Few people are as vital to the development of post-WW2 European horror as Italy’s Lucio Fulci, and although his films are not as beloved as Dario Argento’s or as critically acclaimed as Mario Bava’s biggest hits, his mixed oeuvre (which ranges from giallos to fantasy to westerns), is full of […]
4k Restoration
Blood and Black Lace (1964) Style Over Substance in Vignettes of Violence (Review)
Newly restored from its original negative and presented in its original uncut form, Mario Bava’s classic 1964 giallo Blood and Black Lace has recently been released by the good people at Arrow Films. Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, this stylish slasher concerns a series of murders centring around Rome’s […]
Cross of Iron (1977) Sam Peckinpah’s unconventional war story just as gritty and grim today (Review)
Legendary filmmaker Sam Peckinpah is always destined to be one of cinema’s most misunderstood voices. His predominantly macho body of work dealt with frustrated, pent-up groups of men on missions that traverse the abyss, often losing themselves and sending many others into its deep nothingness along the way. Although milder […]
The Lighthouse (2019): a 4K illumination for a modern cult classic (Review)
Aptly for a director so invested in orally told tales – superstitions, fisherman’s stories, Icelandic sagas – Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse is already accruing its own legend. It’s one of the few modern films to have a legendarily tough shoot, all of which is unpacked in the three-part making-of documentary […]
Naked Lunch (1991): a special edition big enough to feed anyone’s addiction (Review)
One of the great things about Arrow Video’s Blu-Ray special edition of David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch is that the package does the same thing as the film: it uses cutting-edge technology to immerse you in the stranger corners of a now-lost era. In Cronenberg’s case, that meant using Chris Walas’s […]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Almost 50 years later, it has lost none of its power (Review)
Sally, her brother Franklin, and three of their friends are sidetracked when travelling to a grandparent’s house. Their impromptu detour leads them into the clutches of the Sawyer family, and the deranged killer known as Leatherface. There has been so much written about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre over the years […]
The Driver (1978) Walter Hill’s influential, minimalist crime classic (Blu-Ray Review)
Even though it’s only Walter Hill’s second feature, The Driver feels like it was made by someone with decades of experience. Hill takes tropes from old-school Westerns and Noirs and strips them back to their most primitive forms, although it retains a revisionist approach to the genres where no character […]
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) One of the earliest and purest examples of cinematic dread (4K Blu-Ray Review)
Few cinematic movements have been as influential to the formation and development of cinema as German Expressionism. Its intricate and fantastical set design, emphasis on close-ups and fantastic use of dynamic lighting to craft deep shadows have gone on to influence a wide range of Hollywood genres from gothic horror […]
Tremors 4K (1990) Electric Paced Creature Feature & ‘Modern’ Classic (Blu-ray Review)
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) A deeply unnerving character study (Review)
Disturbing films were in abundance throughout the late 70s and early 80s. With films such as Driller Killer, Cannibal Holocaust, The Last House on the Left and many more being branded “Video Nasties” and essentially blacklisted by the BBFC. Most of the shocking value of these films comes from grotesque […]