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Blue / Trog (1993 and 1970)

by Martin | November 1, 2015 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

In his introduction to Derek Jarman's Blue John Waters, who selected it as one of his favourite British films for a celebration of all things JW at the BFI, recalled how the first time he saw it the cinema had posters up warning punters that Blue was a film that...

A Nightmare On Elm Street Part II: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

by Martin | May 4, 2014 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

The London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival has renamed itself Flare. I'm not sure what I think about this – immediate associations that spring to mind (trousers, nostrils, distress signals) are not exactly encouraging. Also, if someone told me: 'I'm going to Flare', my...

White Bird In A Blizzard

by Martin | April 12, 2015 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

This adaptation of Laura Kasischke's young adult novel finds director Gregg Araki in less than full-on mode, and my first impression, such is the uncertainty of tone here, is that when he isn't in full-on mode (eg: Nowhere, Kaboom) he doesn't know what he's doing. But...

Enys Men / Skinamarink

by Martin | February 25, 2023 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

ENYS MEN Mark Jenkin's follow-up to the attention-grabbing and fiercely Cornish Bait is being sold as 'folk-horror' but it's a bit more experimental than that might suggest. I don't know if anyone has complained. Certainly I won't, since I enjoy an experimental film,...

New Year’s Evil (1980) / Bloody New Year (1987)

by Martin | February 11, 2018 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

New Year is, as everybody knows, a massive anticlimax. We all get frantically excited about what turns out to be just a glib transition into more of the same. Here are two films (showing in the BFI's Cult strand) which try to give New Year some genuine significance...

In Fabric / Little Joe

by Martin | March 21, 2020 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

IN FABRIC Peter Strickland's follow-up to the excellent Duke Of Burgundy is a bumpier ride, but you get to enjoy that after a while. Apparently it's set in 1993 – I read this on the Sight and Sound letters page – but it seems to be taking place in some kind of...

Frightfest 2017: Evil Twins

by Martin | October 1, 2017 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

FASHIONISTA As regular readers would know (if they existed), Frightfest usually marks the one time in the calendar year where I don't go to the cinema alone: Dave comes along. Or at least he does for part of the time before he has to duck out due to work commitments...

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

by Martin | March 1, 2015 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

An Iranian vampire Western? Is this what the world really needs? On the evidence presented here – yes. Not that this is really Iranian, since it is shot in America and is set in a fictional (Iranian) place called ‘Bad City’. Not that it’s really a Western either,...

Frightfest 2015 Day Three

by Martin | October 24, 2015 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

Over Your Dead Body The vexing question of what to see and what not to see at these festivals often results in me scouring the internet for reviews from other festivals. It didn't do me a lot of good in this case since I found two reviews for OYDB, one of which...

Peeping Tom (1960)

by Martin | July 17, 2022 | movies, reviews | 0 Comments

I used to say that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom was my favourite film. That I don't say it now has nothing to do with the quality of the film or my changing perception of it; more, it's down to a realisation that there are too many films, and that I have too many...