Vertigo Releasing
Film Review: Settlers
We live in a time when the colonisation of the stars is closer than it has ever been before. Whilst our probes delve deeper, both in terms of distance and detail, billionaires race against one another to be the first to monetise space. All the science points to the fact that the Earth is rapidly …
Film Review: High Ground
The term ‘western’ conjures up stories of cowboys and ‘Indians’ from the wild west of frontier America. However, it’s a genre of film which has captured the imagination of directors around the world, most notably in Italy. In Australia, makers of ‘meat pie’ (or kangaroo) westerns have taken the tropes and cliches of the genre …
Film Review: Flashback
The history of cinema is littered with child stars who struggled to adjust to the adult acting world. Hollywood seems to have addressed this by casting older actors as younger teenagers. It has worked remarkably well for many stars of YA adaptations, with Jennifer Lawrence, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson becoming household names. Dylan O’Brien …
Film Review: The Banishing
The haunted house is a perennial favourite of genre cinema. As anyone who has stayed in a really old building will know, they seem to have a life and personality of their own. Strange noises are common, as are unexplained occurrences. They have provided the atmospheric setting for many of the best horror films, including …
Film Review: Into the Darkness
There’s nothing us Europeans seem to like more than a jolly good war story starring a handsome, intelligent and brave nationalist hero. Indeed, if you did the maths and counted everyone who claimed to have been a partisan or resistance fighter, it’s surprising that the Nazis weren’t simply crushed by the sheer weight of numbers. …
Film Review: Freshman Year
Going to college (in the US), or university (in the UK) can be a scary, exciting and daunting experience. For many, it will be the first time they’ve lived away from home. Had to cook their own meals, wash their clothes, manage their finances and generally be independent. Whilst some take to it like a …
Film Review: Dog Soldiers
There was a period during the first decade of the new century that Neil Marshall was the great hope of British genre cinema. With the release of The Descent back in 2005 it seemed like he could do no wrong and Hollywood beckoned. However, the relative disappointment of his follow ups, Doomsday and Centurion, meant …
Film Review: Miss Juneteenth
I suspect this year was the first time most people in the UK, especially those of us who are white, had heard of Juneteenth. However, the events surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests and the idiocy of the American president made the date front page news. Juneteenth is celebrated on 19 June to commemorate the …
Film Review: Sputnik
If extra terrestrials do show up at our door it’s highly unlikely that it will play out like something from Independence Day. If we can even recognise them as sentient beings, and vice versa, the form they take is likely to be highly unusual to human minds. Communication by traditional means may well be impossible. …
Film Review: The Vigil
There are strong links between religion, the supernatural and the occult. As human beings we seem to be fascinated by the unknown. Our genetic make-up seems to make us long for something else. A higher or outside power. This superstition or belief works so well in horror. Most obviously in a film such as The …