JP Hunsecker

[jp-hunsecker]

Syncretic Theology, Anachronistic History, and Industrial Logic in Hellbound (1994)

Syncretic Theology, Anachronistic History, and Industrial Logic in Hellbound (1994)

Obviously, the title Hellbound (1994) means to be bound for hell, but would that be Catholic hell or Jewish hell? The movie treats Judaism n

[jp-hunsecker]

War Machine (2026): Narrative Dissonance and Asymmetric Intelligence

War Machine (2026): Narrative Dissonance and Asymmetric Intelligence

War Machine (2026) is about a bunch of nameless grunts battling an alien, self-driving mecha. If the goal was to keep the audience from inve

[jp-hunsecker]

The Illusion of Complexity: Auteur Deconstruction, Aesthetic Regression, and Ideological Friction in Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

The Illusion of Complexity: Auteur Deconstruction, Aesthetic Regression, and Ideological Friction in Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Looking back, Snatch’s greatest achievement was creating the illusion of intelligence. Either that was a fluke, or Guy Ritchie has spent the

[jp-hunsecker]

Redirected (2014): Internalized Balkanism and Narrative Solipsism

Redirected (2014): Internalized Balkanism and Narrative Solipsism

Redirected (2014) is a Lithuanian-British co-production directed by a self-loathing Lithuanian filmmaker. You could argue that Emilis Vėlyvi

[jp-hunsecker]

Never Sleep Again (2010): Epistemological Terror, the Political Economy of the Culture Industry, and Performative Iconography in A Nightmare on Elm Street

Never Sleep Again (2010): Epistemological Terror, the Political Economy of the Culture Industry, and Performative Iconography in A Nightmare

The insightful documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) — chronicling the rise, fall, revival, and relapse of the nightma

[jp-hunsecker]

Structural Mechanics, Institutional Incongruities, and Dramaturgical Decay in Youth Sports Cinema: Going for Gold (2018)

Structural Mechanics, Institutional Incongruities, and Dramaturgical Decay in Youth Sports Cinema: Going for Gold (2018)

Narration is flaccid, sloppy writing. It’s worse when, on top of telling you how the characters feel, it tells you how you’re supposed to fe

[jp-hunsecker]

Structural Dissolution and Criminological Absurdity in California Scheming (2014)

Structural Dissolution and Criminological Absurdity in California Scheming (2014)

Heavy is the hand that wrote California Scheming (2014). Early on, a character actually says, “God, I love cyberbullying!” Psychologists stu

[jp-hunsecker]

Epistemic Hubris, Narrative Rube Goldberg Mechanics, and Socioeconomic Sophistry: Bad Genius (2024)

Epistemic Hubris, Narrative Rube Goldberg Mechanics, and Socioeconomic Sophistry: Bad Genius (2024)

Bad Genius (2024) lives up to its title, although not in the way it intended to. The protagonist is not an “evil” genius — she just sucks at

[jp-hunsecker]

The Phantom of Ratiocination: Intertextual Displacement, Cinematic Toxicology, and Genre Subversion in Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

The Phantom of Ratiocination: Intertextual Displacement, Cinematic Toxicology, and Genre Subversion in Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), directed by Gordon Hessler, is named after the famous detective short story, but its plot is mostly fit fo

[jp-hunsecker]

Anatomizing the Neutralized Auteur: Narrative Compromise, Administrative Absurdity, and Studio Sanitization in Dennis Hopper’s Chasers (1994)

Anatomizing the Neutralized Auteur: Narrative Compromise, Administrative Absurdity, and Studio Sanitization in Dennis Hopper’s Chasers (1994

I would have expected a film directed by Dennis Hopper and featuring Tom Berenger, Crispin Glover, Gary Busey, Seymour Cassel, and Dean Stoc

[jp-hunsecker]

Anachronism, Mythmaking, and Narrative Blindness in B-Cinema: A Historiographical, Criminological, and Scientific Analysis of The Swordsman (1992)

Anachronism, Mythmaking, and Narrative Blindness in B-Cinema: A Historiographical, Criminological, and Scientific Analysis of The Swordsman

The Swordsman (1992) opens with an intertitle stating that Alexander the Great owned a sword “blessed by Apollo.” When he died, “he had the

[jp-hunsecker]

Deconstructing The Oval Portrait (2025): Adaptation, Narrative Expansion, and Theoretical Friction in Gothic Cinema

Deconstructing The Oval Portrait (2025): Adaptation, Narrative Expansion, and Theoretical Friction in Gothic Cinema

The Oval Portrait (2025) styles itself as being “Edgar Allan Poe’s.” If writer-director Adrian Langley meant it in a Ship of Theseus sort of

[jp-hunsecker]

The Theological and Rhetorical Paradoxes of Nefarious (2023): Narrative Asymmetry, Ideological Subtext, and Genre Hybridity

The Theological and Rhetorical Paradoxes of Nefarious (2023): Narrative Asymmetry, Ideological Subtext, and Genre Hybridity

Nefarious (2023) is a weird little movie best described as either a supernatural The Life of David Gale (2003), a reverse Primal Fear (1996)

[jp-hunsecker]

Exegesis of Cinematic Syncretism: Theological, Psychological, and Gender Mechanics in Hell Hath No Fury (2026)

Exegesis of Cinematic Syncretism: Theological, Psychological, and Gender Mechanics in Hell Hath No Fury (2026)

Hell Hath No Fury (2026) peaks very early. The prologue is set in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve don’t speak English or any language I can

[jp-hunsecker]

Forget about Pinhead, Jason, and the Leprechaun going to space — Scream 7 is the new final frontier of shark jumping.

The Simulation of Terror: Media Theory, Information Limits, and Dramaturgical Failure in Scream 7

Forget about Pinhead, Jason, and the Leprechaun going to space — Scream 7 (2026) is the new final frontier of shark jumping. The film purpor

[jp-hunsecker]

The Anomie of Manufactured Joy: Philosophical Paradoxes, Narrative Incoherence, and Ideological Authoritarianism in Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

The Anomie of Manufactured Joy: Philosophical Paradoxes, Narrative Incoherence, and Ideological Authoritarianism in Hector and the Search fo

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014) has many things that make me unhappy, including but not limited to: a long, descriptive title; an

[jp-hunsecker]

Deconstructing the Horror-Comedy Body Swap: Epistemic, Phenomenological, and Cultural Incoherence in Freaky (2020)

Deconstructing the Horror-Comedy Body Swap: Epistemic, Phenomenological, and Cultural Incoherence in Freaky (2020)

Serial killing is not funny, and neither are body-swapping movies. However, if you’re going to do something wrong, at least do it right. As