Perhaps it’s a marker of my strange sense of humour but I found my funny bone thoroughly tickled by Joko Anwar’s splatter-comedy Ghost in the Cell, where a ghost dismembers prisoners and turns them into grizzly art exhibits that nevertheless amaze in their ingenuity. Think of Smile 2 but directed […]
Reviews
High Road to China (1983) A Boy’s Own Adventure
There’s an alternate universe where Harrison Ford’s single biggest (or only) franchise role is that of Han Solo in the Star Wars series, and that’s because the role of Indiana Jones went to first choice, Tom Selleck. In our universe (or, reality, as some might say), Selleck had to pass […]
Survive Style 5 (2004) The Return of a Stone Cold Cult Classic Weirdo
As far as Japanese movies which aren’t available in the UK are concerned, Survive Style 5 is one of the big ones. An entire generation of Japanese cinema fans were introduced to this slice anarchy by a long out of print Manga Entertainment DVD. That release climbed to the legendary […]
The Shout (1978): cryptic, constantly rewarding folk horror classic
Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout is the kind of film Criterion made their reputation on. It’s not just that it’s extremely good – although it is – but your appreciation of its good qualities can only be heightened by having it selected as part of this collection. Without this curatorial effort, […]
Eastern Trails – The Western at DEFA (1967-75): go east, young man!
In many ways, the Western was always a propagandistic art form. America was still a relatively young country when cinema began, and it needed a national founding myth. The story of brave white men heading west, civilising a savage land and finding gold in them there hills fitted the bill […]
Hush (2016) Mike Flanagan’s Early Suspenseful Horror, Reimagined
Aren’t you a lucky duck? With these words, writer-director Mike Flanagan and co-writer/star Kate Siegel introduce a special edit on this limited edition of their first collaboration, HUSH, originally released in 2016 on Netflix, and only now granted a physical release. And the owner of this edition is indeed most […]
Trick or Treat (1986) THE Rock N’ Roll High Camp Comedy Horror Classic
Over the past couple of years, I’ve felt like a gap has opened up in the UK physical media market; whilst we may be living in the prime era of collectors’ edition Blu-Ray and 4K UHD home video releases, it feels as though UK distributors have fallen out of love […]
Sexy Beast 4K (2000) Sweltering Heat & Subversive Gangsters
Jonathan Glazer has a remarkable career. Alongside numerous music videos and memorable commercials, over the past two and a half decades, he has directed only four feature films, each of them highly distinctive. The intense psychological drama Birth could not be more different from the deeply strange science fiction Under […]
Semolina Pilchard (2026) A fearless independent Crime Thriller, Liverpool-Style
Semolina Pilchard is the latest film from Liverpool-based independent filmmaker Mike Clarke, and, if you haven’t already guessed from its Beatles-inspired title, it’s a high-energy love letter to city. Released to Blu-ray via Clarke’s own label Last Slate Video from October 5th (it will be available to stream from November […]
The Black Rock (2026) Impressive Micro-Budget WWII Drama
Regular readers will be familiar with my championing of local filmmaking talent here on Merseyside, from Michael J. Long’s Baby Brother (recently out on wide release to great acclaim), to several films by Jack McLoughlin (who’ll soon be making his television debut with Channel 5’s revival of Play for Today). […]