Despite being very divisive Michael Mann’s globetrotting techno thriller Blackhat has found its fair share of dedicated fans (so large that the decision to include the director’s cut was made by large scale demand) who act as a solid rebuttal to the tepid critical reception it got on its initial […]
Autumn Parker
Nottingham based writer focusing on film. Very much a fan of Classic Hollywood, French cinema, Italian exploitation and Fiona Apple.
The House by the Cemetery (1981) The Odd Duck of the Gates of Hell Trilogy (Review)
Few people are as vital to the development of post-WW2 European horror as Italy’s Lucio Fulci, and although his films are not as beloved as Dario Argento’s or as critically acclaimed as Mario Bava’s biggest hits, his mixed oeuvre (which ranges from giallos to fantasy to westerns), is full of […]
Jean Rollin – The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) & Two Orphan Vampires (1997) (Review)
Few directors like Jean Rollin exist in the annuls of film history. A French director who remained almost entirely in obscurity his entire career, despite his work being more readily available he remains perpetually overlooked. Due to the lack of financial success his films achieved; he eventually began directing pornographic […]
Imitation of Life (1934) Thematically poignant pre-code romance succumbs to padding (Review)
America’s cinematic landscape drastically changed in 1934 with the introduction of the oppressive and controlling Hays Code, a set of strict censorship rules that dictated what studio films could show on-screen. The code enforced traditional catholic family values, reduced sexually explicit content and, amongst many other things, always ensured the […]
The Driver (1978) Walter Hill’s influential, minimalist crime classic (Blu-Ray Review)
Even though it’s only Walter Hill’s second feature, The Driver feels like it was made by someone with decades of experience. Hill takes tropes from old-school Westerns and Noirs and strips them back to their most primitive forms, although it retains a revisionist approach to the genres where no character […]
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) One of the earliest and purest examples of cinematic dread (4K Review)
Few cinematic movements have been as influential to the formation and development of cinema as German Expressionism. Its intricate and fantastical set design, emphasis on close-ups and fantastic use of dynamic lighting to craft deep shadows have gone on to influence a wide range of Hollywood genres from gothic horror […]
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 80’s Kadokawa Years (Blu-Ray Review)
Lots of people throw the term “cult film” around or call somebody a “cult director” but very few people fit that definition as much as Nobuhiko Obayashi. A director who whilst having an incredibly long-standing career, which started in the mid-60s and lasted all the way up until his death […]
Orchestrator of Storms (Frightfest 2022)(Review)
Many directors, namely European cult ones, have fallen by the wayside in the throes of time. Very few of them have had such a dramatic positive shift in public – albeit public in a cult horror way – opinion than that of French surrealist Jean Rollin. Very much a filmmaker […]
Man without a Star (1955)The Most Brutal Western in the Old Studio System? (Review)
Many Classical Hollywood directors have fallen victim to the passage of time. For every revered director like Alfred Hitchcock or Howard Hawks, there is an Edgar G. Ulmer or Jacques Tourneur. Like the latter, King Vidor has become less and less talked about over time despite being quite a successful […]
The Breaking Point (1950) Dark, Sweaty Classic Noir Lost in the Shadow of Legends (Review)
Howard Hawks once told Ernest Hemingway that he could make a film out of his worst novel. He told him this whilst they were on a fishing trip together, and for the remainder of the trip they worked on the screenplay together. Despite Hemingway himself working on the script, the […]