By Keri O’Shea Threaded through what little we understand of early British pagan beliefs – and one of the reasons they continue to hold such fascination is that so much about them has been obscured by time – is the central idea that Nature is cyclical, with birth and death not only following one another, […]
Review by Tristan Bishop Well, found footage films are still being made. In the past few years I’ve watched literally dozens of these films, and whilst there is the occasionally effective entry (The Tunnel (2011), for instance), most of the cycle ranges in quality from ‘dull’ to ‘execrable’. Found footage has, as I have discussed […]
By Ben Bussey September 30th 1988, and US cinemas found themselves hosting two of the biggest blockbusters they’d ever seen… that’s right, I’m talking about Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. And if that opener puts you off then I’d stop reading right now, because in this little retrospective I’ll be doing my utmost to lay […]
Review by Ben Bussey Well alright. It’s time to dust off that old phrase that we so seldom find use for these days: I can honestly say I’ve never seen a movie quite like this before. Oh, we’ve seen these kind of characters, we’ve been told this kind of story: but have we seen it realised […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife I had one of those very rare experiences watching Filth, whereby when I emerged bleary eyed from the cinema I truly wasn’t sure what I thought of the film. Did I love it or did I hate it? I just wasn’t sure. It was certainly an experience and I wanted to […]
Review by Comix There is a quote on the back of Atomic Robo Vol. 4 from Major Spoilers that says: “If you’ve never read Atomic Robo, then there is something seriously wrong with you.” Let me tell you, I must have had a freaking brain aneurism because how I managed to miss this amazing comic […]
By Tristan Bishop I remember being confounded when I heard the news – I Spit On Your Grave 2 was on the way. A remake of a controversial classic is one thing, but a sequel to one which didn’t have any sequels originally? And the press release referring to it as a ‘franchise’ set more […]
By Keri O’Shea When a film’s press release name-checks Cronenberg and Buttgereit, it has immediately placed itself in a risky position; any movie mentioned in the same breath as these bastions of body horror has a hell of a way to go to prove itself, and you often can’t help thinking it’d be better if […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife It was somewhat of a relief when I sat down to watch The Body as it turned out to be one of those rare instances when a screener you receive actually turns out to be pretty good. After opening Sitges last year and screening at The London Film Festival, The Body […]
Review by Ben Bussey The problem with movies that centre on a big twist is that more often than not that twist becomes the very thing that the movie is sold on, and often not too subtly. Witness the posters and covers that highlight Janet Leigh’s screaming face in the shower, the Statue of Liberty […]
Review by Ben Bussey If this really is James Wan’s kind-of/sort-of/almost-certainly-not-really last horror movie, the director certainly hasn’t shamed himself. We might ponder whether he’s not selling himself short kissing the genre goodbye, however, when his supposed swansong is essentially a direct retread of (arguably) his finest hour. Yes, I really enjoyed the original Insidious. It […]