Crime movies are a captivating microcosm, there are vast differences to be found depending on where in the world a specific title was made. When you go further afield than America and the UK, there are big differences to be found. Hong Kong Crime Movies saw the ascendancy of a […]
Movies & Documentaries
The Apartment (1960) Billy Wilder and the rebellion in Romance (Review)
In a 1995 interview packaged as part of Arrow Academy’s new restoration of The Apartment, Billy Wilder remembers a scene from David Lean’s Brief Encounter, a ‘black and white, very simple’ movie that he considers one of that director’s greatest. He and I have very different memories of it. In […]
78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene (2017) Whether it is a glorified extra or a film of its own right remains to be seen (Review)
Is there a scene more ingrained into the popular consciousness than the shower scene from Psycho? That question is answered by Documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe in his film 78/52. He applies a laser focus on those 78 setups and 52 cuts to discuss this watershed moment for horror from every […]
Pulp (1972) The Michael Caine Noir that counts Jarvis Cocker and JG Ballard among its fans (Review)
It is a film about the abuse of a young girl by people in positions of power and the cover-up this corruptible high society instigate to ensure they are never held to account for the crime they have committed. It is a film that concludes with the answers being found […]
The Cremator (1968) an absolute essential to watch for all Czech New Wave Fans (Review)
Opening on extreme close-ups of a leopard trapped within a cage, Juraj Herz’s ‘The Cremator’ is the cinematic equivalent of a black hole, it sucks the audience into the warped imagination of Karl Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrušínský), who is out on a day trip with his family. On paper, that doesn’t […]
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971) a deliciously stylish melodramatic Occult Hammer Horror (Review)
It’s nearly Christmas, so let us think of those less fortunate than us: specifically, the Mummy. Even before this summer’s Tom Cruise-led flop, ol’ bandage face had a chequered screen history. The 1932 Universal feature had Boris Karloff in front of the camera, Karl Freund behind and a certain topicality […]
The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976) The arty yet exploitative end of the video nasties list (Review)
Newly released as a stand-alone Blu-Ray by Arrow, The Witch Who Came From the Sea was previously part of Arrow’s American Horror Project Vol. 1 along with Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood and The Premonition. It’s a much less comfortable fit within the horror genre than those two films, displaying a mix […]
The General (1926) The Greatest Failure in American Cinema History (Review)
In 2016, Eureka re-issued their wonderful collection of Buster Keaton shorts and in that not only can you find the genesis of big-screen comedy, you can also find the work of a man experimenting with effects and stunt work decades ahead of its time. Two shorts, in particular, Haunted House […]
Sherlock Jr (1924) A silent comedy far ahead of its time (Review)
The shortest of Buster Keaton’s features, the 45-minute Sherlock Jr. is only five minutes longer than the Oscars’ stated limit for short films (not that they existed back then). It had been conceived and shot as a six-reel feature, but Keaton deleted two of those when the film tested poorly. […]
Witchhammer (1969) The Best Witch Trials movie ever made (Review)
Reality is something to be surpassed in horror. The promotional line of being based on a ‘true story’ is something which is used as a basic inspiration point as illustrated by the original Amityville and Conjuring movies or the countless identikit exorcism films using this in their marketing spiel. Witch […]