Check the Back Shelf

A look at the weirder world of cinema that video stores provided beyond the “New Releases” section. These unusual treasures were in the back of the shop, tucked away from the casual movie fans. B-movies, horror, foreign films, and rare bootlegs were just some of what was waiting there to be discovered.

Check The Back Shelf vol. 2 – The Hong Kong WITNESS: A look at WILD SEARCH (Starring Chow Yun-Fat)

April 4, 2019 Matthew Essary 0

The regional cinema of Hong Kong, at one time, was said to produce the best action films ever released. Hong Kong filmmakers used inventive staging and a heavy focus on stunt and fight choreography, putting those aspects on equal footing with the other elements of constructing a film, like casting and editing. It was not unheard of for the crafting of these scenes to take up the bulk of a film’s shooting days. This commitment to creating thrilling sequences led to the phrase “Hong Kong-style action” being used as high praise for any film intended to thrill an audience.

Check The Back Shelf vol. 1 – Django versus the Japanese Mafia: A look at 1972’s YAKUZA WOLF (Starring Sonny Chiba)

March 19, 2019 Matthew Essary 0

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. . . “

When essayist, Charles Caleb Colton uttered this famous quote, he could not have known how well it would apply to so many modern-day situations, as a film enthusiast it immediately makes me think of the explosion of films that arrived in the wake of Sergio Corbucci’s seminal 1966 Italian western, DJANGO.