Late Night with the Devil  ★★★ THERE’S a lot of buzz around Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ horror film Late Night with the Devil Written, directed and edited by the pair, it’s part found footage and part faux documentary approach has won plenty of attention on the international festival circuit. David […]

A late night in Hell

Civil War  ★★★★ THERE is a scene about three-quarters through Alex Garland’s latest film that provides a brilliant snapshot of its theme. Civil War is, as the title clearly states, about a United States riven by internal conflict. Three journalists, accompanied by a young woman who wants to be a […]

Garland’s latest a powerful warning

Eileen ★★★½ ANNE Hathaway has a ball playing the femme fatale in the psychological noir thriller Eileen. Based on a 2015 novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, the film takes place in 1960s Massachusetts. Thomason McKenzie plays the main character, a young woman living and caring for her widowed, alcoholic father while […]

Hathaway shines as femme fatale

Scoop ★★★ REMEMBER that car crash of an interview that Prince Andrew gave BBC Television in 2019? If you’ve ever wondered who thought that was a good idea and why, then you will find out in the British drama Scoop The Prince was under pressure at the time due to […]

Women behind the Royal stuff-up

Abigail ★★★½ IN BETWEEN recent instalments of the Scream franchise, horror directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have taken some time out to give us the thoroughly enjoyable Abigail. The film is actually a loose adaptation of a 1930s horror film which I’m not going to tell you the title […]

Such a sweet, little girl…not

Challengers ★★★ LUCA Guadagnino knows how to make a romantic film with a difference. Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All are emotionally challenging and wonderfully engaging examples. The Italian director’s latest, Challengers, has many of the same qualities but doesn’t quite reach the same high standards. It’s […]

Luca’s challenging threesome

All Hallow’s Eve ★★½ A WARNING to caulrophobics – stay well clear of Damien Leone. The American writer/director is the creator of Art the Clown who is about to wreak havoc in a fourth film. Art first appeared in short films in 2008 and 2011 before a feature-length treatment in […]

Origin of an evil clown

Miller’s Girl ★★½ EVEN the talents of Jenna Ortega can’t lift Miller’s Girl to any great heights. This drama, written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett, also features a mostly miscast Martin Freeman as a teacher who has a relationship with one of his students. Bartlett’s script was apparently much […]

Southern sex drama limps along

The Wild Geese ★★★½ ROGER Moore was allowed some time out from his main gig as James Bond in the mid-70s to join Richard Burton and Richard Harris in South Africa for a few months. The formidable trio joined director Andrew V. McLaglen for filming of The Wild Geese, an […]

Best of Brits in The Wild Geese

Ghostwatch ★★★ FOUND footage is now a major sub-genre of horror cinema. If you think the origin is 1999’s The Blair Witch Project you’re nearly 20 years out. That honour belongs to the infamous and frequently banned Italian film Cannibal Holocaust released in 1980. What we don’t see as much are […]

Fake doco a found footage milestone

The Hitcher ★★★★ EVEN though he has had a prolific career in Hollywood for several decades, Dutch actor Rutger Hauer has never been able to fully replicate the enormous impact he made in 1982’s Blade Runner. He has appeared in a lot of semi-successful films, but one of the best […]

The Hitcher a stripped-back, nihilistic affair

Mute Witness ★★½ LOW-BUDGET British thriller Mute Witness is a surprisingly decent effort. Directed by Anthony Waller and released in 1995 it draws comparisons to better-known works by the likes of Brian de Palma, such as Dressed to Kill and Body Double. American special effects and makeup artist Billy Hughes […]

Mute Witness worth talking about