If you grew up watching movies in the 80s and 90s, then you’ve already seen Stranger Things. Try this: It’s 1983. In a leafy, non-descript American suburb, a shady government agency accidentally open a portal to another dimension, unleashing a mysterious monster which picks locals off in the woods. One of these locals is Will … Continue reading
Whilst mainstream horror seems to be getting progressively worse, the indie scene is going from strength to strength, with creative and exciting new directors turning their hands to genre flicks and making some modern classics. Recently, The Babadook, It Follows, The Innkeepers, Goodnight Mommy, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, have all proved … Continue reading
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook is a tiny but perfectly formed Australian horror movie which has impressed critics across the globe. Seemingly coming from nowhere and landing rave reviews, The Babadook has proved there’s still a market for intelligent, well designed horror; it not only highlights how terrible recent horrors like Annabelle and Ouija have been, … Continue reading
David Fincher’s first movie – Alien 3 – was a ropey mess, and one subsequently disowned by the director. But despite the studio-meddled final result, the film showed a great amount of promise – there was a bleak, uncompromising quality to Alien 3 – here was a movie which killed off beloved main characters with … Continue reading
David Cronenberg is often seen as the Canadian David Lynch; both directors rose to prominence in the early 80s, exploring modern culture through a satirical and very individual lens, each working with a distinct visual style, both heavy on atmosphere with flashes of brutal violence and horror. Stylistically, the two don’t have that much in … Continue reading
Alien 3, though now undergoing something of a critical reappraisal, was not a popular movie when released, and was panned by audiences and critics. Despite its problems and public opinion, Alien 3 did provide closure for the franchise; Ripley – the centre of the series – was dead, and in both thematic and narrative terms, there … Continue reading
Critical opinion regarding the first two Alien movies is fairly unilateral; the first is considered a masterpiece of science-fiction horror, the second is seen by many as one of cinema’s strongest sequels. When it comes to Alien 3 however, opinions get a little more divisive. The film, directed by then unknown filmmaker David Fincher, came … Continue reading
Alien was a critical and commercial success, but 20th Century Fox had little interest in a sequel until James Cameron came along. Cameron had a love for Ridley Scott’s original movie and a vision for the expanding the Alien universe, and after wetting Fox’s appetite with a powerhouse script – not to mention proving his … Continue reading
Older movies have a different style to them, a different means of editing and at times, a different kind of acting, which can make them seem very strange for modern viewers. But they also tend to be more focused on story and character, with perhaps more in common with plays than today’s cinema. La Piscine, … Continue reading
Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather series – at least, the first two movies – have long been held up as a kind of cinematic watermark. The Godfather is widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made; in fact, The Godfather is widely considered the greatest movie ever made, period, whilst its follow-up, The Godfather Part … Continue reading
