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Saturday, May 31, 2025
New REVIEWS!
Andor Season 2 (2025) Round-up: Star Wars’ hard-to-swallow epic is just what fans needed
The Railroad Man (1956) A Year in the Life of a Working Class Family
Themroc (1973) The Urban Caveman and the Red Triangle
Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction at DEFA (1960 to 1976) Socialism Among the Stars
Sinners (2025) A Must See Theatre Experience
Oil Lamps (1971) Juraj Herz’s dazzling and decadent psycho-sexual period piece
Doctor Who (2025) Lucky Day: An Average Start That Reveals A Sublime and Timely Message (SPOILERS)
Night Moves (1975) Gene Hackman’s Memorable 70’s Thriller Comes to 4K
Tokyo Pop (1988) The Lost Gen-X Cult Classic Gets Its Moment
Freaky Tales (2024): High on Style, Inconsistent on Substance
The Magnificent Trio (1966) & Magnificent Wanderers (1977) Unearthing the Bookends of Chang Cheh’s Wuxia Reign
A Woman of Paris (1923) Chaplin’s First Drama Film Falls Short 
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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 Great Escape. 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, America's left-leaning news outlet ZNetwork, 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.
  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Worlds: Selected Works by Ben Rivers (2003-2022): Ghosts in the Machine (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 30/11/2023
Worlds: Selected Works by Ben Rivers (2003-2022): Ghosts in the Machine (Review)

Released on Blu-ray by Second Run this week, Worlds: Selected Works by Ben Rivers is a collection of short films – some twenty-four of varying length across two discs – by the internationally renowned British artist and filmmaker, whose experimental work often focuses on subjects that have separated themselves from […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Pandora’s Box (1929) Dare You Open, or Will You Pabst? (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 30/10/2023
Pandora’s Box (1929) Dare You Open, or Will You Pabst? (Review)

Achieving its UK Blu-ray debut this week courtesy of Eureka Entertainment’s “Masters of Cinema” series is G.W. Pabst’s 1929 classic Pandora’s Box. Arguably one of Weimer German cinema’s – if not silent cinema in general’s – greatest masterpieces, Pandora’s Box is the film that catapulted the Kansas-born, twenty-two-year-old, one-time chorus […]

  • Pop Culture

Birchall’s Pints (2023) A Six-Part Amazon Prime Comedy Series from Liverpool (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 29/10/2023
Birchall’s Pints (2023) A Six-Part Amazon Prime Comedy Series from Liverpool (Review)

As my recent reviews for the likes of Michael J. Long’s Baby Brother and Jack McLoughlin’s Kate & Jake prove, when it comes to indie filmmaking talent there’s definitely something in the water in Liverpool – or should that be something in the ale? Birchall’s Pints, a new comedy series […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Pearls of the Deep (1966) Manifesto of the Czech New Wave (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 24/10/2023
Pearls of the Deep (1966) Manifesto of the Czech New Wave (Review)

Anthology and portmanteau movies are often something of a curate’s egg, and never more so than when those films feature the work of several directors. Released by Second Run this week, Pearls of the Deep was a 1966 showcase for young Czechoslovakian filmmakers. It was subsequently heralded as the manifesto […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Cry, the Beloved Country (1951) Korda’s Surprising Anti-Apartheid Movie (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 08/10/2023
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951) Korda’s Surprising Anti-Apartheid Movie (Review)

The above quotes are from Paul Robeson in relation to a 1935 picture he made for the filmmaker Zoltan Korda titled Sanders of the River. Based on the stories of Edgar Wallace, the film was set in Colonial Nigeria and the Hungarian-born Korda (brother of director, producer and writer Alexander […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Mind-Set (2023) A Bittersweet Observation of Modern Love (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 05/10/2023
Mind-Set (2023) A Bittersweet Observation of Modern Love (Review)

Released on demand and in select cinemas tomorrow, Mind-Set is the feature-length directorial debut of Scottish filmmaker, academic and festival programmer Mikey Murray, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is a story for our time, concerning a couple played by American actor Eilis Cahill (Mad), and Steve Oram (Sightseers), […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Blood and Black Lace (1964) Style Over Substance in Vignettes of Violence (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 27/09/2023
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 […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Scream and Scream Again (1970) The Most Peculiar Portmanteau from Amicus (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 18/09/2023
Scream and Scream Again (1970) The Most Peculiar Portmanteau from Amicus (Review)

This week, the excellent Radiance Films continues its commitment to the classic and the cult by raiding the crypt of Amicus to deliver unto us one of the strangest portmanteau horrors Hammer’s biggest rival ever produced – 1970’s Scream and Scream Again. The title may sound like the catchphrase of […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) Cult Brit Revenge Fantasy Returns (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 15/09/2023
Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) Cult Brit Revenge Fantasy Returns (Review)

Dead Man’s Shoes is a 2004 film from This is England and The Gallows Pole director Shane Meadows that stars Paddy Considine, Toby Kebbell, and former British middleweight boxing champion Gary Stretch. It tells the story of parachute regiment veteran, Richard (Considine), who returns to the semi-rural/semi-urban Midlands town he […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Andrzej Żuławski: Three Films (1971-1988): A Triptych of Trauma (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 05/09/2023
Andrzej Żuławski: Three Films (1971-1988): A Triptych of Trauma (Review)

Making their UK Blu-ray debut last week as part of Eureka’s Masters of Cinema label was a set of three landmark films from Polish auteur Andrzej Żuławski. The first is his 1971 debut feature The Third Part of the Night, and the second is his controversial 1972 movie The Devil, […]

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