// Category Archive for: True Crime

Theatre Review: Torquil Campbell’s “True Crime”

By Sachin Hingoo

“I am not my art, and he is not me,” says Torquil Campbell. It ends up being the least truthful line in True Crime, a new one-man show by the Stars frontman. In the piece the musician tells of his uneasy obsession and growing relationship with the “he” in that statement, the very real con man and alleged murderer, Christian Gerhartsreiter. The work is fiercely honest, but perhaps it’s only honest about being a lie.

But if you want to see it, you’ll have to hurry: True Crime only runs until Saturday at the Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre in Toronto’s east end.
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Netflix Review: Team Foxcatcher

By Tyler Hodg

The chilling story of “philanthropist” John du Pont and his shocking murder of Dave Shultz is eerily depicted in the Netflix original documentary, Team Foxcatcher. The story was previously fictionalized in the five-time Academy Award-nominated film simply titled Foxcatcher. (more…)

Movie Review: The Fear of 13

By Tyler Hodg

Some say life is stranger than fiction; The Fear of 13, a documentary by British filmmaker David Sington, is a whirlwind collection of unbelievable anecdotes told by Death Row prisoner Nick Yarris, which seem too crazy not to be true. Now available on streaming giant Netflix, the film publicizes humane perspectives of criminals, and those often unfairly tossed aside by society.

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SXSW Movie Review: Beware The Slenderman

By Brad Henderson

Beware The Slenderman is one of the most intense, chilling, and scary documentaries ever to exist.

If anyone has surfed any Internet forums, then they most likely they know about Slenderman. What started as a Photoshopped picture on SomethingAwful spawned a urban legend that has made its way into stories, video games, and even movies. Slenderman has only existed for a little over a decade, but it didn’t really get popular until videos started appearing on the Internet.

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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #09: Cults

Welcome to Episode #09 of The Official Popshifter Podcast, “Cults! or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Manson Family.”

The reemergence of cults into popular culture leads hosts Less Lee Moore and Jeffery X Martin into a conversation encompassing The Veil, Lana Del Rey, Charles Manson, matriarchal societies, and more.

In Case You Missed It: February 14 – 20, 2016

By Less Lee Moore

We are thrilled to publish a Retro Review of The Zombies’ classic Odessey and Oracle album from none other than esteemed musician, Lenny Kaye!

The Witch, which has received an overwhelming number of positive reviews, opened on February 19. Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life, but I think you should go see it. Here’s why.

There’s been yet another death in the music world this week: Vanity, who most will remember as a Prince protégé and the singer for Vanity 6, but who also delighted movie and TV audiences in Action Jackson and Miami Vice, respectively. Unicorn Booty has the scoop on this, the return of Orphan Black, Kendrick Lamar’s secret stash, and much more.

It’s February, and that means it’s Women in Horror month. Maybe Angela Lansbury’s role on Murder, She Wrote wasn’t straight-up horror, but it’s still iconic. Did you know that she’s going strong at 90 years old? It’s true. Just last year, she reprised her role as Madame Arcati in the play Blithe Spirit, which toured North America. Here’s a great list of nine of the best Murder, She Wrote episodes.

There’s been a lot of talk about Silence of the Lambs recently, as the 25th year of its release approaches. While it’s still criticized for its depiction of trans and gay people, the character of Buffalo Bill was a composite of several real-life serial killers, including Ed Gein. Although most crimes are still committed by straight folks, as this article points out, freaky sex crimes and murders are equal opportunity. Here’s a list of ten scary but true gay psychopaths.

We’ve got TV recaps on Popshifter, y’all! The new episode of The X-Files (which is probably my fave yet in this tenth season), Outsiders (where you’ll learn about a “pitfight”), and Lucha Underground (spoiler alert: it involves baby oil).

What happened this week on Today In Pop Culture? Turntables, flying cows, Modern Art outrage, King Tut, and cats.

Today In Pop Culture: The Breaking Of Patty Hearst

By Jeffery X Martin

How nice it must be, we think, to come from money. Old money. The kind of money you don’t even realize you have because you’ve had it for so long. Money you didn’t earn. You’re going along, living your life, rich as balls, going to a liberal arts college and wearing sweaters when you don’t have to because you’re rich, and why not?

Then it all comes crashing down, and the next thing you know, you’re wanted for bank robbery.

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Today In Pop Culture: I’m Not Saying It Was A Yeti, But…

By Jeffery X Martin

Today in Pop Culture, a hike in the snowy mountains turned deadly for nine hikers in the Soviet Union. The cause of their death has never been determined. If it has, the Russian government has never released it. All they will say is that something killed those mountaineers. You’ll hear all kinds of conspiracy theories about what murdered those people, cockamamie theories from one side of the Internet to the other.

Come on.
We all know the Yeti got them.

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Today In Pop Culture: Polanski Runs For The Border

By Jeffery X Martin

TRIGGER WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

You don’t often think about people fleeing the country unless its wartime, and there’s a flood of refugees hitting the shores. But sometimes, people get the hell out of Dodge because they’ve done something horribly wrong and want to avoid going to the hoosegow.

It’s even weirder when the person fleeing is an internationally known film director.

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Assemblog: March 22, 2013

Under The Bed

New this week on Popshifter: LabSplice says Brad Anderson’s new movie The Call is “guided by a very sure hand”; Emily thinks Shooter Jennings is worthy of his dad’s crown on The Other Life; Paul recommends Old Man Markley’s Down Side Up; I unabashedly gush about Suede’s Bloodsports, categorize the movie Deadfall as a “gritty, rewarding genre exercise,” admire the fashion sensibilities of Redd Kross in their new video for “Uglier,” and review four films from Canadian Music Week Film Fest 13: Ain’t In It For My Health, The History of Future Folk, The Last Pogo Jumps Again, and Apocalypse: A Bill Callahan Tour Film.

Please note: there will be no Assemblogs for the next three weeks. I’ll just be providing round ups of that week’s articles. The Assemblog will be back in full effect on April 19.

I’m sad to report that our ongoing column “TV Is Dead, Long Live TV” is on hiatus. If you’re interested in picking up the coverage of the transformation of television from linear to its currently shifting model, please drop me a line at editor@popshifter.com.

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