Kiyoshi Kurosawa – MRQE

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (TV)

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Martin Scorsese narrates this tribute to Val Lewton, the producer of a series of memorable low-budget horror films for RKO Studios. Raised by his mother and his aunt, his films often included strong female characters who find themselves in difficult situations and who have to grow up quickly. He is best remembered for the horror films he made at RKO starting in 1940. Starting with only a title – his first was The Cat People – he would meticulously oversee every aspect of the film’s completion. Although categorized as horror films, his films never showed a monster, leaving it all to the viewers imagination, assisted by music, mood and lighting.

The J-Horror Virus

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

How did a single Big in Japan videotape change the course of global horror history? Find out in this insightful documentary charting the origins, evolution and diffusion across the world of a distinctive brand of Japanese supernatural chillers featuring vengeful ghosts manifesting themselves through contemporary technology against a backdrop of urban alienation and social decay. From PSYCHIC VISION: JAGANREI (1988) and straight-to-video SCARY TRUE STORIES to such key titles as RING (1998), PULSE (2001) and THE GRUDGE (2002), critics and filmmakers reflect on how the bleak Dystopian visions and unsettling atmospheres infiltrated their way into the worlds shocker consciousness.

Hitchcock/Truffaut

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book Hitchcock/Truffaut (Le cinéma selon Hitchcock), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.

Mikadoroido

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

During World War II, the Japanese military established a secret underground laboratory in Tokyo. Three Olympic-level athletes were selected to undergo a process that would turn them into Jinra-go, superhuman armored soldiers. By March 1945, one of the soldiers had been completely transformed into the half man/half machine ultimate soldier called Mikadroid. But American B-29s firebomb the city and, while the two super soldiers manage to escape, Mikadroid and the lab are apparently destroyed. 45 years pass, Tokyo is rebuilt, and old secrets are forgotten. The site is now home to a complex that includes the Discoclub Layla. The discos patrons dance late into the night, unaware that a faulty basement generator has reactivated Mikadroid and the cyborg now prowls the basement levels, killing anyone in its path…