Comics Retrospective: Sabrina The Teenage Witch

Do you remember that brief time in the nineties when Melissa Joan Hart was the Queen of teen? With her fashion forward outfits and sharp take on teen/tween issues, she became an unofficial icon of young girls in ugly overalls everywhere, taking her unique brand of YOU-nique across the after-school TV plateau spanning from Clarissa […]

“Most contemporary films leave me cold”: Interview with director Alex Bakshaev

A few years ago, the site (in its old incarnation) was approached with an indie film which looked decidedly different to most films we receive; this turned out to be abundantly and delightfully the case. Whilst we do get a fair range of styles and genres, The Devil of Kreuzberg was a revelation: it’s rather unusual […]

“Men sometimes have strange motives”: Witchfinder General at 50

Times of great uncertainty and bloodshed have always seemed to bolster paranoia and irrational thought. Change offers to dispose of the unconscionable practices of the past, but even as old beliefs and practices are on the verge of being swept away, people still to seek them out, retreating into watchful suggestibility any time the pace […]

So long then, Ash Williams…

Big props to fans for the effort, but I’m retired as Ash. #timetofrysomeotherfish https://t.co/Di1aeBV0dl — Bruce Campbell (@GroovyBruce) April 23, 2018 “Big props to fans for the effort, but I’m retired as Ash.” [Bruce Campbell on Twitter, 23th April 2018]. This message on the social networking site came in the wake of a wave of […]

Agency and Responsibility in Lady Macbeth (2016)

Please note: this feature contains a full description of events in Lady Macbeth and as such contains spoilers.  Marriage in the nineteenth century – particularly between the lower middle classes, perhaps, who had enough to lose but little enough to boast – must have been for many women a miserable existence. Firstly, women often had […]

Revisiting Waxwork (1988)

There has long been a relationship between horror cinema and the humble waxwork museum. Though now sadly fallen out of favour, waxworks were a de rigeur form of entertainment before cinema existed; the world-famous Madame Tussauds opened its first ‘chamber of horrors’ in 1802 after the successes of the French ‘Caverne des Grands Voleurs’, which […]

Stairway to Hell: The Exorcist

By special guest contributor Marc Lissenburg “What’s the scariest film you’ve ever seen?” It’s a query I am faced with on an alarmingly regular basis when folk learn of my fervent horror movie fanaticism. Despite the somewhat tedious probing, my enthused and instantaneous retort each time is – “THE EXORCIST!” Now I accept one man’s […]

RIP Jack Ketchum: Remembering a Horror Master

We are deeply saddened by the news that Dallas Mayr, the American horror novelist who worked under the pen name Jack Ketchum, has died at the age of 71. While his name has never been as well known as, say, Stephen King, Clive Barker or James Herbert, Ketchum was without question one of the most […]

Retro Review: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a good Schwarzenegger film. I’ve seen the gamut of his notable works, from the barely-able-to-speak-English Conan the Barbarian, to three-tittied-woman vehicle Total Recall, to his oft overlooked, underappreciated comedy career: Kindergarten Cop, Junior, and Twins (the latter two also starring my favorite, Danny Devito). That […]

200 Years of Frankenstein

Frankenstein’s Creature is one of the true modern horror archetypes. Like the vampire or the ghoul, it’s an enduring and versatile monster, ready to reflect whatever set of anxieties we currently have; its ghastly stitched flesh and tendons are durable enough to withstand whatever we seek from it. And yet, unlike the vampire – which […]

Ben’s Ten Favourite Films From 2017

And now, the end is near for 2017. In many respects we might say good riddance; however, we might also be thankful for what most of us seem to agree was a stellar year for film, in the multiplexes and the art houses, at the festivals, and on the home streaming platforms. The face of […]