Blumhouse Productions have been compared to Hammer Films in recent years, due to their cost-effective approach to producing films on a yearly basis, particularly those of horror and thriller variety. In what has so far been a problematic year for cinema releases, the company’s tally for 2020 currently stands at five with the latest being […]
Review: The Vigil (2020) Read More »
Inspired by the Los Angeles Times article, “An Adopted Boy and Terror Begins”, published in 1988, the misguided comedy Problem Child has turned 30, a movie I would watch almost on repeat as a youngster. Macaulay Culkin reportedly auditioned for the title role, but it went to the lesser-known Michael Oliver, a kid who did for
Review: Problem Child (1990) Read More »
David Fincher’s third feature film doesn’t come up in conversation as much compared to his more popular works despite being the object of much praise from critics and fans. The answer to this probably lies in it being wedged between Se7en and Fight Club, but now The Game has found a suitable home in Australia’s
Blu-ray Review: The Game (1997) Read More »
Dolly Parton topped the charts with the weekday anthem, 9 To 5, a song about the daily grind of office work and while it was all fun and innocent, the reality of such an environment can be brutal and cold for many starting on the bottom rung. The Assistant takes place during a single day-in-the-life
Review: The Assistant (2019) Read More »
How I came to first see The Goonies was very typical. I was too young to have seen in cinemas, but was later introduced via VHS by my eldest cousin, just four years into the film’s existence on home video. Within minutes Joe Pantoliano as one half of the Fratelli brothers, Francis, taught me that
Review: The Goonies (1985) Read More »
It’s no secret that Chevy Chase ruffled some feathers when he suddenly left Saturday Night Live halfway through its second season in 1976 to pursue a movie career in California. Almost an instant transition, the “The funniest man in America,” landed his first leading role in comedy-mystery, Foul Play, alongside top-billed star Goldie Hawn a
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I’ve been steadily working my way through British filmmaker Alan Parker’s filmography over the past two years; The Commitments, Midnight Express, Angel Heart and now the lesser-known Birdy, which has been re-issued on DVD in Australia from Shock Entertainment. Adapted from William Wharton’s 1978 novel of the same name, this sombre drama stars Matthew Modine
DVD Review: Birdy (1984) Read More »
Sixteen years doesn’t quite qualify a film for ‘classic’ status by its technical definition, but I think some exception can be given to The Machinist, which really made a mark on audiences, especially enthusiastic horror fans back in 2004. Now on Blu-ray in Australia under Shock Entertainment’s sub-label, Cinema Cult, the semi-independent psychological thriller holds
Blu-ray Review: The Machinist (2004) Read More »
I may be a little late to the party with this review, but to quote the echoing message of American Horror Story: 1984, “…the 80s will never die.”, and it certainly hasn’t. In Search of Darkness is an epic four-hour-plus documentary feature that looks at the lasting impact of 80s horror cinema from both the
Review: In Search of Darkness (2019) Read More »
With most of the world now having endured a solid month of lockdown and social distancing, we’ve earned the right to feel a little stir-crazy and, perhaps, even paranoid. If you like watching films that reflect your own reality, then Roman Polanski’s The Tenant will have you triggered; now out on Blu-ray from Cinema Cult
Blu-ray Review: The Tenant (1976) Read More »