Comrade Courant Culture Critic

The Last Circus (2010): A Masterpiece of Grotesque National Grief "Most horror clowns want to kill you. The clowns in The Last Circus are already dead—killed by fascism, machismo, and a country that never buried its past." — 5/5 Stars The Last Circus (2010) reveiw: In the oldest sense of the word, this Spanish tragicomedy is incredible : awe-inspiring, grotesque, stunning, and heartfelt. Directed by the visionary Álex de la Iglesia, this Spanish tragicomedy uses the clown as a vessel for national trauma, transforming the circus ring into a bloodstained arena where Spain’s unburied past—Franco, fascism, machismo—rages like a ghost that refuses to rest. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and its long, suffocating aftermath, the film follows Javier (Carlos Areces), a gentle soul born into a family of circus clowns, who is drafted into a militia and forced to trade laughter for ...

A Punk Rock Grindhouse Horror, Spare Parts (2020) A Punk Rock Grindhouse Horror, Spare Parts (2020) What's more punk rock than getting your arm hacked off and replaced with a rivet-shooting axe by a cult of junkyard freaks? On paper, Spare Parts should play like a scratched-up VHS discovered at a squat party — a bloody, DIY manifesto against good taste. In practice, it's more like a band with all the right influences but no distinct sound. Ambitiously grimy, knowingly trashy, but leaving its best riffs on the cutting-room floor. Short-Ass Summary Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt, this Canadian flick follows Ms. 45, an all-girl punk band touring through hell—or, at least, the worst parts of America. After a setup ripped from a seventies revenge thriller, they're captured by a cult led by a wannabe Caesar (the great Julian Richings) and forced into gladiatorial games. The ticket price? Their fucking limbs, swapped for cr...

Sinners (2025): A Southern Gothic Vampire Epic Rooted in Tradition "A maximalist horror musical that honors every vampire rule—and weaponizes them against Jim Crow." — 4/5 Stars Sinners (2025) review: Vampire movies often punish those who stray from the rules. Holy water, garlic, stakes through the heart—these aren’t suggestions. Sinners , Ryan Coogler’s operatic Southern Gothic horror musical, doesn’t just follow the rules—it worships them . This is a film where vampires need permission to enter a home , flee from sunlight , recoil at holy water , and fall to wooden stakes . The mythology is classic, even reverent. The revolution is elsewhere. Set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, the film follows twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” and Elias “Stack” Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan), World War I veterans who return to their Black hometown to open a juke joint for their community. But thei...

Crimes of the Future(2022): Cronenberg Returns with a Visceral Vision of Human Evolution "A chilling, visually audacious provocation that lingers long after the credits roll—just maybe not in the way you’d want it to." — 4/5 Stars For devotees of cerebral body horror and those unafraid to stare into the abyss of biological obsolescence, Crimes of the Future is a singular, unforgettable experience—grotesque, brilliant, and defiantly Cronenbergian. Let’s be clear: if the words “written and directed by David Cronenberg” don’t make your stomach flutter with a mix of dread and anticipation, you haven’t been paying attention. With Crimes of the Future (2022)—a film that shares only its title with Cronenberg’s obscure 1970 debut of the same name (the two are completely unrelated)—the legendary auteur returns to his roots with a slow-burning, surgically precise meditation on art, mutation...