HOUNDED *** UK 2022 Dir: Tommy Boulding. 94 mins Here’s another variation on the oft-adapted THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, transplanted by co-writers Dean Lines and Ray Bogdanovich (who wrote Christopher Smith’s effective THE BANISHING) to Boris Johnson’s England and unsubtly reminding us of the central themes from the get go: “Rich pricks, more money than sense…” Malachi Pullar-Latchman leads a crew of South London thieves, first seen with partners in crime Ross Coles, Hannah Traylen and Nobuse Junior stealing a painting worth more than the average English schmuck’s annual take-home pay. Their latest target, thanks to the machinations of art…
Author: Steven West
THE BLACK PHONE **** USA 2021 Dir: Scott Derrickson. 102 mins The movie that Scott Derrickson made following the creative differences surrounding DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS is a reminder of his talent for sustaining a dread-filled ambience (as best demonstrated in SINISTER) while telling a story of surprising emotional resonance. Though adapted from a 2004 Joe Hill short story, Derrickson has been honest about the very personal connection he has to the themes and horrors at play here. It’s a period piece that doesn’t feel a need to overemphasise the period – and a grim horror tale of…
ALL ABOUT EVIL **** USA 2010 Dir: Joshua Grannell. 98 mins While the title riffs on one of the greatest Hollywood movies of all time, the prologue of this delicious slasher / pastiche directly nods to the backstory of another iconic Bette Davis movie, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? A grotesque showbiz mom forces her tuneless kid on stage, where the humiliation begins even before she pisses herself and is electrocuted in front of a barfing juvenile audience. To highlight some major influences for writer-director Joshua Grannell (better known as Peaches Christ), the title sequence is accompanied by vintage posters…
MONSTER **** USA 2003 Dir: Patty Jenkins. 109 mins The title itself is subjective: writer-director Patty Jenkins doesn’t dilute the crimes of executed “white trash” Florida murderer Aileen Wuornos (who, at the time, had recently been the subject of Nick Broomfield’s widely admired documentaries), nor does she mute her abrasive personality. But, in removing the usual real-life serial killer movie cliches, Jenkins crafts the empathetic story of one woman’s struggle (and failure) to turn her life around, punctuated by black humour, perceptive observations and non-sensationalistic depictions of the killings themselves. Charlize Theron won a deserved Oscar for a role that…
DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES *** Germany 2021 Dir: Kevin Kopacka. 73 mins Austrian-Sri-Lankan filmmaker / artist Kevin Kopacka’s second feature – after 2020’s HAGER – is a disorientating, multi-layered Gothic tale of entrapment that toys with everything from the Eastmancolor atmosphere of Mario Bava’s classic horror films and the work of Jean Rollin to the Manson Family and the time-warps of European genre fare like Fulci’s THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. Dieter (Frederik von Luttichau) and Margot (Luisa Taraz) are a childless couple stuck in a marriage of festering, mutual resentment. He’s an insecure stuffed shirt unable to overcome…