First Love is film number 103. Back in 1991, however, Takashi Miike directed a film called “Toppuu! Minipato tai – Aikyacchi Jankushon“, a comedy about a daring policewoman dressed in a leotard who defeats criminals using gymnastics. An odd subject for a debut but such is the Japanese studio system. […]
Rob Simpson
Chief Editor
Host of the Uncut Network. With a love of movies kicked off by Hong Kong Action and Claymation Monsters, Rob has forever been cradled in the bosom of Cinema. Rob has his hands in many a pie, including no budget film making.
Edge of the Axe (1988) Finding the joy in ropey slashers (Review)
The world of boutique home video labels exposes you to genres, styles and voices that you would never hear of otherwise. And for the horror community who are in a constant state of discovery, there has never been a better time to be a fan. One of the latest names […]
The Fate of Lee Khan (1973) When a Kung-Fu Movie isn’t a “Kung Fu Movie”
Dragon Inn is one of the greatest martial arts films of all time, and it’s follow up from King Hu, A Touch of Zen – one of the genre’s greatest epics. The problem is, how do you follow a film as acclaimed as A Touch of Zen when critics love […]
And Soon the Darkness (1970): the horror of language barriers? (Review)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Two young English girls, Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michele Dotrice) have gone on a biking holiday to France, and not the parts of France you’d normally holiday, this is the back end of beyond with nothing for miles but fields and […]
Fright (1971): Suburban 1970s Horror, British Style (Review)
Every Bank Holiday, every Christmas break, you’ll be painfully aware of Peter Collinson’s most successful film as a director – the Italian Job. Like William Girdler (Grizzly, The Manitou), he died way too young and left behind a fascinating body of work far more compelling than that which he is […]
Suspiria (2018): the horror remake as high art (Review)
Horror remakes have been a hot topic for what feels like forever. Personally, nothing will reach the nadir of remakes whose sole purpose is so people don’t have to read subtitles. That happened on a near-monthly basis in the J-Horror cycle. Another wing of horror remakes is revisiting classics, there […]
Shock Corridor: Sam Fuller at his goofiest and most biting (Review)
Samuel Fuller is a curious character, he constantly straddled the divide between being a director who peddled films with something to say and films that skew more towards the B-Movie space. He had one foot in each world, often at the same time. White Dog is about institutional racism whilst […]
Freaks (2019): a sci-fantasy allegory of two different wholes (Review)
Whether you have been before or not, a highlight for the UK genre fans is Frightfest – “the Woodstock of gore“, a certain Mexican Oscar-winner has described it as. It does have a reputation as being a film festival of nothing more than 5 days of back to back horror, […]
Critters Attack!: Amblin Adventure with extra headsplosions (Review)
Along with many other of his projects, Joe Dante’s Gremlins was one of my gateways to horror. I wasn’t the only one who was bowled over as its success spawned a generation of cheap rip-offs full of small monster anarchy. There was Ghoulies, Spookies, Munchies, Hobgoblin’s, C.H.U.D. and the rip-off […]
A Blonde in Love: atypically typical Czech brilliance (Review)
While watching Second Run’s latest, A Blonde in Love, the thought entered my head. The internet is littered with clickbait articles such as the best films ever made, “the best films you’ve never seen” and “the best directors ever”. It would be something if these lists furthered people’s understanding of […]