My initial review for The Coffee Table was going to be one word and one word only. Fuck. As gimmicky, nay, lazy and clickbait-inducing piece of film commentary as that would have been, it summed up the overriding thought in my head as the end credits rolled. It was also an approximation of the sound […]
On seeing the title of this, you’d be forgiven for having the initial thought of “Not another film about the making of The Exorcist, but Robin Bextor’s documentary is certainly not just another film about the making of The Exorcist, choosing to focus much of its runtime on the lead up to the production and […]
Horror and art: it’s a faithful, longstanding relationship which continues to turn out a few films – good and bad – every single year. And then we come to The Portrait, a film which you could be forgiven for assuming was a fairly straightforward horror story – but it isn’t. Paring back the horror to […]
It’s the most terrible time of the year: it’s the present day, and – Santa has mysteriously stopped delivering presents, ending winter. Writers and directors Manuel Camilion and Benjamin Edelman have created a retro-feeling homage to both Mary Shelley and Father Christmas here that sometimes finds its feet, but other times feels frail. With few […]
Cinema teaches us that female travellers in remote climes are not in for an easy time of it. Perhaps it’s sending a message: get straight to work. Don’t risk a gap year or a prolonged vacation; it’s just not worth it. The Royal Hotel (2023) certainly starts out along those lines, though it shifts things […]
A man awakes in a mysterious room… Okay, so the very opening scene of Share? (2023) will sound eminently familiar to a lot of audiences. Men wake up in mysterious rooms a lot in cinema, and it’s probably no spoiler to add that, when they do, things don’t tend to go well for them, often […]
In the aftermath of a heist, Frankie (Joseph McGucken) and partners in crime Dancer (James Farrelly) and Gaz (Darryl Carter) head to an isolated spot in the Irish countryside to lay low and wait for instructions from their chief, er, The Chief (Owen Roe). Will their plans to make their eventual escape be thwarted by […]
We’re perhaps used to certain kinds of war movies. Boots on the ground, violence and trauma, the experiences and perspectives of those who fought; many superb, deeply moving films have followed this path. However, this is only a part of the picture, and other approaches are out there still, waiting to be explored. This brings […]
Sideshow performers Maggie (Toby Poser), Eve (Zelda Adams) and Seven (John Adams) travel around Depression-era America with a carnival which has lost most of its sparkle. As the crowds dwindle, there’s one particular attraction which continues to hold a grim fascination for those gathered – Mr. Tibbs, who cuts off his fingers with scissors. As […]
What is going on here? This is a question which Screwdriver (2023) poses early, but cannot answer in a meaningful way throughout its ninety-minute (or so) runtime. Lost in a maze of hard-to-follow, harder-to-engage dialogue, with a limited cast, set and – most detrimentally to the film overall – characterisation, it feels far longer than […]
Are we sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Lady Terminator opens with The Queen Of The South Sea, an all-powerful sex goddess, luring some poor unfortunate into her boudoir and devouring the bloke’s penis with her vagina dwelling serpent – just out of shot – in a slice of horror erotica that’s neither horrific nor erotic. […]