wicker Man. In all cases it’s an opportunity to reconsider one of the lamest, thin-gruel entities in modern culture.

A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.

16 years after the faux trailer debuted as part of Grindhouse, Eli Roth finally delivered the feature version of Thanksgiving. There were no leftovers, but among the special features on the slasher’s home video release is an audio commentary by Roth and producer-writer Jeff Rendell.

Here are 10 things I learned from the Thanksgiving commentary…

1. The concept dates back to the filmmakers’ childhoods.

Thanksgiving is based on Roth’s faux trailer from Grindhouse, but its origins date back even further than 2007. Best friends since kindergarten, Roth and Rendell grew up in Newton, Massachusetts (about an hour from Plymouth) watching horror movies together.

Inspired by a pivotal theatrical viewing of Silent Night, Deadly Night circa 1984, they longed for a definitive Thanksgiving slasher in the vein of the other holiday horrors.

“We just started thinking of like, ‘What if there was a Thanksgiving slasher movie? You could put someone in an oven, and there was a killer pilgrim,...

The erotic thriller is back, and you'd have to be a prudish killjoy to lament its return.

The subgenre has its roots in the pre-code movies of the 1920s, and '30s, and films noir of the '40s and '50s, but the formula as it exists today was codified in 1980 with Paul Schrader's "American Gigolo" and, most vitally, Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill". And thanks to Karina Longworth's deep dive into best and worst of the subgenre via her indispensable podcast "You Must Remember This," younger viewers who weren't there for the '80s and '90s heyday are now revisiting the stylish highs and Skinemax lows of films in which people occasionally take a break from screwing to commit a string of murders (or investigate said murders with alarming aloofness).

As movies (especially studio productions) got progressively less sexy throughout the 2000s, the...

While looking for a project to follow the success of his films The French Connection and The Exorcist, director William Friedkin came across a book he found to be fascinating: Cruising by Gerald Walker, about “a series of murders in the gay bars of New York, and a detective assigned to go undercover to find the killer”. But Friedkin had already made a movie that centered on gay characters, The Boys in the Band, so he let the Cruising adaptation go by. For a while, Steven Spielberg was attached to direct the film, but wasn’t able to get it into production. In his memoir The Friedkin Connection, Friedkin revealed that it wasn’t until someone he worked with on The Exorcist turned out to be a real-life serial killer that he thought of the way to approach Cruising.

Friedkin wrote in The Friedkin Connection that in 1979 he started seeing...

Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Richard Cox, Don Scardino, Joe Spinelli, Jay Acovone, Randy Jurgensen, Barton Heyman, Gene Davis | Written by William Friedkin, Gerald Walker | Directed by William Friedkin

Within the filmography of the late William Friedkin, one of the most controversial works he delivered was Cruising. Set during a hot summer in New York City, the story sees a serial killer murdering and dismembering several gay men within the world of S&m and leather bars. Assigned to this case is Steve Burns (Al Pacino), an officer whose physical similarities to the victims makes him perfect to go undercover, with the prospect of rapidly advancing his career by doing so.

Poorly received upon release, this film was protested by New York’s gay community under the belief that it stigmatised them. This reviewer admittedly may not be the best judge as an outsider, although I...

Spooky season has arrived, and Alamo Drafthouse is celebrating Halloween in a big way this year. First up, their “Spread Fear” series embraces horror all month long, delivering a witches brew made up of some of the best, bloodiest, downright maniacal horror films out there.

“Our Spread Fear series embraces all the chilling fun of the holiday season with a full slate of some of the greatest horror movies ever put to film,” Alamo Drafthouse previews. “We’re talking The Thing, Ghostbusters (1984), The Lost Boys Movie Party, The Mummy + The Wolf Man Double Feature, a Champagne Cinema screening of The Craft, and so much more.

“But Halloween isn’t all about killers and tortured monsters, it’s also about the candy. The whole family can get in on the spooky fun with Trick or Treat Cinema, a series dedicated to maximum value and maximum fun with discount tickets and candy for everyone.

The Exorcist had a serial killer involved in the first film. Paul Bateson later inspired William Friedkin to make the controversial film, Cruising. The Exorcist Overcame Bateson's Drama to Produce Many Sequels As It Approaches Its 50th Anniversary.

As fans are anticipating the debut of The Exorcist: Believer, it's safe to say that even now, the franchise is permeating through horror circles. Many are ramping up their Halloween festivities by diving into the old Exorcist films, which, to this day, stand the test of time as classics. Even with their flaws, people love the story of Linda Blair's Regan MacNeil and how she got possessed by a terrifying demon.

With Ellen Burstyn returning as Chris (Regan's mom), there'll be a lot of connective tissue between both eras by the time the reboot hits screens. This has folks scouring online for details on its background: how certain groups wanted...

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" isn't just the best Indiana Jones movie, it also looks the best of all the films. 1981's inaugural Indy outing is visually stunning thanks to cinematographer Douglas Slocombe's shot composition and lighting. It's even more impressive how good "Raiders" looks when you consider that director Steven Spielberg was in a bit of a hurry to get his shots in the can.

Writing in American Cinematographer, the esteemed filmmaker revealed how the $20 million budget provided by Paramount Pictures would "pay for 87 days of shooting," but that he had a whole other, 73-day schedule worked out. It was all so that Spielberg could, in his words, "make 'Raiders' economically and make it look like $40 million and, in fact, spend only $20 million."

As a result, "Raiders" had Spielberg doing things he swore he'd never do again, like having Harrison Ford race a 300-pound boulder for the film's famous opening sequence — multiple times.

Damien Chazelle paid a moving tribute to the late William Friedkin at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday (03.09.23).The 'Exorcist' filmmaker passed away last month at the age of 87 but was able to complete his final movie, 'The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial', before he died and it premiered at the event over the weekend.And Damien praised the legendary director for his passion for cinema and his visionary way of working.The 'Babylon' filmmaker, who is presiding over this year's Venice jury, said: “When I first became aware of the name Billy Friedkin I was a child, and the name itself filled me with fear.“I probably had ‘The Exorcist’ in my mind. I hadn’t see the film yet, but I’d seen the letters written in that typeface, and the sound of the word “Fried-kin” seemed to suggest to me the darkest, most forbidden recesses of the imagination.

Damien Chazelle paid tribute to late great director William Friedkin on Sunday in a moving speech at the Venice Film Festival where Friedkin’s last film “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” premiered out-of-competition to warm applause.

Friedkin, who died on Aug. 7 in Los Angeles at age 87, completed the film – which stars Kiefer Sutherland as Lt. Commander Queeg who stands trial for mutiny for taking command from a ship captain he feels is acting in a mentally unstable way that is endangering both the ship and its crew – shortly before passing,

“When I first became aware of the name Billy Friedkin I was a child, and the name itself filled me with fear,” said Chazelle, who is presiding over this year’s Venice jury.

“I probably had ‘The Exorcist’ in my mind. I hadn’t see the film yet, but I’d seen the letters written in that typeface, and the sound...

Most directors would be more than happy to make a single touchstone genre film at some point in their careers. William Friedkin? He made two in just as many years. His 1971 crime thriller "The French Connection" established the template for car chase scenes that's still being used today. Then, in 1973, he made "The Exorcist," the film that got the world to start taking horror seriously as a high art form.

As if that wasn't enough, Friedkin also made not one but two quintessential pieces of queer cinema with "The Boys in the Band" and the controversial but undeniably important "Cruising." Even in his twilight years as a filmmaker, Friedkin was tackling provocative material in the forms of the stage play adaptations "Bug" and especially the twisted "Killer Joe" (a film that played a less-acknowledged yet key role in the McConaissance era of Matthew McConaughey's run as an actor).

With...

William Friedkin was one of the finest American directors, and, as one of the most original voices in cinema, his passing is a major loss for cinema. The filmmaker is best known for all-time classics such as The French Connection and The Exorcist, two movies released at the peak of a movement known as New Hollywood.

Quite early in his career, Friedkin already became one director to keep an eye out for. In the late 70s, he was already at the peak of his career with one Best Director nomination at the Oscar for The Exorcist, a horror movie that revitalized the genre, and a win for his crime thriller The French Connection. Everything changed when the people Friedkin helped enrich with his movies turned their back on him; Friedkin himself turned his back on traditional Hollywood productions.

Related: The Exorcist: Believer Is a Reminder That This Possessed Girl...

William Friedkin, one of the great directors of the New Hollywood movement, died August 7 at the age of 87. The news launched an outpouring of love for the director, whose ’70s and ’80s film work proved some of the most enduring and beloved of that cinema-redefining period.

The son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, Friedkin was born in 1935 and got his start as a director making documentaries for Chicago public television. In 1965 he moved out to Hollywood to advance his career and made his narrative feature debut with “Good Times,” a vehicle for Cher and Sonny Bono. Friedkin put out several generally well-received films, including the groundbreaking “The Boys in the Band” and “The Birthday Party,” but truly broke out with 1971’s “The French Connection.” Starring Gene Hackman and featuring one of the greatest car chase scenes in cinematic history, the movie earned Friedkin a Best Director Oscar and gave him the clout to pursue passion projects.