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HIGH-RISE (2015)
Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control in Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of J.G Ballard’s novel…
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PREACHER, 1.7 – ‘He Gone’
My biggest gripe about Preacher has been how scattershot everything’s been, but “He Gone” felt more harmonious and structured. The flashbacks didn’t seem as random, they enlightened the present day’s concerns—mainly the mindset of anti-hero Jesse (Dominic Cooper). Our preacher’s a man whose father was violently executed in front of him as a boy, but…
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OUTLANDER, 2.13 – ‘Dragonfly in Amber’
“Dragonfly in Amber” avoids the elephant in the room. The season-long build-up to the devastating battle of Culloden is simply that, a slowly mounting, unfulfilled tension that provides the fuel for a different kind of resolution in this year’s finale. The tragedy of that day’s cultural genocide takes place off screen, perhaps held back until…
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SATAN’S BLADE (1984)
Satan’s Blade is indicative of the archetypal quality and budgets of 1980s ‘video nasties’. It’s an inexpensive slasher film mimicking the tried and tested equation that blood, horror, and naked flesh equals profit. It serves more as a warning that when cheap horror flooded the home video market, the results varied wildly. For every quality…
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MAGGIE’S PLAN (2015)
It’s been more than a decade since Rebecca Miller’s harrowing directorial debut, Angela (2015), and although her subsequent films (Personal Velocity, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) have more or less remained in the realm of somber drama, Maggie’s Plan explores lighter territory. Without meaning to attach a negative…
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PREACHER, 1.6 – ‘Sundowner’
I was glad this episode gave us a taste of the spirit and twisted humour of the comic books, even though it was still dialled down. The opening sequence was a much-needed jolt to the system, of a show that’s wisely trying to flesh out these characters and universe, but simultaneously losing a lot of…
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THE ONES BELOW (2015)
To say The Ones Below is inspired by the films of Roman Polanski would be a gross understatement. Motherhood-inflected horror, the conflict between pairs of parents, and the strangeness of city-living (where one home’s stacked on top of another), all feature here. From Rosemary’s Baby (1968) to Carnage (2011), there’s barely a scene in which Polanski’s…
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PENNY DREADFUL – Season Three
At the end of season 2, we left the world of Penny Dreadful in flux. The relationships established between its major characters were dissolved. In the finale, “And They Were Enemies”, Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) was left to deal with the consequences of her loss of faith, as each of her protectors left her behind…
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QUEEN OF EARTH (2015)
Continuing on a path started during filming breaks on TV’s Mad Men, Elisabeth Moss is building an impressive resume of roles in US indies like On the Road (2012), The One I Love (2014), and Alex Ross Perry’s previous offering Listen Up Phillip (2014). Queen of Earth reunites her with Perry, taking centre stage as…
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30 Years On: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA was released across the US on this day, 30 years ago. To celebrate, we’ve investigated the origins of this flop summer movie from 1987 that became a cult favourite…
