What’s it about? It seems near unthinkable 1930s Hollywood would be capable of making transgressive horror films given the notorious conservatism of ‘the dream factory’. Stipulations and requirements existed both through external pressure (the media, religious groups, etc.) and an important sense of in-house image. However the studios, after the success of Universal’s Dracula (1931), [...]
What’s it about? As a direct question, that’s not especially easy to answer. At its simplest level the film is about two men; brothers-in-law Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) and Tobei (Sakae Ozawa) who, when the civil wars come to their town, are distracted from protecting their wives (and in Genjuro’s case his son). Tobei is led [...]
What’s it about? As the television series The Killing demonstrated, the Danes have nicely manoeuvred themselves into cornering the market on taunt psychological thrillers lead by a quiet, determined woman.ID:A stars Tuva Novotny as a woman who wakes up in a river in France dressed in men’s clothes with a bag full of Euros and [...]
What’s it about? Returning to the windswept seashore home of her grandfather, Rebecca (Eva Green) finds that the childhood bond she had with local boy Thomas (Matt Smith) is as timeless for her as the landscape that surrounds them. The two are separated for a second time when Thomas is killed in an accident. Determined [...]
What’s it about? Deadball is a Japanese, baseball splatter movie from gross out-ers Sushi Typhoon (Yakuza Weapon, Helldriver, Alien vs Ninja). Jubeh Yakyu has got a hell of a right arm, but when his high leg, atmosphere intruding, flaming pitch of death hits his dad in the face so hard it blows his eyes out [...]
What’s it about? Directed by the brother of Danny Elfman (boom-boom, boom-boom, ahhhh-ahhhh, ahhhh-ahhhh, biddly-bong, biddly-bong), the 1982 comedy musical, Forbidden Zone, comes to the bluest of ray, courtesy of the Arrow Video folk. When the Hercules family move into a house recently abandoned by a heroin dealing pimp in blackface, they soon find that [...]
What’s it about? The last entry in Lucio Fulci’s unofficially dubbed ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy is a lesson in slow-building terror and reserves the ultra-violent, misogynistic theatrics for key sequences. Fulci instead chooses to weave an atmosphere of dread wrapped in a premise verging on the surreal. Given the exploitative and rushed nature of Italian [...]
What’s it about? One of the most acclaimed, indeed revered, films from the late career of Japanese auteur Kenji Mizoguchi, Sansho Dayu tells the story of the family – wife, 13 year old son and 8 year old daughter – of an exiled governor who, when travelling to be reunited with him, are kidnapped by [...]
What’s it about? In the opening credits sequence of Yakuza Weapon, the latest slice of Japanese cult cinema mentalness from Yudai Yamaguchi and co-director Tak Sakaguchi, we see a man fire a bow and arrow with a decapitated head skewered on the end (take that physics!) and another victim have his noggin stomped on with [...]
What’s it about? That John Cassavetes’ directorial debut, Shadows, feels like a film sensation over fifty years since release tells you immediately what a seismic picture this is in US screen history, particularly the indie scene. From the opening montage of young people dancing to its very final moments, Shadows feels alive and vital with [...]
