Caye Casas’ first solo feature is a difficult film to review because its plot hinges on an unexpected and horrifying event early on. It’s doubly difficult as it’s currently on the festival circuit with no clear future in terms of wider distribution, making it hard to recommend since it isn’t […]
Spain
The Dead Mother (1993) Dark Spanish Thriller with a Super Daring Twist (Review)
Rapture (A.K.A. Arebatto) Thought-provoking Spanish Cult Film Finally hits UK Shores(1979)(Review)
The House that Screamed (1969)Messy Spanish Proto-slasher almost saved by a ghoulish, genius finale (Review)
If Spanish horror was a man, his name would be Narciso Ibáñez Serrador. Known as “Chicho” by fans, Serrador brought stories of the thrilling and chilling to Spain’s television screens for almost three decades with his popular anthology series Tales to Keep You Awake – though, to international viewers, he’s […]
Blood Hunger: The Films of José Larraz (Review)
The number of bums on cinema seats may be falling and streaming platform’s as numerous as they are unstoppable, with home video falling somewhere between the two. Even so, there will always be a place for DVD and Blu-ray collectors thanks to labels giving boutique releases to the weird, wonderful […]
S15E31 – Too Fabulous To Be Human
Vampir Cuadecuc (1971) A Surprisingly Sensual and Beautiful avant-garde Vampire Movie (Review)
Sometime in the early 2000s, a Peruvian government spokesman was forced to testily deny online rumours that some of the country’s cabinet were vampires. “A government cannot go around sucking the blood of its people”, the spokesman claimed, inviting the obvious rejoinder; which government has ever refrained from this? The […]
The Olive Tree (2016) Spanish Social Realism and the history of our homelands (Review)
The Olive Tree (or El Olivo as it’s known in its native Spanish) is director Icíar Bollaín’s third collaboration with the writer and long-term screenwriting partner of Ken Loach, Paul Laverty. It is an aesthetically beautiful, heartfelt and spiritual film that explores the notions of hope, tradition, history and economic […]
Stella Cadente (2014) Shakespeare’s Richard II as a Peter Greenaway film (Review)
Anybody wondering whether Stella Cadente is a traditional royal costume drama will have their questions answered about twenty-six minutes in, when the King’s assistant goes out to the woods to have sex with a melon while an aria from Madame Butterfly plays. As confident in its own eccentricities as you’d […]