Serial-killing scent-savant in a tale that embodies the 18th century — Initial release: 2006 Director: Tom Tykwer When I first sat down to watch Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, the 2006 psychological thriller from the director of Cloud Atlas and Run Lola Run, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The premise is lurid enough: amidst the stench of 18th-century Paris comes a man with no odor…

A film about racial and cultural boundaries, the cycle of violence, and who really owns the New World — Initial release: 1992 Director: Michael Mann Is there anything more absurd than two empires fighting over stolen land? The Seven Years’ War, considered by some historians to be a dress rehearsal for the world wars two centuries later, basically boils down to the British and French Empires having a dick-measuring contest, and dragging their respective colonies…

Obscure indie folk horror from the depths of the VHS graveyard — Initial release: 1983 Director: Avery Crounse Robert Eggers’ 2015 cult hit The VVitch was a social phenomenon, a tale of a dark time in American history, during a dark time in American history. …

Caribbean capers and morally-grey murder in stabbing series’ popular pirate prequel — Initial release: 2013 Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Platform: Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Wii U In 2007, in response to Bioshock’s confused approach to morality vs. gameplay, game developer Clint Hocking coined the term ludonarrative dissonance. In short, it refers to the split between what a game’s story expects you to do versus what the gameplay expects (or allows) you to do, and how that…

The world is a sea of blood in this noir-influenced jidaigeki horror — Initial release: 1971 Director: Toshio Matsumodo A while back I discovered the existence of zankoku jidai-geki, or “cruel period drama.” Developed in the 1960s amidst violent student protests, right-wing terrorism, and an exploding economy as Japan re-industrialized, zankoku jidai-geki was a response to the revival of heroic samurai films of the 1950s. Beginning with films like…

Honor and revenge in a key moment in Japanese history — Initial release: 1962 Director: Hiroshi Inagaki The way lots of media have it, honor is everything in medieval Japan. Seppuku is common, media will tell you —especially Japanese media — and honor and saving face are all that matters. While it’s a complex topic — and the oft-cited bushido code wasn’t really codified until the Edo…

A gory love letter to 2D horror action — Initial release: 2021 Developer: Andrade Games Platform: PC It’s funny how much of collective geek culture in the west owes its existence to Japan. From anime to video games, to the samurai flicks of the 60s and 70s and America’s long fascination with J-horror, we’re deeply influenced by Japanese nerds who in turn were influenced by American pop…

Comedy-horror meets wuxia in this Hong Kong cult classic — Initial release: 1987 (first film), 1990 (second film) Director: Ching Siu-tung (both films) Where do I even start with A Chinese Ghost Story? This pair of movies (and a third one in 1991) is just so completely bananas, a whirlwind tour-de-force of absurdity, that trying to write about them like I would most other films feels pointless. I guess I’ll start with the…

Exploitation in the time of plague — Initial release: 2020 Directed by: Neil Marshall CW: for discussion of sexual assault. Sometimes I look at the kind of films today that get made amidst the towering juggernauts of superhero megafranchises and I get this distinct vibe that filmmakers are trying to bring back the 1970s, that we’re in the midst of a revival of the…