Whilst the third act seems to position the film in an impatient race toward that (arguably predictable) final image, letting the more controlled plotting of its opening hour fall by the wayside, as an intense and routinely bloody horror experience, Talk to Me more than justifies the price of admission. It just seems to me that perhaps the film has been slightly overhyped, potentially suffering (rather than benefiting) from the adulation it has received from the likes of Peter Jackson, who has referred to it as the 'best, most intense horror movie I’ve enjoyed in years'.
‘From’ and the Ghost of ‘Lost’
Harold Perrineau as Boyd in From One thing that you can always say about Lost, the J.J. Abrams-produced ABC series that aired from 2004-2010, was that it always kept you guessing. Yes, the end of the show was a disappointment, confirming (I think - it’s been a while!) that the survivors of Flight 815 had … Continue reading ‘From’ and the Ghost of ‘Lost’
Film Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Thomas, 2022)
I really wish I liked this more. As a huge fan of Grady Hendrix's original book, I was looking forward to My Best Friend's Exorcism, but the film, directed by Damon Thomas, really struggles to nail the tone of the novel or find its own voice. The closing credits - an 80s freeze frame montage … Continue reading Film Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Thomas, 2022)
Film Review: Saloum (Herbulot, 2021)
On its surface, Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot's Saloum is an amalgamation of various cinematic influences and iconography, combining Action, Horror and (Spaggetti) Western genre elements to form a rather unique 90-minute thriller concerning a trio of mysterious Senegalese mercenaries whose vigilante exploits take them into the dark heart of the African landscape and its … Continue reading Film Review: Saloum (Herbulot, 2021)
Film Review: Glorious (McKendry, 2022)
Wes (Ryan Kwanten) jolts awake from a nightmare whilst driving on a quiet country backroad. Taking the sensible decision to pull over and try to rouse himself for the journey ahead, the exhausted forty-something parks his car at an isolated rest-stop, apparently ignorant of a whole cinematic history warning against this exact situation (see: Psycho, … Continue reading Film Review: Glorious (McKendry, 2022)
Jordan Peele: Auteur or Metteur en scène?
Auteur (noun): a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp. Metteur en scene (noun): a director who has technical competence when it comes to film directing, but does not add personal style to the aesthetic of the film. Watching Jordan Peele's new … Continue reading Jordan Peele: Auteur or Metteur en scène?
Incantation (2022), Active Spectatorship and Optical Illusions
Netflix's found-footage Taiwanese horror film Incantation (Ko, 2022) offers something unique in a quite tired genre. Whilst falling into the usual tropes of found footage films - the shaky POV shots of shadowy rooms keeping us on our toes, static CCTV footage demanding our close scrutiny, pixelated social media posts fragmenting into digital debris before … Continue reading Incantation (2022), Active Spectatorship and Optical Illusions
Film Review: The Feast (Haven Jones, 2022)
In The Feast, Lee Haven Jones offers an atmospheric eco-horror that forefronts slow but effective unease in anticipation of the final act's body horror lashings to the benefit of this short and sharp feature debut. At once both novel and yet somehow familiar (it does feel reminiscent of recent British folk horror films such as … Continue reading Film Review: The Feast (Haven Jones, 2022)
Film Review: Mad God (Tippett, 2021)
Phil Tippett’s Mad God opens with a passage from Leviticus. It closes with a monstrous cuckoo clock chiming the hour. In between, this stop-motion oddity features a world of dreams and nightmares highlighting a clear craftsman at work. It’s difficult to articulate what exactly Mad God is about, the film lacking a coherent or detailed … Continue reading Film Review: Mad God (Tippett, 2021)
Film Review: Ultrasound (Schroeder, 2022)
Rob Schroeder’s Ultrasound opens with thirty-something Glen experiencing a car crash on his way back from a friend’s wedding. In the pouring rain and with no other option, he knocks on the door of married couple Art and Cindi in search of help. There’s a noticeable age gap between Art and Cindi, and a baffled … Continue reading Film Review: Ultrasound (Schroeder, 2022)
Film Review: Vicious Fun (Calahan, 2020)
A love-letter to/comedy send-up of slasher films of the 1980s, Cody Calahan's Vicious Fun covers similar ground to classic meta-horror films like Cabin in the Woods and Scream, tipping its hat toward the genre's tropes and conventions in a charming manner, although without offering much in the way that's new to the formula of self-aware … Continue reading Film Review: Vicious Fun (Calahan, 2020)
Film Review: In the Earth (Wheatley, 2021)
With In the Earth, Ben Wheatley returns to his gritty horror genre roots following his lavish if underwhelming adaptation of Rebecca for Netflix, a return which is admirable for its mid-lockdown guerrilla approach to filmmaking (shooting between UK lockdowns in late 2020) if not entirely successful in the final verdict. Joel Fry plays Martin Lowery, … Continue reading Film Review: In the Earth (Wheatley, 2021)
Film Review: The Strange House (Prochaska, 2020)
Stranger Things meets Scooby Doo in this instantaneously forgettable fantasy-horror flick from Austrian director Daniel Prochaska, exhibiting none of the former television show's bite and little of the latter's cheesy charm. From its almost laughably generic title - marketed as both The Strange House and The Scary House, as if this minor tweak could make … Continue reading Film Review: The Strange House (Prochaska, 2020)
Film Review: Come True (Burns, 2020)
Come True is a nightmarish lo-fi horror film which explores the boundaries between dreams and the real world, occupying a space somewhere between Inception and the collective hallucinatory works of David Lynch. Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone) is a teenage runaway who is plagued by insomnia and, when she is able to sleep, enigmatic but oppressively … Continue reading Film Review: Come True (Burns, 2020)
Film Review: The Owners (Berg, 2020)
Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, The Falling) stars alongside British screen icons Sylvester McCoy and Rita Tushingham in this home invasion horror/thriller which packs a nasty visual punch, if not a fully coherent plot. When Williams' boyfriend Nathan (Ian Kenny) and his two lads-in-crime plan to rob an elderly couple's house in their absence, only … Continue reading Film Review: The Owners (Berg, 2020)
Review: The Gift (Edgerton, 2015)
In the midst of a summer filled with mediocre blockbusters, The Gift offers an intriguing alternative to those fed up with superheroes and spies as a surprisingly engaging psychological thriller from first time writer/director Joel Edgerton. Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) have moved to Los Angeles from Chicago to start a new life. Simon has a … Continue reading Review: The Gift (Edgerton, 2015)
Review: When Animals Dream (Arnby, 2014)
When Animals Dream is a charmingly atmospheric take on the werewolf myth which strikes an admirable balance between intelligent storytelling and the obligatory use of genre tropes. A young woman called Marie lives a quiet life in a Danish fishing village, where we are introduced to the character as she visits a local doctor after noticing some surprising bodily changes. 'Nothing … Continue reading Review: When Animals Dream (Arnby, 2014)
Frames in Focus: The Lost Weekend (Wilder, 1945)
Billy Wilder was no stranger to the darker side of humanity. Be it the desperate longing for the past in Sunset Blvd., the morally bankrupt activities of the press in Ace in the Hole, the deep depression of The Apartment or even the cold-blooded murder which starts off the otherwise comical Some Like it Hot, Wilder's films tend to … Continue reading Frames in Focus: The Lost Weekend (Wilder, 1945)
Frames in Focus: The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
'It's just a story about paranoia' remarks Kurt Russell about The Thing in a documentary focusing on horror master John Carpenter. It's about 'the breakdown of human beings believing in each other.' First and foremost The Thing is probably most remembered for its brutal special effects and grotesquery: the horrific manifestations of a shape-shifting alien as it moves … Continue reading Frames in Focus: The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
Halloween on Netflix: Top Horror Films to Screen this Friday
It's that time of year again: summer has faded into memory, the clock has gone back and the nights are getting darker. What better way to mark this time of year than to watch a good Horror film on Halloween: a holiday made for us to indulge in those guilty pleasure films from the darkest corners of cinema. For … Continue reading Halloween on Netflix: Top Horror Films to Screen this Friday
Notes from the Multiplex 