December 20, 2015 The Playgirls and the Vampire The Playgirls and the Vampire is a modest, but rather agreeable, entry in the Italian Gothic canon. Released in the same year as Mario Bava’s superlative Black Sunday, it has none of the bravado (or perverse undertones) of that production…
December 11, 2015 Metro Manila Every so often a low budget British film comes along which manages to confound expectations; they get decent reviews, but at the same time cricits hold back on their praise because these are not films made in the Mike Leigh / Ken Loach / retro kitchen sink tradition.
November 28, 2015 Elio Petri: The Tenth Victim Based on a novel by Robert Sheckley, The Tenth Victim represented a marked sea change in Elio Petri’s oeuvre. Gone was the low key, wry approach of his former films: this is a brash, colorful production that exudes extravagance from it’s every pore.
October 25, 2015 Byleth A chubby bird and a moustachioed bloke have a quick shag (and wasn’t it ever thus in the world of Italian sex scenes). After he dresses and leaves her, she is attacked and killed by an unseen assailant.
October 16, 2015 The Arrival of Wang The Arrival of Wang, a 2011 sci fi film directed by Antonio and Marco Manetti, has a great if far-fetched central premise
October 12, 2015 The Last Passenger You’ve got to admire the chutzpah of attempting to remake Speed on a British Rail commuter train to Tunbridge Wells and in many ways The Last Passenger does it rather well.
September 20, 2015 Crypt of the Living Dead Crypt of the Living Dead is, like Return of the Evil Dead, another dose of Hispanic phantasmagoria. Unlike that film, however, I found it much more enjoyable upon second viewing.
