by Ben Bussey He was the first great horror director of the talkies era. Responsible for four of the very best 1930s Universal classics, horror cinema would be a very different place without James Whale. While he will of course always be most remembered for the Frankenstein films, he did a lot more than […]
Continuing our celebration of Frankenstein’s 80th Anniversary, Keri O’Shea looks at some of the weird and wonderful Frankenstein films that have come in its wake… The influence of the Universal Frankenstein movies cannot be underestimated. Boris Karloff’s ‘dear old monster’ has become a horror archetype, crossing the breach into popular culture and staying there, for the best part […]
Review by Keri O’Shea It’s probably fair to say that, for those who form part of a prospective audience, not many of us know too much about the country of Serbia. So, when trying to estimate the efficacy of a movie which purports to be ‘an allegory about Serbia’, we’re already in dangerous territory. If […]
Review by Keri O’Shea It’s odd – sometimes when a film itself makes a claim about how ‘original’ it is or how it is somehow ‘redefining genre’, you wonder why you’re hearing it from them, not the fans. Sometimes it even comes across like a kid establishing their version of events first, before you discover […]
Review by Keri O’Shea If, like me, repeatedly seeing people GETTING FUCKING TIED TO CHAIRS in horror movies makes you weep soundlessly into your hands at such a singular lack of imagination, then Village of Shadows might well have something to offer. Atmospheric supernatural horror often gets overlooked (or botched) by low-budget filmmakers, but first-time […]
Keri O’Shea on Abertoir Horror Film Festival 2011, Aberystwyth, Wales UK Well, that’s it for another year: Abertoir has been and gone, there’s nothing left on my horror calendar and I’ve once more been spat out, kicking and screaming, into Real Life. Still, perhaps it’s all for the best. At the time of writing, I […]
Review by Ben Bussey. Finally, it’s the film that David Lean never got to complete… ahem, I mean, it’s the film within a film from Joseph Guzman’s Run! Bitch Run!, brought to life as a complete feature in its own right, Machete style. It has yet to get a US release owing to what I […]
by Ben Bussey. The last few years have given rise to a wave of Japanese exploitation cinema that is in many respects truly unlike anything that we have seen before: films which centre on people, more often than not pretty young women, with bizarre cybernetic limb replacements – lethally sharp, mechanised appendages that drip with […]
Review by Keri O’Shea When a legendary genre film star passes away, fans often take that as an opportunity to revisit their most compelling work. It’s a mark of respect. It reminds us of how we came to know that name in the first place. Well, as much as this is often true, in my […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife – moderate spoilers ahead. Sam Peckinpah’s most controversial film Straw Dogs finally makes its way on to Blu-Ray this week, just in time for its 40th anniversary and to coincide with the release of the remake (out in the UK on 4th November, and reviewed here). It was made during a […]
Review by Keri O’Shea. The internet may be a boon for film fans in many ways, but it can also be a curse; try avoiding the reviews and opinions of your peers when you’re desperately trying not to form a verdict on a film you’ve yet to see and you’ll understand what I mean. The […]