For an extended period of time, the Western was the United States’ most beloved genre of film. Despite its popularity briefly dying as film transitioned between silent films and talkies, it was kicked back into the spotlight with John Ford’s Stagecoach; from that point onwards many directors such as Ford, […]
Reviews
The Righteous (2021) Neo-Gothic Religious Chamber Horror Inside (Review)
It’s always a curious proposition when a known actor steps behind the camera: what is it about “this project”, in particular, that made them want to make the leap? Some see it as the next step in the evolution of their career, while others have passion projects up their sleeve, […]
Demonia (1990) One for the true Lucio Fulci completionist (Review)
Giallo and Italian Horror legend Lucio Fulci marked a return to cinema in this early 90’s nunsploitation flick – but is its reputation as Fulci’s weakest film deserved or has the last 30 years been kind to the Italian maestro’s forgotten work? We open in fifteenth-century Italy, as a group […]
Enter the Void (2009): a city symphony in 21st-century neon (Review)
Gaspar Noé’s new film Vortex, currently on release in UK cinemas, is shocking audiences in perhaps the only way Noé can shock people at this juncture: by removing his usual graphic violence and unsimulated sex in favour of a sensitive exploration of dementia and death. There is another film called […]
Lux Aeterna (2019): Gaspar Noé’s Stress-Inducing Meditation On Filmmaking
Arrow’s new release of Lux Aternae, Gasper Noé’s 2019 fifty-minute film, on Blu-ray and also on Arrow Player and in June comes as his latest film, Vortex made immediately after Lux Aternae, hits UK cinemas and his films forming the centrepiece of the recent New French Extremity season at BFI […]
Luminous Procuress (1971): if an alien made a film about human sexuality, it would look like this (Review)
It’s quite an achievement to live your life as a work of art. Steven Arnold, whose film Luminous Procuress has been restored and reissued on Blu-Ray by Second Run, seems to have achieved it. His star and childhood friend, the performance artist Pandora, recalls his bedroom being decorated “like Louis […]
Wild Things (1998) 90s Hollywood or Hollyoaks Later? (Review)
It’s really strange coming to a piece of pop culture from your youth for the first time almost twenty-five years after its moment in the spotlight, but that’s exactly what I have done with Wild Things, released to Blu-ray by Arrow this week. I’m not entirely sure why this torrid, […]
Revolver (1973) Hard-edged, Pessimistic, Buddy Cop Crime Thriller (Review)
Current wisdom in the literary world of the thriller genre is that you must immediately hook your reader in with some violence right from the first page. After that, you can focus on character, setting etc, but the bloody stuff has to be placed right up front. Released to Blu-ray […]
Rhino (2022) A sombre if well-travelled Ukrainian crime drama (Review)
Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov intended to make his second feature film, following his 2011 debut Gamer, in 2014. However, due to the Maidan uprising protests that swept across Ukraine the filming was put on hold. This was further impacted by Russia’s annexation of Crimea (Sentsov’s birthplace) which actually resulted in […]
Dobermann (1997) 25th Anniversary Re-Release (Review)
The 90s was a wild decade. Outside of the mainstream, pop culture was going through an era where more meant more, an MO at its most frenzied with 1997’s Dobermann, directed by Jan Kounen and written by Joël Houssin. Both at the time and now, many equated this to the […]