When the hustle and bustle of urban life gets too much, don’t you just want to head out to the countryside for a bit of peace and quiet? Leonardo – played by Italian screen icon and original Django, Franco Nero – certainly seems to feel that way; the constant noise […]
Movies & Documentaries
Late Night with the Devil (2023) — the film that gave me hope for horror again
Found footage; analogue horror; demonic possession; a deal with the Devil… the top four tropes I, as a huge horror fan, have felt have been oversaturated and smothered with for the last decade or so. “Please,” I have too often thought to myself, “if you’re going to use yet another […]
Convoy (1978) Peckinpah Takes a Surprising Route from Novelty Record to Box Office Smash
Have you an eyeball on this, good buddy? Sam Peckinpah’s pop cultural classic road movie Convoy, starring the recently departed Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine, is coming to Blu-ray on the StudioCanal label from 28th October, 10-4! For those of you who weren’t around during the days of […]
Daiei Gothic (1959 & 1968) Three Chillingly Beautiful Tales of the Supernatural from Japan
Long before Britain made a subgenre of its folk traditions, Japan was mining its history (with the help of Greek-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn) to create chillingly beautiful tales of the supernatural. Three tales loom large for their influence: The Ghost of Yotsuya (Yotsuya Kaidan), The Snow Woman (Yuki-Onna) and The […]
Broken Oath (1973) The Ultimate Showcase for Angela Mao Ying
By the time Raymond Chow left Shaw Brothers to form Golden Harvest in 1970 (along with fellow Shaw Brothers alumni Leonard Ho) he had already been head of production at Shaw Brothers for 10 years. But being frustrated with the limitations of the restrictions put in place place by Run […]
Two Taoist Tales (1984 & 86) Taoism Drunkard & Young Taoism Fighter
Lo Wei had an eye for a star. After all he had already brought Bruce Lee to the world with films like The Big Boss and Fists Of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection). Lo Wei also had an ego, one so large that it would put many of the Hollywood […]
Before Shaolin Soccer, there was… The Champions (1983)
In the late 1970s and early 1980s the world was football mad. Even those countries that had traditionally been less than enthusiastic about the sport, instead opting to create their own sports so they could anoint themselves as “World Champions”, despite being the only country to actively participate in them. […]
The Oblong Box (1969) A Flawed piece of Poe-ish Gothic
“Oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! –I dared not –I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb!” These lines from The Fall of the House of Usher could well apply to much of Poe’s output, such was his fascination with being buried alive. The […]
MadS (2024) – Talk about a bad trip!
MadS had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024, a one-take thrill ride with a refreshing take on the zombie sub-genre. Directed by David Moeeau, the film follows 3 teenagers, each with their own story and events in store for them in the night ahead. We first meet Romain (Milton […]
She is Me, I Am Her (2022) A Sincere Showcase for Fusako Urabe
It’s always a pleasure to see more Japanese cinema made readily available to UK/USA shores, especially that of a more dramatic mode. I love the Gonzo stylings of Tetsuo and Takashi Miike, as much as the next reviewer, but my heart will always be with the contemplative works of Ozu […]