Author: Josh Zyber

Josh Zyber is a veteran movie and home theater reviewer from Laserdisc to Blu-ray and beyond. He previously wrote for DVDFile.com, DVDTalk.com, Primetimer.com, and Home Theater magazine.

It’s Unscientific, Unexplainable, Unnatural, Unreasonable | House (1977) Criterion Blu-ray

House / Hausu (1977)

I’ve liked, loved, disliked, or hated countless movies over the years. I’ve felt indifferent to many others. Never before have I had an experience like watching House (or Hausu if you prefer), the 1977 Japanese cult film about a group of annoying teenage girls who get trapped in a haunted or demon-infested mansion. I’m left… Read More It’s Unscientific, Unexplainable, Unnatural, Unreasonable | House (1977) Criterion Blu-ray

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The Poetry of War | Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) Criterion Blu-ray

Ghost Dog (1999) - Forest Whitaker

Jim Jarmusch might not be the first name one would consider to direct a hitman thriller. In most of his early work, such as Stranger Than Paradise or Mystery Train, the indie auteur established a very laconic style of character drama mostly lacking much in the way of plot or… well… drama. Today, we’d probably… Read More The Poetry of War | Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) Criterion Blu-ray

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Film After 11 Podcast | Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man No Way Home (2021)

This week’s double-length episode of the Film After 11 podcast is a doozy. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters, my son Thomas and I started off talking about its predecessor, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Somewhere along the way, the conversation went off the rails and… well, let’s just say that, like any Marvel… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

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Anybody Can Achieve Alpha | The Fury (1978) Blu-ray

The Fury (1978) - Amy Irving

Hilariously, during an early scene in Brian De Palma’s 1978 supernatural thriller The Fury, a character actually says out loud, “No particular talent is needed to achieve.this.” Wow, could a better summation of the movie exist? That’s it right there. Review over. The end. No, I’ll go on a little if I must. The Fury… Read More Anybody Can Achieve Alpha | The Fury (1978) Blu-ray

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I’m Fairly Well Conditioned to Shock | Experiment in Terror (1962) Blu-ray

Experiment in Terror (1962) - Lee Remick

A title like Experiment in Terror seems primed for disappointment six decades and change later. Could any film from 1962 actually scare a jaded audience conditioned by modern horror movies to expect graphic violence and gore from something with a name like that? Perhaps not, even probably not, especially once you tell those same viewers… Read More I’m Fairly Well Conditioned to Shock | Experiment in Terror (1962) Blu-ray

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A Hundred Is Enough | Drowning by Numbers (1988) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Drowning by Numbers (1988) - Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson

In many interviews and talks, Peter Greenaway has declared with some certainty and no small amount of pomposity that narrative and character development are not only inessential, but weaknesses of the cinematic medium. He treats his work not as “movies” in the widely-accepted sense, but as a form of visual art in motion, the sort… Read More A Hundred Is Enough | Drowning by Numbers (1988) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

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Kinski Skinski | Cat People (1982) 4K Ultra HD

Cat People (1982) - Nastassja Kinski

I learned a somewhat interesting fact from watching Paul Schrader’s 1982 quasi-remake of Cat People. Actually, I had to look it up afterward. Regardless, now I know that leopards and panthers are the same species, differentiated mainly by color. Perhaps that’s common knowledge to others, but I’d never given it any thought previously, until confused… Read More Kinski Skinski | Cat People (1982) 4K Ultra HD

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