A breed of director has had success to such a profound degree that their name has become an adjective through which other films are qualified or compared. Spielbergian, Malickian, Lynchian, Coen Brothers-like, you get the idea, but the point remains that such qualifiers favour neither party. This leads me to […]
Reviews
Living with Chucky (2022) Peeking Inside the Heart of the Controversial Horror Franchise (Review)
Living with Chucky (2022) is the long-awaited (at least for us Chucky superfans) documentary of the charmingly maniacal killer doll franchise. Full of interviews with those central to the story, including writer/director Don Mancini, Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly, this documentary charts the rise, and sometimes fall, of the Chucky […]
Jean Rollin – The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) & Two Orphan Vampires (1997) (Review)
Few directors like Jean Rollin exist in the annuls of film history. A French director who remained almost entirely in obscurity his entire career, despite his work being more readily available he remains perpetually overlooked. Due to the lack of financial success his films achieved; he eventually began directing pornographic […]
Morgiana (1972) A weird, stimulating, terrible and beautiful dreamscapes of malice (Review)
Morgiana tells the twisted tale of sisters Klára and Viktoria, torn apart by jealousy, greed and malice. When Klára inherits their father’s estate, leaving Viktoria with the wind battered, remote country house, Viktoria seethes. When the man Viktoria loves falls in love with Klára, Viktoria boils. And when Klára continues […]
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) A Beguiling & Intriguing work that put Australian Movies on the Map (Review)
Peter Weir is a director with an eclectic career. From Witness to Dead Poets Society to The Truman Show to Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Weir’s subject matter and indeed style have rarely fit into easily identifiable boxes. His first international success, 1975’s Picnic at Hanging […]
Creeping Horror (1933-46)Perfect Marathon for Enthusiasts of Classic Horror (Review)
Not all monsters are supernatural in origin, nor do they always have fangs and claws. Many would (fairly) assume that Hollywood wasn’t ready to accept that idea until audiences saw Janet Leigh get sliced up in a motel shower in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Still, in reality, filmmakers were already depicting […]
Leaving to Remain (2022) A Collage of Roma Life in Britain (Review)
In both fiction and documentary, British moviegoers are largely presented with the same story about migrating to Britain: the arduous journey; the difficulty of fitting in; tales of suffering and overcoming hardships. Even a film like the highly acclaimed Flee from last year, which is ultimately optimistic, spends considerable time […]
From Black (2023) A rehash of very much discovered Horror territory (Review)
Rituals and resurrections are the themes of Shudder’s latest original offering, From Black, but how does one go about raising the dead and haven’t we seen this all somewhere before? Recently bereaved and recovering addict Cora (Anna Camp, playing against type) is plagued with guilt following the disappearance and subsequent […]
The Bullet Train (1975)A Measured Disaster Movie that Captured the Mood of the 70s (Review)
The 1970s were such a diverse and varied decade for cinema. It would give rise to the summer blockbuster (Star Wars & Jaws), get wracked with paranoia in its conspiracy thrillers (The Parallax View & The Conversation) and no longer see the world through the rose-tinted glasses that had filled […]
Mystery Train (1989) A Trip to Memphis, With or Without Rose Tinted Glasses (Review)
Mystery Train was director Jim Jarmusch’s 4th film and his first since his low-budget debut, Permanent Vacation, to be shot in colour. His previous two were strikingly shot in black and white, which suggests that Jarmusch wished to visually capture Memphis in the best way that he could. Despite being […]