Tumbbad
An epic Indian fable with a heart of horror, Tumbbad is one of the most unique horror films currently available on Amazon Prime. From first time directors Rahi Anil Barve, Anand Gandhi, and Adesh Prasad, Indian export Tumbbad made waves with its debut at Fantastic Fest in 2018, for good reason. Its blend of pristinely realised period setting, gorgeous location shooting, and Lovecraftian […]
Birds of Prey
After a scene stealing turn in David Ayer’s calamitous Suicide Squad, it was only a matter of time until Harley Quinn got a film of her own. Robbie’s portrayal of the Batman villain was ICONIC. Sticking with her is smart business from a studio still trying to figure out its place in the world of Superhero cinema and Marvel/Disney domination. At cinemas the film […]
Countdown
Peruse some lists of fan-favourite genre flicks from 2019 and Justin Dec’s Countdown pops up regularly. Not high on the list, but consistently enough to tickle interest. Dec’s debut feature film won’t wow the sort of people who crawled apoplectic from screenings of Us and Midsommar, but it’s got enough insidious charm to please the friday night fright-lovers. In today’s app-strewn world, […]
Child’s Play (2019)
Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play remake was crazy controversial on announcement. Understandable when Don Mancini, original Child’s Play creator and producer, is still writing and directing Chucky films. The latest, Cult of Chucky, got a lot of love on release last year, whilst pre-emptive buzz around the remake was fairly negative. However, Klevberg and co have […]
Satanic Panic
Directed by Chelsea Stardust from a story by Ted Geoghegan and a script by Grady Hendrix (Mohawk), Satanic Panic is a refreshingly daft horror comedy steeped in Satanic imagery. Its occult entertainment for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina generation. Geoghegan’s story sports the self-aware nostalgia he first flaunted back in We Are Still Here, but […]
3 from Hell
Fourteen years ago Rob Zombie unleashed The Devil’s Rejects on unsuspecting horror audiences. The film was a hit and a major departure from the Tobe Hooper brand of theatrical nostalgia he flaunted in his debut project House of 1000 Corpses. Now, 14 years later, Zombie has returned to complete the story of the nefarious Firefly […]
Hellboy (2019)
Neil Marshall’s Hellboy flopped hard at the box office back in April. And it really didn’t deserve to. Off the back of a $50,000,000 budget, the film only took an estimated $48,000,000 worldwide, essentially ensuring the franchise won’t see the light of day for an awful long time. When Marshall’s adaptation was announced, it was […]
The Dead Don’t Die – EIFF 2019
Flaunting one of the most delicious ensemble casts to grace a zombie film, Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die promised to be an off-beat remedy to an oversaturated sub-genre. Applying his signature oddball style and dreamy Americana to genre cinema, Jarmusch’s first horror comedy is an eclectic but faulted feature. In the sleepy town of […]
Aniara – EIFF 2019
Earth is fucked. We all know that, and Sci-fi is increasingly interested in how to deal with how fucked we are. Aniara, from directors Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja, is an epic human-centric look at post-Earth life. Aniara starts off in a well-worn futuristic world where humanity is slowly being evacuated to communes on Mars […]
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
Who would have thought back in 2014, that John Wick would survive to fulfil not one, not two, but three exhilarating action epics? Who would have thought that 5 years later we’d all be glued to our seats watching a 54 year-old Keanu Reeves stab, shoot, and bash his way through a world of deadly […]