Probably the most amusing thing about Woody Allen’s 1975 film Love and Death is how well it works despite practically hitting you over the head with how literate you need to be to get some of the best (and funniest) jokes. On the other hand, you don’t need to be a student of Russian literature or philosophy at all to nearly die laughing when Woody’s character, Boris, is trapped inside a gigantic lit cannon that rolls downhill during the big battle scene and fires him into a tent full of French officers, making him a temporary war hero of sorts.
There are a few other big laughs as well, but the bulk of the film’s humor springs from the one-two punch of Allen’s writing and flawless direction as he captures the moods of his put-upon characters as they go through their dramatically (and intentionally) dreary lives in 19th Century Russia. As bleak as that last sentence sounds, it’s one of Allen’s best comedies because it skewers its subject matter (and subjects) so well that you can’t help but laugh even when the worst is happening…
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Bad horror movies come in all types, but 1975’s The Devil Within Her (or I Don’t Want to Be Born) gets its own special place in film history for a few reasons. As you’re watching it and being completely baffled, amused and probably annoyed at what’s onscreen, you’ll probably wonder just what the hell got some very talented actors to commit to such an incredibly dumb movie. Just get a good look at that poster to the left and yes, your brain is popping already, right?
Based on what transpired after it hit theaters back in 1960, one could almost say that career suicides don’t come any better or more stylish than acclaimed director Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. Controversial immediately upon release in the UK, the film was banned for many years from public showings in some countries, but took on a life of its own as the years passed and is seen as a genre classic by many horror fans today.
If you were an impressionable young lad or young lady of a certain age growing up in the 1970’s, the TV commercial for this film probably scared the piss out of you and more than once at that. I was 14 and at the time this came out and man, it freaked the hell out of me, especially when it popped up late at night.
If you’re a creaky old horror film buff like me, Tim Burton’s 1999 film Sleepy Hollow is a nice little love letter to a few classics. Of course, going in not knowing what the director is paying homage to works just fine, particularly if you also toss out ANY notions that he’s going to to a straight retelling of the original Washington Irving short story. Granted, I’d bet most people who went to see this back when it was released weren’t stuffy critics who poked at the movie for not staying close to that moldy lore at all (or had even read the story, for that matter). If you wanted a well-paced horror flick with some solid performances, great visual effects and a few shocks along the way, you got that and then some. Those of us who saw this with one eye out for the director’s reference material were more likely than not a great deal more giddy by the time those credits rolled… 
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