★★★☆☆ International bestselling author-come-screenwriter Nicholas Sparks has made a name for himself over the last few years as his novels have one-by-one been turned into lachrymose-heavy romantic comedies, from The Notebook (2004) to Dear John (2010) and The Last Song […]
★★★★☆ The inaugural series of AMC’s The Walking Dead (2010) was a refreshing, but often slow and frustrating adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series. For some viewers, the lethargic pace and lack of character development proved to be […]
★★★☆☆ As mainstream US horrors go, Scott Derrickson’s latest twist on the found footage formula, Sinister (2012), provides an enjoyable ride of bumps-in-the-night thrills and spills. The traditionally solid Ethan Hawke stars as a true-crime writer (a clear link to […]
★☆☆☆☆ You won’t find many more misguided and excruciatingly dull features at this year’s Film4 FrightFest than Ryan Smith’s disastrous cut-and-paste job After (2012). Shamelessly plundering a number of the very best horror fantasies from recent years including Donnie Darko […]
★★☆☆☆ To misquote the crows from Disney’s 1941 classic Dumbo; “I’ve seen a horse fly, I’ve seen a dragon fly, I’ve seen a house fly, but I ain’t never seen sushi fly.” Many of the good folks who attended this […]
★★★★☆ One of the stand-out films of this year’s Film4 FrightFest, Jaume Balagueró’s Sleep Tight (Mientras duermes, 2011) is an incredibly nuanced Spanish chiller, featuring a magnificent central performance from Luis Tosar. With nods to voyeuristic classics such as Michael […]
★☆☆☆☆ Surveillance (2008) director Jennifer Lynch returns to Film4 FrightFest screens this weekend with serial killer horror Chained (2012), which stars old-hand Vincent D’Onofrio and Eamon Farren. The film revolves around Bob (D’Onofrio), a taxi-driving psychopath who captures a young […]
★☆☆☆☆ Released in 2003, the inaugural Wrong Turn was an average slasher/horror that left no real impression on the genre and grossed a healthy, yet far from exemplary amount at the box office. Somehow, that film has now spawned three […]
★★☆☆☆ There’s little pretension to be found in Martjin Smits and Erwin Ven Den Eshof’s ‘Dutch of the Dead’ outing Kill Zombie! (Zombibi, 2012), which receives its UK premiere at this year’s Film4 FrightFest. This amateurish horror comedy ostensibly does […]
★★★☆☆ Italian directing duo the Manetti brothers continue their genre-hoping voyage through the cinematic universe with The Arrival of Wang (2011), an extra-terrestrial sci-fi horror that’ll no doubt titillate and captivate audiences at this year’s Film4 FrightFest. Gaia (Francesca Cuttica) […]
★☆☆☆☆ Some films just leave you feeling sullied, and sadly Paura 3D (2012) is one such monstrosity. It would be good to find something positive to say about this faux-giallo by the Italian Manetti brothers – behind the far-superior sci-fi […]
★★☆☆☆ Outpost II: Black Sun (2012), the new Nazi zombie-fest from director Steve Barker which stars Richard Coyle and Catherine Steadman, receives its UK Premiere this weekend at the 13th edition of Film4 FrightFest. Sadly, the film seems destined to […]
★★★☆☆ If the titles Milano Calibro 9 (1972), Street Law (1974) and Napoli Violenta (1976) mean anything to you, then you might want to check out Mike Malloy’s new doc Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the […]
★☆☆☆☆ Cult actor Michael Biehn makes his directorial debut with The Victim (2011), screening at this year’s Film4 FrightFest. This weak attempt at grindhouse opens with two local cops taking two strippers into the woods for a ‘private party’. One […]
★★★★☆ Writer/director Conor McMahon showcases the cutting-edge humour of edgy British comedian Ross Noble in his feature debut, making Film4 FrightFest entry Stitches (2012) a pleasant surprise in a gross-out, schoolboy fashion. There are certainly a number of marked similarities […]
★★★★☆ Ensemble effort V/H/S (2012) is just the type of film Amicus Productions would have churned out if they were still active. A portmanteau horror, with a returning narrative thread to string the short films together, V/H/S blends together a […]
★★★☆☆ One of the most anticipated films the play at this year’s 13th Film4 FrightFest, [Rec] 3: Genesis (2012) is the third instalment of Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s (on solo directorial duty here) much-admired Spanish zombie franchise. However, traditionalist […]
Chosen as part of the official selection for the 2012 Venice Film Festival where it will premiere, the first trailer for erotic thriller Passion (2012) is now online. Directed by Brian De Palma, the film is likely to draw comparisons […]
