Fred Barrett
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
writer, future victim of the deep state | https://fredbarrett.substack.com/
Happy Halloween! Halloween belongs to horror so I wrote about Massimo Dallamano’s brutal giallo/poliziottesco hybrid What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Banmei Takahashi’s weird home invasion thriller Door, and Clifton Holmes’ SOV nightmare In the Dark
Electric Trio Vol. 11: Halloween Edition
'What Have They Done to Your Daughters?' (1974), 'Door' (1988), and 'In the Dark' (2000)
fredbarrett.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Happy Halloween! Halloween belongs to horror so I wrote about Massimo Dallamano’s brutal giallo/poliziottesco hybrid What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Banmei Takahashi’s weird home invasion thriller Door, and Clifton Holmes’ SOV nightmare In the Dark
since it’s halloween season i decided to write some words (okay, a lot of words) on Tobe Hooper and one of his great unsung masterpieces, Spontaneous Combustion
I Can Almost See the Core
On Tobe Hooper's 'Spontaneous Combustion' (1989), the nuclear family, and modernity's terrible hidden structures
fredbarrett.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
since it’s halloween season i decided to write some words (okay, a lot of words) on Tobe Hooper and one of his great unsung masterpieces, Spontaneous Combustion
i wrote about Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and about how it isn’t really about Yukio Mishima at all
Where the Filmmaker Pours Himself In: Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | In Review Online
A new Kicking the Canon essay on Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, directed by Paul Schrader, for film review site In Review Online.
inreviewonline.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:09 PM
i wrote about Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and about how it isn’t really about Yukio Mishima at all
wrote a short story about an aimless young woman trying to navigate a new relationship while also being stalked by a cat killer
The Cats of Coral Springs
A young woman meets an animal killer
fredbarrett.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
wrote a short story about an aimless young woman trying to navigate a new relationship while also being stalked by a cat killer
Electric Trio vol. 10 is out! me and my friend Alex took a look at Germain Dulac’s silent melodrama The Cigarette, Howard Hawks’ late style racing film Red Line 7000, and Takashi Komatsu’s voyeuristic cyberpunk thriller Scan Doll. tap in:
Electric Trio Vol. 10
'The Cigarette' (1919), 'Red Line 7000' (1965), and 'Scan Doll' (1996)
fredbarrett.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Electric Trio vol. 10 is out! me and my friend Alex took a look at Germain Dulac’s silent melodrama The Cigarette, Howard Hawks’ late style racing film Red Line 7000, and Takashi Komatsu’s voyeuristic cyberpunk thriller Scan Doll. tap in:
for In Review Online, i wrote about The Return of the Living Dead, counterculture, punk rock, cynicism, and how the horror genre lost its subversive power in the 1980s. check it out:
First as Tragedy, Then as Farce: The Return of the Living Dead & the Arc of 1980s Horror | In Review Online
A new Kicking the Canon essay on The Return of the Living Dead, directed by Dan O'Bannon, for film review site In Review Online.
inreviewonline.com
August 25, 2025 at 7:31 PM
for In Review Online, i wrote about The Return of the Living Dead, counterculture, punk rock, cynicism, and how the horror genre lost its subversive power in the 1980s. check it out:
Electric Trio Vol. 9 is here! i wrote about Sara Gomez’s radical docudrama One Way or Another, Jin Chen’s melancholy romance Love in the Internet Generation, and Laurel Nakadate’s haunting coming of age DV drama The Wolf Knife. tap in!
Electric Trio Vol. 9
'One Way or Another' (1975), 'Love in the Internet Generation' (1998), and 'The Wolf Knife' (2010)
fredbarrett.substack.com
August 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Electric Trio Vol. 9 is here! i wrote about Sara Gomez’s radical docudrama One Way or Another, Jin Chen’s melancholy romance Love in the Internet Generation, and Laurel Nakadate’s haunting coming of age DV drama The Wolf Knife. tap in!
some new fiction — i wrote a short story about two people falling in love, daydreaming, battling illness, slipping through time, and succumbing to desire while waiting for a train
Tangerines and Agent Orange
Hamburg II
fredbarrett.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 6:10 PM
some new fiction — i wrote a short story about two people falling in love, daydreaming, battling illness, slipping through time, and succumbing to desire while waiting for a train
i wrote about David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, wanting to be a corpse, being on vacation, listening to Prefab Sprout, and the beauty of ruining your life
Cars and Girls and Corpses
On David Cronenberg's 'The Shrouds' (2024), wanting to be a corpse, listening to Prefab Sprout, and the beauty of ruining your life
fredbarrett.substack.com
May 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
i wrote about David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, wanting to be a corpse, being on vacation, listening to Prefab Sprout, and the beauty of ruining your life
Reposted by Fred Barrett
As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more
The enduring horror of Kiss Me Deadly
As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more.
lwlies.com
May 9, 2025 at 11:50 AM
As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more
i wrote about Robert Aldrich’s 1955 noir classic Kiss Me Deadly, its enduring legacy, ecstatic truths, and the long shadow of the atomic bomb for @lwlies.com
The enduring horror of Kiss Me Deadly
As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more.
lwlies.com
May 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
i wrote about Robert Aldrich’s 1955 noir classic Kiss Me Deadly, its enduring legacy, ecstatic truths, and the long shadow of the atomic bomb for @lwlies.com
Electric Trio Vol. 8 is up! this time around i wrote about a particularly nocturnal noir, a gritty romantic drama, and a baffling, spellbinding sci-fi fantasy film that proves once and for all that love is in fact the answer. tap in
Electric Trio Vol. 8
'Too Late for Tears' (1949), 'Hong Kong, Hong Kong' (1983), and 'Jessica Forever' (2018)
fredbarrett.substack.com
April 11, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Electric Trio Vol. 8 is up! this time around i wrote about a particularly nocturnal noir, a gritty romantic drama, and a baffling, spellbinding sci-fi fantasy film that proves once and for all that love is in fact the answer. tap in
Reposted by Fred Barrett
new short story is up on the newsletter. i wrote about a young hockey player whose game comes to a premature end after a nasty slash by an opponent
Foppa
An injury at a hockey game
fredbarrett.substack.com
March 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
new short story is up on the newsletter. i wrote about a young hockey player whose game comes to a premature end after a nasty slash by an opponent
new short story is up on the newsletter. i wrote about a young hockey player whose game comes to a premature end after a nasty slash by an opponent
Foppa
An injury at a hockey game
fredbarrett.substack.com
March 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
new short story is up on the newsletter. i wrote about a young hockey player whose game comes to a premature end after a nasty slash by an opponent
Reposted by Fred Barrett
about a month late to the party but i finally put together a list of my favorite films from last year. i also included some honorable mentions, mainly because i was looking for an excuse to write about Denzel Washington's Gladiator 2 performance. tap in:
The Best Films of 2024
Looking for new ways forward
fredbarrett.substack.com
January 31, 2025 at 5:57 PM
about a month late to the party but i finally put together a list of my favorite films from last year. i also included some honorable mentions, mainly because i was looking for an excuse to write about Denzel Washington's Gladiator 2 performance. tap in:
didn’t quite manage to get this out before the new year but here’s a new Electric Trio for you all! featuring a silent romantic drama, a surreal noir mystery, and a no-frills car chase actioner
Electric Trio Vol. 7
'The Wedding March' (1928), 'The Possessed' (1965), and 'Motorway' (2012)
fredbarrett.substack.com
January 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
didn’t quite manage to get this out before the new year but here’s a new Electric Trio for you all! featuring a silent romantic drama, a surreal noir mystery, and a no-frills car chase actioner
Reposted by Fred Barrett
Year-end roundup of sorts: for Long Library, I wrote about how some of my favorite films of 2024 (and one of my least favorite) reflect the complicated relationship between contemporary cinema, nostalgia, and the history of the medium
peterraleigh.substack.com/p/past-and-p...
peterraleigh.substack.com/p/past-and-p...
Past and Present in the Cinema of 2024
A Year In Review
peterraleigh.substack.com
December 16, 2024 at 4:42 PM
Year-end roundup of sorts: for Long Library, I wrote about how some of my favorite films of 2024 (and one of my least favorite) reflect the complicated relationship between contemporary cinema, nostalgia, and the history of the medium
peterraleigh.substack.com/p/past-and-p...
peterraleigh.substack.com/p/past-and-p...
will drop a new Electric Trio piece before the year is over but in the meantime check out the films the column has already covered — Antonioni-flavored slashers from HK, forgotten German Expressionist classics, art horror pornography... lots of good stuff
Electric Trio
All the films featured in my newsletter's Electric Trio column, where I look at some of cinema history's underseen, underappreciated, and forgotten works. Links to the capsule reviews are in the notes...
boxd.it
December 5, 2024 at 5:55 PM
will drop a new Electric Trio piece before the year is over but in the meantime check out the films the column has already covered — Antonioni-flavored slashers from HK, forgotten German Expressionist classics, art horror pornography... lots of good stuff
excited to share a new Electric Dreams piece, this one on Luchino Visconti’s Sandra, a film not usually considered amongst his greatest. guest contributor Sebastian makes a compelling case for why it deserves to be reconsidered
Glimmering Stars of the Great Bear
On Luchino Visconti's 'Sandra' (1965)
fredbarrett.substack.com
December 4, 2024 at 4:48 PM
excited to share a new Electric Dreams piece, this one on Luchino Visconti’s Sandra, a film not usually considered amongst his greatest. guest contributor Sebastian makes a compelling case for why it deserves to be reconsidered
Reposted by Fred Barrett
I’m fairly biased since these are two of my very favorite guys, but really loved this wide-ranging conversation between @fredbarrett.bsky.social & Alex (not on here just yet) on the politics & aesthetics of Megalopolis. Give it a look: fredbarrett.substack.com/p/the-image-...
The Image Is the Feeling It Creates
A conversation about Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' (2024), rewriting the canon, auteurism, and the future of cinema
fredbarrett.substack.com
November 20, 2024 at 5:44 PM
I’m fairly biased since these are two of my very favorite guys, but really loved this wide-ranging conversation between @fredbarrett.bsky.social & Alex (not on here just yet) on the politics & aesthetics of Megalopolis. Give it a look: fredbarrett.substack.com/p/the-image-...
i sat down with the inimitable Alex (aka @dogshit95) last month to pick his brain on a wide range of topics, including tech utopianism, the politics of filmmaking, the state of criticism, and the aesthetics of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis
The Image Is the Feeling It Creates
A conversation about Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' (2024), rewriting the canon, auteurism, and the future of cinema
fredbarrett.substack.com
November 20, 2024 at 6:48 PM
i sat down with the inimitable Alex (aka @dogshit95) last month to pick his brain on a wide range of topics, including tech utopianism, the politics of filmmaking, the state of criticism, and the aesthetics of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis
Reposted by Fred Barrett
Okay, well, some people I can recommend to follow if you like movies, criticism, and good posts:
@petreraleigh.bsky.social
@narrativematters.bsky.social
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
@petreraleigh.bsky.social
@narrativematters.bsky.social
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
November 11, 2024 at 7:41 PM
Okay, well, some people I can recommend to follow if you like movies, criticism, and good posts:
@petreraleigh.bsky.social
@narrativematters.bsky.social
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
@petreraleigh.bsky.social
@narrativematters.bsky.social
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
after a four-month absence, Electric Trio is finally back. to mark its return (and in honor of the halloween season) i took a look at five underappreciated horror films. tap in:
Electric Trio Vol. 6: Halloween Quintet
'Satan's Rhapsody' (1917), 'The White Reindeer' (1952), 'Through the Looking Glass' (1976), 'Ogroff' (1983), and 'Loft' (2005)
fredbarrett.substack.com
October 27, 2024 at 4:46 PM
after a four-month absence, Electric Trio is finally back. to mark its return (and in honor of the halloween season) i took a look at five underappreciated horror films. tap in: