4.0 Blu-ray Review: The Woman In Black Simon Fitzjohn August 8, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice When it comes to British horror institutions, The Woman In Black must be right up there. From Susan Hill’s chilling original novel, to a wildly successful London stage version to the Daniel Radcliffe movie that revived Hammer’s fortunes (and spawned...
4.0 Blu-ray Review: Split Second Simon Fitzjohn July 27, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice ‘They’ve seen the future…now they have to kill it’… I’ve now got to the age where ‘retro’ releases focus on films I saw first time round, and latest to add to the list is 1992 Rutger Hauer sci-fi/horror/actioner Split Second, which I...
4.5 Rental Review: Birds Of Prey Simon Fitzjohn April 23, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice If, like me, you absolutely lapped up Birds of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn on its cinema release, the great news is the digital release has been shunted forwards due to the situation we all suddenly find ourselves in. If you...
4.0 Rental Review: Sea Fever Simon Fitzjohn April 21, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice OMID: “So, you want us to just sit here and wait to die?” SIOBHAN: “I want us all to stay on the boat until we are sure none of us is infected. It’s not my life, it’s your families – it’s your husbands, your babies. Blame me if you want,...
2.0 Rental Review: Trick Simon Fitzjohn March 26, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Having been reared on slasher movies in the 80s and 90s – and still being partial to them to this day – I approached Trick with something close to a sense of excitement. A real throwback effort, we have a masked killer, killings aplenty, clueless...
2.0 DVD Review: Daniel Isn’t Real David Watson February 24, 2020 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Traumatised by the aftermath of a mass shooting and troubled by the break-up of his parents' marriage, shy child Luke is befriended by the cooler, more confident Daniel and soon the two boys are spending all of their time together. The only problem is Daniel...
3.5 Rental Review: 3 From Hell David Watson October 14, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice In the documentary accompanying the film as part of the extra content on the 3 From Hell Blu-Ray, a shaven-headed Bill Moseley, eyes twinkling with mischief, and a visibly ailing Sid Haig reminisce about their experiences of fan conventions and the one...
3.0 Rental Review: Heavy Trip David Watson August 5, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Stuck in a small, sleepy, rural village in Finland and mocked and harassed by smalltown homophobes and rednecks, the only escape for mild-mannered Metalhead Turo (Johannes Holopainen) is being lead singer and frontman of Impaled Rektum, the Death...
3.0 Rental Review: The Night Sitter David Watson July 2, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Posing as an innocent teenager, thief Amber (Elyse Dufour) cons her way into the mansion of wealthy occult expert Ted Hooper (Joe Walz) under the pretext of babysitting his neurotic, reclusive son Kevin (Jack Champion). When Ted goes on a date with neighbour...
DVD Review: Escape Room Mario Petkovski May 13, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice If you are one of those who likes to solve riddles as well as enjoy graphic content, the new Adam Robitel thriller Escape Room is the movie to watch. The film will for sure keep the tension cranked up all the time, entertained by the unusual element of...
3.0 DVD Review: Death Trench David Watson May 6, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice In the dying days of World War One, deep behind enemy lines in the wintry Ardennes Forest, British Military Intelligence have discovered an intricate underground bunker complex abandoned by the Germans. Believing it to be the site of experimentation...
2.0 Rental Review: Look Away Simon Fitzjohn April 12, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Chances are, if you have dipped your toes in the waters of horror cinema with any regularity, you will already have felt the icy touch of a film like Look Away many, many times before. One of those ‘troubled teen’ flicks that hold no surprises – in...
2.5 Rental Review: The Haunting Of Sharon Tate David Watson April 9, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice It’s nearly 50 years since the Age of Aquarius ended in the bloody quietus of Charles Manson’s Family’s murder spree and, “lucky” us, we’re getting at least 3 films that use Charlie and the murders as a backdrop. Upcoming, we have...
3.5 Rental Review: Elizabeth Harvest David Watson April 2, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice ***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS*** Don’t read this review. Wait. Watch the film. Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez’s psychosexual sci-fi/horror Elizabeth Harvest works best the less you know, any review of the film inevitably...
2.5 Blu-Ray Review: Cannibal Terror Simon Fitzjohn March 13, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Us horror types can be a strange bunch at times, and Cannibal Terror is one of those films that certainly brings out the strange. Is it any good? Absolutely not. Would I recommend it to anyone who considers cinema art? Absolutely not. Is it full of...
5.0 Blu-Ray Review: Evil Dead 2 Simon Fitzjohn March 10, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice If I was put on the spot and asked to name the best sequels ever committed to film, I reckon I would simply HAVE to put Evil Dead 2 near the very top of the list. Bigger, better and bolder than the original instalment, Evil Dead 2 is actually a bit of a...
4.5 Rental Review: Frightfest – Beneath The Dark Heart Of Cinema Simon Fitzjohn March 1, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice I might as well put my cards straight on the table – I’m a big fan of Frightfest and all that they do. True, I’m not currently in Glasgow enjoying their March get-together (the simple truth is I cannot afford it) but the August event is one of the...
4.0 Frightfest Presents Review: Videoman Simon Fitzjohn February 15, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice, London Reviews A love letter to 80s synth pop, the VHS generation and all things retro, Videoman is a real treat – by no means a horror film, but full of horror references and likely to delight fans of the genre. Put together by writer/director Kristian Soderstrom, this...
5.0 Rental Review: Upgrade David Watson January 8, 2019 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice A bold, bloody, genre bending, cyberpunk/body horror mash-up where Siri turns psycho, perhaps the most shocking thing about Leigh Whannell’s gobsmackingly violent, balls-to-the-wall Upgrade is it’s only received a 15 certificate from the BBFC! It’s the...
3.0 DVD Review: The Neighbour Simon Fitzjohn November 7, 2018 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice I am sure all of us, probably on more than one occasion, have sat through a film that is not really that much to shout about, but the whole thing is made watchable by a standout performance from one of the leads. Shuffling its way on to that list is The...
3.5 DVD Review: Nancy Simon Fitzjohn October 31, 2018 DVDs & Rentals, Editor's Choice Wow, what a year for Andrea Riseborough. No sooner had I devoured the Nicolas Cage-infused madness that is ‘Mandy’, than up popped this screener, billed as a ‘psychological thriller’ and pushing Riseborough very much front and centre. I’ll be...