Once upon a time, the Giallo as a sub-genre was primarily lost to obscurity – available only to those engaged in the tape trading scene. Even during the DVD boom era, this ever-sleazy wave of Italian murder mysteries never managed to break through. It has only been during the blu-ray […]
Reviews
The Feast (2021): the first Welsh-language horror movie doesn’t want for ambition (Cinema Review)
The BFI currently determines which films are eligible to receive tax breaks using two tests: whether a film is British-financed, and whether it is “culturally British”. Breaking that down further, it is straightforward to think of films that are culturally Scottish, culturally English or culturally Irish, but very hard to […]
The Breaking Point (1950) Dark, Sweaty Classic Noir Lost in the Shadow of Howard Hawks (Blu-Ray Review)
Umberto D (1952) I’m Not Crying OK? It’s Just Something In My Eye (Review)
Released to Criterion this week is Umberto D., Vittorio De Sica’s classic film about a pensioner who struggles to make ends meet in an economically-ravaged Italy in the post-war years. A retired civil servant, the ageing Umberto is determined to keep his dignity as he navigates a series of challenges […]
Desire (1958)/All My Good Countrymen (1968); Two Films by Vojtěch Jasný (Review)
The Killer Reserved Nine Seats (1974) Giallo, from the outside-in (Blu-Ray Review)
Memoria (2021): An Elegy For the Future (Blu-ray Review)
Nitram (2021) The psychological dread of the unseen and “powerless” (VOD review)
Justin Kurzel is a filmmaker who understands dread and how to instil this feeling in his audience. Across his oeuvre, Kurzel has consistently created environments and narratives that create a sense of dread through intimate framing that bring the viewer queasily close, familiar spaces where horrific events occur and performances […]