“Is anyone there?”
George A. Romero’s conclusion to his ‘Dead’ trilogy, Day of the Dead, is thirty years old this year, so I thought what better way to celebrate than to watch it, and review it!!! After the first two aforementioned classic films of the trilogy (and of the zombie genre), how does the film to wrap up the trilogy hold up? Does it pale in comparison, or does it contribute its fair share to Romero’s zombie movie CV? Continue reading
After a trip to CEX, I came away with this little curio, Marebito. It was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also directed the rather good Ju-On. So for £5, I thought ‘What a bargain!’ I expected something along the lines of Audition, with the woman exacting terrible revenge on ‘man’ as a whole. However, what I received was one of the most peculiar films I’ve seen for a while…a horror in the Lovecraftian sense of the word. Continue reading
“There’s nothing available for you right now”
To (belatedly) honour the passing of the great wrestling talent Rowdy Roddy Piper, I rewatched his main and best starring role: They Live. Is there a better example of 80s cult/sci-fi/B-Movie than this film by John Carpenter? Yes, it may be rough around the edges. The script may not be up to scratch. To be honest, it’s a little bit trashy at times. But as a satire on capitalism and a throwback to the B-Movies of the 1950s, it’s almost unparalleled in its time. Carpenter meant for it to be a critique of Reaganomics, and as we are still living in the society that Reagan/Thatcher created, the satire and the themes are still relevant today.
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(SPOILERS AHEAD)
“I’m looking for warriors”
A lot of hooplah surrounded American Sniper upon its release. Applauded by many critics, it was nominated for no less than six Academy Awards. The opposing opinions about the films centred on its depiction of the Iraq War as a simple good vs evil battle, and the depiction of the Iraqis as mindless savages. Of course, there will always be those who grunt about the differences from the book in any film adaptation, but there are far too many differences from the book to count in the film of American Sniper. After watching it, it’s hard to understand why it attained so many plaudits. It’s also easy to understand why people saw it as a simplistic version of the Iraq War favouring American patriotism instead of the real issues behind the war. Continue reading
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
“Hello? What do you look like?”
After watching the remake of Poltergeist (2015), I thought it would be an appropriate time to re-watch the original Poltergeist. I watched it as a teenager many moons ago, but would viewing it as an adult change my perception of it? Seeing that guy tear off his face in the mirror has always stayed with me, but would time be kind to effects like that? Most importantly, does it still retain the chill factor (that the remake sadly lacked)? So, in a darkened room, I sat down to watch Poltergeist (1982)… Continue reading
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
“I don’t hear as good as I used to, and I ain’t as pretty as I used to be”
Why am I reviewing an old film like ‘The Wrestler?’ Because Darren Aronofsky has a new movie out, called Mother! ‘The Wrestler’ was critically acclaimed when it appeared in the cinemas, especially for Mickey Rourke’s performance as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson. He’s ‘a broken down piece of meat’, in his own words. He’s the typical has-been who wants one last shot at glory. A major reason for this acclaim was the niche (and much-maligned) subject of wrestling. Continue reading
Hammy Reviews 