Review by Ben Bussey So- how does one go about making a sequel to a film as knowingly absurd and excessive as Troma’s original Toxic Avenger? With some difficulty, it would seem. As much as Troma’s output is designed to be more or less critic proof – that old ‘so bad it’s good’ thing – […]
By Svetlana Fedotov It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Hellboy and the BPRD cross paths. While yet to be reunited, we can at least get a peek at where it all started with launch of Hellboy and BPRD 1952. Before Abe Sapien, before Liz the Fire Starter, and even before Johann Kraus found […]
By Karolina Gruschka Every generation “embraces the vampire it needs, and gets the one it deserves.” As US scholar Nina Auerbach points out in the quote above, vampires often reflect certain aspects of culture and current society. This means the image of the vampire is an ever shifting one that adapts to the requirements of […]
By Ben Bussey What are you afraid of? It’s a simple enough question, one which tends to prompt the old list of usual suspects: spiders, snakes, rats, heights and so on and so forth. But is the answer really as simple as that, for any of us? When it comes right down to it, I’m […]
By Keri O’Shea For as long as there have been sources of tremendous anxiety and terror – things too incomprehensible or too unseemly to be met head on – mankind has used the medium of monsters to come to terms with them. It’s the oldest trick in the book. As long ago as the eighteenth […]
Review by Nia Edwards-Behi Kylie Bucknall (Morgana O’Reilly) is not having a good time. Arrested following a botched smash-and-grab, the surly young woman is sentenced to a lengthy period of house arrest, forcing her to return to her family home with her over-bearing but well-meaning mother, Miriam (Rima Te Wiata) and quiet step-dad Graeme (Ross […]
Review by Quin The title tells you all you really need to know about the story. There is a guy with an axe and he’s terrorizing Henderson County. Following a murder, the police are brought in to investigate. More murders follow. The Axeman of Henderson County, directed by Larry Parmiter and written by his wife […]
By Guest Contributor Claire Waddingham Claire discusses how British nuclear horror Threads is the most terrifying film ever made – especially from the perspective of a historian. This week, I watched a film called Hot Tub Time Machine. I needed some mindless entertainment. And it was mindless. A group of men get in a hot […]
Review by Ben Bussey A young woman stands in front of a mirror in her underwear. Anyone in their right mind would agree she looks beautiful, and yet as she runs her eyes up and down her body her insecurity is written all over her face; seeing nothing but flaws, she is deeply uncomfortable, and […]
By Keri O’Shea Psst – want some help getting into the Halloween mood? You may not need any; it might well be enough that the nights are drawing in, the evenings are getting colder and the cutesy trappings of death and the supernatural are hanging in shop windows. Or, maybe you’re still feeling a little […]
Review by Tristan Bishop The American school system was a very dangerous place in the eighties. Forget the over-emphasis on sports scholarship, the rife bullying of nerds and the horrendous idea of having to find a date for the prom (I’m glad we never had to do that in the UK) – the worst aspect […]