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Django Unchained has been my least favourite Tarantino film since I first saw it. Upon reflection, I prefer it to The Hateful Eight but I still have enough issues with it that I don’t see it anywhere near his best work.

I’m sure most will be able to look past the anachronistic music, but it rankles me enough to lessen my enjoyment of the film. And for all the powerful, nail biting scenes (such as the dog attack and the phrenology scene) there are heightened scenes that take a comic slant that seem tonally out of place in a film dealing with such serious topics. 

Tarantino also uses some whip pans (complete with sound effect) that seemed a tad cheesy then and even moreso now. I get the reference he’s making, I just don’t think it really works here. The Taxi Driver reference however: cool as fuck. 

On another note as good as Waltz is, it’s Samuel L. Jackson who’s the stand-out for me here. A performance that matches the nuanced character Q.T gave him.

As for Tarantino, his worst cameo ever? Australian, South African, wtf was he doing? 

So Django doesn’t need to be the complete write-off I pegged it as for the last 13 years or so, but I also think it’s a somewhat flawed film that still has plenty to recommend and doesn’t drag much over its runtime. Tarantino allows the audience to get catharsis as the racist scum are blown away in a fashion Peckinpah would’ve been proud of: there’s gore flying all over in the final third, I just wish there wasn’t hip-hop playing over some of it as it sticks out like a sore thumb. Still, I prefer it to the Corbucci film that inspired it, though I expect Q.T himself would consider that blasphemy.

Two all-timer celluloid massacres bookend a tale of the dying days of the Wild West. This needs a new master though, as the current blu ray is as dusty as the landscapes The Wild Bunch traverse.

A Hans Zimmer score that didn’t annoy me, a script punched up by Q.T, two of the greatest actors of all time fuckin’ going for it, and some gorgeous lighting all help make for a proper Hollywood thriller. Tony Scott had the juice for sure, but manages to be a lot more serious yet less tense than Dr. Strangelove if we’re talking nuclear scare movies. 

If I’d have seen this at the flicks back in ‘95 I’d have been buzzin’ for sure.

As the phrase goes, when money talks the truth is silent. Mann’s best. One of Pacino’s best. Crowe plays a smart man on the brink of rage perfectly. Plummer is firing on all cylinders. Every single person in this is on top form. Special note to Bruce McGill. It’s beautifully shot, cut and scored and Mann still gives us the ocean, getting hues out of night skies and water that only he knows how. Necessary exposition at its finest with a pitch perfect screenplay. The Insider is one of the best films of the ‘90s.

Beautifully shot and cut, Clint as cool as he ever would be, and so many great faces filling out the cast. It’s a sweaty movie that despite being Yojimbo in the Wild West is every bit as cool as it needs to be for that not to be trite. 

The Arrow UHD brings it all to life again. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable Western that isn’t going to be anyone’s favourite (or even anyone’s favourite Leone Western) but that is a really solid entry in the genre and a perfect first instalment of a trilogy: Leone only built on this and I can’t wait to check out the next two Arrow releases. 

Weird anecdote I’ll share here because why not: when I was at school (over twenty years ago now) every year we’d have something called ‘Activity Week’. All lessons were suspended and each year group would have different things they would do and there were some activities that all year groups could attend. It would be things like a week of camping, a week of sport etc etc.

Well in my last year I really couldn’t be fucked to do anything. If I went away I would be unlikely to be able to have a spliff with teachers around, and I was pretty apathetic in general anyway being that I was months away from finishing school.

But my beloved music teacher Mr. Hayter was putting his own activity week on at school: ‘Wild West’ week. He had an itinerary of films we were going to watch, where he’d teach us the history of the films, teach us how to play Morricone on the keyboard, teach us how to twirl a pistol, have a shoot out in the drama room with cap guns, and then go horse riding in the New Forest. It was only something stupid like a fiver for the week and as I was about to go and study film at college I eagerly signed up despite Westerns not really being something I was into at the time and the kinda’ boring films that were on tele in the afternoon when you were off school sick.

Well that week changed my mind entirely. We watched ‘The Dollars Trilogy’, Once Upon A Time In The West and The Outlaw Josey Wales. And despite there being younger kids also signed up, we watched Unforgiven too. 

I found out in the last year that Mr. Hayter died at some point since I left school. He must not have been old, probably only in his sixties, and I still don’t know how he ed. But what he gave me that week was a love of the genre that stay with me for the rest of my life I’m sure. I haven’t seen A Fistful of Dollars since that week, as it’s not one I have thought to rewatch. But it was difficult not to think of Mr. Hayter’s influence. Such a cool teacher he tutored me to an A in music despite having no ability to play the keyboard, and showed us Aliens and T2 in class so he could teach us about sound design. What a geezer.

I’m very late to the party but Anora was very good, quite funny, and Mikey Madison was brilliant in the lead role, giving a nuanced performance. Beautifully shot and edited—but a tad overlong in my opinion—and without seeing any of the other Oscar nominees it must have been a shallow year for this to clean up or perhaps an indication of where cinema is at right now. Certainly leagues better than shite like Coda that’s for sure and Baker’s style is all over this. This is a really good film but not a great one imo.

It’s one of the most consistent franchises going, and this (allegedly) final Mission Impossible film is no less watchable when it’s good. 

Unfortunately there’s so much exposition that you’re clearly watching a film meant for the dumbest audience possible, with McQuarrie and Cruise going over the same shit over, and over, and over again.

I like how this (again, alleged) swan song tried hard to tie into previous films in the series (even going back to De Palma’s original) but that also led to more exposition, catching up the audience as if it was a recap to a previous episode of a TV show.

But even if the film doesn’t respect the audiences intelligence it at least rewards them with some fucking mental set pieces. That’s what we all come for and it doesn’t disappoint in that respect. But it at least also tries to hit some point that are relevant to now, with the big bad being a sentient AI hellbent on taking over the world. 

At two hours I’d probably have few gripes. At nearly three fucking hours it’s a pisstake tbh. Ethan Hunt is now godlike to the point it feels like Neil Breen has a 200-million dollar budget. And better taste.

Thought this was one of many post-John Wick films, but The Equalizer actually predates it by a couple of months. Which is quite frankly odd, as despite being an action film and Denzel vehicle, it wasn’t on my radar at all whereas John Wick was and I saw it opening weekend.

Thought I’d blast through the trilogy but strangely when I put it on Netflix last night I found I’d previously got thirty minutes into it before giving up. Don’t that at all.

Denzel is a Mary Sue basically, and it works as a so bad it’s good action romp with some proper bone crunching and bullet blasting bloody action. Nothing more, nothing less.

Really f’n cool and brilliantly shot and edited to this day, loads of claret, loads of top notch performances and loads of bangers on the soundtrack. But late on Marty’s insistence at fitting in as much as possible means we get snippets of needle drops that are ultimately a bit jarring. It’s regarded as a classic for a reason but it’s not the perfect movie I thought it was the last time I watched it (back in the days of needing to flip the DVD halfway through!) 

Maybe this time I felt the film suffered once Pesci was gone, maybe the geared-up paranoia final act just isn’t as engaging as all the mob hits and ‘60s-set stuff. But it still never feels as long as it is, and Scorsese manages to take us on a 25-year journey in a way that rarely feels compromised. Utterly in command.

The French Connection hasn’t really grown on me over the years. Now it’s much the same as it was 20-odd years ago when I first saw it: a gritty, cynical, downbeat cop film that never breaks out into a masterpiece.

Friedkin had a couple of those yet to come. But this one clearly influences a lot that comes after, not mentioning TV cop shows like The Wire and The Shield that feel as indebted to The French Connection as Friedkin was to nouvelle vague. 

Obviously the car-train chase scene is incredible, and the last forty minutes of the film are about as good as it gets. The location shooting brings the bleak, smoky atmosphere and everyone plays their part well, especially Hackman and Scheider, and it’s superbly edited, driving the pace of the action. 

Very watchable, and this era of Friedkin is always top class. I just think he topped it fairly easily with The Exorcist and Sorcerer. 

I still think Modern Times is better but City Lights is undeniably charming with an all-timer ending that made my face go flush.

Chaplin was an actual genius of course, writing, directing ring, starring and scoring his motion pictures and creating one of the most iconic characters of all time in The Little Tramp. But even though this film is remarkable for its time (though not peerless by any means) I do think despite his gift for comedy there are more than a couple of skits that go on for too long or have too much repetition.

Also, no belly laughs, just titters. But it’s a lovely film all the same. Still surprised that it’s always ranked near the top of ‘best film ever’ lists and whatnot. Don’t think it’s even Chaplin’s best film.

But it’s impossible not to be charmed by it, and by its lead character, as Chaplin does so much with his expressions that he can make you smile and utterly break your heart. What this builds to is devastating, despite having taken you there with a load of slapstick. It’s a romantic comedy that stands the test of the time.

Utterly preposterous in concept and execution, Face/Off is a perfect slice of ‘90s action, and for me John Woo’s best English language film. 

You know the basic story, right? Evil terrorist Castor Troy (played by a brilliantly unhinged Nic Cage) kills the son of a standup cop Sean Archer (John Travolta) and six years later after a crazy action sequence they get Troy into custody but transplant his face onto the cop so he can further infiltrate the criminal gang and stop a dirty bomb that will kill millions in Los Angeles.

But then the baddie wakes up—without a face—and tortures the surgeon until he gives him the leftover face from the cop.

So now the man who killed Sean’s son is living with his family—and fucking his wife! 

Look, it’s fucking mental from start to finish, a bit too long, completely nonsensical, but that’s why it’s so much fun. 

Early on Cage is going for it like he’s flipping onto the set of Terry Wogan, and then Travolta plays Cage once they’ve swapped faces, and it’s great fun. Cage seems to have less enjoyment out of playing the dull cop role, but there are times where he has to pretend to be the man who’s face he’s wearing so Cage gets to Cage it up again. The two leads are superb throughout, and it’s great to see them flex their acting chops in such a stupid film. 

John Woo: slo-mo, squibs, exploding shit, doves. You know the drill. 

Fan-fucking-tactic. Holds up.

I didn’t love Miami Vice when it came out. It wasn’t cool like the original show, it was quite frankly a bit boring, and at 18 I was out on the Linkin Park/Jay-Z collab and digital photography. So I was just like this is fuckin’ naff mate when I saw it at the cinema. It was a victim of my own expectations. 

When I last watched it (probably about 8-10 years ago) I’m not even sure if I finished it. And since then it has become about as divisive a film by a still-active auteur than any: half think it’s dull and ugly, half think it’s a masterpiece and that there’s loads going on under the hood.

I’ve never been there with the latter. I think you need to strain yourself to be as pretentious as possible because you want to fluff up Mann’s oeuvre to think this is one of his absolute best films. 

But I am starting to get there with it on this third viewing nearly 20 years after I first saw it. First I praise Mann’s lack of exposition. You’re expected to keep up, and I love that. It doesn’t talk down to its audience at all. You’re either expected to know the general conceit that it’s about two undercover Miami cops called Crockett and Tubbs (or mainly Rico this time round) or catch up. There’s no meet cute: these are an established pair, they know the lingo, you don’t, and it doesn’t matter because they’re mumbling most of the time anyway. Mann’s in-depth research is well known, with character backstories and factual basis for his settings that are unknown to the viewer but inform his screenplays and visual choices. Here, it feels like the plot itself is buried. We’re almost thrown into the film in media res, like it’s just another day in the lives of these characters, or to use the example of Mann’s adaptation of his own show it’s like we’re tuning into a show midway through a season. But I like that more now, Mann gives you the credit for being able to think on your feet. Clearly teenage me didn’t want to, so I didn’t deserve to get any more from it than I did. 

But you can get it. The story is there, it’s just doled out unconventionally. It’s like a series of vignettes that don’t seem majorly important until they all pile on top of each other late on. Much like Heat there are multiple antagonists to the extent that you forget about certain characters and their presence later brings new unexpected tension. As to that tension there are a couple of shootouts that are expertly staged as well as anything Mann has does before. You just have to squint a little this time.

I’ve aged appropriately with the film imo: the soundtrack that seemed a bit cheese at the time (bar Mogwai) has now come round again, and has a nostalgic quality to it. Same does the camerawork, which gives Miami Vice (and Collateral) a distinct look that suits exactly what Mann was going for. I have to respect that. 

Thematically Mann seems to be exploring similar things as he did to Heat in regards to the fine line between criminals and law enforcement and also in how romance is doomed in this line of work. 

More importantly I can’t wait to watch Miami Vice again, and to just sit with it after this viewing too. Perhaps more of its themes will become evident to me and I might just find myself aligned with those whose point I couldn’t even begin to see the last couple of years. Art is a funny ol’ thing…

I’m not part of the Michael Mann (he’s obviously an auteur but I can take or leave his films) and although I like plenty of his films I don’t really love any of them. I don’t buy into this ‘Heat is one of the greatest films of all time’ rhetoric or that Mann has one of the great bodies of work in all of cinema. Plenty of my friends do and I respect all of their opinions, it’s just not something that has ever really ‘clicked’ for me personally.

It’s hard not to really ire Heat though. There’s so much going on surface level (it’s a cops and robbers mother; a serial killer movie; a relationship movie; a great fuckin’ action movie) but it’s what’s under the hood that elevates it. I see it as a film about masculinity and the male ego, of letting the pursuit of perfection (and of being an adrenaline junkie) get in the way of personal relationships.

Of course Pacino’s Vincent Hanna and De Niro’s Neil McCauley are similar despite being on opposite teams, but that’s not saying anything new. Pacino plays Hanna like a maniac, and it’s De Niro’s career criminal that is cold and calculated. But even then he allows loose ends to get the better of him.

Production wise it’s beautifully shot and the sound design is incredible. Everyone is firing on all cylinders, even bit parts are people you recognise and they’re all adding to the immersion with their nuanced portrayals of these complicated characters. 

If it’s a series of elaborate heists that propel the plot it’s the numerous couples that bind it together: men not able to make things work with their romantic partners for differing reasons. The trauma that they bring home affecting their families, breaking them apart, their best efforts scuppered by their own arrogance in the end. Even when things are set up to work perfectly they cannot help but collapse. 

I won’t write much more about Heat because you could write an essay on each individual character. I’m not the guy to do that. But even if I don’t think that Mann is one of the greats it’s a fact that Heat is a miracle in the sense that the cast is perfect, the writing is superb and it’s so well-paced even given its runtime. Mann has been dealing in characters like this for decades by the time he makes Heat (Hell he’s been dealing with this story for a decade) and completely understands them. He’s spent time researching them firsthand in prisons, has been working on procedural in T.V. There’s just so much research in the background that doesn’t show up on screen but informs the characters and setting that allow the film to breathe, and the cast no doubt did the same especially considering the two method acting leads. Aside from that, editing, score, the movement of the camera and sound effects working together to shake the screen and really put you in the thick of the action as important as the quiet moments. Those blue nights. Endlessly quotable. It’s brilliant.

Easily the weakest of the franchise to date: an extremely annoying bunch of characters, TV movie acting that make the cast of previous installments look like Oscar winners, and a leading actress that has two settings: extremely gormless or wide-eyed overacting. It was like the producers said “Jenna Ortega is popular can we get her? No, well get a shitter version of her then!” 

Of course there are some fun gore gags but it’s all so predictable, which takes the fun out of it. So much is signposted without the bait and switch that makes the franchise so fun. Themes of generation trauma are eye-rolling rather than thought provoking. Everything is so on the nose. At least Tony Todd’s final on-screen performance lends pathos, the late great carrying himself with all the dignity you’d expect.

First time ever seeing it on the big screen and it still holds up. So well edited and shot, with one of the great opening sequences. Bar some utter stupidity from the characters that are so contrived in order to add additional tension to the plot that isn’t really needed, Final Destination is a nigh on perfect popcorn movie. It loses a star for that aforementioned grievance plus all the horror legends cropping up as names of characters. It’s grating in Night of the Creeps and even moreso here.

“Aren’t you even gonna kiss her goodbye”?

“Nope”

Kurt Russell is great as bumbling trucker Jack Burton, a wannabe Wild West hero in ‘80s San Francisco who is actually more Hong Kong Phooey than The Man With No Name.

But that’s fine because John Carpenter’s genre-bending banger is a real ensemble piece. Carpenter is only a director-for-hire on this but you can feel the love he and his crew put into it, with something visually interesting in every frame, and a huge ensemble cast nearly all given their time to shine. 

The plot is one you have to take a deep breath before saying: Jack loses a bet to his old friend Wang, and Wang’s fiancée gets kidnapped by an ancient sorcerer called David Lo Pan because her green eyes mean she is the prophesied wife that will free him of a curse. So Jack, Wang and others try to get the girl back and beat the evil Lo Pan, who also has flying, lightning-using mystical warrior henchmen. Guessing the Mortal Kombat developers ripped them off for Raiden, much as Johnny Cage was supposed to be JCVD. 

Okay then.

There are also gang wars, giant monsters, neon-framed buddhas, wuxia influence, slapstick comedy, fast-paced screwball dialogue, and some incredible practical effects culminating in someone swelling up to the point they explode. 

What’s really good about Big Trouble In Little China is that Carpenter saved his absolute best action directing for this, as his action scenes are often slow-paced and unexciting affairs, even in Assault On Precinct 13 and especially in Escape From New York. There’s none of that here, with some quality martial arts scraps and weapons-based duels, and one particularly cool forehead stabbing! 

It’s just bloody good fun throughout, visually inventive, with a talented cast and a proper leading man in a really unselfish performance not taking himself too seriously. Banger.

Like so much of this era of Full Moon it’s hit and miss in execution but a killer concept.

Dollman is a high-concept action movie: an intergalactic Dirty Harry knock-off is a regular sized man on his home planet, but when he’s accidentally transported to Earth he’s only 13 inches tall! 

There’s obviously not enough of a budget to sustain the kick ass action we see early, so we get only a handful of shoot outs sprinkled throughout. But I had a lot of goodwill for the film after a gloriously gory opening, and as the film wasn’t very long it sustained me for much of its runtime.

Tim Thomerson is predictably great as the titular character, and there’s Jackie Earl Haley in a ing role overacting but really giving it his all as well.

The main plot on earth concerns a local woman trying to peacefully stamp out drug gangs in the Bronx. That isn’t as interesting as the tiny badass cop blowing holes in people with his space gun, but as you’d expect Albert Pyun does his best with what he has and it’s a real fun time when it is.

Some gorgeous matte paintings early on, some cool practical effects and a building site put to good use both for an outer space setting and for shoot outs on Earth (and I’m sure it’s used in other Charles Band productions too!) it’s low budget but easily es for solid early ‘90s entertainment in an ‘80s vein. Plenty of explosions, plenty of squibs! Fun and only an hour and 10 minutes long really, so well worth a watch.

Chastised by numerous mates for a while for my not having seen the The Hidden (and having to inform them that, “It’s on my list lads I promise”) this Bank Holiday Monday morning felt as good a time as any after I finally got the Blu-Ray at a reasonable price having nearly pulled the trigger on it numerous times.

And boy am I happy to have ticked it off as it really is my sorta thing (as I have been reliably informed on more than one occasion!) 

After a series of bank robberies and senseless killings, an L.A cop is puzzled when strange FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (oddly reminiscent of FBI agent Dale Cooper but I’m not sure why) arrives unannounced to help with the case, which seems to continue even when the murderer is killed, the spree seemingly ing on like a virus. Annoyingly vague, Lloyd nonetheless quickly advances the case, which brings the violence to the police. But the more encounters the cops have with the criminal the stranger it gets. 

This is an awesome genre mash-up, an action-body horror-buddy cop-sci-fi movie that is slickly edited which really helps to give oomph to the action scenes. It’s The Thing in the body of an ‘80s action movie, with Terminator vibes as well. Loads of squibs, practical effects (Kevin Yagher no less) and a sharp script propel the action along.

In fact just to give you an indication of dizzying the film is, there’s an instance of Chekhov’s flamethrower early on that made me roll my eyes but so much happens between its introduction and use that I’d completely forgotten about it.

I sometimes recommend a double-bill for films I love, but in this case The Hidden deserves to be watched with your closest friends on a triple-header: don’t do what I did and watch it on a Monday morning, as this film screams Friday night! Start with Dead Heat then follow it up with this before finishing with Carpenter’s They Live. 

Nearly unwatchable aside from having loads of recognisable actors in. A 1998 teen comedy that feels completely out of touch. Unlike American Pie from the next year it whiffs completely on an important factor: it has basically no characters you want to root for. A tonne of out-of-place and naff needle drops too.

I did fear that Companion might fall apart on second viewing once its twists and turns were signposted by me already knowing them, but much like my similar fears for Strange Darling I’m happy to report they were unfounded.

In fact it allows the film a little more breathing room, and more time for me to notice small details. Not that Josh names his fuckbot after the famously shit song ‘Iris’ but that him listening to the famously shit Goo Goo Dolls is audio shorthand for how much of a douche he is.

Everyone’s doing their best, it’s a nice little horror-thriller-scifi film and all the foreshadowing pays off. Just a good, solid film that will probably feature in my end-of-year top 10!

A very British response to the ‘New French Extemities’ and ‘Torture Porn’ films that were defining ‘00s horror, James Watkins’ Eden Lake remains controversial for its seemingly Daily Mail nightmare inspired scenario.

But there’s more to it than that in my opinion, and even if there isn’t it was a social phenomenon ripe for exploitation. Fans of genre films shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist. Full review available on The Years of Fear podcast right here 

Full review coming to the podcast soon (episode 2 dropped today by the way and is available on Apple and Spotify and everywhere else you get your pods!) but Flying Lotus’ Ash is in the main completely mediocre but also has some interesting visual ideas that first made me question if AI had been used to generate them (allegedly not) but also prompted me and the missus to say things throughout like, ‘That’s a bit like Dead Space” and “That’s from Resident Evil ain’t it?” 

At 70ish minutes this would probably be ace. But with the extra time, it just gave me more time to figure out every single thing that was going to happen. And I was right every single time. The protagonist has memory loss for one simple reason: this would be a 10-20 minute short otherwise.

Full review coming to the pod soon but this is completely derivative shite with really annoying characters but such fun gore. If I’d seen this on a Friday night in 2004 with all my mates we’d still it fondly even though we’d never watched it since. David F. Sandberg is a hack.

Alex Garland is a frustrating filmmaker: if he aims too high with philosophical films, he falls way short (Ex Machina / Annihilation / Men) despite having some interesting ideas and generally pulling off his films slickly. 

When it’s brainless fun (Dredd / Civil War) he’s much more at home, as he has a great eye for action and tension-building set-pieces.

And that’s what Warfare is for its entirety: a non-stop tension-filled set-piece. And Garland (and co-writer/director Ray Mendoza—the military advisor for the aforementioned Civil War and a military veteran himself) do a masterful job for the most part.

Navy SEALS are holed up in a two-story building they have commandeered from an innocent Iraqi family. Observing jihadist forces assembling in the distance but not sure of how imminent the attack is, they speak to neighboring friendly forces on the radio. Then, a grenade comes into the building, causing a minor injury that necessitates the evacuation of a sniper. 

From there on in we’re plunged into a dusty, smoky Hell as the assault begins and the Yanks are surrounded. And it continues like this for the entirety of the film.

The knock on Civil War was that for a completely political conceit Garland’s approach was nearly apolitical. And bar a handful of moments, Warfare treads the same path. It’s an action film, based on real events that took place during the Iraq war, and there’s no real narrative or thematic target for Garland to aim for. It seems to be: this war was hardcore, it was stressful, and we’re throwing you into it.

And for that, it succeeds. I engaged ‘gamer mode’ more than once—leaning forward in my chair—and the fairly busy screening I was in responded well to the material, silent throughout, fully engaged. There’s a jumpscare here that will probably not be bettered by any horror picture all year, and the action and fallout from it is visceral, affecting stuff.

But the only real characterisation we get is in the opening scene, where these young men are all pumped watching Eric Prydz’s ‘Call On Me’ video. It’s a quick scene that gives us a general, sweeping view of the squadron: they are young, too young perhaps, and a kid that could live next door to you.

Nothing that hasn’t been covered in war films before, mainly because it rings true. But out of their depth and shellshocked does not good characterisation make, and depending on how you feel about military men following orders you may find it difficult to empathise much with their plight at all (though I certainly did, even though I believe the war was completely without merit) 

It strays far enough away from ‘watching a video game’ territory and blasts through its 90-minute runtime to make it a worthy experiment. The few times Garland gets close to making a political point are all centered on the disposal nature of the Iraqi people that the U.S military uses for their own cause. The final scene, that shows that the battle was for nothing, is the only other time. 

So yes, the futility of war—or rather the futility of this war is the point that Warfare seems to be making—which is well trod ground. Had it been done in one take or something else gimmicky, it might’ve justified it being made even more. But much as Civil War this film is at its best as an action film. For a fictional future shock as the former is, you can justify it. For a very real conflict that is still felt today, it’s less easy to accept as an all-out romp. But by gawd if the dread wasn’t real as a viewer. In that regard, it’s a resounding success in the way the battle we saw unfold definitely isn’t.

Kathryn Bigelow’s masterful tension-filled Oscar winner is essentially a series of set-pieces, with no real narrative. Instead, the thematic through lines that link the vignettes are masculinity, trauma, and the psychology of our characters and the journey they go on as they go through the life altering experience of Iraq.

Whether it’s gunshy, traumatised Aldridge, alpha male Sanborn, or fearless adrenaline junkie James, Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal show us a range of reactions to the realities of war. 

Ultimately, Sanborn rejects the military in the hope of domestic bliss, and James cannot deal with civilian life, instead opting to return to where he is happiest: in the most dangerous job in the world defusing IEDs. 

But it’s those aforementioned action sequences that allow us to explore the psychology of these men: the tension is ramped up by the paranoid camera that erratically searches around for clarity in the chaos. It’s in the sound design, where you worry that the soldiers footsteps might give them away. And it’s in the setting of course, where lens flare and mirage make the job of expert marksman that much harder.

And it’s in the casting, which feels less innovative today due to the three leads being much more well known, but certainly made it more difficult when the film was first released to ascertain who is going to make it through the dangerous booby traps they are sent to disarm. The true lead of the film is omitted from the films opening scene, a set piece which kills off the first star we see (Guy Pearce). A later emergence of the only other contemporary film star cast is quickly revealed to be a cameo. Bigelow flouts the established rules of action cinema, and we as an audience are therefore less sure-footed as we navigate the world she has built, further establishing the chaos of war where no one has plot armour. 

The Hurt Locker then has lost a little of its power since its first release only due to losing the unpredictability it had when I first saw it, but is still a nerve shredding picture.

Review coming soon to The Years of Fear available on Spotify and Apple and probably everywhere else! Will drop this weekend. I fancy a Jack O'Connell horror villain double-bill episode, so it will also be the first episode to look back through horror history. Can you guess what the other film is?

Aggressively fine. I’ll try and review it on the pod soon…but it’d need to be paired with another film as despite trying to tackle a topic as harrowing as violent domestic abuse, it’s still much too lightweight to anchor a full episode.

It’s nepo baby the movie as Jack Quaid (son of Dennis and Meg Ryan) Jack Nicholson’s son from Smile 2 and the Lana Del Ray album cover and Amber Midthunder (daughter of a casting agent) bring a fairly predictable but very fun and gory action-comedy to life.

If you’ve seen the trailer you know the deal. If you haven’t, watch the film as blind as possible as although the general conceit is fine to know (lonely nerd who feels no pain due to a disorder has to become a bumbling John Wick to save the woman he loves) a lot of the best physical gags are given away. 

There is a mid-film twist that anyone who has ever seen a film will probably see coming. But maybe consider it a bomb under the table device instead of simply poor, cliched writing and it won’t annoy you too much.

Jack Quaid is so easy to root for and there’s a shit loaf of gore in this and keeps the laughs coming. It’s the kind of film I will never own on Blu-Ray but will gladly watch again on streaming or TV in the future. An enjoyable, likable night out at the cinema.

Gast’s documentary is more about the genius of Muhammad Ali than it really is about his famous fight with George Foreman. Foreman is not really a co-lead in the picture, more a monster on the peripheries, a sporadically present danger. 

This short changes George somewhat, but then his legend grew not even in the wake of this historic defeat, but in the wake of even more disasters that put him back a decade. 

So the focus being Ali makes sense for the majority of viewers, non-boxing types if you will. For pugilistic aficionados, George Foreman is a titan inextricably linked to Ali. For the layman, Ali is one of the most famous human beings of all time, and figure who should be mythical but really happened. Thus he is the more compelling subject for the documentary, and boxing types such as myself shouldn’t have our nose put out of t by this any more than we would by a lightning fast Ali jab. 

Foreman then is the pinnacle of Ali’s monster slayings, being that his list of opponents would be scrubbed out of a Bosch triptych for being too gruesome. Liston, Frazier, Norton, and of course Foreman are the most famous ones, and bar references to Liston, Norton and Frazier and Patterson we don’t see even glimpses of Ali’s ludicrous ledger. 

So ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’ is no less compelling now than it was when I saw ‘When We Were Kings’ first as a kid on the precipice of being a boxing fan, and some 20 years ago when I last watched it as a fully-fledged fanatic. 

That we’ve lost both of these titans now lends it extra pathos, but Ali’s post-fighting career always meant his in-ring endeavours had even more weight to them than Foreman’s punches.

Now ‘Big’ George is gone as well, the fight has never seemed further away. ‘When We Were Kings’ makes it all seem tangible again, bringing to life one of the greatest and most important sporting events of all time, touching on the controversies of it being staged by a scumbag like Don King in a country like Zaire, and at least offering some redemption for Foreman in the film’s coda even while making clear this is the Muhammad Ali show. Foreman never disagreed when pressed on the issue in the decades since, quick to praise Ali as his greatest adversary. But even given the non-hyperbolic moniker of ‘The Greatest’, Foreman is no mere footnote in Ali’s story: this defeat is as important a milestone in his own incredible tale as it was the peak of Ali’s. Essential viewing for any human being, sports fan or not.

This is a film that constantly threatens to be really good, but scuppers itself at every opportunity. 

Not that it doesn’t have its moments: what I worried might be some kind of allegorical ‘Alzheimer’s as demonic possession’ movie turns into a literal ‘demons find it easier to possess either old people or really young people’ story. So there’s no real greater subtext to explore, which is good because for such a cack-handed film it might’ve ended up completely offensive.

A medical student and her accompanying camera and sound guys are allowed access to the rapidly declining titular character by her only daughter, due to the money on offer to document the progression of her disease and the financial woes of the Logan family. But she deteriorates quicker than expected, with symptoms suggesting demonic possession rather than just dementia…

Straight from the off, this found footage film undermines itself. I’m sure Michelle Ang is a fine actress (and perusing her credits I’ve seen her in other things) but she comes across much too actor-ly in a film that requires us to be immersed in its set-up. We now we’re not watching a real documentary, but need to be able to suspend our disbelief. She’s the first jarring aspect of the film but certainly not the only thing, including the addition of stereotypical horror score overlayed on an apparent documentary, including jump-scare stings! 

As the story progresses it becomes overly convoluted, with a decades past serial killer seeking immortality becoming an integral part of the plot (along with a serpentine demon!) and for me at least an opportunity to make the film more concise (two scenes featuring abduction of the same child that probably could’ve been one) as well as the appearance of well worn tropes from the possession and found footage genres. 

But it’s still good, anchored by a couple of decent enough performances and a very shocking effect late on that manages to overcome being cgi to still be very effective. 

Not a completely missed opportunity, but a couple of squandered opportunities to hit a home run.

A classy film for sure, but with some real despicable moments. You see Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow turning in fully committed performances and it lends weight to the material.

For a full review check out my horror history podcast The Years of Fear which can be found on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here as well as most other platforms you get your pods!

I still wanted Romulus to be a standalone Alien movie: horror, action, some gnarly kills.

And it does deliver on those things. But standalone it is not. And here on my third viewing the fan service, tie-ins and homages to the original movies—the first four in fact—are irritating because it’s a missed opportunity to have just made a fun and distinct film in the franchise separate from the lore that has restricted it over the decades. Tying in to Prometheus and Covenant is even more annoying given they’re both poor and surely due to Ridley Scott’s involvement as producer. Either that or Fede Alvarez has even less taste than I thought. 

Still one of my favourite franchises—and there are worse films in it than this—but it’s just good when it could’ve been really fuckin’ good. 

Hannibal Buress was the only funny person in this.

It very nearly had a good thing going, but quit the carnage too quickly. The bursts of gore and shocking deaths quickly dissipated and the film became the predictable romantic-comedy it was also destined to be. Except it wasn’t funny. At all.

However, if you’re having a midlife crisis like I am it’s comforting to see totems from your youth. But it’s an odd film: it tried to straddle the 2000s-obsessed TikTok crowd but there are so many references that only people my age would probably get…however there are not really any characters for people my age to identity with?

What I’m saying is that Tim Heidecker was wasted and should’ve been in it more.

Pretty mad how much your own sensibilities can change over the years. Loved this as a pre-teen and loved the series as a young teenager, before becoming indifferent to it in my late teens and twenties, before being frankly appalled at how rubbish it was upon finally rewatching it in my early thirties.

Now, nearing the big 4-0 it’s equal parts nostalgic treat and also much sweeter than I it being.

Sure, the boys are misogynistic jerks for much of the film, but by the end of American Pie it’s a much sweeter affair, which raunchy fantasies put on the back burner for a more caring coming-of-age story. 

Sure, it’s the gross out gags and dumb set pieces that bring most of the laughs—and quite frankly the four characters at the heart of the more sensitive side of the story are all dullards—but there are still enough characters I’m fond of after nearly thirty fucking years (can you believe that?!) to make American Pie a more enjoyable watch that I ever could’ve imagined given my last viewing of it was so disastrous.

As a film though, it’s a pretty tight three act comedy, with characters who think they want one thing and realise they need another. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but given what was in the air at the time, you can see why it tapped into the cultural zeitgeist and basically spawned a genre all of its own separate to the ‘80s teen movie dynasty due to its pop-punk soundtrack and more bodily fluids than ever before. A Porky’s for the internet age with a handful of iconic scenes and characters that mean it still hits the sweet spot for lore even if I can’t imagine young kids today vibing with it much at all.

Celebrity cameos include: Vanilla Ice, Gene Simmons, Jerry O’Connell, Tony Hawk, Tommy Lee, David Hasselhoff and Henry Rollins. Outdated cultural references for a 2002 teen comedy include jazz, James Brown and Braveheart. The film itself is bottom of the barrel stuff. I really enjoyed it.

It’s fine but has nothing interesting to say. Full review coming soon!

Bong Joon Ho aims for Starship Troopers for the Trump era but falls well short. 

Mickey (Robert Pattinson) signs up to a space colony to avoid being chainsawed up by a gangster he owns money to. But the only role he qualifies for is as an ‘expendable’, a human who will be used as a guinea pig to test all the ways the new planet can kill them (as well as the ruling classes many new bioweapons) before being cloned (or ‘printed’ as it’s called in the film) for it to happen all over again ad infinitum.

The biggest problem with Bong Joon Ho’s satire is that it’s so on the nose, and the second biggest problem—or perhaps equal with the first reason—is that it isn’t funny in the slightest.

For some reason auteurs such as the great Korean and the Greek Yorgos Lanthimos seem to think casting Mark Ruffalo to overact caricatures is a good thing. I saw some ‘film ’ on Twitter say something like, ‘Mark Ruffalo is so camp and it’s great’ and it’s not great, it’s annoying and he isn’t talented enough to pull it off. He’s just loud and irritating.

The usually brilliant Toni Collette is also hampered by the bad writing, though Robert Pattinson excels as the multiple Mickey’s, including in the main the doe-eyed aww shucks trooper of Mickey 17 and the violent maniac Mickey 18. From Wikipedia, ‘In the initial script reading, he imitated the voices of Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O from Jackass. Bong told him not to do the Steve-O impression’. Ergo your favourite filmmaker has no taste. 

The ing cast is filled with dependable character actors (as well as a recurring role for Tim Key, which almost acted like a jumpscare I was so surprised to see him, he too is held back by the poor writing despite his usual comic brilliance) and touching on similar themes that he did in Snowpiercer, Okja and Parasite the now Oscar-winning director points his camera at the 1% exploiting man and beast alike.

The tardigrade-inspired indigenous creatures were cool though, despite being CGI.

It’s fine, if a little overlong. 3 stars for being somewhat enjoyable, and looking really good throughout. R-Patz is as good as you’d expect in the lead. But it’s not one of Bong Joon Ho’s best, by any means, and you can see why the studio sat on it for two years despite the director never being hotter coming off Parasite. 

Daft fun, somewhat predictable but not unenjoyable. I paid a quid for this on Blu Ray and it cost the same to have it on DVD, so I had some built-in goodwill for it going into this watch. 

The two leads are as good as you’d expect, and despite some annoying, unfunny ing characters it’s a fine addition to the pantheon of 2000s American comedies featuring people you know from other things.

I seeing this at the pictures when it came out. I don’t think it would’ve been opening week, maybe a week or so after it had been out. I have a vague memory that I saw it on a weekday afternoon, and that there was hardly anyone there.

Whether my memories of my (up until today) only viewing of American Reunion are accurate or not, the fact is I really don’t much fanfare for it. I think the nostalgia bait only really works after nearly 20 years have ed for most franchises, and for something like American Pie I think this fourth (theatrical) installment came at a bad time: the original fans having aged out of boner comedies but also not old enough that the nostalgia had given them that warm fuzzy feeling.

Whether I was just stoned or it’s that long ago I’ve forgotten I don’t know, but I ed Reunion as almost like a comedy drama about reflective near middle-aged characters that had completely grown out their crazy teenage days.

Well that was wrong, because there is plenty of stupid shit here to link this with the original trilogy, and more than enough laughs to carry the film throughout its somewhat bloated runtime.

But it is a film where some of the characters develop at least a little bit and the writer-director duo behind the Harold & Kumar films do a great job at making this a legit end to the franchise without omitting some of the major characters that didn’t even make it to the table read of American Wedding.

And of course—much like Bob Dylan’s son realised with Wedding—although the series is ostensibly about Jim and his friends, Stifler is the best character. So when he sparks out the seedy doctor to stick up for his friend, it’s a heroic moment the character deserves. And he has a handful in this film, even helping out the kid he used the rip of the shit out of (The Sherminator of course) to finally grow up a bit and show at least a little bit of maturity.

There are call backs sure but Hurwitz and Schlossberg do a great job at making them satisfying and tying into the original films. Whether it’s the ‘Milf guys’ reunion, Finch’s Mom, or a sweet end to two fan favourite characters in Stifler’s Mom and Jim’s Dad, American Reunion does feel like the perfect bookend to the franchise and one that I think fans will appreciate more given they’ve aged even more since its original release.

Saying that, can we get American 5ive (?!) already!

Difficult to really rate Tropic Thunder because some of its best laughs depend on sharp jolts that don’t hold up when you’ve seen the film multiple times (people getting blown up/babies getting punted, that sorta’ thing) so once you know they’re coming they just do not have the same effect that had upon first viewing. 

It also never really matches the heights of its spot-on trailer lampoons, which is an issue for a film that has 90ish minutes left to go. 

But it’s a starry cast and a well pointed satire of egotistical actors who take their craft much too seriously. Robert Downey Jr playing an Aussie playing a racist blacked up caricature is famously the stand-out performance here, and it’s easy to see why, as the performance holds up some 17 years later.

Never thought Tom Cruise being fat, loud and sweary was all that funny (even though it’s obviously him taking off Scott Rudin) but I do get a kick out of seeing him in his element here.

However I was today years old when I found out Kevin Hart turned down a major role in this as he never wants to play a gay character. What a talentless, mean spirited little cunt.

After an endlessly annoying opening half an hour—with Costa being a kid I would’ve knocked sparked out every day I bumped into him in school—Project X builds to a crescendo that was difficult to ignore! 

Three loser high schoolers (J.B, Thomas and the aforementioned Costa) try to throw a party that will finally get them noticed. It’s Thomas’ birthday, his parents are away for the weekend, and although they’re not stupid and know Thomas is going to have some friends over, they also know he’s sensible enough to not let things get out of control.

Unfortunately for Thomas, his friend Costa is an annoying prick, sweater vest an’ all, and explores a number of avenues to throw the sickest party of all time, including posting about it on Craigslist. This plan goes awry when Thomas’ parents house is besieged by rowdy revellers who show little respect for the boundaries the birthday boy wants to set, culminating in a riot that consumes the local area and makes the bash the stuff of legend. 

For much of its runtime this is Uncut Gems level of stressful: I did my fair share of partying 15-20 years ago, plenty of drugs and debauchery, but burning down your friends house? Nah, that’s just being a cunt. And mid-thirties me just kept thinking, ‘how are they going to clean this up in time before the parents get home?’ 

But once it’s obvious that there will be no clean-up and our three losers completely let go and embrace the insanity that has taken hold of the house—and the back yard pool, and the surrounding neighbourhood—as a viewer I was right there with them.

A ball-punching dwarf, a drug dealer with a flamethrower, roof jumping, Keith Moon-ing a car, loads of E, a child tasering a suburban father, it’s presented as a multimedia film and convincingly so. Equal parts masterfully edited 2010s pop video and convincing found footage movie, it feels like Project X took the baton from the previous era-defining teen movies (American Pie for 1999, Superbad for 2006, and Project X for 2013) and the real shame is that I can’t think of anything that continued in the same vein. I guess with social media, these zeitgeisty moments are playing out on telephones rather than on cinema screens, but as a continuation of the genre that started with the likes of Animal House in the late ‘70s Project X goes for it big style, held together by the technical details that stops the film getting as out of control as the party. These films feel very much of their time, a relic of youth cultures past, with todays more introspective teens more likely to plump for the A24ified telling of their halcyon days, be it the smarter and sharper (and more inclusive) Booksmart or the weirder and artsy Saltburn. 

It feels like a bedfellow of Josh Trank’s Chronicle in its attempt to take the found footage movie away from its horror roots and expand into other genres. It’s also much too professional and well shot to truly deceive but in pulling from many other sources than the main camera (the innumerable extras were given phones and cameras to shoot what was essentially a three week party shoot and the best bits used for the finished film) Project X captures the era in a way I think others of my age will recognise. 

It’s an incredible achievement given how annoyed I was early that the film completely won me over at the end, even Costa. A tied-in-a-bow happy ending and Costa becoming even more of a caricature in the coda ensure Project X falls short of classic status. But it’s a banger all the same. The biggest regret I have is not seeing it with some mates in the cinema in 2013, as I think it’d be a fun communal experience. Hopefully one day I’ll get to see it again, on the big screen, with friends that won’t set my local cinema on fire or send my dog into the sky with balloons.

I absolutely despise ‘Laid’ by James (or whoever does the cover here) which doesn’t help when it’s prominently featured throughout (as a callback to the first film) but overall American Pie: The Wedding (as it’s called over here) has a lot of heart, some predictably gross gags, and is undoubtedly the film where it becomes more obvious than ever that Stifler is the best character (even above Eugene Levy as Jim’s Dad)

As per my previous review, it’s impossible to separate my nostalgia from the actual quality of the film. It’s almost definitely utter shite that wouldn’t play with any crowd over than those that saw it upon its first release (and I’m sure even plenty of my peers would find it unwatchable and offensive nowadays) and I shudder to think what today’s social conscious kids would find of the casual homophobia and misogyny.

But putting it in the context of the era it was made—and with memories of seeing it opening weekend with my mates—and a pop-punktastic early ‘00s soundtrack, I found it easy to enjoy, even if at even 90 minutes I found it dragging at times in ways the earlier instalments didn’t.

I’m stunned: after an aborted attempt to watch the first American Pie some half a decade ago (unwatchable, pervy, horrific) I endeavoured to give the series another try, thinking newly baked-in nostalgia for the new millennium might make them more palatable.

I instead started with the second film in the franchise, which I’ve only ever seen once, and I was surprised at how enjoyable it was.

It won’t be unless you’re the same age as me I suspect: younger viewers will most likely be genuinely appalled at the misogyny, homophobia, and frequent sexual assaults and harassment that take place.

I don’t like that stuff either, but being 12-13 you didn’t think of it like that in the early 2000s (not in the movies, anyway!) and now the film works as a cultural time capsule more than anything else. 

Watching American Pie 2 now is like spending time with old friends. Old scummy friends that are all sex offenders by modern standards, but not without their charms.

There are some Altman-esque tracking shots through parties that I liked too.

Reviewed it before. Absolute banger.

Comfort film. Some shaggy improv of the worst kind that somehow made the Final Cut but some genuine laughs and although it covers well trod ground it does so in a satisfying way. It’s Ghostbusters with aliens and nowhere near as well written but it’s tasty junk food all the same.

More like Osmid Perkins, amiright?

Review coming to podcast which isn’t recorded yet but will be soon!

I liked this less than the last time I watched it a couple of years back (and way less than I did in the last ‘90s, but of course: I was about 9 when I first saw this!) but it’s still enjoyable slasher fluff.

It helps when you have always fancied Jennifer Love Hewitt and helps when you like small town slashers and it helps when ‘90s films scratch your nostalgia itch.

If you don’t tick at least one of those boxes my suggestion is steer well clear, for there are many better films you could be watching. But if you’re up for switch your brain off nonsense with a fairly glossy sheen despite its blue collar coastal setting, and decent looking (but shite acting) cast, then IKWYDLS might be for you.

Going to try and watch all of them because due to being into some niche subgenres I often miss the ‘obvious’ films that everyone has seen and tells me I should see.

• Wings
• The Racket
• 7th Heaven
• The Broadway Melody
• Alibi
• The Hollywood Revue of 1929
• In Old Arizona
• The Patriot
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Big House

...plus 601 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Weapons
• The Shrouds
• Together
• Final Destination Bloodlines
• Saw XI
• M3GAN 2.0
• The Long Walk
• 28 Years Later
• Grind
• Clown in a Cornfield

...plus 54 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Just my rankings of my personal favourites of the year

• Companion
• Nosferatu

Self explanatory. I will add to this as the year goes on but this is my provisional list (in order of most anticipated!) and I will remove as I see them and add them to my ‘Best Horror Films of 2023’ list if applicable. 

NOTE: there will be horror adjacent films on here or films that I’m not quite sure of how they fit into the genre (i.e Cocaine Bear/Beau Is Afraid)

• Malum
• The Third Saturday in October
• Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor
• The Third Saturday in October: Part V
• Perpetrator
• The Wrath of Becky
• Where the Devil Roams
• Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Final Summer

Just so I can see what films I have/haven’t seen/reviewed yet based on what latterboxd types think are ‘the best’ horror films.

1. Perfect Blue
2. The Thing
3. The Silence of the Lambs
4. Psycho
5. The Cremator
6. Alien
7. Cure
8. The Shining
9. Kwaidan
10. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

...plus 240 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I will update this as I see films and remove the films from my ‘Most anticipated’ horror films list. In of the genre: it’s my own tastes and thresholds in regards to what ‘horror’ is, but horror comedies, horror adjacent movies, natural horror, films with a strong body horror element that may be categorised in the main as other genres, are all fair game. My only demand of myself is that I can properly justify it when prompted. 

In of release date, if the official U.K release date is in 2024, a film is legible for the list. If the official U.K release date is 2025 but I am able to see it in 2024 somehow (festival screening/nefarious online viewing) then it is also legible for the list. A film is not legible if I see it for the first time in 2024 but the official U.K release was in a prior year. 

Anyway, this is all getting boring, so I’ll add some films.

• The Substance
• Strange Darling
• The Vourdalak
• A Different Man
• Red Rooms
• Poor Things
• Terrifier 3
• In a Violent Nature
• Exhuma
• Longlegs

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Simple: as the title suggests, my yearly look ahead at what the horror genre might bring. As before, once I see a film on this list I will remove it. It may or may not end up on my ‘Best horror films of 2024’ list!

• Nosferatu
• The Shrouds
• The Toxic Avenger
• Lisa Frankenstein
• The Watchers
• Blackout
• Return to Silent Hill
• Polaris
• #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead
• Salem's Lot

...plus 68 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Someone else’s list. I hope to have ratings/reviews for all films on this list eventually. I have watched a fair few of these, but will not review any I’ve previously seen until I watch them again.

1. Ring
2. Godzilla
3. Ju-on: The Grudge
4. Perfect Blue
5. Audition
6. House
7. Dark Water
8. Noroi: The Curse
9. Pulse
10. Suicide Club

...plus 206 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

An attempt to watch 29 horror films I’ve never seen before. The caveat being that they all have to be from different countries. Countries are not specified, just that as soon as I pick one film that country is out of the question for further selection.

• Terrified
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• Impetigore
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• Noroi: The Curse
• La Llorona
• Viy
• Prevenge
• Razorback
• Cronos

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Golem: How He Came Into the World
• Nosferatu
• Häxan
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Faust
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dracula
• Freaks
• King Kong
• Bride of Frankenstein

...plus 39 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I will update this as I see films and remove the films from my ‘Most anticipated’ horror films list. In order. EDIT on 02/91/2024: my final top 10 was

1) Godzilla
2) Saw X
3) When Evil Lurks
4) Enys Men 
5) Thanksgiving
6) M3GAN
7) Infinity Pool
8) Totally Killer
9) Project Wolf Hunting
10) Talk To Me

but I can’t be bothered to move the order around. So it’ll stay as it was until the end of time.

• Godzilla Minus One
• Saw X
• When Evil Lurks
• Enys Men
• Thanksgiving
• M3GAN
• Infinity Pool
• Totally Killer
• Project Wolf Hunting
• Talk to Me

...plus 16 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Only including features I watched in the month of October 2023. For my own memories, this was the year I tried to tick off as much of my watchlist as possible whilst also watching some so-called ‘classics’ that I’ve put off for years, either for not fancying them or just never getting round to them. I’m also putting the non-2023 releases in a rough order.

• Inside
• Phenomena
• Freaks
• Cyclops
• Santa Sangre
• Perfect Blue
• Opera
• Trouble Every Day
• Repulsion
• The Blood on Satan's Claw

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.