Skip to content
Friday, Sep 11, 2026
New REVIEWS!
World Noir Vol. 5 – Post War Italy in Crisis (1946, 1950 & 1951)
Holy Days (2026) Your Granny’s Feel-Good Movie of the Year
Vampire’s Kiss (1988) The Patient Zero of Nicolas Cage Performances
Hellcat (2025) Breathes Fresh Life into One-Location Horror
Jiří Trnka – Puppet Master: The Czech Year (1947), Old Czech Legends (1953), The Hand (1965)
Stolen Kingdom (2026) – A whole new world behind the curtain
Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) A Taut and Terrifying Tale of Abuse and Revenge
Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco’s Spain (1972 & 1974) Unabashed horror that puts most feature lengths to shame
Cruel Hands (2026) A Grim and Tense Domestic Horror of Flight and Fire
Into the Forest: Folktales at DEFA (1955-77) The Film That Made Paul Whitehouse Pee His Pants (as a child)
Desperate Living (1977) The darkest, cruellest, and most shocking entry in Waters’ Trash Trilogy
The Odyssey (2026) Grounded & Terrifying, Nolan’s Boldest Adaptation to Date

The Geek Show

Reviews, Podcasts and More by Geeks, for Geeks

  • About
  • Movies & Docs
    • Film Festivals
  • Pop Culture
    • Doctor Who
    • Twin Peaks
    • From the Geek Show Team
  • Podcasts
    • All Of Us Are Lost
    • Pop Screen
    • The Geek Show
    • UNCUT
  • Patreon
  • YouTube
  • Get In Touch
  • Join Us

Trending Now

1

Sister Street Fighter (1974): Stealth Feminist Exploitation Icon? (Review)

13/03/2019
2

First Love (2019) Miike’s Fountain of Gonzo Youth (Review)

13/02/2020
3

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) Just as relevant 60 years later (Review)

27/06/2018
4

Larks on a String (1969): saved from the scrapheap of censorship (Review)

18/07/2022
5

From Hollywood To Heaven (III)(1971-77) (Review) Part Two – Ron Ormond’s Bogus Journey

21/06/2023
6

The Lukas Moodysson Collection (1998-2013)(Review)

30/01/2023
7

Knockabout (1979) Lame Comedy pathing the way to Action Greatness (Review)

19/04/2022
8

Dancing Village: The Curse Begins (2024): Nimbly avoids the curse of Prequels (Review)

16/08/2024
9

The Diabolical Dr Z (1966) Jess Franco before he became the King of Spanish Sleaze

27/10/2025
10

Message From Space (1978) Japan’s Contribution to the Star Wars Craze (Review)

25/07/2024
11

The Fifth Element (1997) – The most enjoyable Sci-Fi of the 1990s (Review)

28/08/2020
12

Fruit of Paradise (1970) Vera Chytilova, Free-Form and Unchained (Review)

15/04/2015
  • Home
  • Mark Cunliffe
  • Page 8

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.
  • 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, […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Commedia all’italiana: Three Films by Dino Risi (1959-1962) (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 21/08/2023
Commedia all’italiana: Three Films by Dino Risi (1959-1962) (Review)

Commedia all’italiana, or Italian-style comedy, was a genre of Italian cinema that achieved considerable success from the 1950s through to the 1970s. These films, though farcical and/or satirical, placed a greater emphasis than before on realism, shooting on location and creating believable, three dimensional characters. They were united by the […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

A Moment of Romance (1990): Heroic Bloodshed and Young Love (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 17/08/2023
A Moment of Romance (1990): Heroic Bloodshed and Young Love  (Review)

A cult classic that ensured iconic status for its star Andy Lau, Benny Chan’s 1990 directorial debut A Moment of Romance is released to Blu-ray by Radiance next week and is a must for anyone who likes a bit of style to their violence. Andy Lau stars as Wah Dee, […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Kate & Jake (2023) Liverpool’s Linklater? (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 01/08/2023
Kate & Jake (2023) Liverpool’s Linklater? (Review)

Hot from reviewing Michael J. Long’s indie Baby Brother earlier this month, we at The Geek Show were approached by another Liverpudlian filmmaker with a view to taking a look at his movie. That movie is Kate & Jake and its writer/director is Jack McLoughlin. I was more than happy […]

  • Movies & Documentaries
  • Reviews

Cosa Nostra (1968-1975): A Trilogy of Corruption, Italian Style (Review)

Mark Cunliffe 24/07/2023
Cosa Nostra (1968-1975): A Trilogy of Corruption, Italian Style (Review)

Radiance Films celebrate a remarkable trilogy of films from renowned Italian director Damiano Damiani (of 1966’s A Bullet for the General fame) and arguably the country’s most celebrated male star, Franco Nero, with their Cosa Nostra boxset released today. In the postwar period, Italian cinema led the way with their […]

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts