Second Sight
Blu-ray Review: Raw
The French seem to have a fairly unique attitude when it comes to genre cinema. It’s difficult to pin down but there’s often something a little bit edgy and breathlessly experimental about their best horror films. They’re often shockingly brutal as well. The likes of Martyr, Inside, Frontier(s) and Haute tension demonstrate just how successful …
Blu-Ray Review: Dawn of the Dead
Today, zombies are prevalent in just about every aspect of popular culture. However, whilst shows such as The Walking Dead cemented their place in the mainstream, this hasn’t always been the case. Indeed, whilst they’ve been a feature of genre cinema since Victor Halperin’s White Zombie in 1932, it was George A. Romero’s original trilogy …
Blu-ray Review: Asylum
Psychological horror continues to be the scariest and most compelling sub-genre because human imaginations can conjure up all manner of terrors. People have been labelled ‘insane’ for many reasons over the centuries with often little or nothing to do with their mental health. When there’s no logical explanation for something we naturally look for an …
Blu-Ray Review: The House That Dripped Blood
Whilst today the name Hammer Horror is known all around the world, it was far from being the only British film production company which was making world-class horror during the 1960s and 1970s. Based out of Shepperton Studios, Amicus established a reputation for creating some of the best portmanteau horrors of the era. Similar is …
Blu-Ray Review: Next of Kin
During the 1970s and 1980s the Australian new wave led to a number of actors and directors forging a career within Hollywood. A small, but important, element of this was the rise of Ozsploitation. These R-rated low-budget horror, martial arts, comedy and action films attracted a cult following. Some of the classics include Razorback, Patrick, …
Blu-Ray Review: The Boys in the Band
When you mention the name William Friedkin the most likely reaction you’ll receive is a comment about The Exorcist. Whilst the American director is most famous for the seminal 1973 horror, he has a rich and varied career behind him. The French Connection is almost as equally well-known but the likes of Sorcerer, To Live …
Blu-ray Review: Long Weekend
The great outdoors. There’s nothing better than reconnecting with nature; getting out into the country or going away to the coast. To enjoy the wildlife and be at one with nature. That said, it becomes a slightly different prospect in a place like Australia where there are so many things which can kill you. Still …
Blu-ray Review: The Changeling
George C. Scott is one a few actors who managed to have a successful career which spanned several decades. He received his first Oscar nomination for his role in Anatomy of a Murder in 1959. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Patton in 1970, which he refused, and was also up for …
Blu-Ray Review: Breathless
Richard Gere is probably best known now as a gentile amiable presence, inhabiting films aimed at the ‘grey market’. His resplendent and flowing grey locks and twinkly eyes have graced such autumnal classics as The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, but at one time he was one of the hottest …
Blu-Ray Review: The Colour of Pomegranates
Sergei Parajanov will be an unfamiliar name to most Western readers, however he was notorious and famous within cinematic circles of Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s. His directorial vision was at odds with the social realism demanded by the regime. He was frequently in trouble with the authorities, banned from working and ultimately …