I’m afraid Matt Glasby’s book came to me via a place of great perplexity, but one which hasn’t ultimately done it any harm. When first approached to cover it, I happened upon an inexplicably angry review of the book by a woman who, in a similar vein, had angrily reviewed a Kate Summerscale book because […]
Alongside the Borley Rectory haunting, the story of the ‘Bell Witch’ (or the ‘Tennessee demon’) is one of those stories which made a big impression on me when I was a child, something I first encountered in a ‘mysteries of the unexplained’ compendium and which I’ve reflected on ever since with a mixture of fascination […]
If you could have back a moment in time – to say something differently, or to ask something you never asked – would you? Or, if you could tell someone in the here-and-now what you really think of them, or what they did to you – would you? That is the central premise behind short […]
If ever you’ve wondered, deep in your heart, what an experimental/arthouse spin on The Fall of the House of Usher would look like, then wonder no further: The Bloodhound explores similar themes of warped family dynamics, fatalism and isolation, though by coming at it in an ultra-modern location with a low-exposition, dialogue-lite story. A first […]
Anything for Jackson is a horror film which clearly starts as it means to go on – offering drastic, sometimes bizarre contrasts between humdrum suburban life and an occult storyline which is recognisable, but no less OTT for it. The resulting film is like a mash-up between Hereditary (2018) and Inside (2007) – make of […]
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a film with a title like Girl With No Mouth (2019). It sounds like something from exploitation cinema, akin to They Call Her One Eye (1973) or even some kind of body horror. Given that this film is directed by Turkish director Can Evrenol – who brought us […]
If I was to declare that a film about sentient trousers on a killing spree would be utilised to draw attention to the ethics of big business, then you might wonder…how? Sure, it’s not the first time possessed everyday items have run amok in horror, and it’s not so long back that we had a […]
Joe Dante is an interesting director. He’s worked almost entirely in the mainstream, on movies that are ‘family entertainment’ – sometimes for Spielberg, sometimes for other highly corporate filmmakers. His films are often glossy, expensive-looking affairs. He, and his movies, ought to be very annoying. Yet I find myself really enjoying his movies, albeit as […]
When you see the names Pegg and Frost attached to a project, then by now you probably have a fair idea of what to expect: the type of humour, the affectionate inclusion of horror and sci-fi elements, and – when they’re at their best, I’d argue – something intrinsically British. The unfinished pub crawl of […]
First Bite is not a short film which sets out to reinvent any particular genre – but what it does, it does very nicely. It gets good things out of its key elements and, in a little over six minutes, it manages at least one ‘wince’ moment to boot. It’s also set at a metal […]
So, as you will hopefully have noticed, given the sticky post here on the site, myself and David Flint of Reprobate Press have recently published a book. Horror Out of Control is a collection of horror and genre cinema reviews spanning the first two decades of the new millennium, taking in the best, the worst […]