Monday 29 September 2014

Maps To The Stars

 
Cronenberg's emotional detachment reduces lurid Hollywood satire down to an unflinching stare into the abyss. One of his finest.
 

The Borderlands

 
Found footage as a lazy alternative to actual film making, saved by an ending soaked in heavy Lovecraft overtones.
 

Monday 22 September 2014

Snowpiercer

 
Requires a frankly ludicrous premise in order to create a microcosm of humanity which frames a fantastic story, ending with a powerful statement on society which is undermined by the frankly ludicrous premise.

Monday 15 September 2014

Bay Of Blood [Reazione a catena/Chain Reaction/Ecologia del delitto/Ecology Of A Crime/Twitch Of The Death Nerve/Bloodbath/Carnage/Last House On The Left Part II]


The template for every tits n bodycount slasher movie that followed in its wake, with an added bonus of one of the best endings ever.
King.

Sunday 14 September 2014

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

 
Staggeringly awful due to being hopelessly misjudged at every opportunity. Absolute fucking shit.
 

Thursday 11 September 2014

Stake Land

 
Ponderous, downbeat, post-apocalyptic vampire western.
 

Monday 8 September 2014

Frank

 
The moral of the story appears to be 'Don't exploit Frank Sidebottom for your own means', which is odd because that's precisely what this film does.
 

Sunday 7 September 2014

The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh [Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh/Blade Of The Ripper/The Next Victim/Next!]


Superb Giallo about the stylish wife of a stylish diplomat who embarks on a torrid affair with a stylish suitor at the same time as her stylish ex lover reappears causing spontaneous reminiscing on the stylish sado-masochism that they used to indulge in. Of course, being a Giallo, this is just stylish filler between a series of typically stylish straight-razor murders perpetrated on a group of stylish women who exhibit a direct correlation between how short their skirt is and the amount of peril they're in.
King.