by Keri O’Shea Nothing, absolutely nothing, will make you want to see a film more than being told you can’t. This is a maxim which holds true now (some filmmakers seem to actively court the type of controversy which will get their film banned) and, back in the pre-DVD days, before you could spend five […]
As tomorrow is Walpurgisnacht, we at Brutal As Hell decided this would be as good a time as any to celebrate Satan on screen. Kicking things off, here’s an appropriately devilish entry from Keri O’Shea… The Devil’s relationship with cinema is a lengthy one. As the horrors of Hell have always found their way into art […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife Warning: Contains moderate spoilers. Admittedly I was a bit late to the game when it came to The Cabin in the Woods. I’d been intrigued by the posters I’d seen and had heard rumblings of greatness, not least from Britt Hayes who provided a glowing review after the SXSW screening earlier […]
Review by Keri O’Shea Evil occultists are alive and well and residing in good old Blighty, where it seems they enjoy fucking around with unwitting hitmen – at least that’s the case in a couple of instances in the horror movie universe recently, including The Devil’s Business, an as-yet little known film which I got […]
Review by Keri O’Shea “Satan has only the power we give him.” A highly tense chiaroscuro Confessional gives us the opening scene of The Monk (2011), and introduces us to our main character – the ‘model of rectitude’, Ambrosio (Vincent Cassel), a monk legendary within his order and for miles around his Capuchin monastery, an […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife Sometimes a screener comes along that is so bad that it makes you consider giving up watching movies altogether, so Break was rather apt both in title and tagline. I wanted to take a break from film after watching it and it really was no mercy, just pain… terrible, derivative, throbbing […]
Festival Report by Nia Edwards-Behi This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. The genre giant, as ever, provides a packed schedule of great films, notable guests and plenty of atmosphere. A cornerstone of genre festivals, it’s testament to the festival team that a crowd of die-hard fans can mingle […]
Review by Keri O’Shea ‘Found footage’ is an incredibly popular shooting style for filmmakers these days – now even meriting its own genre – but, whenever you see it used, you know it means a series of trade-offs. Whilst it’s good in that it creates a sense of immediacy, an equality with the protagonists who […]
Review by Ben Bussey Ever notice how it never works out for the ones who seem too happy? Art teacher Lily (Kelan Coleman) may be deaf, but she’s young, she’s pretty, she loves her job, and above all she loves her little sister Michelle (Sarah Sculco), whom she has looked after on her own since […]
Review by Nia Edwards-Behi Elfie Hopkins has been a long time coming – finally getting a cinema release here in the UK, it’s a sweet-hearted piece that doesn’t really work as a horror film, but never the less has a massive amount of charm. Elfie Hopkins (Jaime Winstone) is the local slacker…and wannabe private detective. […]
Review by Ben Bussey Will the young women of this world never learn? If you need to get away from it all, don’t go to Paris. The only way you’ll get out of it okay is if your dad’s Liam Neeson. Otherwise, your plans of happy-go-lucky frolicking in the so-called city of love will promptly […]