Is there a family dynasty dominating the film industry harder than the Skarsgård clan? Between dad Stellan and children Alexander, Bill, Eija, Gustaf, Kolbjörn, Ossian, Sam and Valter, the towering Swedes have planted their flag in everything from Mamma Mia! to Barbarian (cinematically), and from Vikings to Succession (televisually). One could make an argument for the Australian Hemsworths being […]
Movies & Documentaries
The Boss (1973) Misogynistic Mafia Movie (Review)
It’s perhaps more than coincidental that Radiance have followed up March’s release of Duccio Tessari’s 1973 Mafia thriller Tony Arzenta with Fernando Di Leo’s The Boss this week. Not just because of the things that these films have in common – both were made in 1973, both are stories about […]
China O Brien I & II (1990) The Simple Pleasures of the Straight to Video Years(Review)
Having blazed a trail for non-Hong Kong/Chinese actors in such hi-octane action movies as Yes, Madame (1985), Millionaires Express (1986), Righting Wrongs (1986) and going as far getting her own starring feature in the 1989 action/comedy Lady Reporter (aka The Blonde Fury), the time had come for Cynthia Rothrock to […]
The End We Start From (2023) A Very British, Very Woman-Centred Apocalypse (Review)
As you would expect from a contributor to Scarred For Life such as myself, I’ve long enjoyed a good apocalyptic drama. I could never really be doing with zombies all that much in this subgenre however, as I believe the real monsters when our backs are to the wall will […]
Misunderstood (1966) Beautiful and genuine Italian Melodrama (Review)
I love the rich history of classic Italian Cinema. I’ve marvelled over the films of Rossellini, De Sica, Antonioni, Pasolini, Visconti and Fellini. Since their inception Radiance Films have been unearthing hidden gems from Italy and shining a light on some of the country’s best under-watched directors, one of which […]
Black Mask (1996) Hong Kong’s Answer to the 1990s Superhero Boom (Review)
The years leading up to the hand over of Hong Kong from the UK to China was starting to show in the pop culture produced at this time. Films that were drenched in paranoia and uncertainty of what the future held under the Chinese Communist Party. This mood reflected in […]
Infested (2023) Shudder by Name, Shudder by Nature (Review)
Shudder is a cool name for a horror streaming platform, but never have I considered the word until the release of their latest Original, 2023’s Infested (A.K.A. Vermines) – the feature debut by French director Sébastien Vaniček. The reason why that train of thought ran through my head was that […]
The Cat and the Canary (1927) Hauntingly Expressionist Silent Classic Struggles without Words (Review)
If you’re a regular visitor to The Geek Show, then you might be aware that this isn’t the first adaptation of John Willard’s 1922 play “The Cat and the Canary” that I have written about – nor is it the first adaptation to receive a shiny remastered Blu-Ray edition from […]
Peter Five Eight (2024) An Attempt was Made by Spacey (Review)
Film noir casts a long (dark) shadow over cinema. Since French critics retroactively applied the term to crime films of the 1940s, filmmakers across the world and through the decades have attempted to emulate and update the look and feel of what was never designed as a coherent genre. From […]
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (1969/72) Samurai Western Trilogy by way of James Bond? (Review)
Shogun Assassin gained infamy on the midnight cinema circuit, yet its leading man didn’t enjoy fame comparable to Ogami Ittō’s hellish saga. Tomisaburo Wakayama, although prolific and renowned in his own right, is nought but a footnote for World Cinema fans next to the likes of Tetsuya Watari, Joe Shishido, […]