Review: Here Comes the Devil

Missing children, mad curses, sexual hysteria and blood curdling cries of anguish play out disturbingly well in this chilling, atmospheric horror. Here Comes the Devil is an homage to Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock and in the same vein as other influential 1970s mystery horror such as Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now with hints of Jodorowsky in appearance, setting and excessiveness. 

You can read my full review over on Starburst Magazine

Review: Santa Sangre

Psychological, spiritual and physical dismemberment is explored in this surreal, outrageous and excessive piece of cinema. A carnival full of the spirit of Dionysus plays out on screen, intoxicating the senses from the very beginning and leading the protagonist, Fenix, to a clear epiphany.  First brought to the big screen in 1989  Santa Sangre marked Alejandro Jodorowsky’s return to feature filmmaking after a long absence. 

You can read my full review over on Cinetalk

Review: Painless

Director Juan Carlos Medina’s debut feature film (co-written with one of the [REC] writers Luiso Berdejo) is a haunting, visceral allegorical horror exploring the Spanish conscience in the aftermath of the civil war. When a group of children are diagnosed with the affliction of feeling no pain (a real condition called congenital analgesia) they are snatched away from their family, forced into straitjackets, tattooed with a letter and hidden away from the rest of the world in a sanatorium where they are experimented upon.

 

You can read my full review on Starburst Magazine

Review: The Brass Teapot

Director Ramaa Mosley presents a comedy commenting on consumerism, the recession and shifting values all wrapped up in a style aiming for the magic of Spielberg or Dante’s films where fantasy plays out in an everyday American setting. 

You can read my full review at Starburst Magazine

Review: Foxfire - Confessions of a Girl Gang

Comparisons to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders can’t be helped with the  period American setting, coming of age storyline, young cast and aspects of gang violence, but that’s as far as the similarities go with exploration of masculinity replaced with a look at the female struggle of the 1950s. Palme d’Or winner (Entre Les Murs) Laurent Cantet adapts Joyce Carol Oates tale of female empowerment, teen angst and communism encapsulating the spirit and the political mood with pulpy being replaced by poetic. The setting, clothes and the girls’ mannerisms feel appropriate for the time but sometimes the female camaraderie and interactions just don’t sit right. Staying close to the source material delivers the message clearly but it gets bogged down with an overly long running time of 143 minutes that ends like a bad biopic. 

You can read my full review over on Cinetalk

Review: Frances Ha

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig join forces again to great success. Gerwig not only takes on the lead role but has also co-written the well observed screenplay which explores the intimacy of female friendship and the feeling of uncertainty prevalent in a generation struggling to fulfil their potential. 

You can read my full review over on Cinetalk.

Review: Seven Psychopaths

After his much lauded and surprisingly brilliant feature debut In Bruges, writer/director Martin McDonagh delivers a clever, funny, violent satire about violence in films. It mixes elements of and references Tarantino, Peckinpah and even Malick, and has much in common with Get Shorty, Short Cuts and Bowfinger. Witty dialogue, dark moments, fast paced action, shoot outs and the framework for a bloody revenge film are set in motion and just as you're about ready to settle in for the usual proceedings McDonagh shifts gears and heads in a different direction.

Read my full review over at Starburst Magazine

Review: Looper

In this high concept sci-fi thriller the principal players are both the same character (Joe), with Joseph Gordon-Levitt taking the role of his younger self and Bruce Willis playing the older and wiser version. Writer/Director Rian Johnson takes the concept of time travel, mixes it with a film noir feel and adds a gangster style narrative that leaps and bounds in unexpected directions.

You can read my full review over at Starburst Magazine

Released on 28th September 2012

Review: Sightseers

With director Ben Wheatley’s body of work headed for cult status he’s a filmmaker whose output you cannot afford to miss, and with Sightseers he delivers yet again with a dark concept dominated by caustic characters.

You can read my full review over at Starburst Magazine 

Released in the UK on 30th November.

Showing at TIFF 11th, 13th and 16th September

http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/sightseers

 

TIFF 2012 Picks

1. The Brass Teapot
Starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano as a couple who discover a brass teapot that dispenses cash when they feel pain. What lengths will they go to for money? Director Ramaa Mosley's first feature film.
For more information click here

2. A Werewolf Boy (Neuk-dae-so-nyun) After a promising debut in End of Animal (a disorientating post-apocalyptic monster movie) this is South Korean Director Jo Seung-Hee's second feature. Coming of age, fairytale and a werewolf? Fingers crossed. For more information click here

3. Ghost Graduation
A Spanish comedy described as The Breakfast Club meets Ghostbusters. Though Director Javier Ruiz Caldera's first feature was the spoof film Spanish Movie (the less said the better) perhaps he can find his own voice in his second film. For more information click here

4. No One Lives
Director Ryuhei Kitamura returns with a horror film that will hopefully deliver on its title. His previous films include the  Midnight Meat Train (starring Vininie Jones) and Versus. Both personal favourites of mine. For more information click here

5. John Dies at the End
Based on the popular horror novel by David Wong (Jason Pargin) featuring gateways to hell, mind-bending drugs and meat monsters and directed by Don Coscarelli (Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep) this could either be a CGI monstrosity or a cult classic.For more information click here

 6. In Another Country
Isabelle Huppert stars in Hong Sang-Soo's latest film set in the Korean seaside town of Mohang. Three separate stories exploring human vulnerability and relationships. For more information click here

7. Much Ado About Nothing
Joss Whedon's spin on Shakespeare. I am so intrigued by this. For more information click here

8. Pieta
Kim Ki-Duk makes a return to  storytelling after his hiatus. His last film was the documentary Arirang which charted his road to recovery from post traumatic stress and depression  Hopefully a return to form. For more information click here

9. Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang
Laurent Cantet (The Class, Entre Les Murs) adapts Joyce Carol Oate's dark tale of female empowerment set in 1950s America. For more information click here

10. The ABCs of Death
An ambitious horror anthology with 26 gory chapters from directors such as Xavier Gens, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Nacho Vigalondo, Ti West, Adam Wingard and many more! For more information click here

11. Sightseers
If you like your comedy black and brutal Director Ben Wheatley (Kill List) delivers on all fronts in his third feature film. For more information click here

12. I Declare War
Directors Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson team up in this dark comedy about children playing war games. Mixing fantasy and reality and entering the mindset of the little warriors this could prove to be unsettling territory. For more information click here

13. Spring Breakers
Director, Harmony Korine (Gummo, Mister Lonely) dresses James Franco up in Hawaiin shirts and cornrows. If nothing else, this film looks spectacularly seedy. 

14. Berberian Sound Studio
A rich puzzling mix of startling sound effects and dreamy visuals that pays homage to the Giallo and the often overlooked sound engineer. Not to be missed. For more information click here