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I f there’s a mentality to which every single one of us can relate, it is that of not having accomplished enough in our adult lives. There appears to be a customary juncture, somewhere around the age of thirty, at which you are expected to “have it all”: successful career, busy social life, marriage, a…

T he relationship between psychiatry and the movies has long been fraught with failure. For every well-intentioned dive into the catacombs of mental illness, there are countless cinematic tales that have shirked authenticity for the zing of tone-deaf sensationalism. The backdrop of an asylum, particularly, has more than proved its worth as a wellspring of…

I f there was one thing that hounded me in the weeks and months following the miseries I endured whilst in the ensnarement of a manipulative abuser, it was the fear of not being believed. A fear so scorching it made me question my own sanity. Had these heinous acts of emotional violence really occurred?…

F or those who subscribe to such theories, the 1st of November marks the advent of the Feast of All Saints: a day upon which Roman Catholics commemorate the saints and martyrs who, throughout Christian lore, have been granted celestial residency. Log on to Twitter-dot-com at 00:00 this same day, however, and you will see…

“M u-uum! Pur-leaaase!” I remember it like it was yesterday: our local independent video shop, its sharp fluorescent ceiling lights flooding down over twelve-year-old me and mother dearest, whose stern visage told that she was decidedly unimpressed by the ‘15’ rated videotape I was waving about in front of her. This was far from the…

“I mitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, the brilliant Oscar Wilde once affirmed. An irrefutable game changer for big-screen scares, it’s no real surprise to spot the narrative crux and mesmeric visual witchery of 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby—Roman Polanski’s insidious reading of the satanic Ira Levin page-turner—looming large over The Perfume of the Lady in…

H agsploitation. Not the most flattering of terms, is it? For this writer at least, it conjures up a very specific set of images—antiquated wigs, smudged lipstick and eyeliner; maybe a facial wart and a set of rotting teeth—accompanied by the juxtaposed sounds of a cheery old-time record and a shrill, maniacal cackle. Scorned wives,…

[An abridged version of the following piece appeared in 88 Films’ Limited Edition Blu-ray release of Christmas Evil (1980), issued December 2019.] I ’m willing to bet that you’ve never seen a stranger Christmas film than Blood Beat. In fact, you’ve probably never seen a more peculiar film full stop. A mystifying mood piece of…

[An abridged version of the following piece appeared in 88 Films’ Limited Edition Blu-ray release of Terror Train (1980), issued November 2019.] M y love affair with locomotives began around the age of two. Picture the scene: a railway bridge shrouded in fog . . . the cry of an owl from afar . ….

T here’s a key development in Phil Morrison’s forlorn 2005 dramedy, Junebug, that is so subtle it could almost go unnoticed. It comes during a parish get-together, where George (Alessandro Nivola, having been away for several years) is reunited with the throng of his Bible Belt hometown in North Carolina. During the festivities, George is…