Review: Antiviral

 

Brandon Cronenberg (son of David) has written and directed an intense and disturbing debut film looking at society’s increasing obsession with celebrity. Getting to the sick heart of this cultural disease, Cronenberg has created a white walled world that delivers a claustrophobic film experience with a mesmerising central performance from Caleb Landry Jones.

 

Full review published in Starburst Magazine here

 

Antiviral is out in the UK on 1st February 2013

 

American Mary Review

 

Jen and Sylvia Soska’s American Mary summons the spirit of Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers with classical music, cold instruments and red scrubs along with a dark Lynchian aesthetic. There are Asian and European horror influences too, yet astonishingly the film feels personal and unique. 

You can read my full review in New Empress Magazine.

Out on DVD and Blu-ray now.

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

Shit Religion

You can read my review over on Starburst Magazine

You can read my review over on Starburst

Muppets, Ghosts, and Dangerous Methods

The Muppets finally came out in the UK yesterday and I officially LOVED it!

You can read my review here.

The Woman in Black is also out in the UK now. I went to a press screening and had to cover my face with a scarf to stifle my reactions to it and stop from totally embarrassing myself. 

A great, jumpy ghost story.

You can read my review over on Cinetalk here.

The CEO of Hammer, Simon Oakes,  also took the time to have a chat with me about the film. 

You can read the interview here.

I saw A Dangerous Method at LFF last year and was underwhelmed by it. I am a fan of Director David Cronenberg but it just didn't have the usual punch of his films. It was more slap and tickle...

It is out in London now and the rest of the UK on 17th February.

You can read my review here.