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11:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
Suspiria (1977 ITA): Dario Argento’s legendary thriller gets a rare widescreen television airing this evening on Fox. It’s the story of an American student (the perfectly cast Jessica Harper) attending a dance academy in Italy, and the strange, bloody things she finds there when she isn’t practicing her échappés and pliés. One of the strangest (and certainly one of the LOUDEST) films of all time, Suspiria doesn’t always make sense (a trait it shares in common with most Argento films), but if ever a film deserved the appelation grand guignol, this is the one.

Sunday 6/20/10

9:00 PM IFC
Gothic (1986 GB): I run hot and cold on director Ken Russell’s output, sometimes within the course of the same film (though Tommy is awful from first frame to last). Such is the case with Gothic, Russell’s paean to the infamous quartet of Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, and Mary and Percy Shelley, who (at least according to the film) dreamed up Frankenstein during the course of one sexed-up, drug-addled night in the country. It’s basically the Brat Pack set in 19th century England, though Timothy Spall (as Polidori) is never going to be anyone’s idea of Judd Nelson. If you can live with Russell’s apparent conceit that too much is never enough, you’ll at least appreciate the visual qualities of Gothic.

Monday 6/21/10

4:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
His Kind of Woman (1951 USA): Robert Mitchum stars as a gambler up to his ears in loan sharks in this above average RKO crime drama. Bob plays Dan Milner, who accepts a job offering him a cool $50,000, with which he plans to pay off his debt. It’s easy money, too, or so it appears—all he has to do is spend a year in Mexico in a fancy resort. Of course, things aren’t as simple as they appear: he’s actually a victim of identity theft, as mob boss Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) is going to pretend to be Dan in order to gain admittance back into the United States. Trouble ensues. Co-starring Jane Russell as a sexy songthrush and Vincent Price as a failed Shakespearean actor (shades of Theatre of Blood!), His Kind of Woman was directed by John Farrow and features a score by Leigh Harline.

6:00 PM HBO
GasLand (2010 USA): This brand new HBO documentary played Sundance in January but is only now getting wide exposure. I haven’t seen it yet, but it deals with ‘hydraulic fracturing’, a method by which natural gas is removed from the ground across a wide swath of the Eastern Seaboard. Director Josh Fox, whose family was offered a deal for the gas beneath their property, decided to travel throughhout the region to see what effect ‘fracking’ has had on other communities. Apparently, it ain’t good. Also airs at 9:00 PM.

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