There’s always something interesting about seeing the directorial debut of a filmmaker whose work you are very familiar with, and who has carved out their own unique style that is extremely popular with audiences. James Gunn is a mainstay in blockbuster cinema nowadays, turning a D-list group of Marvel characters […]
Reviews
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage-Fueled Karma (2025) A chaotic act of cinematic payback
While not very common, there have been a few occasions in recent years where people have taken an awful personal experience and utilised the trauma for cinema. Starring Jerry as Himself saw someone from the Asian American community exploited through a series of phone calls, with the voice on the […]
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955): audacious thought crimes in Buñuel’s serial killer satire
Luis Buñuel began the 1950s by making arguably his first mature masterpiece, Los Olvidados; he ended with Nazarin, a cult satire that counted Andrei Tarkovsky and Pope John Paul II among its unlikely but influential fan club. The films he made in between are too often overlooked, and it’s easy […]
Diabolic (2026) Conventionally plotted Religious Horror that drips with Dread and Atmosphere
The phrase ‘The following story is inspired by true events’ is a double-edged sword. It can serve as useful marketing, but the presence of such words can smack of lending your film additional gravitas, which raises the question why do we need that gravitas? The phrase will likely invite accusations […]
The Professional (1981) Belmondo Goes Rogue for Revenge
Released to Blu-ray on the Radiance label this week comes The Professional (Le Professionnel), a 1981 action thriller starring French cinema legend, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Once the darling of the French New Wave in films such as A bout de souffle, Pierrot le Fou and Une femme est une femme for […]
Taxidermia (2006) A Disgusting, Controversial and Deceptively Beautiful Underground Classic
When I heard the news that Radiance Films would be launching Chasm Films, a new sub-label dedicated to underground genre cinema from across the world, I was delighted and intrigued. When it was announced that their first release under this label would be the world Blu-Ray premiere of Hungarian filmmaker […]
Exit 8 (2025) Liminal Horror More Emotionally Potent than Horrific
2026 seems to be the year of horror films where our protagonists are trapped in claustrophobic spaces. We had Markiplier emerge onto the film scene with Iron Lung, we’re about to have Kane Parsons capitalise on his Backrooms success with a full feature film, and here, from Japan, we have […]
Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974 (1974): emotional violence transcending the limits of documentary form
Some directors are primarily famous for one scene, and in the case of Kazuo Hara it’s easy to pinpoint which one it is. Hara’s 1987 documentary The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is notorious for a moment in which the film’s subject Kenzo Okuzaki, a Japanese World War II veteran […]
Salem’s Lot (1979): A Masterclass in Slow-Burn Horror
Strange things are happening in Jerusalem’s Lot – the residents are turning into vampires! Salem’s Lot (1979) is a two-part miniseries based on the 1975 Stephen King novel of the same name, following author Ben Mears (David Soul), who returns to his hometown to write about the mysterious Marsten House, […]
New Directors from Japan: Takashi Ono (2016-2023)
Every now and then you see a film where the only viable response is: where did that come from? The beauty of Third Window’s new Takashi Ono collection is that it answers that question. As collections go, it’s modestly-scaled stuff; three shorts and a feature, and the feature’s only just […]