Misan[trope]y is written by Dr. Gordon Maples, an amateur film critic and film history aficionado. Over the course of earning his BA in History from the University of Alabama, he focused on studying film, television, and entertainment media as primary historical sources, which included taking dedicated courses on influential works like Dr. Strangelove and The Twilight Zone. Gordon is also known for his past work as an secular organizer and activist, as well as his current work as a scholar and researcher in the field of higher education. He recently earned a PhD in Higher Education at North Carolina State University, and previously earned his MEd in Higher Education Administration at Vanderbilt University.

Misan[trope]y is a collection of film  reviews and overviews that generally focus on works that are publicly regarded as “bad” or “cult”. Posts at Misan[trope]y aim to spotlight the historical placement of the films, the previous and future works of the cast and crew involved in them, and the stories inherent to their productions, rather than strictly on criticism of the films’ quality. History is almost always written by the victors, and the realm of film is no exception. I think the losers often have stories to tell, too, and that goes beyond the scope of most traditional criticism.

About the name:

Misan[trope]y is pronounced like “misanthropy”. It is a portmanteau incorporating the word “trope” into the term, changing the meaning to be “a dislike of overused themes and devices”. One of the most frequent elements of “bad” movies is that they overuse the most familiar tropes, which is often pointed out by unhappy critics and audience members alike. Sometimes, films are written off too simply due to the influence of knee-jerk “misantropey,” and merit serious reassessment. Sometimes, they were rightfully dismissed in the first place. This movie blog is a place for this reassessment to take place, one “bad” movie at a time.

Contact:

You can direct review requests, comments, complaints, etc to:
mail@misantropey.com

Sections:

Post Index

The complete list of posts from the history of Misantropey.com, going back to 2012.

Ivy on Celluloid

Reviews and analysis of movies about higher education or set on college campuses. This is my academic focus area, so these posts tend to be a bit longer than most of my others.

(Plot)opsy Podcast

A short-form podcast where I cover the trivia and narratives surrounding specific movies. (Plot)opsy is a portmanteau, of the terms “autopsy” and “plot”. The show is an investigative analysis “post-mortem” to understand the causes of a movie’s financial or critical failures.

IMDb Bottom 100

In January 2014, I made a resolution to watch and review the entire IMDb Bottom 100 by the end of the year. I did mixed-medium text and video reviews on each movie as I cut my way through the list. You can find all of the reviews under the IMDb Bottom 100 tag on the top bar, and the full YouTube video playlist here. Since 2015, I have only occasionally gone back to cover new entries into the ranking. These reviews are generally shorter and less informative than my post-2014 reviews, and some of these movies have been covered twice because of this.

Water Foul

A collection of the worst aquatic-themed monster movies. There’s a lot of them.

Larry Cohen Collection

A collection of reviews covering the career of the unappreciated, late, great, b-movie master, Larry Cohen. I did an interview with Cohen a few years ago, which you can check out here.

Clerk’s Pick

I used to let my local video store clerks pick movies for me to watch, research, and review. Unfortunately, I moved, and the shop closed down not long after. These two events are undoubtedly related.

(God)Awful Movies

A collection of reviews on bad religious movies.

Killer Robot Week

A week of reviews spotlighting some of the least memorable killer robots in b-movie history.

Stuart Gordon Spotlight

Reviews and background information on the complete filmography of the late b-movie icon Stuart Gordon.

Bargain (Bin)ge

These posts focus on specific stores and events where movies and soundtracks are sold or rented around the United States, as well as the movies that were acquired there. Physical media has taken a bit of a nosedive as of late, so there hasn’t been anything recent here.