DVD Review: J-sploitation Goes Feminist in ‘Ninja Girl’

 Review by Ben Bussey. I don’t know if I can speak for everyone, but when I hear of a new Japanese DVD release my gut impulse is to expect some or all of the following: cheap DV photography, pretty girls in rubber performing martial arts, and ridiculously excessive gore. When the film in question is […]

DVD Review: Christopher Walken Goes Action Hero in ‘McBain’

DVD Review by Ben Bussey. Yes, I know, on reading this title many will have the same initial reaction I did: “What? That Schwarzenegger piss-take from The Simpsons? It was a real movie?” Well, yes and no. This is indeed a film called McBain, and features the title character firing innumerable bullets, blowing up an inordinate number […]

DVD Review: Territories

DVD Review by Aaron Williams  It’s an ugly term ‘torture porn,’ and it’s thrown around way too often in today’s cinematic climate. For those who pay their admission fees simply to catch sight of faceless victims being systematically disembowelled only to have narrative and characterisation fall to the wayside, it’s the mark of a hell […]

DVD Review: The Man With The Severed Head (1976)

Review by Ben Bussey. Now how’s about this for a premise: during a heist gone wrong, gangster Jack Surnett (Paul Naschy) takes a bullet in the head. Obviously he can’t go to a regular hospital, so his fellow gangsters take him to one of those disgraced doctors who can only find work doing dodgy operations for […]

DVD Review: Arrow Video Presents ‘Pieces’

Review by Stephanie Scaife. Pieces (1982) is a cult classic exploitation slasher flick from Spanish filmmaker Juan Piquer Simon (Slugs, Monster Island) and here it is in a fantastic and lovingly created brand new edition from Arrow Video, sporting a vast array of special features and some rather eye catching newly commissioned art work. The […]

FrightFest 2011 Review: The Divide

Review By Stephanie Scaife. If like me you have a penchant for post-apocalyptic narratives that are unrelentingly bleak and mercilessly grim, then The Divide is definitely the film for you. Xavier Gens made his name as part of the new wave of French horror filmmakers with his flawed but endearingly bonkers Frontier(s) which soon led […]

DVD Review: John A. Russo’s ‘Midnight’ (1982)

Review by Keri O’Shea. If it’s true that ‘the Devil has all the best tunes’, then what does that tell us about unholy forces on our cinema screens? Well, it appears that Satan not only sells, but has found himself a comfortable niche in horror and exploitation movies. The results of this can be great; […]

FrightFest 2011 Review: Deadheads

Deadheads (2011) Directed by: Brett Pierce, Drew T. Pierce Starring: Michael McKiddy, Ross Kidder, Thomas Galasso, Benjamin Webster Review by: Ben Bussey When American twentysomething Mike (McKiddy) wakes up one day to find himself in some kind of strange incubation chamber, he doesn’t know what the hell’s going on. Stepping out into the world, he […]

FrightFest 2011 Review: Kill List

Kill List (2011) Directed by: Ben Wheatley Starring: Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, MyAnna Buring Review by: Ben Bussey Contract killer Jay (Maskell) hasn’t worked in months. He lives comfortably with his wife (Buring) and their son, but the debts are starting to pile up, not to mention the marital tensions. Anxious to avoid taking on […]

FrightFest 2011 Review: The Woman

The Woman (2011) Directed by: Lucky McKee Starring: Pollyanna McIntosh, Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis Review by: Ben Bussey Within a suprisingly short distance of one another exist what would appear to be two polar opposites of human life. The Cleek family live an affluent and comfortable existence in their beautiful ranch home, whilst in the […]