Along with many other of his projects, Joe Dante’s Gremlins was one of my gateways to horror. I wasn’t the only one who was bowled over as its success spawned a generation of cheap rip-offs full of small monster anarchy. There was Ghoulies, Spookies, Munchies, Hobgoblin’s, C.H.U.D. and the rip-off […]
Reviews
The Third Wife: an unsensational film that’s caused a big fuss (Review)
It’s customary to wait until the end of a review before telling the reader if they should go and see a film or not. In the case of The Third Wife – out now on Blu-Ray from Eureka’s Montage Pictures imprint – the matter may be a little more urgent. […]
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith: “A Fugitive from Justice…Or from Injustice”?
Often cited as one of the most important Australian films ever made and a key text in the Aussie New Wave movement of the 1970s, Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a beautifully shot yet heart wrenching and savage account of institutionalised racism in colonial Australia at the turn […]
Kaleidoscope – Great performances marred by an uneven script
Carl lives alone on a London council estate, and has done ever since he got out of prison a short time ago. Tonight promises to be special, as for the first time since his release, he’s going on a date with a young woman he’s met on the internet. But […]
Don’t Look Now: Ghosts of the future and of the past (Review)
“VENICE IN PERIL” read the signs nestled in the background of quite a few of Nicolas Roeg and Anthony B. Richmond’s stunning deep-focus images throughout Don’t Look Now. They’re the calling cards of a very real, and still active, British charity bent on restoring and conserving the city’s art and […]
Inseminoid: Dynamic, Provocative, Extravagantly Tasteless (Review)
In his novel The Place of Dead Roads, William S Burroughs suggests that a British space programme never took off for cultural reasons; as soon as we got to the moon and realised there was no-one there to patronise, apparently, we’d give up. Those curious as to what Burroughs might […]
The House That Dripped Blood: All Things to All British Horror Fans (Review)
In the 1950s and 60s British horror was booming. Most of the fame and infamy was enjoyed by Hammer but forever in their shadow was Amicus. Amicus was known for horror anthologies, a production model based on not being able to afford name actors for a whole shoot. Instead, they […]
The Legacy: A Dated Horror Heirloom for the Late ’70s (Review)
Released to Blu-ray by the excellent Indicator label this week, The Legacy is a 1978 British-American horror mystery starring real-life couple Katherine Ross, Sam Elliott and The Who’s frontman Roger Daltrey. Ross and Elliott star as Maggie Walsh and Pete Danner, lured from their home in California to England on […]
Coming Home: New Hollywood’s Other Vietnam War Movie (Review)
Hal Ashby’s 1978 movie Coming Home is one of the most compelling to explore the aftermath of the Vietnam war for its veterans and their loved ones. It stars Jane Fonda as Sally Hyde, a military wife who decides to volunteer at a local military hospital when her Marine husband […]
Double Face: A Crime Drama in Giallo Clothing (Review)
I haven’t come across any Gialli films that have bored or frustrated me. Whether it is The Red Queen Kills Seven Times or Blood and Black Lace, they have strong qualities that make each film absorbing. Whether that’s eye-popping colour cinematography, a strong mixture of pulp crime and a central […]