Directed by Nathalie Boltt and adapted from the novel by Joy Cowley, Holy Days is positioning itself as your granny’s feel-good movie of the year. It’s a broad and syrupy comedy-drama from New Zealand that tells the story of Brian (Elijah Tamati), an indigenous boy who’s been struggling after his […]
Mark Cunliffe
Senior Contributor Mark's first cinematic experience was watching the Cannon and Ball vehicle, The Boys in Blue. He hasn't looked back since. Hailing from St Helens, he is an occasional contributor to Arrow DVD, writing booklet inlay essays on a variety of titles, including Children of Men and The Great Escape. He is a reviewer with IndieMDB and has also written a chapter for Ste Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence's book, Scarred For Life Vol II. Other sites he has written for include We Are Cult, Horrified, and America's left-leaning news outlet ZNetwork. Publications he has written articles for include Stat Magazine and the fanzine Undefined Boundary: The Journal of Psychick Albion. He is also a regular contributor to the Geek Show's podcasts, including Pop Screen and the Uncut series, and he can be found on Letterboxd.
Outside the Blue Box: Virtual Murder – A Torch for Silverado (1992)
2026 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Jon Pertwee. As such, it seems only fair that we shine a light on an example of his work, specifically a relatively overlooked example of his work at the twilight of his days. The early 90s BBC telefantasy crime series Virtual […]
Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco’s Spain (1972 & 1974) Unabashed horror that puts most feature lengths to shame
As Transmission’s release this week has it, the 1970s were an interesting time in Spain. A country in flux, Spain was beginning to enjoy and increased economic prosperity that clashed with the Francoist fascist regime the nation had endured for, up until that point, almost forty years. Even the cheesy […]
Into the Forest: Folktales at DEFA (1955-77) The Film That Made Paul Whitehouse Pee His Pants (as a child)
If you asked a person on the street if they know anything about East German folk tales, there’s a good chance they’ll say no, but if you mention The Singing Ringing Tree to people of a certain generation then some will feel twinges of nostalgia, and possibly trauma. Eureka have […]
Seahorse (Raindance Film Festival 2026) A Compassionate Feature Debut
Having just completed its run at the UK Raindance Film Festival, Seahorse is an affecting and well-intentioned feature debut from Canadian actor & filmmaker Aisha Evelyna. As well as writing and directing the film, Evelyna also takes the lead role of Nola, a Toronto woman seeking stability following a stay […]
Game (2025) Without Frontiers
Released online from June 18th and with a Blu‑ray scheduled for the 29th, Game marks the debut writer and producer credit of Portishead and BEAK’s Geoff Barrow, a man who had previously dipped a toe in cinematic waters composing soundtracks for Alex Garland’s Annihilation and Civil War, and releasing OSTs […]
The Professional (1981) Belmondo Goes Rogue for Revenge
Released to Blu-ray on the Radiance label this week comes The Professional (Le Professionnel), a 1981 action thriller starring French cinema legend, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Once the darling of the French New Wave in films such as A bout de souffle, Pierrot le Fou and Une femme est une femme for […]
Outside the Blue Box: Three Kinds of Heat (1987)
The first thing to note about Three Kinds of Heat, a fairly typical, bargain basement piece of 80s B movie filmmaking from the Cannon Group, is that it’s a film with three kinds of connections to Doctor Who. The first, least obvious connection, is the actor Trevor Martin, who was known for playing […]
Outside the Blue Box: Antigone (National Theatre Live, 2012)
When asked about the possibility of a multi-Doctor story, Jodie Whittaker has always expressed a desire to see her Thirteenth Doctor team up with the Ninth, as played by Christopher Eccleston. For his part, Eccleston has said that “The father of us all is William Hartnell, but the greatest Doctor […]
István Szabó: Mephisto/Colonel Redl/Hanussen (1981-1988) Faustian Pacts & A Landmark Trilogy on Complicity
Released to Blu-ray by Second Run this week is a boxset of films from acclaimed Hungarian director István Szabó. Made between 1981 and 1988, these three films (Szabó himself is loathe to term them as a trilogy, though they have thematic- to say nothing of geographic and historical – similarities) […]