After so many horror films about teens and college kids facing their doom, their friendships unravelling in the face of danger, it’s refreshing that this time it’s the older but not wiser getting their comeuppance. With the youngsters I tend to bear in mind how much of an annoying, supercilious whiner I was at that age… 30 Miles From Nowhere Read More
Pet Sematary (2019) 3 stars
Nothing sums up the difference between city and country in Pet Sematary better than the story of the reanimated prize bull. The people of Ludlow in rural Maine combine practicality and belief in old legends, encapsulated by the tale of a local farmer who used a supernatural burial ground to bring back his most valuable animal…. Pet Sematary (2019) Read More
Destination: Dewsbury 2 stars
It’s a huge shock when the first one of your generation dies, as delusions of immortality crumble and the reality of middle age looms. New indie British comedy Destination: Dewsbury tackles this from the viewpoints of four men, mates since school, their lives starting to disintegrate just as the fifth member of their schoolboy gang turns out… Destination: Dewsbury Read More
Two For Joy 4 stars
For the widowed Aisha (Samantha Morton) grief itself has become the driving force, rather than the reaction; with her family caught in an enervating circle of misery where the sheer exhaustion of getting through the day prevents them from escaping. It needs a huge catalyst to kick them off the repetitive cycle onto a different… Two For Joy Read More
Hereditary 4 stars
A creaky floorboard and a clicking tongue. Two sounds you don’t want to hear when you’re alone in the house and the only tongue clicker you know of is your dead sister. “I never wanted to be your mother” Annie says to her teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff), “it wasn’t my fault and I tried… Hereditary Read More
Padre 3.5 stars
“The space behind you is as important as the one in front of you” says James (Willem Dafoe), guiding his female performers as they rehearse his new play. It’s a good analogy for grief and death as journeys. I’ve found that when it comes to grief, once that initial crushing of the ribs has lessened,… Padre Read More
Heathers 4.5 stars
The 80s was a blunt decade, designed to disrupt – oversized, brash and brightly-coloured, where the brave and bullish could succeed. In a time defined by red lipstick, shrinking violets need not apply. Everything is over-oversized in Heathers. It’s even bigger, brasher, brighter and more vicious than the decade it satirises. Unsurprisingly in this live-action,… Heathers Read More
2:Hrs 2.5 stars
Tim is a joker at school and a bully at home, spending his evenings spraying graffiti around London. His father is dead, and Tim (Harry Jarvis) responds by making life as difficult as he can for his mum, while his younger sister Shona struggles to internalise her grief and pain so as not to cause… 2:Hrs Read More
The Seventh Seal 5 stars
I’d never watched The Seventh Seal before, though somewhere along the line I’ve almost certainly pretended I have. No film lover could be unaware of Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece, though I was worried that memories of its parodies would prove insurmountable when I was finally faced with Death’s presence – it’s hard to take even mortality seriously… The Seventh Seal Read More
Super Dark Times 3.5 stars
What do you do, after an afternoon with friends goes so badly wrong that someone gets killed? With the body? With the weapon? With each other? These are the questions – hard enough for your average law-abiding adult to get their head round, let alone a bunch of boys going through the high and lows… Super Dark Times Read More
A Ghost Story 4.5 stars
*** If you’re looking for my review of British horror film Ghost Stories you can read it here *** At the start of A Ghost Story, Casey Affleck is a dead man walking, and not just because we know he is going to die – wraithlike smoke and mist drift across the screen, half-forming into figures. Which rather… A Ghost Story Read More
Prevenge 4 stars
Sometimes it feels like our babies, even before birth, are intent on taking over everything, our bodies and our minds. Factor in the increasing number of ways mothers-to-be are told their needs must always be secondary to those of their unborn children and it’s no surprise that we’ve now got a film which pushes this idea to the max…. Prevenge Read More