Whilst the rolling montage of deaths and planned deaths running over the opening credits of The Killer (2023) might promise a piece of ultraviolence to follow, this is instead an often quiet – unbearably quiet – and introspective film, which is utterly carried by Michael Fassbender’s magnetic, if ice-cold performance. As Fassbender’s many-named but ultimately […]
Cliff Twemlow’s life, even if you happen to be as-yet unfamiliar with him, is definitely a life worth examining. Even if you haven’t yet availed yourself of any of his films (and I hadn’t until comparatively recently) then Mancunian Man will almost certainly grant you curiosity about his acting career. But, there’s a lot more […]
Bangladeshi horror cinema is all but unknown to me, so the chance to see a Bangladeshi anthology film was too good to pass up. Pett Kata Shaw (2023) contains four distinct stories – in fact, these are compiled together here after a four-part TV series, meaning there isn’t really an overarching framing narrative, and as […]
“Why don’t people learn from their mistakes?” An elderly woman speaks those words at the beginning of Palimpsest (2022), and it’s a question which shapes the film which follows as we unfold a gentle, sometimes whimsical and sometimes moving story all about the ‘What ifs?’ Back to the lady who opens proceedings: she’s busy pondering […]
Ooh, this is a bleak film. I mean, really, really bleak. Once you think you’ve got through all the different layers of bleakness, there’s more down there to enjoy. When Evil Lurks (2023) certainly doesn’t misrepresent itself with that title; it’s chock-full of lurking evil. And dirty, bloody, grotty evil, too – none of this […]
As Halloween approaches, we might find ourselves wondering how a Celtic winter festival with all its attendant beliefs in the ‘thinning veil’ and the temporary proximity of the dead has managed to hang on through thousands of years of Christianity, but hey – it’s a moveable feast. Depending on where you stand, it’s anywhere from: […]
A pinballing, weaving camera which eventually ends up giving us a cadaver’s eye view, straight through the zipper of a body bag, is a pretty sizeable clue that Suitable Flesh (2023) is going to be an unashamed piece of horror, and to its credit, this turns out to abundantly be the case. Based around H […]
I had a strange sense of deja-vu several times when watching Robert Morgan’s first feature-length film, and the first of these is because I can never remember who anyone is or what they’ve done. So, when I first glimpsed Morgan’s very distinctive stop-motion style during the opening moments of this feature, I realised that I […]
From the abundant and imaginative pages of artist Go Nagai we find today’s film, Lion-Girl. Written and directed by cult favorite Japanese director Mitsutake Kurando, this piece faced many unique challenges while telling a unique story. Filmed entirely in Los Angeles at the height of the pandemic, the film found collaboration with Toei Video and […]
Review by Darren Gaskell Aimless Ryan (Richard Galloway) is struggling to find purpose in life. Having quit his teaching gig, he’s struggling to find gainful employment and his lack of drive is testing the patience of partner Louise (Louise O’Leary). Wandering around a local antiques emporium, Ryan picks up a somewhat overpriced hammer, but also […]
Review by Darren Gaskell 23rd March 2020. As the spectre of Covid loomed large over the UK and the population was told to isolate, filmmaker Damien Sung decided to film a series of vlogs documenting his experience as a divorced father of three living some distance away from his wife and kids. Soon the effects […]