1992 Director: Bernard Rose Starring: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, Vanessa Williams, DeJuan Guy, Marianna Elliott, Ted Raimi, Ria Pavia Words – Oliver Innocent Touted as the heir to the throne of Stephen King, Liverpool-born horror novelist Clive Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with his short story collections, Books of…
Tag: classic
Seven Samurai
1954 Director: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Katô, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Kosugi, Bokuzen Hidari, Yoshio Inaba Words – Christian Abbott All great films can be traced back to other works of art from decades past. The cynical would say that nothing is…
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
1989 Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Starring: Tomoro Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto, Naomasa Musaka Words – Christian Abbott “Your future is metal!” This line hits two-thirds into the film, and after a series of deliriously disturbing sequences, you believe it. It’s hard to grasp Tetsuo, it is as timeless as it is grotesque, and…
Japan 2020
From Akira Kurosawa, to Godzilla and Studio Ghibli, Japan has given the world some of its most iconic titles in cinema. To mark the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place in Tokyo, we took a retrospective look at a selection of films which hold a lasting influence on cinema and popular culture, as well…
Reel Steel Cult Weekender 2020 Film Festival
The Reel Steel Cult Weekender is a celebration of films which hold a ‘cult’ or ‘classic’ status in cinema – older titles shown again on the big screen, so that today’s audiences can experience important, overlooked or influential titles in their genre. Hosted at Sheffield’s historic Abbeydale Picture House – a Grade II listed 1920’s…
Howl’s Moving Castle
2004 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Words – Christian Abbott In 2004, the landscape of animation was rapidly changing. 9 years previous, Pixar released the revolutionary Toy Story, showcasing the very first fully 3D animated feature. The following years, and especially at the beginning of the 21st century, there was a race to switch from 2D to…
Kiki’s Delivery Service
1989 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Words – Christian Abbott In film circles you will often hear the phrase “every frame a painting”. An experience, both poetic and practical, used to describe the inherent beauty of cinema. Cinematography, lighting, editing, and more, all can come together to create some of the most striking images in artistic history….
Robocop (1987)
1987 Director: Paul Verhoeven Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer, Ronny Cox, Daniel O’Herlihy Words – Nathan Scatcherd In today’s increasingly terrifying, existentially crippling, corporate-controlled, bought and sold disaster of a world, Paul Verhoeven’s viscera-splattered satirical masterpiece feels like it could have come out last week. Robocop retains an incredible power today,…
The Evil Dead (1981)
1981 Director: Sam Raimi Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly Words – Oliver Innocent One of horror cinema’s most iconic titles, The Evil Dead succinctly sums up the genre’s key themes; a preoccupation with darkness and death. It’s short, snappy and memorable. With a title like The Evil Dead you…
Friday The 13th (1980)
1980 Director: Sean S. Cunningham Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson Words – Oliver Innocent Comprising of eight films between 1980 and 1989 (and a further four entries in the decades that followed), Friday the 13th is one of the defining franchises of the…
