“How Can We Leave With All This Money Just Lying Around?” - Rest in Pieces (1987) - Film #209

 

Although Spanish director José Ramón Larraz has received a fair amount of acclaim, his near-masterpiece Rest in Pieces (1987) is rarely included in a list of his best films. This is curious, as the film is a perfect example of the violent, supernatural, murder mystery with no mystery, one of the most underrated of the horror subgenres.

Some of your universe's critics dismiss Rest in Pieces unfairly. For example, reviewer TeenVamp writes, "Movies like this being released on blu ray makes my brain hurt. Why? It sucks." Reviewer soggycow writes, ""Rest in Pieces" is not a very good movie. In fact, I found this movie to be quite a bore." And reviewer In_tru_der writes eloquently, "This movie is not good, it's supposed to be horror, but it didn't frighten me at all."

Read on for a fair, unbiased appreciation of one of José Ramón Larraz's finest films, Rest in Pieces...

“Combining the Supernatural with Physics” - Fatal Exam (1990) - Film #208

Today's entry in the annals of Senseless Cinema is the St. Louis-set Fatal Exam (1990), directed by Jack Snyder, who would later direct several films and TV movies, and in fact claim in his IMDB biography that his first film was the St. Louis-shot Ghost Image (2007). Fatal Exam is a fine example of regional filmmaking made with character and intelligence and the presumably overwhelming urge to make sure the audience understands everything that is going on at every second, even if this requires characters to repeat the same information dozens of times.

Oddly, some of your universe's critics mistake the film's clarity for dullness. For example, reviewer itchy_cnp writes, "This movie is excruciatingly long....it turned into an endurance exercise." Reviewer allentitinik-83208 writes, "No idea what I just watched." And reviewer Eric Cotenas of DVD Drive-In writes, "FATAL EXAM is "fatally" overlong and flat-out boring at 114 minutes."

Of course, a film like Fatal Exam is to be savored, and critics with taste would never complain about its length. Please read on for a proper appreciation of Fatal Exam...