‘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.
suspense
Is Noah Hawley’s ‘Anthem’ the First Great American Pandemic Novel?
Like Philip Roth and Kurt Vonnegut before him, Noah Hawley hopes his novel, Anthem, can compete with reality.
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.
Tea and Scones Suspense: Hitchcock’s “English” Movies of the Early 1940s
Although Hitchcock left Great Britain for the United States in 1939, his first two films -- Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941) -- nonetheless remained set firmly in English culture. His depictions helped craft perceptions of English life for decades to come.
Stop Laughing: A Difference of Laughter Between British and American Hitchcock
While Alfred Hitchcock is famous for the humor that he injected into his thrillers, there are striking differences in the humor between his British and American periods.
Hitchcock 101: 1935-1938 – ‘The 39 Steps’ to ‘The Lady Vanishes’
In Day Two of our Director Spotlight series on the Master of Suspense, we revisit the four strongest films of Alfred Hitchcock’s British period.
Decisions and Crossroads in Jonathan Lethem’s ‘A Gambler’s Anatomy’
Saving face and facing a new life in the colorful times of a gambling backgammon master.
Matthew Weiner’s ‘Heather, the Totality’ Is Chillingly Empty
The Mad Men creator's debut novel has noir roots but plumbs his familiar territory of modernist anxiety with a savage precision.
‘Dinner at the Center of the Earth’ Is Chillingly Compelling
Dinner at the Center of the Earth shows there can be no balance in a world solely populated by avengers.
John le Carré’s ‘A Legacy of Spies’ Has That Old Dark Magic
A Legacy of Spies, John le Carré’s first George Smiley novel since 1990, finds the spymaster’s old henchman forced to excavate the details of a long-buried mission they both wish they could forget.
Horror-Thriller Film ‘Intruders’ Plays with the Home Invasion Genre
Director Adam Schindler’s home invasion film Intruders shows promise, but its’ lack of distinguishing features holds it back from being a better thriller.
Library of America Rethinks Women and the Hard Boiled Tradition in New Set of Women’s Crime Writing
This box set represents a nuanced perspective not only of the crime fiction genre, but of women's contributions to mid-century American culture.