‘Backrooms’ Is Horror Cinema’s ‘Lost’
Kane Parsons’ uncanny creeper Backrooms is a Borgesian labyrinth of thrilling yet ultimately disappointing potential. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
psychological thriller
The Catalytic Power of Basic Instinct’s Interrogation Scene
In Basic Instinct‘s interrogation scene, Sharon Stone’s body becomes both lure and barrier, asserting agency while destabilizing authority.
Motel Destino’s Heat and Architecture of Desire
Karim Aïnouz’s films portray characters in states of displacement. In Motel Destino, that displacement becomes spatially literal.
Charli XCX Immortalizes a Moment
By satirizing Brat’s success, The Moment argues that Charli XCX is ambivalent to the accolades she cannot help but chase.
Joker’s Prophecy About American Neoliberalism
Joker provides a keen understanding of the deleterious effects of American neoliberalism, which the authors dismantle in Send in the Clowns with a mordant deadpan wit.
3 Unsettling 2025 TV Shows You Shouldn’t Miss
Sci-fi philosophy, shocking history, and metafictional puzzles dominate these unsettling yet weirdly intriguing TV shows.
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ at 25 and the Power of Perception
While The Talented Mr. Ripley acknowledges that 1950s-era gay men lived in hiding, Ripley uses his perceived status as a privileged male shrewdly.
Dark Winds’ Tale of Memory and Monsters at Monument Valley
Fusing mystery with mysticism, Navajo Nation psychological thriller Dark Winds conjures memory and monsters at Monument Valley.
‘La Cérémonie’ Explores Social Class Struggles with Chilling Exactitude
Filmed under a cool glass of calm and enwrapped in an airy atmosphere, La Cérémonie makes judicious use of its setting to starkly contrast its warring classes.
Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Severance’ Paints Sublime and Subversive Art
More than just corporate propaganda, the subversive artworks in Severance hold a strange place in Lumon Industries’ ideological fabric.
Akira Kurosawa Films 101: 1950 – 1952
Today’s Kurosawa 101 explores two of the greatest films in Kurosawa’s catalog, Rashomon — the film that made Kurosawa and Japanese cinema known throughout the world — and Ikiru — perhaps the greatest film ever made about impending death.
Sheena Kamal’s ‘No Going Back’ Unfurls a Thrilling Noir
Kamal's psychological thriller, No Going Back, utilizes crime-noir tropes but with purposeful deviations.