Why Suspiria Still Has The Perfect Horror Opening Sequence Joseph Bullock December 28, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Watch the opening sequence of Suspiria here: part 1 & part 2 A masterpiece of the genre, and certainly the most famous Italian example, Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) remains a uniquely haunting...
The Citizen Kane of Awful: The Room Tom Bond November 30, 2017 Features, Nostalgia, The Citizen Kane of Awful “The Room is the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” – Ross Morin, Entertainment Weekly Nearly five years ago, we began The Citizen Kane of Awful, a series looking at the best worst films ever made. The...
Scene Stealers: Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Louise Burrell February 14, 2017 Analysis, Features, Scene Stealers A scene-stealer that plays the title role in a film? How can that be? Well, Michael Keaton may have played the "starring role" in Beetlejuice (credited as "Betelgeuse"), but did you know he has just a...
Cultivating A Cult: The Trial of The Greasy Strangler Christopher Preston November 5, 2016 Analysis, Features, Opinion "Too much grease is bad for you. I read it in a fitness magazine someone left on the bus." All films are guilty of wanting something. Just look at 2016's offerings: March played host to the...
Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man: The Great, British Horror Henry Gatrell July 7, 2016 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia “Do sit down, Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.” Even now, 43 years after its release, shocks are something Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man certainly provides. Speaking...
How Did The Big Lebowski Become A Cult Film? Henry Gatrell March 2, 2016 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia Cult films often happen by accident and can acquire a following without much explanation. When we latch onto a film we often experience a feeling of community by sharing a way of looking at the world. Films...
Short of the Week – Second Thoughts David Brake April 20, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/125153680 High Priest Nebula (Scovel) is re-considering the idea of transcending to meet up with Lord Ophelion. Fair enough. Problem is he's the cult leader who claimed Ophelion...
Goodbye to Language (3D) – LFF Review Tom Bond October 13, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Reviewing Goodbye to Language is like watching it. Very confusing. All that really matters is the ground-breaking moment where Godard rips up the 3D rulebook and redefines the format. The image splits. One...
Behind The Rules Of Dogme 95 Cameron Ward May 29, 2014 Analysis, Close-Up, Features - "Thus I make my VOW OF CHASTITY" - Dogme 95 (sometimes known as Dogma or Dogma 95) was an avant-garde movement in film production started by Danish-born directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg in...
Best Films Never Made #12: Shane Carruth’s A Topiary Tom Bond March 7, 2014 Behind The Curtain, Best Films Never Made, Features 18 Comments In 2004, Shane Carruth stunned the film industry with his visionary debut, Primer. Taking a meticulous and realist approach to the ever-popular sci-fi theme of time travel, his singular vision earned him the...
Absurdity And Violence in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth Cameron Ward February 17, 2014 Analysis, Close-Up, Features - "The animal that threatens us is a cat." - Yorgos Lanthimos' darkly subversive 2009 drama Dogtooth offers no easy answers. In this respect, and many others, this freakish tale of parental autocracy...
The Unique Body Horror Of American Mary Cameron Ward January 29, 2014 Analysis, Close-Up, Features - "She’s an artist." - Following on from the Grindhouse-inspired Dead Hooker in a Trunk, Jen and Sylvia Soska (Twisted Twins Productions)'s American Mary rejects the tired cliches of "feminist...
The Citizen Kane of Awful: The Avengers (1998) Tom Bond January 7, 2014 Features, Nostalgia, The Citizen Kane of Awful 3 Comments For Your Consideration: The Avengers (1998) Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, Sean Connery, Jim Broadbent Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik Estimated...
