Kill List (UK 2011)

I commented that Dead Man’s Shoes (UK 2004) unsuccessfully tried to meld realism and genre; Kill List tries to do the same and similarly comes unstuck. Writer-director Ben Wheatley’s film was critically praised so maybe I don’t get it  but I was desperate for it to end. Maybe – see Avengers post below – ennui [...]

Dead Man’s Shoes (UK, 2004)

What happens when you cross a revenge movie with British social realism? In this case you get a not entirely successful, but certainly interesting, film. Co-writer, with star Paddy Considine, and director Shane Meadows is renowned for his slices of working class life on estates, his handheld camerawork and ensemble acting lift a lid on [...]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (US, 1956) and The Invasion (US-Aus, 2007)

Jack Finney’s 1955 novel The Invasion of the Body Snatcher, first serialised in Colliers Magazine, has been adapted four times for cinema. The original remains the best, an independent production starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter (both of whom have died in the last couple of years). I read the novel recently and enjoyed it, [...]

The Woman in Black (UK-Can-Swe, 2012)

Hammer horror’s back, which will probably only be meaningful to the older reader. Defunct for 25 years, The Woman in Black is a welcome return for this purveyor of British horror movies; interestingly it’s only got a 12A certificate whereas the original Hammer benefited from salacious marketing emphasising the films’ ‘adult’ credentials. In Britain the [...]

Attack the Block (UK, 2011)

After two weeks on release in the UK Attack the Block was just shy of £2m at the box office; not bad for a British film but this terrific, brainy exploitation movie should be mopping up the dosh. Its marketing profile has been reasonable but it seems that the buzz for movies amongst multiplex audiences [...]

Hierro (Spain, 2009)

This has a 5.6 user rating on imdb and I can only imagine that audiences, expecting a horror movie, were disappointed by the slow pace of this beautifully made film. Mostly shot on the desolate Canary island, Hierro, this Orphange-influenced mother-looking-for-son film is graced by fabulous direction by Gabe Ibanez (his first feature). Although the [...]

Witchfinder General (UK, 1968)

Entitled Conqueror Worm, apparently, in USA; Witchfinder General is better. Director Michael Reeves, who died aged 25 after this, his fourth, feature was obviously talented and a sad loss to British cinema (if it had been able to retain and sustain him). There a few films – if any – of the era that manage [...]

Let Me In (UK-US, 2010)

Another pointless remake as it has – to date – only taken $12m at the North American box office. Remakes are meant to make money! Of course there never was a point in remaking the Swedish original because it was so good; this version didn’t fail at the box office because everyone had seen the [...]

Paranormal Activity (US, 2007)

It’s taken 10 years for a credible follow-up to The Blair Witch Project (1999) suggesting that the ‘realist’ generic innovation doesn’t really work with horror; however, Paranormal Activity is an interesting addition to the horror canon though whether the forthcoming sequel can escape the fate of the Blair Witch follow-up remains to be seen. [Rec] [...]

[REC] (Spain, 2007)

While there might be nothing original about this zombie movie – the girl above originates from Night of the Living Dead (1968) – there’s plenty of thrills to be derived from the ‘it’s all being recorded as it happens’; also seen in The Blair Witch Project (1998), Day of the Dead (also 2007) and predating [...]