Tag: Horror
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Let Us Prey.
Brian O’Malley’s directorial debut is set almost entirely in a small, remote police station. Constable Rachel Heggie is about to begin her first shift, having been relocated; from where? we do not know. Nothing is as it seems in this world. The night begins quietly with two officers having sexual escapades whilst Heggie and her…
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The Green Inferno.
Eli Roth knows how to satisfy his torture-porn audience. He’s good at that. I don’t rate it as a genre or as a credible type of film-making but nevertheless he is good at giving audiences ridiculous amounts of gore and filth. The first thing to say about Roth’s The Green Inferno is that this is not a…
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Short Film Reviews: Lone & The First Step.
Lone. (2013) Dir. Mark Pellington Lone elegantly combines experimental film and music in an almost hour long experience that is rich in ideas, textures and visuals. Its sound is layered and complex, developing and transforming as the film continues. It has elements of Terence Malick, David Lynch, Andrea Arnold and Harmony Korine. It is at…
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Short Film Reviews: Jeremiah Kipp.
It is a rare and joyous delight when I am contacted and asked to review a director’s work. Today, it is director Jeremiah Kipp’s work that I will be discussing. Jeremiah Kipp is based in New York and has been making short films and commercials for over a decade. The three films he has asked me to…
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Under the Skin.
Under the Skin is a highly ambitious film. It impresses so much in its opening half hour, setting up expectations that it ultimately struggles to live up to. True ambition is an admirable and rare quality to find in contemporary cinema and there is no denying the ambitious nature of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Despite the…
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The Piano Teacher.
Perhaps Michael Haneke’s most refined and meaningful piece of work, The Piano Teacher is far from an easy watch. In typical Haneke-style, there is unpredicted physical violence, repression and unanswered questions but all of this comes together to form a majestic yet twisted piece of contemporary European cinema. This take on the melodrama, tells the story of…
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Dogtooth.
Dogtooth depicts a family whose three children are completely unaware of the outside world. Told by their father that man-eating cats await them outside of the family walls, the three children remain childlike in mindset despite clearly physically venturing into adulthood. They have no understanding of sex, reality or the truth about their imprisonment. The father…
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Upstream Colour.
After undergoing the most severe, personal and destructive theft imaginable, Kris must attempt to re-build her life. She seems to find herself drawn to Jeff, who has also undergone some severe life changes due to his personal, out-of-control actions. Both individuals become somewhat addicted to one another and before long they struggle as their identities…
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Berberian Sound Studio.
I first experienced Italian Giallo cinema nearly two years ago when I sat in the Hyde Park Picture House at Halloween and witnessed Dario Argento’s Suspiria. The sounds of smashing glass, gruesome screams and the violent musical score were some of the most enchanting elements of the film. The bright crimsons that splashed onto the screen…
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Children of the Damned.
Horror and science fiction merge effortlessly in 1960 British classic Village of the Damned. Creepy blonde haired children, whose terrifying powers threaten humanity, must be stopped after they take over a small English village. In 1964 the ‘sort of’ sequel was released. Children of the Damned assumes you have seen its predecessor and plunges instantly into a follow up…
Hannah McHaffie 