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