I admit that I’m not as well versed in silent cinema as I should be. I’ve seen the odd classics like Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but it’s mostly the out-there genre films and comedies are mostly what I’m aware of from the silent era. Out now on […]
Liam Willis
Enemy Territory (1987): Arrow Rescue Another Empire Pictures Hidden Gem from VHS
1987’s Enemy Territory has often been described as a knockoff of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. I decided to watch the two together, mainly since I hadn’t actually seen the latter film before. I originally planned on doing an in-depth comparison of the two, yet I found that similarities […]
May (2002) A Disturbing Yet Emotionally Moving Cult Horror Driven By a Fantastic Lead Performance (Review)
Almost immediately gaining cult status on release, May could easily be mistaken for what is simply an offbeat comedy drama before its horror elements come to the fore in its final act. Yet Lucky McKee’s directorial debut is also an often tragic look into loneliness. The closest thing I can […]
The Laureate (2021) A Frustrating, Misguided and Melodramatic Biopic of a Fascinating True Story (Review)
I recently purchased Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout on Blu-Ray, a rather intriguing surrealist horror film based upon a short story by poet Robert Graves, who is played in a fictionalised version in that film by Tim Curry. The Laureate is a far more direct portrayal of Graves’ life, being a […]
Mystery Train (1989) A Trip to Memphis, With or Without Rose Tinted Glasses (Review)
Mystery Train was director Jim Jarmusch’s 4th film and his first since his low-budget debut, Permanent Vacation, to be shot in colour. His previous two were strikingly shot in black and white, which suggests that Jarmusch wished to visually capture Memphis in the best way that he could. Despite being […]
The Whisper of Silence (2020) Fascinatingly Meditative Yet Risks Aimlessness at Times (Review)
The Whisper of Silence is the first film from El Salvador to be given a general release in the UK, and director Alfonso Quijada showcases the country in a way that is very attractive to the viewer. Normally an abundance of establishing shots would strike me as padding but here […]
The Middle Man (2021) Offbeat Dark Comedy Contains Plenty of Darkness But Not Enough Comedy (Review)
I saw The Middle Man pitched as the Coen brothers meet David Lynch, which certainly piqued my interest, yet after watching the film it turned out to be much more Coen brothers than Lynch. In fact, I feel that the comparison to the latter is only loosely based on the […]
The Final Programme (1973) 1970s Psychedelic Cult Classic Still Holds Up (Review)
In the new featurette ‘A Feast of Fuest’, Kim Newman proposes that if Robert Fuest had a more successful career, he would’ve possibly become a serious rival to Ken Russell. This is a view that I harboured for most of the time I spent watching The Final Programme. I couldn’t […]