By Keri O’Shea Saw has a lot to answer for, doesn’t it? Since it appeared a little over a decade ago, it’s had a long-lasting and far-reaching impact on horror – for good, and for ill. Saw showed us that a horror story could be effective and gripping whilst being incredibly economical with characters and […]
By Ben Bussey The late, great British auteur Ken Russell was never one for doing things by halves. As such, when he crossed the pond to give Hollywood a whirl in the early 1980s, no way was he about to leave his abrasive, in your face attitude behind. Russell’s time in the US was brief […]
By Keri O’Shea Most horror fans who have delved beyond the physical jerk-invoking shitfests being screened every Halloween will probably have an idea who Debbie Rochon is; add in a soft spot for low budget indie cinema, and chances are you’ll have seen more than a few offerings from her very extensive CV, especially if […]
By Marc Patterson Around these parts we’re big fans of short horror films. Creating a perfect anthology of shorts is a significant challenge to any producer. There’s a real art to the curation of shorts into a masterful anthology. One needs to consider the broad theme, the mood, and what overarching story (if any) there […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi I can’t say I’m overly familiar with the cheerleader subgenre (can we even call it that?) of exploitation filmmaking, but to say that The Swinging Cheerleaders lives up to my expectations of what a cheerleader film would be like is almost right. Luckily, it’s got those little Jack Hill flourishes that make […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi In cinemas soon, The Lighthouse is Chris Crow’s fourth feature as director, and his second feature collaboration with producer David Lloyd. Following Devil’s Bridge, Panic Button and The Darkest Day, The Lighthouse is a chamber piece, a psychological drama based on a real life event in Welsh maritime history. Chris and David […]
By Ben Bussey Rock stars in movies have a somewhat chequered past. For every David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth, there’s a Roger Daltrey in Vampirella; for every Mick Jagger in Performance, there’s a Mick Jagger in Freejack. The original wild child Iggy Pop doesn’t exactly have a spotless track record here […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi We’re big fans of Chris Crow’s work here at Brutal as Hell, following Devil’s Bridge, Panic Button and The Darkest Day. With the arrival of his latest feature, I don’t think that’s going to change. It’s an unconventional film, which I’m certain will frustrate some viewers, but for me it’s Crow’s most […]
By Ben Bussey There are many approaches a no-budget horror movie can take in order to stand apart from the crowd, but surely one of the most effective is to come up with the silliest premise imaginable. So many cash-strapped productions shoot themselves in the foot from the off by trying to play it too […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi We all know I love Danger 5, the alt-history surrealist TV series by Dario Russo and David Ashby. Though there’s no sign of any more Danger 5 in the near future (I know, I’m sad too, but pastures new, and all that), the men collectively known as Dinosaur Worldwide have unleashed their […]
By Keri O’Shea ‘Based on an idea by Franck Khalfoun’: these are surely words to warm the heart for many horror fans, albeit based on rather little. But his remake of Maniac in 2012 was stylish and redemptive, and his subsequent absence from what I’m reluctant to call ‘the scene’ has no doubt been noted. […]