The challenge of the Nightmare on Elm Street films is that they need to create fear in an environment where the normal rules don’t apply, which makes scares that would be shocking in a realistic context less effective. The second sequel answers this challenge by not trying to be a horror film; it’s more of…
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s power stems from its verisimilitude, how it feels like a gritty documentary. The remake largely abandons any attempt at this and makes a host of baffling choices: The film seems compelled to make its leads as unlikable as possible, setting them up as crass, unsympathetic drug traffickers –…
Skyfall opens in classic Bond fashion with an extended action sequence involving countless vehicles, composed with enthralling kineticism. As an opening it’s perfect; as a representation of the film’s style it’s misleading. The next half hour or so drags, aside from some impressive visual styling, before the film reveals its true nature with the introduction…
Sam Mendes is interested in colour and light; the red door of American Beauty, the flaming oil wells of Jarhead. Skyfall is no different. The film opens with an out of focus Bond and an important early shot, viewed through a mirror, shows him disappearing into shadows (a recurring motif). The interplay of colour and…
For a self-professed “movie geek,” there’s some significant holes in my film knowledge, but the largest are certainly in the horror genre, a genre I’ve only recently embraced. One such hole is J-Horror – I’ve only seen Pulse (and thoroughly disliked it), and have yet to see the original Ringu. This means that I can…
“Even when you self-destruct, you have to fail more, lose more, die more than others, stink more than others.” For most of my adult life, I’ve possessed a simmering desire for self-destruction, a compulsion to throw everything away – abandon an exam, quit a job, alienate friends. I think it stems from wanting a fresh…
Martin McDonagh’s last film was In Bruges – a spiky, acerbic, unpredictable black comedy/crime thriller. Seven Psychopaths is all those things and many more. The film follows a possibly alcoholic Marty Farahan (get it?) and his attempts to write a film called …Seven Psychopaths. He’s worried that the screenplay that’s supposed to be about “love…
There are plenty of horror films that serve as a commentary or criticism on the genre of horror. Behind The Mask is different to most of these films in that it is undeniably very interested in horror as a genre but it isn’t interested in actually being a horror film itself … at least until…
The conceit of Rope is that it takes place in real time. A recently murdered corpse lies – concealed – in his murderers’ apartment, filmed with a single unbroken shot. The camera gimmick is executed with less panache than I’d expect from Hitchcock, including an unnecessary cut right after the credits. Aside from some unsubtle…
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