We return to Slamdance for our penultimate day of coverage. Kicking the week off with Mad Cats, then onto The Underbug, Starring Jerry as Himself, The Mad Writer and Stars in the Ordinary Universe, which brings us to one of the festival’s headline films, from Moby – the say what […]
Movies & Documentaries
Project Wolf Hunting (2022) Rivals The Sadness for extreme viscera and gut-punching madness (Review)
From director Kim Hong-sun comes Project Wolf Hunting, an ultra-violent horror action thriller from South Korea. Korean criminals are being expedited from Manila, Philippines to Busan on a large cargo ship due to a past disaster in an airport. On board are the most dangerous criminals known to the state […]
January (2021) A Master Class in imagery, and the conflict between modernity and tradition (Review)
“There’s barely anyone left to die, so I do remember.” Andrey Paounov’s January encompasses the human soul reckoning with itself and the outside world in the midst of a snowstorm and unseen monsters no one will escape from. Andrey Paounov’s January encompasses the human soul reckoning with itself and the […]
Stars in the Ordinary Universe & The Mad Writer (Slamdance 2023)(Review)
Following Mad Cats, Starring Jerry as Himself and the Underbug, we return to Slamdance for more coverage of a film festival that celebrates new, emerging and alternative voices within the world of art, film and beyond. Thus far, I have been trying to theme my articles and failing miserably because […]
Run Man Run (1968): A Picaresque Shaggy Dog Tale of a Tortilla Western (Review)
Receiving its Blu-ray world premiere from Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema series this week is the third and final Western from director Sergio Sollima, 1968’s Run, Man, Run. Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, this ‘Zapata’ or ‘Tortilla’ Western (the names commonly given to these Italian-made oaters of […]
The Lair (2022)A return to form for Neil Marshall, this is not (Review)
Buried deep within Neil Marshall’s The Lair is a stripped-down, claustrophobic and frightening monster thriller. An intense journey of lean storytelling where tough characters clash with malevolent adversaries in dark spaces, with eruptions of gruesome violence and lacings of dark humour. Or if you like, Marshall’s previous film Dog Soldiers […]
The Underbug & Starring Jerry as Himself (Slamdance 2023) (Review)
We are dropping in on the Slamdance film festival in Utah every day – yesterday we had Mad Cats, and today we have the Underbug & Starring Jerry as Himself. Starting with a punchy Indian horror movie from Shujaat Saudagar called the Underbug. Punchy as it’s only 68 minutes. On […]
The Queen of Spades (1949) Faustian Vintage Supernatural horror with a Kick! (Review)
If wealth and power were on the cards, how much would you be willing to gamble for a chance to win them? According to Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, there are some people who would risk their very souls for it. Pushkin’s internationally-renowned 1834 work “The Queen of Spades”, the classic […]
MAD CATS (2023) Review (Slamdance Film Festival)
Sometimes things go unnoticed for years until someone draws attention to them. Case in point, in the press kit for Reiki Tsuno’s Mad Cats – he remarks that most Independent Japanese films are “so sad, serious, and depressing most of the time… Budgets for indie movies in Japan are actually […]
Royal Warriors (1986) – Fast-paced action with little regard for human life (Blu-Ray Review)
After the success of 1985’s Yes, Madame!, Hong Kong production company D & B Films spent the next decade releasing of series of thematically-linked features. Known by the series name In The Line of Duty, director David Chung reteamed with Michelle Yeoh for another entry into the girls-with-guns genre with […]