Dementia (1955) / Daughter of Horror (1957) (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV Dementia (1953), equally known under a later title, Daughter of Horror (a 1957 release), is a difficult film to describe. Originally conceived by writer-producer-director John Parker as an experimental short with no spoken dialogue, it was expanded to 58 minutes and played few theatrical bookings in 1953 and '55 before it was acquired by producer-distributor Jack H. Harris, who cut several minutes and added some narration by a young Ed McMahon, who is briefly, murkily glimpsed in added footage, at least it appears to be him. That version, Daughter of Horror, also had few bookings. However, scenes from the reedited Daughter of Horror turned up as the movie playing at the movie theater in the Harris-produced The Blob (1958). The identity of that film-within-a-film was a mystery for many years. Then as now, critics and audiences are sharply divided about Dem...Read the entire review »

Highball (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: Highball is a fascinating little relic from the late '90s. It was co-conceived and directed by Noah Baumbach, who removed his name from the finished product along with co-writers Carlos Jacott and Christopher Reed (the current home video version has their credits restored). Much like Paul Auster and Wayne Wang's Blue in the Face, which was a largely improvised lark that drafted off the production momentum of the much more polished film Smoke, Highball was shot in a week shortly after the production of Baumbach's Mr. Jealousy. Most of the cast is carried over, although the recognizable actors take a ...Read the entire review »