I MARRIED A WITCH — SHOCKTOBER!

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While this classic screwball comedy's obvious influence on inspiring "Bewitched," that great '60s/'70s television show, it's Veronica Lake who casts the longest shadow.

Talk about iconic.

Veronica Lake is at her most seductive as Jennifer, a witch being chaperoned by her alcoholic witch dad (Cecil Kellaway). Daughter and dad travel by broom while resting as smoke plumes.

Ted Tetzlaff's cinematography is so lush it could bring a tear to your eye.

Prolific French director René Clair sets a racy tone for the comedy to spike with sexy innuendo.

Jennifer is a shameless homewrecker to Fredrick March's Jonathan Woodley, a small town politician on the verge of marrying local socialite Estelle (Susan Hayward).

René Clair allows his energetic actors to snap their dialogue into a modern rhythm that is contagious. We get swept up in the promise of unreasonable romance and all of the destruction that it brings.

"I Married A Witch" is a high concept movie, especially for 1942. The picture carries a Frenchness in its lighthearted attitudes regarding relations between men and the women who enchant them.

Very witchy indeed.

Not Rated. 77 mins.

 

APARTMENT 7A — SHOCKTOBER!

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Co-writer/director Natalie Erika James ("Relic") delivers a fierce pro-abortion horror prequel to "Rosemary's Baby" that twists a cinematic knife into the MAGA conspirators that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Julia Garner is exquisite as Terry Gionoffrio, a Broadway dancer whose career is put on a long hold after an accident while performing.

An offer to live in the Gothic Bramford building (actually the Dakota), promises a new lease on life for Terry if a date with the Devil doesn't derail everything.

Digs at the patriarchal practices of cruel Broadway directors who take advantage of their position to demean and humiliate auditioning actors, provides a potent rebuke.

Beautiful set and costume designs add texture to "Apartment 7A" as a sharp horror movie that will have you squirming in your seat.

Here is a great excuse to go back and watch Polanski's original film, after seeing "Apartment 7A."

Nightmares may follow. Abortion isn't the worst thing in the world.

Rated R. 104 mins.

CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT

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Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

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"Caligula: The Ultimate Cut" is an apt title for this cinematic abomination. If you have already seen "Caligula" then you are well aware of just how twisted and exciting that film is for its sheer audacity.

"43 years after the 1980 release of historical epic CALIGULA, producer and reconstructionist Thomas Negovan has realized the creators' original vision."

What a load of bullshit.

Thomas Negovan has effectively drained all of the lifeblood from the Tinto Brass-directed film that Bob Guccione was clever enough to spice up with outrageous sex scenes. What remains is barely even watchable.

The outre sex spectacles of the original film are the very thing that make this 1979 movie the masterpiece that it is.

Thomas Neogovan makes a punk move by attempting to usurp the original version for his own stupid ego. Foolio.

Here is sexploitation in reverse. It's 22 minutes longer than the original, and boy does it feel like it.

Don't waste your time on this wrongheaded exercise in entropy.

Not Rated. 178 mins.

ZERO STARS