HCF Review - Life on Mars

RED ROVER (2018)

For some the potential of a mission to Mars is a pipe-dream or a diversion from problems here on planet Earth. For others it’s a prime example of the ambition of the human species, and our obsession with achieving the impossible. Whatever your thoughts on space exploration it’s certainly a topic full of existential musings, which seems to be why writer-director Duane Murray has chosen this subject. To be clear this isn’t a story about science fiction, but instead a human drama about doomed romances, failed careers and social isolation. Would you choose to get away from it all on a one way trip to the stars? Your mileage may vary depending on your personality, but for some the question will be a poignant one.

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HCF Review - Reefer Madness

FEED THE DEVIL (2015)

Talking about genre films isn’t something that should ever be too tricky, particularly when it comes to the tropes of a typical horror story. If they’re not being cut down by slasher villains or monsters the characters fall prey to their own psychological flaws. There’s often a comfortable formula. But this particular release had me scratching my head more than a little. Is it a morality tale, or a ghost story? The advertising material is plastered with things like Deliverance meets Cannibal Holocaust meets Predator… but it’s nothing of the sort. In fact the writers don’t seem sure what kind of story they were trying to tell. 

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Winter Horror-Thon

PART ONE - DEMONS

While I've talked about films like The Church (aka Demons 3) and Cemetery Man (aka Demons '95) let's take a look at a few of the other films in the alleged series. Which if I'm honest features an even more confusing pseudo-sequel numbering system than the Yes, Madam franchise. If there is even such a thing. Which of course... there isn't. In this case some of the releases in question are semi-remakes of other films entirely or take large portions of their stories from existing films. In reality it's best to ignore all of this title madness and just let the films speak for themselves. Be warned that this experience may result in a different kind of lunacy. But you'll never be duped into thinking that these are related at all, even if Michele Soavi is credited in them, either behind the camera or on screen.

Scorecard

NOVEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH King of New York ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Going Off the Rails

BACKTRACK (2015)

Backtrack is an Australian mystery movie, part psychological thriller and part horror story. Peter Bower (Adrien Brody) is a troubled man trying to get his back life (and his career as a therapist) together after the tragic death of his daughter in an accident. The unpacked boxes in his new home suggests this plan isn't working out, and it's probably not a good sign for his marriage that his wife looks like she's feeling similar levels of trauma. The location they're in really isn't helping the situation since he seems to have moved them into a part of town where it never stops raining. But Peter has bigger problems which are about to appear on the horizon.

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Synth Cinema's World Tour

PART TWO: CASTLES IN THE SKY

Perhaps it was the way the information age was progressing or perhaps it was the people I knew at the time, but the turn of the Millennium led to an influx of world cinema. Certain kinds of films were being shown on late night television and certain discs were being passed around. Looking back this was a primitive time in terms of technology but a lot has changed in two decades. But like the previous excursion to Hong Kong, this look into Japan will examine a lot of new and exciting features that seemed to arrive all at once because of the changing home video landscape. Some were incredible fantasy epics and some were just incredibly extreme. But I'll try explore a little of this kind of genre variety if it's at all possible.

HCF Review - Tricks and Traps

THE HORDE (2016)

Genre mashups are pretty standard in movies that involve a certain amount of horror clichés but they tend to be a mixture of comedy and violence. Horror and action is perhaps less common, although at times the use of power tools and shotguns can push things in a certain direction. But in this case writer/actor Paul Logan dares to take the slasher film framework and ask a vital question, ‘what if Rambo was on the camping trip?’ He also wanted to cast himself as the muscle bound hero and who am I to argue. It’s certainly a change of tact in comparison to the other First Blood knock-offs out there. But all of those back woods killer tropes still have to be accounted for and so there’s a whole story about his teacher girlfriend and her class of expendable teens. Does this balancing act work out?

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HCF Review - To Catch A Killer

THE BEAST (2019)

A lot of the South Korean thrillers that receive mainstream attention overseas might be considered eccentric or darkly comedic, but there is another side to this coin as Jung Ho-Lee’s crime drama shows. This is a bleak and occasionally brutal tale that offers a slick and stylish experience with little in terms of levity or respite. It’s a relentless story brimming with moments of suspense. But it’s also a film full of side characters and sub plots that aren’t always weaved together so effectively during a weighty running time that is over two hours. It’s a consistently polished affair and tonally it never lets up, but as the story progresses there are still some weaker aspects that should be examined.

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Scorecard

OCTOBER

FILM OF THE MONTH: Stagefright ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - Love and Death

DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE (1994)

At this point in history there are few surprises to be found in the annals of zombie cinema. But watching something like Michel Soavi's horror comedy, also known as Cemetery Man, is a reminder that it doesn't have to be such a predictable genre. In fact it can be completely off the wall if things are done a creative way. Falling somewhere between Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead and Peter Jackson's Braindead in terms of the overall tone and content it's a pretty madcap experience to say the least. But these shorthand comparisons don't really do it justice since the film is more than the sum of its parts. And what a grotesque and yet beautiful assortment of parts they are.

Horror Bites - Bugging out

THE MIST (2007) 

Frank Darabont's third Stephen King adaptation brings to the screen something truly unsettling - being stuck at the local store during the busy hours. Though I guess there are a few other horror elements involved. Part siege movie, part monster mash; it handles some great set pieces and a few fun characters even if there is more splatter than atmosphere in places, and not all the effects are totally convincing to say the least. It's solid entertainment although it's never really that harrowing, but at least it's fun to see how things unfold as it mixes predictable tropes with unexpected jolts of imagination.

HCF Review - Payback

WADE IN THE WATER (2019)

Revenge is a dish best eaten cold as they say. That is if unknown authors (or cooks) are to be believed of course. But in reality this idea and the concept of dealing out justice to evil-doers is a complex issue, and this is a story which attempts to examine just how nebulous things can get. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Blue Ruin, Calvary and perhaps You Were Never Really Here, this is another story balancing dark themes with black comedy and eccentric characters in an attempt to tell a thought provoking and disturbing story. There are moments of both humour, tragedy, and stomach churning drama, but just how balanced this meal is needs further examination.

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Scorecard

SEPTEMBER 

FILM OF THE MONTH: Alien ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Time For Revenge

EVANGELINE (2013)

Spooky night shots complete with headlight beams in the mist are usually a sign that a horror story is on the cards. And when when the story is being filmed in the local woods to save money you can predict how things will play out. Most viewers will probably recognise the ‘unseen demon’ point of view from The Evil Dead films roaming through the foliage too. These are all staple elements by now after all. So you’ll be surprised to hear that this isn’t really about any sort of malevolent entity living in the shadows. It’s true that the ancient evil of the forest is going to awaken which the opening narration suggests, but if anything this takes far more from The Crow – so you know how things are going to turn out.

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HCF Review - Caribbean Blues

 CARGO (2017)

Cargo may be an apt title for a story in which people are changed from human beings into a commodity, but it’s certainly not a snappy name that makes this release stand out from the crowd. This isn’t the story about zombies or the film about a man inside a shipping container. It’s not about a fishery or a spaceship either. Instead this is a tale of personal tragedy and the way any sense of reality in a struggle can be warped when money is involved. It might be set in the Bahamas but this isn’t a travelogue film and instead focuses on small scale drama as a fisherman decides to take a darker path. But do these elements make it stand out amongst a sea of similarly name films? It’s hard to say for sure.

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Martial Arts Mix - Attack the Block

THE RAID (2011) 

It's been a long time since it was released and the sequel has now of course come and gone. Which is better? It's debatable. But I wanted to take a fresh look at what was touted by some as the 'best action movie of the last ten years' on its release, having never given it a proper write up. While this hyperbolic quote remains a little absurd and there have been many great examples of martial arts cinema in this time period from the likes of Tony Jaa and Donnie Yen, it does sum up the kind of impact it might have had on general audiences. Many films like Warrior King (aka The Protector) and Ip Man had been released before this so a new addition in the genre was never going to blow me away, but it has to be said this is a solid piece of work that should sate all but the most sadistic action fans.

 

Scorecard

AUGUST

FILM OF THE MONTH: Mad Max 2  ☆☆☆☆

Synth Cinema's World Tour

PART ONE: A GOLDEN HARVEST

In this series I'll be looking at the root cause of all this obsessive compulsive behaviour, which is to say all of this movie madness. It will be more an examination of a now more than two decades old interest in international cinema and how it came to be, as opposed to the usual review format. Is this a bad idea? Yes, probably. But along the way it will of course have to include a few glances and the best choices from any given category or region and a few retrospective moments. How many parts of this will there be? It's hard to be certain. It will probably be a trilogy of four knowing how these things go; usually one that tests everyone's patience before the end. To begin let's take a cursory glance at the hair-raising world of Hong Kong action movies.

Sci-Fi Sunday - Growing Pains

AKIRA (1988)

Adaptations that bring stories from the page to screen before author has actually finished writing aren't generally a good idea. Whether it's something like Junji Ito's Uzamaki or any number of modern television shows there are various examples out there, each with varying results. Katsuhiro Otomo's science fiction epic would eventually be a mammoth six volume story, but the film was released two years before the books were complete. It really shouldn't work. Neither should condensing all of the source material into a film just over two hours long. However thanks to the author's obsessive artistic impulses the results are more than impressive and it remains a landmark in both animation and cinema. Themes might have been truncated and characters and story arcs have been excised but somehow it all feels just right.

Martial Arts Mix - He Ain't Heavy

AVENGEMENT (2019)

While grubby London gangster dramas and straight to video action heroes aren't perhaps the most obvious movie ideas to combine I'm all for outlandish experiments, particularly those involving colourful characters from each genre. Prison break stories or tales of racketeering don't usually have so many round-house kicks after all, but director-star duo Jesse V. Johnson and Scott Adkins are back to deliver on both fronts. Or perhaps more appropriately -- with both barrels. To paraphrase one of the sleazy crooks involved 'enough panto!' But I'm all for a bit of melodrama and good helping of overblown scenery chewing so the more the better.

Scorecard

 JULY

FILM OF THE MONTH: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Guilt Complex

FEVER (2014)

Fever is a French crime story (not to be confused with the German drama directed Elfi Mikesch) about two young boys studying literature and philosophy who, in the opening seconds of the film, have murdered a woman in her apartment. This happens off screen with just a few sounds of the death being heard. This impersonal act starts the whole thing moving and gets to the core themes in a story where they have decided that without motive, and without even knowing the victim, it’s not really a crime at all.

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Horror Bites - Crash Culture

 THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS (1974)

While the immediate Mad Max comparisons are easy to make because of the Australian gangs riding about in garish junkers, Peter Weir's first feature is a little more difficult to define. Some of the poster art shows bloody lettering and a monstrous Volkswagen adorned with metal spines, the sort of thing the first act of Fury Road gave a nod to. And yet this isn't an action movie, it's not a pure horror story and the vehicles are not really the centre of attention. If I had to pigeon hole this at all it would fall into the broad category of 'weird people in backwater towns doing weird things'. Which at least aligns the eponymous town with other strange places in the middle of nowhere that film characters wish they'd never stumbled across.

Horror Bites - California Dreaming

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)

In a Hollywood diner a man describes a recurring dream he's been having. Then as things go on the details of this dream start to become a reality. Even when these moments have just been explained they are still somehow incredibly unsettling as the camera follows him outside to a filthy alley and things get really weird. But that sense of unease sums up of a lot of the viewing experience in a story that is full of random vignettes, false starts, detours into imagined scenarios and sudden stops at the end of nightmares. Maybe this is all just the wandering fantasy of a woman who wants to make it big on the silver screen. But just like the troubled man at the table trying to explain this doesn't change things or make them less disturbing.

Horror Bites - Under The Skin

SPECIES (1995)

It's a fine line between comedy and horror. Or is that just the line between clever and stupid? In a way of course these genres are similar and one each involves a series of setups and a payoffs whether the results are sudden shocks or unexpected laughs. In some cases these lines blur for better or worse. Explosions of violent mayhem may become ludicrous and sometimes intended jokes can cause existential dread. However there are films out there which blend the two seamlessly proving it's not always a bad thing. The real problems start when the outcome doesn't quite line up... or when the intentions of a serious science fiction plot is too unclear and the whole thing starts to feel more like a sitcom.

Scorecard

JUNE

FILM OF THE MONTH: Lucky ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - Let's Rock

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)

Twin Peaks as it was, the original two seasons, has its fans and its detractors. It was a show full of striking images and eccentric characters, along with a lot of strange goings on. Whether they were of the murder mystery, soap opera, or supernatural variety. But one thing is clear, it was over. Studio meddling saw to that regardless of whether it seemed to end with a bizarre cliffhanger or not. Nothing is more apparent here in the subsequent movie which refuses to answer any lingering questions by being a prequel. It even opens with a television set being destroyed. David Lynch was done with that whole idea and now it was time for a new nightmare to begin.

Review Roundup - Lower Depths

PARASITE (2019)

It may come as a surprise to hear that I wasn't really looking forward to this, despite all the accolades it has received. Bong Joon-Ho's work was always entertaining and stylish, but the narratives were always so blunt. Snowpiercer dealt with wealth divides in a very literal way and Okja used the same approach to portray two-faced corporations. So when the synopsis of this story involved a lower class family who actually live in a basement I had some reservations. It was bound to be eclectic and twisted but the overt social themes would probably still be depicted with that same on-the-nose presentation. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that the results are refreshingly nuanced in a tale which goes beyond simple parable and ventures into more interesting territory.

Horror Bites - The Old Glow in the Dark

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965)

Oh boy what a title... but you know what that means. At least in the world of B-movies and horror. The better the film name.... the weaker the actual release. It's not always true of course but it's certainly the case here in what is part H.P. Lovecraft adaptation and part Roger Corman recycling effort. With the latter being the major proportion of the movie as you might have expected. With the release of Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space it's to be expected that other versions of the tale are taken into consideration. But the results here are pretty rickety and all too familiar to anyone who's seen a story from this period about outsiders coming to visit their girlfriend only to find things have gone awry. Especially when they find an unhinged Boris Karloff living in a creepy old house.

Scorecard

MAY

FILM OF THE MONTH: Tekkonkinkreet ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - This is what you pay for...

HARDWARE (1990)

I hate to say this but this one is kind of a disappointment after hearing so many of promising details. Sorry Mr Roboto wherever you may be today but I just don't agree with your assessment, or the views of other fans out there. It goes without saying that I'm well accustomed to cheap B-thrillers and ultra low rent science fiction fare. When done right they can be vastly better than the kinds of mass produced Hollywood popcorn fodder after all. They can have heart and charm even without finesse or production value. So I was kind of excited to see that this one after it had been given a shiny new high definition re-release. I was all set for for some low grade acting and mechanical mayhem in a story about killer robots gone awry. Or at least something like that.

Horror Bites - Meteor Madness

COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019)

Reading H.P. Lovecraft's work is a weird experience to say the least, and I'm not just saying that because of all those negative attitudes towards miscegenation. What I mean is that a lot of the time it's all about the unknowable, the unmentionable. And of course the indescribable. Horror on the page in his terms is more of a mood and less a physical presence, a sense of dread which filters through in vague dream-like passages. It induces madness and has to be recoiled from and not studied in detail. So it's strange that the most famous film adaptations of those stories are all very explicit. The lurid colours and extreme violence are what everyone remembers from the likes of From Beyond after all. The intangible is brought to life for the screen with striking detail.

Weird Weekend - Dripping with Goo

PART ONE - Splatterhouse

It's movie marathon time once again. Which I guess it's hardly surprising looking back at the usual review format here. But it's time to settle down in the dark with the strange and unusual, and it's time block out the outside world of bland mainstream blockbusters and tepid jump scare horror nonsense. Time to warm the cockles of our hearts with a lot of grotesque violence and nightmare visions. As ever there is quite a selection to choose from whether it's Italian gore or madcap visions of 1980s America. There's never a short supply of features that include pouring blood, dissolving skin and eye popping effects. So come on down; the nightmare has only just begun.

Scorecard

APRIL

FILM OF THE MONTH: First Reformed ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - Black Cats and Marble

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964)

Part of the Vincent Price Blogathon with Cinematic Catharsis

What's wrong with sticking to a formula? Dead wives who have influence over the living, Vincent Price playing a character slowly coming apart at the seams, strangely familiar stock footage of a house on fire... yes that's right it's a Roger Corman film based on Edgar Allan Poe. If you've ever seen one of these you probably know the drill; there'll be strange goings on in a Gothic house, a few spells of memory loss, and probably a nightmare scene for good measure. But after so many outings of this nature is there really any gas left in the tank? Or does migrating the production from AIP to Britain give it a new lease of life? It's from the same year The Comedy of Terrors poked fun at the whole thing after all. Let's take a peek inside the crypt and see if there are any signs of life.

Monster Bites - Time Slides

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991)

Is it possible for a film to contain some of the best and worst scenes in a series? Godzilla's third movie in the Heisei series dares to pose that question. It's a bold move to be sure, but then it's a bold kind of movie. Reckless, striking and even sometimes blundering just like the title character. In some ways it's a greatest hits collection because of the way it re-introduces old concepts and creatures, but then in other ways it's a big radioactive mess. An initial viewing of the story is quite an experience and it gains a lot of kudos just for being so outlandish. But in retrospect it's an uneven story that doesn't really hold up in the same way as the previous instalments. But let's take a closer look into this prehistoric soup and see what exactly is going on.

Horror Bites - Grand Guignol

THEATRE OF BLOOD (1973)

Time for a little jaunt into the Vincent Price back catalogue. But where to begin? When taking a fresh look at any number the horror movies of the time it's always tempting to revisit some of the old Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, or even the Dr. Phibes movies. Although some have been covered here before there's still a lot to choose from when considering his prolific, and often colourful, filmography. Many of them are releases tempting releases that feature the classic Roger Corman and Richard Matheson combo. But then struck by inspiration I thought it would be best to start at the top, and talk about his very best project.

Horror Bites - Secret of the Ooze

PROMETHEUS (2012)

What is it with prequels? They always feel like a slightly unnecessary or unwanted experience, adding very little but holding a lot of potential to cause problems. This one in particular has the obvious issue of being detrimental to the mystique held by the 1979 classic Alien. Which has always been a big part of the appeal. But strangely the end result doesn't really change a whole lot in the long run. It also has the potential to be a massive, crushing disappointment. While this isn't the immense failure of writing and plot problems it could have been overall it does feel slightly... pointless. Instead of being a massive train wreck it's just a strange mixture of sweeping vistas, expensive visual effects, and unexpectedly hilarious b-movie splatter.

Weekend Restrospective - Your Move Creep...

DREDD (2012)

Despite the striking design work in the original 2000AD comics they never felt like something that would work as a live action film. The visual appearance of Judge Dredd and the look of the world were pure comic madness - it was full of things like mutant dinosaurs, weird fashion fads (Get Ugly!) and robot revolutions. They tried this once before with Sylvester Stallone after all, and despite some great production design on display little else made the transition to the big screen. Thankfully John Wagner's stony faced fascist is actually in a movie worth seeing this time around. More importantly it actually includes the character he created rather than a dumbed down interpretation full of awkward '90s genre tropes.

Sci-Fi Sunday - Ringworld

ELYSIUM (2013)

I had a lot of hopes for this after the director's prior film District 9. In the end they were probably the unrealistic kind that could never really be fulfilled, but they still ended up being dashed a little as things unfolded. The earlier project had an erratic and energetic style, with faux docu-drama footage that lent it all a kind of ad libbed charm. It also had a twisted sense of humour that was a big surprise at the time. The whole thing felt like a smaller project full of quirky details suddenly being given a proper budget. Unfortunately the follow up doesn't really have any of those raw indie vibes, and perhaps it was a case of lighting in a bottle. Instead this relies on clichés that should really have been avoided. Perhaps they were unavoidable with a more mainstream cast involved.

Scorecard

MARCH

FILM OF THE MONTH: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans ☆☆☆☆

Weekend Retrospective - Top. Men.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)

'South America, 1936'

With this brief subtitle begins the greatest adventure movie ever made. It's a small and innocuous detail quickly offering a time and a place; but that's all this story needs when everything is perfectly measured. What transpires is of course one of the best openings on film, with the slow atmospheric build up hiding the lead character in the shadows. We're left waiting for him to show his face, and his abilities. Following a sinister trek through the rainforest our hero makes his dramatic entrance with a quick turn and the crack of a whip. This kind of no nonsense approach shows us what we need to know and what is in store; Indiana Jones is revealed through actions and not words.

Sci-Fi Saturday - This Time It's War

ALIENS (1986)

'These people are DEAD Burke! Don't you have any idea what you have done here?!! Well, I'm gonna make sure they nail you right to the wall for this! You're not gonna sleaze your way out of this one! Right to the wall!'

The production of Aliens sounds like a horror story all by itself. A battle between people from either side of the Atlantic over things like work schedules and tea breaks. It's an unprofessional nightmare which should never been allowed to happen but the culture clash was real, and this lack of respect for film makers trying to make a sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 classic created a lot of problems. It's said they even refused to watch a private screening of The Terminator to see they weren't being pushed around by a complete fraud. The original DOP was fired because he refused to the right way. James Remar, cast as Hicks, was let go because of drug problems. There was even friction between the two Jims Cameron and Horner when music wasn't written on schedule. So it has to be asked; when the results are this good can this be considered a true story of art through adversity?

Horror Bites - Hail Hypno Toad

WEIRD WEEKEND DOUBLE FEATURE

Time for a quick catch up with our old friend Takashi Miike with a look at Yakuza Apocalypse and an long over due viewing of The Happiness of the Katakuris. Because two viewings back to back are better than one. A variety of deranged pleasures can be found in both of these releases from a director whose work is often as unhinged as it is diverse. But how else to describe both a vampire gangster movie, and a family drama involving a series of unfortunate deaths which is also a musical? I can only try to describe some of the madness you can expect to find here, but I'll give it my best shot. Some things just have to be seen to believed.

 

HCF Review - Young Hearts

FIRST LOVE (2019)

Takashi Miike can be quite... eclectic, and in recent years his output has included several manga adaptions and kids TV shows. But here he goes back to basics with a story about gangsters, call girls and corrupt cops. But is this really a love story? Does it have something for long term fans and newcomers alike? In some ways these things are true. It certainly contains a lot of bizarre imagery without ever being too nightmarish, and it certainly has a story about a naive young couple brought together by a series of coincidences. But overall the result is a perfect gateway movie into his more extreme projects, which is interesting to see unfold after he's made over one hundred films.

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Horror Bites - Reptilian Complex

CRAWL (2019)

So this is a movie about alligators. They eat people and wreak havoc for about ninety minutes, and that's basically the movie. In a way this is the whole review since the material speaks for itself; there's no filler, the small cast of stock characters do their jobs well, and there are no attempts to make this a parody like dozens of embarrassing straight to video creature features. It's grisly and satisfying and in general it looks pretty good from a production design perspective. But best of all it never outstays its welcome and despite the unlikely premise it never becomes too silly. Since we're here though I guess I'll delve deeper into the quagmire and examine just why this is all so effective.

Scorecard

FEBRUARY

FILM OF THE MONTH Only Yesterday ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Atomo-Vision

MATINEE (1993)

It often goes without saying that a passion project is less than likely to be a commercially viable venture. Joe Dante, known best for the likes of Gremlins and The Howling, has of course done plenty of genre mash-ups that are pretty eccentric. But this is something a little different; a story about the experience of movie going itself. It's set during very specific era of his childhood, and the result is a nostalgic look into the past where double features played against news reels about the Cold War. It's also a story about escapism and the lure of watching a creature feature at a time when the threat of real life catastrophes was all too plausible.

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Horror Bites - The Perfect Number

SILVER SHAMROCK

It's almost time! If you've ever seen Halloween III: Season of the Witch I'm afraid a certain commercial theme tune is probably starting to surface in your memory as you skim past this one. A cold sweat is probably forming as you realise it won't go away all day now, or maybe it will stay there even longer. This will be a bit of a Tom Atkins double feature so I'll also be covering Maniac Cop, but for now it's all about rubber masks, microchips and secret Stonehenge plots that make about as much sense as the title of the movie. Sometimes you've just got to give into the musically induced madness I suppose, even if you end up sitting there rocking in front of the screen by the end.