Is there something in the water at Korean universities? Before Debone kicks off, it states on screen that it’s the work of a remarkable student, which basically means that writer/director Lee Dae-han’s debut feature is of such a high standard that even his old teachers at university applaud his work, […]
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. Filthy
Creature of the Pines (Panic Fest 2026)
From its origins in movies like Cannibal Holocaust, The MacPherson Tapes and The Blair Witch Project, found footage has evolved from a way to imply unreal events took place in the real world into a surprisingly expansive genre. It struggled in the early 2010s when it seemed every other horror […]
Break A Leg (Panic Fest 2026)
Within the indie sphere of any art form there will always be room for projects where performers make their own opportunities rather than waiting for someone else’s validation or permission. It’s the lifeblood of the independent ideal, and one of the reasons why so many actors transition into directing, and […]
Pitfall (Panic Fest 2026)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: James Kondelik’s Pitfall is a slasher set in the woods – which maybe needs a little more context because “slasher‑in‑the‑woods” is one of the alpha tropes of horror. It’s a stereotype that’s so baked‑in it reads like a joke, but the spoiler […]
The Burning of Broken Beak (Panic Fest 2026)
One of the first things I do when a film festival drops its programme is scan the catalogue for the titles that leap off the page, which is almost like picking goofy horse names for the Grand National – sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. For Missouri’s Panic Fest, […]
Underworld Chronicles (1996-2002) Three Films, One Filmmaker, Zero Rules – Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike is a rogue whose legend has long been cemented in cinema lore. He has directed 127 features and TV shows at the time of writing, six of which came from his legendary 2001 run. He makes a mockery of auteur theory because every other film feels like the […]
Hard Boiled 4K (1992) Where John Woo pushed action cinema to its extreme
90s American action cinema was running out of road. The superstars who defined the 1980s – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone – were still motoring along, but the downward trajectory was obvious. Straight-to-DVD purgatory, drastic reinvention or retirement awaited most of them. A few […]
Violence (Glasgow Frightfest 2026)
Movie titles have long fascinated me as beyond the first-impression factor, they’re the most immediate point of marketing, and a good title hints at what’s to come. One of the films playing at this year’s Glasgow FrightFest is Connor Marsden’s Violence, and at first glance the name suggests slasher one-upmanship […]
The Convenience Store (Glasgow Frightfest 2026)
The prolific Jirô Nagae makes his UK debut at Glasgow’s FrightFest with his 38th film, The Convenience Store, hitting productivity numbers that rival peak-era Takashi Miike. Working almost exclusively within horror, it was inevitable that his work would eventually reach the UK’s hungry genre audience. Japanese konbini (the Japanese term […]
Karmadonna (Glasgow Frightfest 2026)
Biases and expectations are inherently and exceedingly dumb, as they often prove to be, but they remain – no matter how much you’d like to beg to differ. A case in point from Glasgow’s iteration of FrightFest is Karmadonna, a Serbian thriller/horror directed by Aleksandar Radivojević. As a fan of […]