‘April Fool’s Day’ (1986) gets into the weeds of holiday horror
Horror movie flashback (Review): After Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day, the slasher genre is really pushing it, but this film is mildly fun.
Mystery
‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’ gets dark for Season 12 (2009-10)
Sleuthing Sunday (TV review): Justice is not so cut-and-dried for Poirot as he tackles his most famous case and three other compelling ones.
It’s hard to break away from ‘Severance’ Season 2
TV review: Despite a couple slow episodes, Dan Erickson’s show succeeds by being a character-driven puzzle box.
‘Oxford Inheritance’ (2016) is cozy but too generic
Book club book report: Ann A. McDonald creates an invitingly mysterious campus, but does nothing remarkable with plot or characters.
‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ Season 3 (1957-58) goes out like a lion
On a Hitchcock kick (TV review): The director teams with writer Roald Dahl for one of TV’s great instances of macabre humor, “Lamb to the Slaughter.”
‘Nightmare Town’ (1999) an essential cross-section of Hammett’s work
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): This landmark collection gives us more of the Op, all three Spade shorts and fascinating one-offs.
‘Double Indemnity’ (1944) a deliberate classic of film noir
Wilder Wednesday (Movie review): Stiffer than Wilder’s later masterpieces, his adaptation of Cain’s novel helps stamp a genre into public consciousness.
‘Hunter and Other Stories’ (2013) cleans out Hammett’s files
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): Unpublished and under-published tales are rounded up from the author’s archives, but this is for serious fans only.
‘Deep Red’ (1975) not deeply profound, but it gets Argento noticed
Frightening Friday (Movie review): One of the most famous “Psycho”-influenced films smooths off the edges of Argento’s earlier work.
‘Dain Curse’ (1978), Hammett’s most emotional novel, gets miniseries treatment
Sleuthing Sunday (TV review): Although he doesn’t resemble Hammett’s description, James Coburn makes an appealing screen version of the Continental Op.