The impact of Lewis Carroll's (less commonly known as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's) "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" on modern entertainment is undeniable. Writer and director Jay Lee dips into this literary phenomenon with Alyce (also known as Alyce Kills). The film deals with the mental degeneration of Alyce as she escapes her dire […]
Art house cinema and me, we have an odd relationship. On occasion I can happily see beyond the stylistic tics and spasms which usually free the film of its could-be cogent plot, and I can handle the overblown emotion and the way in which it's examined. And then, perhaps I was expecting too much from Possession, a film which had long been on my hit-... […]
In 2009, Indonesian writer/directors “The Mo Brothers” (aka Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto) unleashed their horror movie Macabre on the populace of Singapore. They made a deliberate effort to merge the American slasher genre with more traditional Eastern horror and they definitely achieved this. It draws influences from American horror so much so... […]
For decades religious leaders have tried to combine the supernatural with science to try and justify the ridiculous beliefs they maintain while the rest of the world gradually starts to become rational. Taiwanese writer and director Chao-Bin Su tries to do the same with Silk (Gui si) but, like Scientologists, he ends up discovering that it is no si... […]
It is difficult to not spoil a movie that runs in reverse chronological order so to get the unpleasantries out of the way they all live again at the end... the beginning may not be so optimism filled. Gaspar Noé presents a disturbing tale of a night out in Paris (but less likely to scar the brain than "One Night in Paris") with Irreversible. The di […]
Anyone familiar with the work of Jörg Buttgereit (notably Nekromantik and Nekromantik 2) will know not to expect a straightforward or even coherent story from Schramm. Buttergereit relies on abstract concepts, shock visuals and often penises to convey a mood rather than presenting a story from A to B. It is a squint into the mind of a killer as his... […]
Strange Behavior (known as Dead Kids, Human Experiments, Small Town Massacre and Beyond the Gate but never referred to as Strange Behaviour in the UK) is a peculiar entry on the list of video nasties. Most peculiar is why it was banned in the first place, yes it has gore, but not enough and not in a context where a banning should be necessary. Comp... […]
Back in the late eighties when New York cops had facial hair that would make Tom Selleck feel inadequate and 93% of crime was committed by Puerto Rican's in headbands, William Lustig (Director) and Larry Cohen (Writer and producer) got together to show society that not all police in America greet citizens with a "toodle pip" before rescuing a […]
Needle is an Australian slasher movie written and directed by John V. Soto (whose name you may recognise from Ozsploitation movies such as Crush... or maybe not). Soto takes a fairly original concept and some intriguing characters and slots them perfectly into the generic American slasher template. Despite the customary execution of the plot, Needl... […]
At the time of watching Livide, I had reached the point of extreme fatigue with French horror cinema. Beautifully made and well funded they may be, but films such as In Their Sleep and Inside just don't rest that well with me – too slick, too manipulative. In the case of Inside – made by the same directors who went on to make Livide – I found the p... […]