I wrote a (very) short story about working a cleaning job and a slightly longer one about a man who strikes up a conversation with a girl half his age.
Two Stories
'Early Shift at the Diaconia' and 'Wild Horses'
fredbarrett.substack.com
Fred Barrett
@fredbarrett.bsky.social
writer, future victim of the deep state | https://fredbarrett.substack.com/
I wrote about Kiyoshi Kurosawa and the ways in which history, ghosts, and capital manifest in his work. I also discuss how a pulpy 1948 short story anticipated a key aspect of his films.
The Hypnotist
On Kiyoshi Kurosawa, history, ghosts, and capital
fredbarrett.substack.com
I wrote about Obsession, Backrooms, YouTubers, and the epidemic of bland competence.
Childishly Fresh Eyes
On Curry Barker's 'Obsession' (2025), Kane Parson's 'Backrooms' (2026), YouTube cinema, and the competence epidemic
fredbarrett.substack.com
For the Electric Dreams newsletter I wrote about Jean Renoir’s weird detective story Night at the Crossroads, Makoto Naito’s supercharged actioner 13 Steps of Maki, and Wisit Sasanatieng’s romantic Western melodrama Tears of the Black Tiger.
Electric Trio Vol. 12
'Night at the Crossroads' (1932), '13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats' (1975), and 'Tears of the Black Tiger' (2000)
fredbarrett.substack.com
I wrote about Twin Peaks, being depressed, returning to writing, and life in 2026.
One Day the Sadness Will End
On David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: The Return' (2017), writing, depression, and being alive in 2026
fredbarrett.substack.com
![NEW: @potus letter to @jonasgahrstore links @NobelPrize to Greenland, reiterates threats, and is forwarded by the NSC staff to multiple European ambassadors in Washington. I obtained the text from multiple officials:
Dear Ambassador:
President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]
“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreie7itpptx3xbxhpsnlaqmwk752h7pcrion5ija2apksljtax2adx4)
New Monstrum slipped in just before 2025 ended! Essays on "vegan & animal welfare horror": cannibals, plant-witches, the King of the Ants & scared little rabbits in HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES. @mikethorn.bsky.social @fredbarrett.bsky.social and others #openaccess www.monstrum-society.ca/monstrum-v8-...
Fred Barrett provides a retrospective review of Stuart Gordon's King of the Ants, observing vegan allegory in the “dehumanizing” cruelty meted out by the film's human antagonists. @fredbarrett.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2hp6967b
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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...
Past and Present in the Cinema of 2024
A Year In Review
peterraleigh.substack.com
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
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
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