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 […]
Movies & Documentaries
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 […]
The Headliners (London Film Festival 2024) Feat. Hard Truths, Bird & The End
I love London Film Festival. As soon as the summer rolls around I’m counting down the days until the festival kicks off. My short film V played in the festival in 2017 and being granted a filmmaker’s pass was like finding a golden ticket. We saw over forty films that […]
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 […]
Delivery Run (Grimmfest 2024)
Online food delivery workers finally get their moment in the headlights in Joel Palmroos’ wintry rendition of Steven Spielberg’s road rage classic Duel. Getting it’s World Premiere at the recent Grimmfest, Delivery Run is a Finnish production set in Minnesota USA but seamlessly filmed entirely in Lapland. The story revolves […]