Thursday 11 August 2016

"Cat People" (1942)

A masterclass in film noir and psychological horror.

3 stars.

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter August 11 2012.

Bitesize Review: "Mad Love" (1935)

Lorre at his lugubrious best as actress-obsessed surgeon with a handy sideline in organ transplants and playing.

3 stars.

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter, 11 August 2012.

Tuesday 9 August 2016

"Space Chimps 2 - Zartog Strikes Back" (2010)

Unfunny monkey business. 

1 star.

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter, 9 August 2010.

Friday 5 August 2016

Bitesize Review: "Please Give" (2010)

A pithy but poignant dramedy.

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter, 5 August 2010.

4 stars.

Thursday 4 August 2016

My Road To FrightFest

Back in August 2001, I finally did something that I'd wanted to do for a decade: become a Prince Charles Cinema life member (all for the princely sum of  £15).

While I was buying a ticket for "The Mexican" to celebrate the inaugural visit, I noticed a poster for something called FrightFeat and thought "Ooh interesting...". For though I'm a catholic cinephile but horror is my best love. Okay, I'll watch almost anything on the big screen; once persuaded a very strait-laced friend to go and see "Lake Consequence" because I'd seen everything else that week. And in my defence, I only realised my error when Zalman King appeared on the credits. Also the friend was either traumatised or a good sport, because she was silent throughout and remains so on the subject to this day. Abd because the 90s had been a bit of a desert on the horror front and my tastes had grown away from those of the awkward teen who used to hang around Video Technics and scuttling home to watch grainy VHS in the dimly lit front room; I filed this event in the bucket list of inperuity and forgot about it.

Over the years, I'd hear about FrightFest via Film 4 and the Horror Channel but it never piqued my interest till I joined Twitter and got chatting to various folk including Craig of Dark Eye Socket and the lovely and sadly missed Richard Glafman aka Cyberschizoid. I realised that my love of horror hadn't died. It had merely been resting in the metaphorical crypt: dormant, waiting. For blood...

That was 2010 and I was in a very dark place. A cinema auditorium was Blackpool Illuminations by comparison. My internal and external life was in the the pits. Social media, especially Twitter, was a lifeline, a spark of hope in that Descent-cavern that was my status quo. And I knew that time was running out.

The solution was one of those serendipitous momenta where I took a chance and bolted. Yes, changing a physical situation is the easiest part but it was a start and now that I was able to make my own choices, to rediscover the me after five years of we. Doing the physical stuff proved far easier and distracted from the emotional maelstrom I felt.

And serendipity played a blinder with two unrelated friends, a tiny bit of cheek in my asking a family friend to put me up while I attended my first film festival in EIGHTEEN YEARS (Shots In The Dark and Fantastic Films Weekend, respectively). Then enthusing about it that much, another friend told me about a new horror film festival at one of my favourite cinemas, the Electric, Birmingham (Shock & Gore) and being so stoked by that and the handy combination of a a birthday and as an extra thank you for helping her, my mum cane up with the readies for me to attend "that horrible festival you've been going on about". So, after a hectic time buying individual tickets, over the phone from Jo: customer service exemplified, a mate helping me organise accommodation and orientation; I arrived, clutch a small rainforest of tickets in my anxious paw, at the Empire Leicester Square on Thursday 25 August 2011. And the rest they say, is history.

Wednesday 3 August 2016

Bitesize Review: "No Greater Love" (2009)


Frank and quietly contemplative portrait of the cloistered life.

4 stars.

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter 3 August 2010.

Tuesday 2 August 2016

Trashtastic Tuesday: Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens



It's that time of year again. School's out and the latest installment of Sharknado crashes into the tellybox.

Why is it so popular? Perhaps because like a Pot Noodle, it has the calorific content of a tea towel, but tastes SO good, especially because you know that you shouldn't.  Who can resist a Bombay Bad Boy or a film with a preposterous setup  (and Syfy does this subgenre SO well - from Nazis in Antarctica to reptilian cyborgs and piranhacondas that outham Jon Voight's scenery chewing in Anaconda. All rich terrain particularly for ex-popstars, Tiffany isn't alone anymore. And of course the final ingredient: loads of weaponry and inventive ways to off the mutant beastie of the week. Till the (inevitable) sequel.

Sharknado 4 offers zero originality but therein lies the guilty pleasure of it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

2 stars.

Monday 1 August 2016

Awesome August

Barely blinked and August is upon us like a Weeping Angel, only less menacing, promising filmic delights of the usual slew of blockbusters and the annual horror pilgrimage that is FrightFest, now ensconced in its new venue.

Watch this space for more goodies as this rusty blogger gets back into the scribbling swing.