Released on demand and in select cinemas tomorrow, Mind-Set is the feature-length directorial debut of Scottish filmmaker, academic and festival programmer Mikey Murray, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is a story for our time, concerning a couple played by American actor Eilis Cahill (Mad), and Steve Oram (Sightseers), […]
Movies & Documentaries
Kramer’s Last Will: Saw X (Review)(2023)
Courage is the catalyst of time, and when courage rallies against injustice, history is made. If courage is pushing through whilst fearful, instead of the absence of fear itself, Jigsaw is the punctuation in that well-known quote. Saw X is the latest instalment into John Kramer’s life, and when he […]
Fist of the Condor (2023) – John Wick star leads a strange, uneven Chilean beat-’em-up (Review)
The impact of the John Wick franchise on modern action cinema cannot be overstated, and its ultra-slick camerawork and gorgeously sexy lighting have led many to imitate, but none to better. It’s also elevated stunt work across the globe to borderline high art, and franchise helmsman Chad Stahelski’s own tenure as […]
Nightmare (2023) Thinly spread Horror that tries to wear too many hats (Review)
“To sleep, perchance to dream” said Hamlet, who was actually contemplating death rather than just forty winks when he uttered those famous words, but what happens when dreaming becomes invasive, violent and deadly? That’s the premise of ‘Nightmare’ – Norway’s answer to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, complete with its […]
Calvaire (2004) – Grim and Nasty New French Extremity (Review)
Despite its Belgian production, Calvaire (2004 – also known as The Ordeal), became an integral film within the cinematic phenomena of New French Extremity that reared its grim and nasty head around the birth of the new millennium. The movement that championed directors such as Gaspar Noé, Pascal Laugier, Xavier […]
Blood and Black Lace (1964) Style Over Substance in Vignettes of Violence (Review)
Newly restored from its original negative and presented in its original uncut form, Mario Bava’s classic 1964 giallo Blood and Black Lace has recently been released by the good people at Arrow Films. Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, this stylish slasher concerns a series of murders centring around Rome’s […]
Time Addicts (2023) The Foul-Mouthed Sleeper Comedy of 2023? (Review)
Time Addicts is one of the most singular concoctions that I’ve seen in some time. It tells a tale of time travelling, drug addiction, and eventually, intergenerational neglect and trauma, and all within the guise of an australian stoner comedy in possession of the godly gift of creative (bad) language. […]
The Guard from Underground (1992): Kiyoshi’s Kurosawa’s Brutal Nineties Slasher (Review)
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has explored a variety of genres in a career spanning over forty years, and this release of his fourth feature, The Guard from Underground, demonstrates that his confidence in genre-hopping came early on. The film begins as a work-based drama, but gradually shifts into slasher horror as […]
The Wicker Man (1973): Folk horror’s towering icon catches ablaze in new 4K restoration (Review)
It towers over the horizon, casting shadow over everything below. It inspires dread, reverence and devotion, cutting an impressive figure of iconic proportions. It catches alight quickly and blazes with a terrible truth, and it becomes impossible to look away from its purifying, eye-opening vision. And we’re not just talking […]
The Psycho Collection (1983-1990) Rehabilitating the Most Unlikely of Horror Franchises (Review)
On June 16th 1960 New York cinemagoers saw Janet Leigh step into a shower, and the world was forever changed. Even 63 years later, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense stunner Psycho (1960), is widely regarded to be one of the greatest films of all time – a statement which this reviewer […]