When France was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944 all aspects of life were affected, and cinema was no exception as the Germans set up Continental Films to provide the French populace with an escape from the horrors of real life. Most of films made were harmless escapism, […]
Reviews
Dead Lover (2026): An Unhinged and Colourful Take on Frankenstein
Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie are proving to be the horror power couple of 2026 after starring in Dead Lover and Honey Bunch, both of which were released this year after a successful tour of the festival circuit. Although both films use the horror genre to explore the demands of […]
Cutter’s Way (1981): Passer, paranoia and the *other* great Vietnam-vet vigilante movie
Asked about the ambiguous plot of his 1976 neo-noir Night Moves, Arthur Penn shrugged “We’re part of a generation that knows there are no solutions”. He didn’t reveal what was on his mind, but it’s pretty easy to guess. The generation who grew up in the 1960s and 70s were […]
The Birthday (2004) More Lost Oddity than Cult Classic for Feldman’s Formerly Lost Movie
Recently restored, The Birthday is a quirky little film. Taking place in a hotel that could rival the Overlook as far as bad visits go, this Corey Feldman film begins as a surrealist comedy that follows Norman Forrester, a painfully awkward man who is attending his posh girlfriend’s father’s birthday and […]
Special Effects (1984) New York sleaze with a Stern Gaze on Hollywood Power
Manhattan-born genre auteur Larry Cohen, best known for his slimy, effects-laden creature-features, is the brain behind such cult favourites as It’s Alive (1974), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and most famously, The Stuff (1985) – all of which have goopy gore and rubber monsters aplenty. When the late, great director […]
Silence of the Sea (Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026)
It’s crime, but is it art? Art forgers are a strange breed of criminals, in that the criticism they inspire is closer to the criticism I’m writing here than the moral denunciation given out to other outlaws. Most people aren’t ethically offended by someone turning out counterfeit Roman sculptures or […]
ELSE (2024) A Claustrophobic French Body Horror That Gets Under Your Skin
Not that it needs explaining, but there’s a marked difference between a traditional horror movie and one that deals in body horror. A traditional movie would feature an external threat hunting down our heroes, and although there are exceptions, it’s as close to a hard-and-fast rule as you are likely […]
The Stunt Man (1980) When Making a Movie Becomes a Matter of Life and Death
One of the Special Feature commentaries for The Stunt Man opens with director Richard Rush claiming that “Putting a dog licking his balls in the title sequence, I suppose, is letting the audience know it’s going to be an iconoclastic picture.” It’s an eye-catching opening, a wild accompanying statement and […]
The Ugly Stepsister (2025) A Beautifully Deranged Fairy Tale
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it’s generally determined by the standards of society, and when that society is patriarchal, women suffer. It’s a fairly trite observation that’s the subject of a fascinating exploration in The Ugly Stepsister – a version of Cinderella that’s dark and malevolent […]
Libido (1965) Argento may be The Artist, but Gastaldi is The Man
Giallo is known by its directors – Fulci, Bava, Argento, maybe Sergio Martino if you do some digging, but someone just as important is screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Active for nearly thirty years in Italian cinema, he penned the scripts for some of the most iconic gialli, his many credits including […]