In 1945, the proclaimed king of thriller writers in Europe, James Hadley Chase penned his novel, Eve. Set in the seamy side of the Hollywood film industry, this psychological thriller told the story of Clive Thurston, a shipping clerk who stumbles upon a talented but TB-stricken writer who subsequently dies […]
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 Lancashire, he is an occasional contributor to Arrow DVD, writing booklet inlay essays on a variety of titles, including Children of Men and The Day of the Jackal. He has also written a chapter for Ste Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence's book, Scarred For Life Vol II. He is often found on Letterboxd, has appeared on the Talking Pictures podcast and also writes for We Are Cult, Horrified and America's left-leaning news outlet ZNetwork. He is also a regular contributor to the Geek Show's podcasts, including Pop Screen and the Uncut series.
Eternal Beauty (2020) Dramady That Gets Mental Health Right (Review)
Craig Roberts, the pinched face and seemingly eternally adolescent Welsh actor best known for his starring role in Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, follows up his directorial debut Just Jim with Eternal Beauty, an offbeat comedy-drama that approaches the tricky subject of mental illness and is hitting cinemas from Friday October 2nd. […]
Five Graves to Cairo (1943) Influential in Many Surprising Ways (Review)
One of the most curious Allied operations to occur during World War Two was arguably Operation Copperhead, masterminded by one Brigadier Dudley Clarke. A small military deception, Copperhead saw the Allies dupe the German high command whose intelligence expected General Bernard Montgomery to play a significant role in the 1944 […]
The Painted Bird (2019): Arthouse or Endurance Test? (Review)
Václav Marhoul’s WWII Eastern European-set film opens with a boy’s pet ferret being set alight and burned alive by a group of bullies. The sight of the ferret, disorientated, panicked and squealing in agony as it attempts the impossible and outrun the flames that so quickly engulf its body, ought […]
Walkabout (1971): The Loss of Innocence and the Birth of Aussie New Wave (Review)
Coming to limited edition Blu-ray this week via the Second Sight label is Nicolas Roeg’s atmospheric, 1971 masterpiece Walkabout; a coming-of-age drama like no other, one which effectively heralded in the Australian New Wave movement. Starring Jenny Agutter, the director’s son Luc Roeg and indigenous Australian actor David Gulpilil, the […]
Tenderness: The Past is a Foreign Country in Martin Šulík’s (1991) Debut (Review)
Released in 1991, Tenderness (or Neha as it is known in its native Slovak) is director Martin Šulík’s debut full-length feature, one which proved to be a groundbreaking production for post-Communist Slovakia. The film tells the story of Simon, a solitary young student played by Géza Benkõ, and commences with […]
Britannia Hospital (1982) Testing the Nation’s Health (Review)
The Mick Travis trilogy of films which began with if…. in 1968 and continued with O Lucky Man! in 1973 concluded in 1982 with Britannia Hospital. It was a film that also effectively ended the career of the director, Lindsay Anderson, as near-universal critical condemnation saw its release amputated by […]
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) The Sexual or the Spiritual? (Review)
Released to Blu-ray by Arrow Academy this last week, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is the renowned Japanese new wave filmmaker Nagisa Ōshima’s 1983 adaptation of Sir Laurens van der Post’s semi-autobiographical works, The Seed and the Sower from 1963 and The Night of the New Moon from 1970, each inspired […]
Husbands (1970): Hard Going, But Intentionally So (Review)
If you want a divisive film, look no further than Husbands, released on Criterion Blu-ray from June 9th. On it’s release in 1970, John Cassavetes drama polarised critics and audiences alike. Jay Cocks of Time magazine described it as “one of the best movies anyone will ever see. It is […]
Snowpiercer (2013) Next Stop, Class Warfare (Review)
The film now arriving on Blu-ray this week is Snowpiercer. UK Home media apologise for the delay, which was due to a taste failure from Harvey Weinstein. I mean, there’s late and there’s very late. I actually think I’ve spent a similar amount of time waiting for Snowpiercer as I […]