An impressive boxset from Second Run arrives just in time for Christmas – it’s the renowned War Trilogy from Polish director Andrzej Wajda consisting of three films – A Generation, Kanal and Ashes and Diamonds – released between 1955 and 1958 which established Wajda as a founding father of the […]
Movies & Documentaries
Bitch Ass (2022) Gaming gets gruesome in this familiar revenge twisted tale (Review)
Bitch Ass opens with horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman) introducing the film in a sinister manner. Referencing ‘Blackula’ and ‘Tales From The Hood’ amongst others, he tells us Bitch Ass is the ‘first black serial killer to wear a mask’. Todd sets the scene, channelling the Cryptkeeper from ‘Tales From […]
Bull (2021) Bull by name, Bull by nature (Blu-Ray Review)
Ahead of the looming release of Tangerine, Bull is the most recent release from the always-strong Second Sight Films. Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, The Cottage) directs and writes Neil Maskell in the titular role, a character you could describe as a savage. The brutality of his actions is […]
Nutcracker Massacre (2022) Campy, tinsel and blood-drenched killing spree (Review)
In Nutcracker Massacre, Clara, a heartbroken romance novelist, is invited to spend Christmas with her aunt. Upon arrival, she is confronted by a life-size Nutcracker, standing guard by the Christmas tree. Quite rightly, she hates it, but is quickly distracted by the arrival of her self-obsessed, jealous brat of a […]
Rimini (2022): looking for the shaft of light in Ulrich Seidl’s sensibilities (Review)
There are countless horror movies that exploit the particular uncanniness of a holiday resort in winter, but none of them have featured a monster quite like Richie Bravo. The anti-hero of Ulrich Seidl’s latest film, Rimini, he’s a hulking, middle-aged lounge singer of limitless appetites and venality. After singing another […]
Savage Justice (2022) Justice has been served, I guess? (Review)
There is a scene in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 2 when Danny Glover’s Roger Murtaugh dispatches some hoods with a nail gun, after which he quips ‘Nailed them both’. This scene contains more wit, drama, tension and filmmaking competence than the entire 101 minutes of Savage Justice, which is also […]
Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) A fun addition to the canon of Christmas Horror (Review)
On Christmas Eve, self-confessed Christmas hater Tori Tooms just wants to get whiskey wasted and make some bad decisions. Her plans are interrupted when a robotic Santa in a nearby toy shop glitches and goes on a rampage, leading to a festive, neon-drenched killing spree that will drag Tori into […]
The Forgiven (2021) – Desert Slow Burner, Full of Repression, Class Divides, and Grief (Blu-Ray Review)
The Forgiven opens with married couple David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) in Morocco for their wealthy friend Richard’s party (Matt Smith) and after sinking a bottle of wine and a squabble over directions to the remote palatial venue, they accidentally hit and kill a local teen […]
Croupier (1998): Hold on Tightly, Let Go Lightly (Blu-Ray Review)
Uunnnngh, how sexy is Kate Hardie? OK, now I’ve got that out of my system for the umpteenth time, we can begin… Released to Blu-ray by Arrow Video this month comes Croupier, the film that afforded Get Carter director Mike Hodges a brief resurgence at the turn of the century […]
Mad God (2022): A Beautiful Collage of Sickening Horror (Blu-Ray Review)
Mad God is a film that is easy to recommend since it has something for everyone: it is a stop motion animation; an ambitious personal project over thirty years in the making; a gross horror film; a shining example of pure visual storytelling; a particularly squelchy take on dystopia; and […]